1,000 Miles by Scout

[BILL BLAKE]

1,000 Smile Miles so far. The mk 3 Scout feels a better car than my Mk 2 - and that was very good. I love the D.S.G. and in my ignorance did not realise how versatile this box of tricks was. The car inside and out feels and looks well put together. More passenger room and very comfortable. The lane assist works okay ( not spec'd) . Not tried the park assist yet. 

I would be interested in your comments on - stop/start - it works exactly as it should, but I'm concerned that stop/starting a cold diesel engine is not good - especially with DPF?

Yes you can turn it off if you can remember every time you turn on the ignition. The seats look great now but will the Alcantara wear well?

The 1,000 miles covered have been very varied - about 350 motorway - 4 fishing trips - green lanes with muddy tracks and the rest just general runarounds. On 1 motorway run 200 mile round trip it returned 54MPG on the computer, about 4 MPG more than my mk 2 diesel. On a 20 mile run on A & B roads at a steady 30/60mpg again 53 MPG.

I have waited a long time for this car to get to market and if you are considering a Scout - you won't be disappointed.

Skoda.doc

Skoda.doc

[shrops_paul]

In my experience the stop/start wont happen while the engine is cold, takes a couple of miles before it will work. Good choice on the scout BTW - Ive always liked them. Too much tax on my work scheme tho due to 4x4 :(

[Sheldon.Cooper]

The stop/start will happen within a couple of metres of starting the engine (should you drive a bit then stop).  Engine cold or hot makes no difference to whether it works or not, it's only during a DPF regen that it won't auto stop.

[AUSKOUT]

Surely there must be a way to permanently disable this stop/start nonsense.

That would drive me crazy and I agree, not good for the engine, or the starter motor, or the battery.

[Greg R]

Ive had it on my current car for the past 4 years and it's really not that bad. No issues with starter, battery or engine in 70k miles either. You do have the option to switch it off if you want to, but it's not exactly intrusive so ive never seen the need.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[shrops_paul]

There is a button to turn it off.

 

In my experience it takes more than a couple of metres form a cold start. My drive is about 120m long and when I stop at the end it doesn't turn the engine off. Maxi dot displays the stop/start symbol with a line thru to say its not occurring. I dont stop again for about 3 miles and by then its operational.

[GordonH]

The stop/start will happen within a couple of metres of starting the engine (should you drive a bit then stop).  Engine cold or hot makes no difference to whether it works or not, it's only during a DPF regen that it won't auto stop.

 

 

Mine only starts working when warm - usually within 1.5 miles

[nickcoll]

I think stop/start is great and I can't see any REAL reasons against it. As always it is possible to invent objections, just like some people do with anything that's not what they are used to, but personally I love the fact that I am not wasting fuel when the car is sitting stationary. What's not to love? You can even override it if you REALLY want to waste fuel.

[Mence]

Yep, my start stop does it's thing after a few minutes from start up.

Glad you're enjoying the Scout Bill, I'm very envious.

[xnoruk]

I think the initial stop/start not stopping/starting is usually related to battery voltage... if the battery's not over a certain charge, it won't kick in.

 

It would explain why some can stop/start straight away, and some need a few minutes / miles.  For example, if I leave my dashcam recording when parked, stop/start will take a lot longer to become available, while the battery is replenished.

 

Manual also says that manual transmission cars have a minimum distance to drive before the engine can automatically shutdown, implying DSG can stop/start sooner.

 

...I'm concerned that stop/starting a cold diesel engine is not good - especially with DPF?

 

I agree that stop/starting could affect DPF (being EXTRA careful after major DPF issues on previous car!).  I will switch off stop/start until engine temperature (oil) is up to 80°C.

[Yogi-Bear]

I agree that stop/starting could affect DPF (being EXTRA careful after major DPF issues on previous car!).  I will switch off stop/start until engine temperature (oil) is up to 80°C.

 

I'm not having a go or trying to be offensive, so apologies if I appear blunt... but I really don't understand comments like this.  It's as though you're saying you know what's better for the engine than the VAG/Skoda engineers who designed and built the engine and the car.  Why 80?  Is that an arbitrary figure, or do you have some basis to use that as your benchmark?  OK, previous bad experiences may have skewed your view, but it's like saying you're going to turn off your ADSL/cable/whatever router when you're not using the Internet, because that's effectively what you did when you had a dial-up connection.  That's a really crap analogy, but hopefully you get what I'm saying... technology moves on, and yes there can be issues and you could end up with a duff car, but the vast majority of cars on the road with DPFs have absolutely no problem whatsoever in their lifetime, and the same for cars with start/stop systems.

 

Think about it - apart from a core group of users, a lot of people end up on forums like this when they have a problem, so it is hardly representative.  The percentage of users on here with issues is always going to be far greater than if you look at the total number of cars in total.  I'm not saying there aren't issues... nothing is perfect (especially the infotainment software), but I'm willing to trust that the guys and gals who made my car know a lot more than I do and if the start/stop activates soon after starting a journey, then the conditions are appropriate for it to do so.  If it breaks, that's what the warranty is for.

[silver1011]

I think it is fairly well known now that the manufacturers main priority is fuel efficiency.

 

I'm sure long term reliability and durability is a key area for them too but it sits firmly behind fuel consumption and emissions as it is these key elements that sell cars, to company car drivers and fleet sales; by far the largest and most important target market.

 

The vast majority of cars are sold on around the three year mark, when the warranty expires.

 

Skoda UK really aren't too bothered about how reliable a car is in years 5, 6, 7 etc.

 

The most engine wear occurs when an engine is cold, or before it reaches a settled operating temperature. Most stop/start systems won't work until a set temperature is reached but I can relate to someone, a private owner, one who plans to keep their car to a point well beyond the manufacturers standard warranty period, who might look to favour long term reliability over fuel consumption and chooses to turn off the stop/start feature.

 

There are still a few of us on here that still have a bitter taste in their mouths when VAG introduced the PD170 engine with a DPF back in 2006 that simply didn't work particularly well - all in an effort to meet emission targets.

 

Those cars today, all now well out warranty, are giving their owners some real headaches. 

Edited 30 October, 2014 by silver1011

[brad1.8T]

I'm not having a go or trying to be offensive, so apologies if I appear blunt... but I really don't understand comments like this.  It's as though you're saying you know what's better for the engine than the VAG/Skoda engineers who designed and built the engine and the car.  Why 80?  Is that an arbitrary figure, or do you have some basis to use that as your benchmark? 

 

I've seen enough balls-ups by VW engineers to know they don't always get it right.  eg: 1.4tsi oil consumption issues, 125tdi injector loom issues, 1.8L 5-valve sludging issues, early DSG6 mechatronic issues, DSG7 clutch, oil degradation & mechatronic issues and that is just the short list.

 

80 is the common temp accepted by most engineers / engine builders, etc as the lower threshold where the oil is "up to temp". 

 

As a qualified mechanic that now works as an engineer, I can understand that VW corporate engineers can't always do it "the best way" as there are either budget or time constraints that mean they have to deliver a (semi)-workable product.  In the same way, I recognise that often I can do it better than them - often at a cost that would be totally unfeasable in a production environment.

Edited 31 October, 2014 by brad1.8T