Road noise - Octavia VRS III facelift

[Chimble]

Tyre noise - I know this has been covered before but bare with me.

Two months ago I took delivery of a 2017 VRS MKIII TSi facelift model. It is a great car in most respects. However, I soon became aware of a resonating roar inside the car which I pressumed to be the Bridgestone Potensa tyres. They are know to be noisy on certain vehicles.

I was a bit concerned by this as my wife has a 2014 VRS TDI and we have never noticed this noise in her car. Indeed, we have just returned from a trip to Prague where we did the outbound leg non-stop, a distance of over 800 miles, and were not in least bit fatigued at the end of the trip. I do not think I would feel as fresh if I were to do the trip in my new petrol VRS given the amount of noise.

Anyway, thinking the problem was the tyres, I changed the Bridgestones to Dunlop Sport Max RT2's but this made little difference. These tyres had been on the VRS TDI in the summer and they were taken off in place of winter tyres for the trip to Prague. Again, they had been very quiet on the 2014 car.

Here is the question. Have they actually reduced the soundproofing in the 2017 model or made any other changes to this model that would make it so much worse than the 2014 model? In terms of specification, the only difference between the cars, other than age and engine type, is that my wife's 2104 VRS TDI has the Canton upgrade. So is the difference between the two cars down to manufacturing or is the Canton noise cancellation system actually making the 2014 car seem so much more refined? If it is the down to the Canton system, there lies the answer to the problem. Order Canton and you won't have a problem.

I haven't taken any actual decibel readings because the difference is so obvious I didn't see the need.

Edited 31 January, 2018 by Chimble
Added more information.

[norsko]

You notice tyre noise because the TSI engine is quiet.

Canton dont have noise cancellation

 

[Chimble]

Yes, Canton does have noise cancellation. It works in the background all the time. There is no option to turn it off. 

 This is taken from the Canton website :The key characteristics of the CANTON sound systems for ŠKODA are dynamic noise cancellation, impressive virtual surround sound and balanced acoustics for all styles of music.    https://www.canton.de/en/skoda-en

The TSI engine is quiet but that does not account for the noise.  Given that we own both variants of the VRS I can go from one car to other and drive the same roads and there is a big difference in sound.

It is a shame because it spoils an otherwise fine car.

[Swirly182]

Do you have the 18" or 19" wheels? 

[Chimble]

I have the standard 18" wheels with Dunlop tyres. As other people have stated on other posts, the type of road surface makes a lot of difference to the amount of noise. I will be going to the Nurburgring in April so it will interesting to see what German roads will be like.

[Chimble]

48 minutes ago, Swirly182 said:

Do you have the 18" or 19" wheels? 

Have you ordered Canton with your 245 vRS?

[Muzza80]

I've ordered Canton with my 245 and I'm hoping road noise is not a huge issue as I've a newborn who will be in the car a lot.    I get it next week so will have a better idea then.   Certainly the 67 plate VRS 4x4 I had from the dealer for the weekend also on 19's with Canton was a marked improvement on my previous MK2 TDI VRS on 18's.

 

I'll also be going to the Nurburgring with my car in August, been before, the Dutch and German roads are so much better than ours, especially the motorways, they're in such fantastic condition and the tarmac is so much smoother than we get here.    An absolute pleasure to drive on.

 

 

Edited 1 February, 2018 by Muzza80

[Chimble]

I would be interested to know how you get on with your 245. I stuck with the 230 because I am not that keen on the 19" extreme alloys ( each to their own).

I did not order Canton because I thought having it in both cars was a bit much. It is a great system, however, and once the speakers are run-in the sound is great.

I went to the Ring three times last year in our 2014 vRS TDI. It has been mapped and I had a good time there but the lack of revs means you are always in a higher gear relative to the petrol cars on the track.

You are right about the roads over there. They are so much better. On one trip I did there and back in a day, a total of 876 miles including the laps on track.

[Swirly182]

9 hours ago, Chimble said:

Have you ordered Canton with your 245 vRS?

 

Unfortunately not, it's a bog standard manual estate. I wasn't aware that the Canton upgrade had noise cancellation. 

[Chimble]

16 minutes ago, Swirly182 said:

 

Unfortunately not, it's a bog standard manual estate. I wasn't aware that the Canton upgrade had noise cancellation. 

Let's hope you don't have an issue with road noise then. It does seem that anyone who says they have not noticed a problem with noise either have Canton or have had a road test in a car with Canton.

It never occurred to me at the time of ordering that  this would be a problem if i never specified Canton.

[ahenners]

40 minutes ago, Chimble said:

Let's hope you don't have an issue with road noise then. It does seem that anyone who says they have not noticed a problem with noise either have Canton or have had a road test in a car with Canton.

It never occurred to me at the time of ordering that  this would be a problem if i never specified Canton.

 

Road noise is doing my head in at the moment, sounds like it's mainly from the rear. I have Canton. It's only once I turn up the Canton system to drown it out that it disappears. Mine's a hatch though.

Edited 1 February, 2018 by ahenners

[Redboy]

15 minutes ago, ahenners said:

 

Road noise is doing my head in at the moment, sounds like it's mainly from the rear. I have Canton. It's only once I turn up the Canton system to drown it out that it disappears. Mine's a hatch though.

 

Are your rear tyres original? I ask because my car is getting louder from the rear and it's attributable to the Potenza rears which are originals at 27000 plus miles. It's a similar noise to my MkII which had rear tyre feathering, yet the edges seem ok and wear is even. The Potenza fronts were replaced with Assymetric F3 and I noticed immediately that they are definitely quieter. The rear grip is still ok and tread will be still around  4mm+ when measured at the last service in December so I will put up with it for a bit longer. With or without Canton I think you either turn up the stereo or buy some softer compound tyres and fit sound proofing. Compared to the cars I first drove, this is like a limo  

[ahenners]

31 minutes ago, Redboy said:

 

Are your rear tyres original? I ask because my car is getting louder from the rear and it's attributable to the Potenza rears which are originals at 27000 plus miles. It's a similar noise to my MkII which had rear tyre feathering, yet the edges seem ok and wear is even. The Potenza fronts were replaced with Assymetric F3 and I noticed immediately that they are definitely quieter. The rear grip is still ok and tread will be still around  4mm+ when measured at the last service in December so I will put up with it for a bit longer. With or without Canton I think you either turn up the stereo or buy some softer compound tyres and fit sound proofing. Compared to the cars I first drove, this is like a limo  

 

No, I haven't owned from new, but it had Conti SC 2 when I bought (think they were originals) which were replaced with SC5 in the tail end of 2016. My fronts are nearly ready for being replaced ~3mm, so I'm going to get some F1 AS3 and stick them on the back. The rears are about 5mm and have covered about 20k but seem to be noisier now than when new. Going to get a full hunter alignment done after the tyre swap and rotation too to rule out tyres + alignment.

 

Sound proofing of boot, rear seat and rear arches is also on the cards, but perhaps when the weather gets better/warmer. Turning up the sound system is a suitable alternative in the meantime 

Edited 1 February, 2018 by ahenners

[Chimble]

1 hour ago, ahenners said:

 

Road noise is doing my head in at the moment, sounds like it's mainly from the rear. I have Canton. It's only once I turn up the Canton system to drown it out that it disappears. Mine's a hatch though.

Mine is a 67 plate hatch. Our other car is a 2014 vRS TDI estate. It is odd but it just seems more refined, particularly as you would expect the diesel to be less refined than the petrol. 

I got the petrol for it's performance at track days and the Nurburgring but I have to be honest, I think the diesel is a much better all-rounder and with a re-map, it's no slouch. I showed a clean pair of heels to a Cooper S at my last visit to the ring. Not bad for a family diesel estate.

It seems I will have to learn to live with the noise. At least in sport mode the sound generator drowns out the tyre noise!

[ahenners]

2 minutes ago, Chimble said:

Mine is a 67 plate hatch. Our other car is a 2014 vRS TDI estate. It is odd but it just seems more refined, particularly as you would expect the diesel to be less refined than the petrol. 

I got the petrol for it's performance at track days and the Nurburgring but I have to be honest, I think the diesel is a much better all-rounder and with a re-map, it's no slouch. I showed a clean pair of heels to a Cooper S at my last visit to the ring. Not bad for a family diesel estate.

It seems I will have to learn to live with the noise. At least in sport mode the sound generator drowns out the tyre noise!

 

It's odd - I've seen so many people complain about refinement issues and others report no issue. Not sure if it's down to inconsistencies between cars, or because it's a subjective issue. I don't think Canton vs No Canton really makes any difference beyond it being a better sound system.

 

I wasn't blown away by the Diesel (though based on a limited test drive), but sometimes do wonder whether it is the better all rounder. A re-map certainly makes the diesel more competitive on performance, though if both petrol and diesel are remapped, there's still only 1 winner. I do about 16k and mostly motorway so the petrol/diesel debate went on for some time, but in the end a perfect spec petrol came up in budget and here we are. It's still fairly cheap to run in the grand scheme of things and I average 40mpg most days.

 

Interesting point about the sport mode drowning out the tyre noise. I turned mine to 35% not long after purchase, and more recently dropped it to 0%. Perhaps that's why I'm now noticing tyre noise more....

[Alpha2110]

Has anyone seen this survey 

 

http://elevatingsound.com/the-price-of-quiet-driving/

 

Basically the octavia is one of the loudest car out there!

[MorrisOx]

7 minutes ago, Alpha2110 said:

Has anyone seen this survey 

 

http://elevatingsound.com/the-price-of-quiet-driving/

 

Basically the octavia is one of the loudest car out there!

 

Hmm. It’s a 2013 article referring to a 2008 test, so not sure how representative it is of today’s Octy.

[Gerrycan]

Skoda advertising for the Mk3 have always included the 'noise cancellation' systems references for the higher spec sound system but this has been discussed in this forum several times and I don't recall a categorical confirmation that it was installed, operational or effective. 

Even the Skoda dealers I've asked here in Australia were at best vague and evasive in their replies about the system and referred mainly to the basic speed/volume facility which is not the same thing at all.

[puhleese]

I can only speak for my 4 month old VRS MY18. Quiet as I could want it in Comfort mode and noisy as I would like in sports mode, and that's on our less than 'quality' NSW roads :-)

[Alpha2110]

9 hours ago, MorrisOx said:

 

Hmm. It’s a 2013 article referring to a 2008 test, so not sure how representative it is of today’s Octy.

Its all relative, many people agree the mk2 octavia was a quieter car. That tells you somthing right there. Also it comes to somthing if you need to use noise cancelling to make a car quieter.

[MorrisOx]

Yep, fair point and I think the principle of doing something about road noise is one car makers should pay a lot more attention to. Never mind the kit and the styling and the performance, where’s the quality - or safety - in a noisy box?

Edited 2 February, 2018 by MorrisOx

[nidza]

6 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

Even the Skoda dealers I've asked here in Australia were at best vague and evasive in their replies about the system and referred mainly to the basic speed/volume facility which is not the same thing at all.

 

Today no dealers are better then a Google, generally speaking. You can prepare yourself through the forums, YouTube and the Web quite well before investing any technical device.

 

I have a Canton system and, besides the wind noise, as majority of my driving is on the open road above 130km/h, can't find any difference whether HU is turned on or off. But, this doesn't mean a thing, it can work on its own. The car isn't particularly loud. Please take into consider the car is huge, light and, besides loads of latest technology, still affordable beyond compare. 

[norsko]

On ‎31‎.‎01‎.‎2018 at 19:42, Chimble said:

Yes, Canton does have noise cancellation. It works in the background all the time. There is no option to turn it off. 

 This is taken from the Canton website :The key characteristics of the CANTON sound systems for ŠKODA are dynamic noise cancellation, impressive virtual surround sound and balanced acoustics for all styles of music.    https://www.canton.de/en/skoda-en

The TSI engine is quiet but that does not account for the noise.  Given that we own both variants of the VRS I can go from one car to other and drive the same roads and there is a big difference in sound.

It is a shame because it spoils an otherwise fine car.

This "noise cancellation" is just a gimmick. I've unplugged the amp and there is NO difference in noise level. 

[nidza]

On 2/1/2018 at 09:05, Muzza80 said:

I've ordered Canton with my 245 and I'm hoping road noise is not a huge issue as I've a newborn who will be in the car a lot.   

 

Newborn will like road noise, believe me. 

[Chimble]

5 hours ago, nidza said:

 

Today no dealers are better then a Google, generally speaking. You can prepare yourself through the forums, YouTube and the Web quite well before investing any technical device.

 

I have a Canton system and, besides the wind noise, as majority of my driving is on the open road above 130km/h, can't find any difference whether HU is turned on or off. But, this doesn't mean a thing, it can work on its own. The car isn't particularly loud. Please take into consider the car is huge, light and, besides loads of latest technology, still affordable beyond compare. 

Yes, I think you make a valid point. Perhaps we are being a bit unfair. The Octavia vRS is a lot cheaper than the equivalent Golf GTI but we seem to expect Audi quality. There has to be a saving somewhere.

When I consider that I paid just over £20k for my 67 plate, OTR, brand new, delivered to my door with just 8 miles on the clock, how can I complain really. I bought through a broker so I never had a test drive. I made my decision to buy based on my experience with our 2014 model.

I have to say, however, that while the petrol version is thrilling to drive, I have a soft spot for our vRS TDI. It just does everything so well. On one trip through Germany to the Nurburgring, a distance of 420 miles one way, it averaged 58 mpg and 54 mpg for the entire round trip.