Is thankfully not a sproglet, it's more exciting than that :p

On Monday I got my grubby little mitts on my new car, an Octavia Estate, Elegance spec, 2.0 TDI DSG with some extras:

• Xenons
• Crew Protection/rear side airbags (gotta look after the hounds if the worst happens!)
• MFSW with paddles
• Sunset glass
• Park assist (wife-spec, but you know I'm gonna enjoy it!)
• Electric boot (wife said no, I said tough!)
• Spare wheel

Monday afternoon, I then had to drive from Surrey to darkest Wales (Carmarthen). I decided to do the first part across country, joining the M4 at J17, to add some interest whilst things bedded in. (I still believe in the running in concept.) Having escaped deepest, darkest Wales, I have a few things I like:

• The return of auto-wipers and auto-lights to my life: wonderful.
• Cruise control. Oh, how I've missed you over the last seven years.
• The crisp white lighting of the instruments - love it.
• The controlability of the MFSW. But a FBSW on a non-sporty car?
• The sat-nav was pretty good, if a little verbose but individual instructions can be silenced with a press of the left thumb.
• Given that I did 400 miles in a couple of days I'm happy with the seating position (previously I'd have said I was a fussy bugger). A little more side bolstering wouldn't go amiss though.
• Fuel economy. The round trip included some cross-country, some really heavy traffic, but the majority was cruising at 75 so an indicated 50mpg for the first 400 miles is ok by me (coming from 22-25mpg!).
• I like the fact that I can have two phones connected by bluetooth, use one for calls and the other to stream my podcasts. It's quite a few presses of the infotainment screen each and every time you start the car, but it's worth it.
• The sound quality of the car kit really impressed me.
• The colour.

Here's to many more miles!

Now with added snapshot (as you can see it was lashing down, so no time for photography!)


And yes, I did try out the park assist even tho there were plenty of spaces!

Lovely, pleased your happy with it mate. Mine will be Blue when it arrives, my excitement is building

Cheers ExpatHotspur, it's worth the wait!

Nice one fella, now get out and drive her!

Nice one fella, now get out and drive her!

400 miles in the first two days is a fairly good start, I reckon!

400 miles in the first two days is a fairly good start, I reckon!

Can't argue there mate!

Very nice looks good like the colour is that race blue? If so looks good

That looks fab - I've just taken a similar spec hatchback that's a year old but low mileage and I'm over the moon. I like the colour of yours though!

Nice. How did you find park assist? I'd worry about it hitting the kerb!

Very nice looks good like the colour is that race blue? If so looks good

Ta. Yes, Race Blue

 

Nice. How did you find park assist? I'd worry about it hitting the kerb!

Well, I had a building to try and miss   It worked really well, aside from when I accidentally put it in Park which cancelled the Park Assist, so I had to pull out, reverse, and do it again  The following day I got the chance to try out the bay parking mode to the right. The only thing with that is you have to keep the right hand indicator going throughout as if you cancel it, it thinks the space is to your left.

 

Ultimately, I don't know how much use it will get, but it wasn't much more than getting the front sensors so I figured it was worth it.

Think the Elegance is a great spec level for the money, also the 150 TDi engine is light years better than the old 140 and I personally think a sizeable improvement on the 170....it does feel quicker than my old Mk2 vRS.

A brilliant motorway car for sure, a bit dull to drive (not fun to punt around like the vRS was) and agree the seats lack support. I am experiencing some bad posture issues at the moment and it has certainly gotten worse since getting the Mk3. The lumbar supports are also fairly rubbish.

RE steering wheel I agree the super sport wheel doesn't look right on an Elegance without the sports seats (which we are denied in the UK) shame they didn't keep the original 3 spoke wheel on the options list.

I hated the four spoke wheel on mine to begin with but it's warmed on me, though appreciate to have DSG and paddles you have to go with the 3 spoke wheel.

Edited 10 October, 201411 yr by pipsyp

Cheers Pipsyp. I can't believe the passion the four spoke steering wheel can raise - my bro-in-law proper went off on one when he saw a picture! I haven't really tried the paddles out yet - I'll worry about stuff like that and driver modes once run in, I think.

 

Most of my mileage isn't the chuckable sort, but coming from a CR-V I think the handling's going to be a bit of an improvement anyway 

 

A couple of other things I like:

• The little bit of the indicator visible in the mirrors. Don't know why I like it, but like it I do!
• The ambient interior lights up above the mirrors.