XDS, or EDL, or XDL+ electronic differential lock - is it supplied at all in the UK?

[nickcoll]

It's at least as much about torque as it is about power, arguably more so, and the TDis have quite a bit more torque... 

 

400 plays 370 for the VRS, and 360 plays 250 for the 150PS models.

[langers2k]

You don't need to convince me, it's down to VAG/Skoda

 

 

I can only imagine they are using PS rather than torque to drive their decisions based purely on which cars currently get the VAQ

 

[Ootohere]

Off Topic. But.

 

With the likes of Supercars of London blogs and others you do get cars driven like they might be.

 

With the RS3 some of us knew they were burning oil. Audi said not, then a few got thrashed from new and not warmed up.

 

Audi quickly knew that at the Launches they needed to go get the cars warmed up before 'Guests / Journalists / people that enjoy driving spirited' were going out in their cars.

Then eventually they had at the factory deal with Fundamental design / manufacturing / software and hardware issues.

 

Some Vloggers / Roadtesters show issues that the Factory Test drivers never revealed, or the 'in their pocket Motoring Press hacks'.

 

Drive it like you might if you buy them or like many do, lease them and return... then that is real world.

 

 

 

[nickcoll]

2 minutes ago, e-Roottoot said:

 

Drive it like you might if you buy them or like many do, lease them and return... then that is real world.

 

That is obviously one way of doing it. Personally I prefer to do my homework and get the right car for me and then keep it for a decent length of time.

 

Swapping cars continually has never appealed to me, but I can see that others do use that approach.

[Ootohere]

@nickcoll  Nail on the head.  So you want a 'Keeper' and buying it, so Road Testers / Reviewers / Journalists testing and articles need taking with a pinch of salt.

 

Look at Tiff Needell or Chis Harris and others and what they have as family cars / long term vehicles bought with their cash money.

Driven by them or partners, family etc.

 

The Journalist did a big up on Toyota GT86 /Subaru BRZ's.  best thing since sliced bread, Primacy Tyres and hang out the back end with only 200ps.

How many motoring journalist bought one of them?

 

Same with the new Yaris GR, amazing, thrash it, buy as a keeper. or until you punt it.   Thrash the demonstrators and use your own car in a way you keep your driving license.

Old people can corner old people city cars at 60 mph even on wet roads.

Is there oversteer.  lift-off oversteer, understeer, trail braking etc going on , or just actually driving cars on the road and getting where they are safely on their own side of the white line!

 

 

 

 

Edited 24 February, 2021 by e-Roottoot

[nickcoll]

Unsurprisingly (at least to me) Skoda UK have not replied to my enquiry asking them about what form of LSD is fitted to which car. I assume that maybe they don't know?

[Skodev]

From the journo’s reviews it seems to track the same as the Mk3, mechanical diff for petrol and electronic diff for diesel. But I can only find reviews of the front wheel drive vRS’s. 

I’ve ordered a 4 wheel drive vRS, but can find absolutely no information on what type of system the Mk4 has, how it works or how much power can be sent to individual wheels in case of traction issues etc etc. Neither written or spoken word. 
So I’ll just keep looking. 🤷🏻‍♂️😬

[Jmagee]

N

19 hours ago, Skodev said:

From the journo’s reviews it seems to track the same as the Mk3, mechanical diff for petrol and electronic diff for diesel. But I can only find reviews of the front wheel drive vRS’s. 

I’ve ordered a 4 wheel drive vRS, but can find absolutely no information on what type of system the Mk4 has, how it works or how much power can be sent to individual wheels in case of traction issues etc etc. Neither written or spoken word. 
So I’ll just keep looking. 🤷🏻‍♂️😬

 

I'm sure the carwow review said something about 90% of the traction being sent to one wheel if needed but could be making that up. I'm sure they're all individually controlled should traction be an issue.

[J.R.]

On 24/02/2021 at 03:18, Schtum said:

 

The Autocar test of the FWD vRS diesel stresses that the car doesn't have any electronic differential aids.  I wonder if it's a case of the software being in the ECU but not enabled.  This is certainly the case on several models of earlier cars such as my 2016 Yeti 150 TDI 4x4 which like all Yetis didn't have XDS enabled from the factory.  However, it's a relatively simple matter to enable it with VCDS.  

 

It would only take someone with a recent VCDS cable and a bit of knowledge to have a look to see if XDL can be enabled on the MK4 vRS Octavia. 

 

Do you or anyone else have any details of how I can check if this is enabled and/or can be enabled on my Yeti please?

 

I dont want to drive it like I have stolen it, there is no lack of traction under any normal situation but on the rare off road excursions without one of the systems enabled it could easily become immobile if cross axled.

 

My MK2 Octavia was a real dissapointment compared to the MK1 when pulling across a junction in slippery conditions or joining a road with oncoming traffic , it simply could not nip across like the MK1 did, that would make a horrible graunching noise from the braked wheel & put as much power through the other wheel as it could take without spinning, the MK2 just cut the power leaving you stranded.

[Skodev]

1 hour ago, Jmagee said:

N

 

I'm sure the carwow review said something about 90% of the traction being sent to one wheel if needed but could be making that up. I'm sure they're all individually controlled should traction be an issue.

Is that the car wow review of the 245? I’ll give it another watch. Thanks. 👍🏼

[Schtum]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

 

Do you or anyone else have any details of how I can check if this is enabled and/or can be enabled on my Yeti please?

 

 

XDS was enabled on my car thus:   

 

In VCDS Select Control Module, go to (03) ABS Brakes, then (10) Adaptation, go to Channel:

Channel 09 Brake Assist (This will then activates Channel 36)

There are 3 settings:

0-center (stock setting)

1-small

2-hard

Channel 36 XDS

There are 3 settings:

0-center (stock setting)

1-weak

2-strong

[Jmagee]

1 hour ago, Skodev said:

Is that the car wow review of the 245? I’ll give it another watch. Thanks. 👍🏼

I think so but I watched so many before buying the car I could be wrong. 

[J.R.]

1 hour ago, Schtum said:

 

XDS was enabled on my car thus:   

 

In VCDS Select Control Module, go to (03) ABS Brakes, then (10) Adaptation, go to Channel:

Channel 09 Brake Assist (This will then activates Channel 36)

There are 3 settings:

0-center (stock setting)

1-small

2-hard

Channel 36 XDS

There are 3 settings:

0-center (stock setting)

1-weak

2-strong

Thanks a lot, I changed the brake assist recently and it did not seem to make any difference to the braking effort, I assumed that it would be like having more servo assistance, perhaps like many things in VCDS the terminology is incorrect and it relates to the braking intervention on stability control and the XDS.

 

I will have a go at it tomorrow.

[Skodev]

1 hour ago, Jmagee said:

I think so but I watched so many before buying the car I could be wrong. 

🤣🤣 tell me about it. As much as I try and play it cool whilst waiting for the car, I just end up scouring YouTube for anything I can find on the new model. I’ve even watched some in German and Czech just to see if I can glean a little more detail just from the images. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Edited 3 March, 2021 by Skodev

[TheUltraRunner]

1 minute ago, Skodev said:

🤣🤣 tell me about it. As much as I try and play it cool whilst waiting for the car, I just end up scouring YouTube for anything I can find on the new model. I e even watched some in German and Czech just to see if I can glean a little more detail just from the images. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I got my car 2 months ago but I'm still doing the same as you. 

[Skodev]

1 minute ago, TheUltraRunner said:

I got my car 2 months ago but I'm still doing the same as you. 

🤣🤣✌🏼

Edited 3 March, 2021 by Skodev

[Shelvock]

11 hours ago, Skodev said:

🤣🤣 tell me about it. As much as I try and play it cool whilst waiting for the car, I just end up scouring YouTube for anything I can find on the new model. I’ve even watched some in German and Czech just to see if I can glean a little more detail just from the images. 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

Yep, exactly the same here, I've been watching videos of Estonians trying to put the power down in the snow and ice lately 🤣 Still got at least 3 months to wait 🤦🏽‍♂️

[Skodev]

56 minutes ago, Shelvock said:

 

Yep, exactly the same here, I've been watching videos of Estonians trying to put the power down in the snow and ice lately 🤣 Still got at least 3 months to wait 🤦🏽‍♂️

I think I may have seen that one too.    🤣🤣

Theres a Slovakian one (I think) where the TSI and Diesel 4x4 drag race for a few minutes. Quite entertaining even though I have no idea what is being said. 
 

Ah well we can’t all be wrong, this thread is making me feel a little better about myself, if nothing else. 👍🏼✌🏼

[Aarond]

6 hours ago, Skodev said:

I think I may have seen that one too.    🤣🤣

Theres a Slovakian one (I think) where the TSI and Diesel 4x4 drag race for a few minutes. Quite entertaining even though I have no idea what is being said. 
 

Ah well we can’t all be wrong, this thread is making me feel a little better about myself, if nothing else. 👍🏼✌🏼

I've been doing the same guys. The 4x4 TDI guy keeps pulling away from the TSI guy, TSI guy shouts out in frustration a lot, TSI guy looks like he's been spending a long time lifting weights? What are we to watch now..?

[Skodev]

1 hour ago, Aarond said:

I've been doing the same guys. The 4x4 TDI guy keeps pulling away from the TSI guy, TSI guy shouts out in frustration a lot, TSI guy looks like he's been spending a long time lifting weights? What are we to watch now..?

Just keep looking for the next video my friend, just keep looking. 🤣🤣🤣 

[nickcoll]

After having no response at all from Skoda UK I asked the salesman at a local dealership whether it was fitted to the 4x4s and he has just come back with an answer that it is NOT fitted. Apparently it is only fitted to the 245PS petrol engined models.

 

I am really gutted and not keen to "upgrade" to a car which will have less good handling. I enjoy driving my Mk3 4x4, and a large part of that enjoyment is the great handling which is definitely partly due to the XDS killing the understeer. I am not going to pay north of £30k for a new car which is less good.

 

If anyone knows definitively whether this is a simple switch using VCDS then please let me know!

[Ootohere]

Best drive one and see if there is actually a case of 'less good handing' 

?

Drive the car up a 60 mph NSL road and go around corners and then tell us if you are getting understeer.

Up that a few MPH and see how any 'Emergency Services' drivers / crews will be getting on if they are driving standard models and not 'Blue light' specials.

[langers2k]

35 minutes ago, nickcoll said:

After having no response at all from Skoda UK I asked the salesman at a local dealership whether it was fitted to the 4x4s and he has just come back with an answer that it is NOT fitted. Apparently it is only fitted to the 245PS petrol engined models.

 

Sorry, can you clarify exactly what's only fitted to the 245ps petrol?

 

As I mentioned previously, I would expect the 245ps to get the E-LSD but all models should have EDL+XDS as it's part of the ABS system. Exactly the same as the MK3's...

[langers2k]

Just to help settle your mind. Here is a Polish website showing the base model gets ESP with ABS, EBD, MSR, ASR, EDL, HBA, DSR, RBS, ESBS, TSA, XDS+ as standard: https://www.wyborkierowcow.pl/nowa-skoda-octavia-2020-opis-wersji-i-cennik/

 

Example video showing the EDL in action on a MK4 Scout:

 

[nickcoll]

Well - I can't clarify or verify anything because I just don't know. That's exactly why I have been asking.

 

All I can say is that my 2013 4x4 TDi estate was explicitly fitted with a 'differential lock' referred to as XDS. This was not fitted to non-4x4 models. The brochure at the time makes that clear (see screenshot attached).

 

The non-4x4s at the time were fitted with: ESC incl ABS, EBV, MSR, ASR, EDS, HBA, DSR, ESBS, TSA, MKB & Prefill according to the brochure.

 

Roll on to the present and I have been trying to find out whether the modern equivalent of XDS is fitted to the new 4x4s. I believe that this is called EDL or EDL+, but there is an absolute absence of information about what these amount to.

 

As Skodev says above

Quote

I’ve ordered a 4 wheel drive vRS, but can find absolutely no information on what type of system the Mk4 has, how it works or how much power can be sent to individual wheels in case of traction issues etc etc. Neither written or spoken word.

 

Clearly locking diffs can take multiple forms and I am now thinking that the salesman's answer from Skoda UK is basically saying that the mechanical LSD is only fitted to the 245PS petrol variants, which is fair enough as they need it being FWD-only. However I can't get any answer at all about whether the equivalent of XDS is fitted to a new 4x4 TDi model.

 

For my model this was a specific additional fitment for the 4x4s and it may be the case that it is now an automatic fitment to all Octavias which don't have the VAQ - but in the absence of any real information this is simply speculation. I am maybe expecting too much but would prefer to know for certain before splurging £30k+ on a new car!

2014 4x4 Diff lock.pdf