Hello all! Well, I have had my Skoda Octavia Scout for two weeks now. It's a 2010 1.8 TSI manual with about 53,000 miles. It has BT phone, Maxidot, Columbus, xenons, heated front seats and an electric memory driver's seat.

As with all second hand cars, there are always a few little things to sort out to bring the car up to the standard you want.

Firstly all four tyres needed replacing. The rear two were probably the original Dunlops and were nearly illegal tread-wise, and the front two were very cheap budget tyres. There was a district tyre-hum on driving faster than about 30mph. They were replaced by 4 Falken Euroall Season tyres at £86 each - a huge reduction from the RRP - it pays to shop around! I had them fitted at £10 per corner.

The driving manners have been transformed and the hum has gone. Of note, the two budget tyres, although relatively new and with 5mm of tread, had both split - you could see the splits by pulling the tread blocks apart. My advice? Don't skimp on tyres. Buy a good brand and just look for the best price!

Next up, routine maintenance was required. Although recently serviced, the brake fluid hadn't yet been changed in over four years (required every two years). This was done yesterday along with replacing the oil in the Haldex 4WD coupling - this too was late and should, I believe, be done every three years for the 2010 model onwards. The tracking was also adjusted as the steering wheel was slightly down to the right when heading straight ahead.

Finally, I fitted a full size 16" spare wheel with appropriate tools this morning to replace the tyre 'gunk' tin the car had come with. The benefits of a real spare wheel cannot be underestimated on a dark wet motorway at 2am!

Still to do, work out how to pair my two phones to the Bluetooth - at the moment the car is saying neither are compatible. Odd as although one is new (iPhone 5S) the other is an older Samsung which should pair. Any thoughts guys? Oh, and I need to remove the sticker on the rear window.

So far, very pleased with the car. Solid (totally rattle-free), comfortable, sure to be winter-friendly with 4WD and all season tyres, and just what I was after!

Before long I'll compare it to my Octavia vRS DSG estate.

Strange, I thought a spare weel was standard on the Scout.

 

I'm on my third set of factory Dunlop Sport SP01's, we seem to get great mileage out of them.

 

The Haldex oil is mileage dependant not time, every 40,000 miles. It is almost always missed by the main dealers.

 

Do you have the LED DRL's or front fogs?

 

Any pictures!?

Silver, front fogs, no DRLs

Despite 4 years on here, I've yet to post pics.

No issues on other forums but can't seem to post here. Must confess, haven't tried too hard!

Any advice would be gratefully received - the Scout looks great in Candy White!

Strange, I thought a spare weel was standard on the Scout.

 

I'm on my third set of factory Dunlop Sport SP01's, we seem to get great mileage out of them.

 

The Haldex oil is mileage dependant not time, every 40,000 miles. It is almost always missed by the main dealers.

 

Do you have the LED DRL's or front fogs?

 

Any pictures!?

 

FL Scout has Haldex Gen4 and so oil change is every 3 years, not mileage dependent.

Silver, front fogs, no DRLs

Despite 4 years on here, I've yet to post pics.

No issues on other forums but can't seem to post here. Must confess, haven't tried too hard!

Any advice would be gratefully received - the Scout looks great in Candy White!

 

I use an external hosting site, Photobucket is one, there are many others. I appreciate it can be more hassle than its worth!

 

White Scouts are very rare!

Oh, and I need to remove the sticker on the rear window.

 

Peel the sticker off as best as you can, then remove the sticky residue with Acetone (nail varnish remover). It never fails to obliterate the glue on the window......just take care not to spill it on the paintwork.

Peel the sticker off as best as you can, then remove the sticky residue with Acetone (nail varnish remover). It never fails to obliterate the glue on the window......just take care not to spill it on the paintwork.

 

Iso propyl alcohol will work too and is not as hazardous for the paint.

Thanks for the sticker advice!

Will try again with pics. Need to show off the Scout & the vRS!

Any thoughts on the BT? No issues with my vRS here, but its BT was retrofitted by Shark in 2013, so may be a more up-to-date system.

I'm guessing the Scout BT was OE as the car is very well specced.

Cheers,

dunc

Edited 12 September, 201411 yr by dunc69

Thanks for the sticker advice!

Will try again with pics. Need to show off the Scout & the vRS!

Any thoughts on the BT? No issues with my vRS here, but its BT was retrofitted by Shark in 2013, so may be a more up-to-date system.

I'm guessing the Scout BT was OE as the car is very well specced.

Cheers,

dunc

Sounds like a good find - nice spec and I believe the petrols are uncommon. Given the poor state of the tyres, I'd have thought the garage would have put something decent or at least new on when you bought it -assuming it wasn't a private sale.

Sarge, yes very pleased to find one with such a good spec. Only three or four petrols for sale nationally at any one time - well, in my price range anyway!

Yes, it was a private sale.

Edited 13 September, 201411 yr by dunc69

All, will Briskoda accept pics uploaded from Dropbox?

Thanks, Dunc

Silver, Spare wheel is an option on the Scout, either that or Horton's owe me a few quid.

Have done quite a few miles the last two days. Overall, very pleased. More comfortable than the vRS around town, very solid feeling, rides bumps and road imperfections very well.

As I'm so used to the vRS with DSG, it does feel a little slow, but pulls well enough once it gets going. 'Re-map!' I hear you shout! Well maybe, but I have an issue to sort first.

I have noticed a short squeal under load when pulling off in first or reversing up my drive. A quick search on google has me concerned that the clutch / flywheel is on the way out! Not good, and expensive. Will get it looked at next week.

Anyone any recent experience along these lines?

Cheers,

Dunc.

Fan belt?

Fan belt?

 

and/or alternator pulley and possibly aux belt tensioner?

Both better options than clutch!

Thanks guys. Will update once I've had my Indy have a look.

Cheers, Dunc

I had a lumpy clutch. After hard acceleration, there was quite a bit of hashness/vibration. Reversing caused a fair amount of juddering too.

Shark fitted a Sachs clutch along side the remap.

Nice and smooth everywhere now.

The remap is great, still makes me smile. I wonder why they made it so sluggish from the factory. The lack of overtaking ability was a bit of a liability. The increase in torque makes for entertaining driving or laid back and relaxed if that is your mood.

Thanks Nick. A remap would be great, but I have the vRS for the quicker stuff.

The squeak / squeal is still there, but less so.

Took it to my Indy & took one of the guys out for a drive. No squeak. Typical!

Describing it to him, he thinks more likely to be clutch rather than belt. He says if it was a belt, it's be all the time, not just on power take up.

On leaving the garage and sitting in stop / start traffic, the noise returned, this time pulling away gently in traffic.

The thing is, the clutch feels fine and behaves perfectly in gears 2-6.

Time will tell I guess, but something is definitely amiss!