Octavia 2.0vrs 184hp diesel..anyone else this occur in their car..when viewing and after purchase on start up the rev counter needle and speedo needle quickly did a 360 around the clock and back to zero when idleing..now only rev .needle does this on start up..any ideas..car is new..well 5 weeks give or take..any answers /ideas what it may be..is there a setting on the car i may have changed while viewing the various info onthe mfd and radio???

Do you let it do a full sweep before starting?  It's normal for this to happen when you turn on the ignition but can be turned off with VCDS.

 

If it's doing it for a 2nd time after starting then it's almost certainly a glitch (AKA faulty)

@Smeghead..cheers i just double checked and ive noticed it is doing the full sweep when i take out the key from ignition and re engage it and turn on ignition it does the full sweep....was only happening onviously when i was at a stop and turning engine off but leaving keys in igniyion ..then restarting and that was why the speedo was not doing the clean sweep cos as soon as i take keys out of igntion and re engage and turn on the ignition..hey presto it swings around the dial:)..my first vrs so thanks for your reply to my post...

Never having owned a diesel powered car before I notice there's a slight delay after turning on the ignition before the engine will actually start, when the engine is cold.  I know diesels used to have something called glow-plugs, which had to heat up, so I imagine that's what I'm waiting for.

 

If that's correct, then my theory is that the speedo and rev counter dial-sweep is intended to entertain and distract the driver while waiting for the engine to be ready to start...

 

...which leads me to wonder whether this also happens on the petrol version, which can presumably start instantly from cold?

Glow plugs (on a cold day), fuel pump getting up to pressure etc.  I think they do a few pre-start checks too.

On a non vRS model you just get a text "Engine is starting..." on the maxi dot while the engine gets ready to start. I actually prefer this, because then the rpm dial informs me when the engine is starting and has got up to idle speed. (I've noticed that if you try to touch the gear lever before it's in normal idle, it turns off the ignition until you go back to P.)