Hello all

 

I drive a 2016 Octavia 1.4 TSI DSG. It’s on 32000 miles and owned since October last year. It’s wearing 205/55/16 tyres, just for reference. It's a fantastic car but I have never been very satisfied with the steering/suspension setup.

 

Since owning the car, I’ve always found it to be very wallowy, vague and not very planted, especially on the motorway. It feels like it wants to float all over the road and doesn’t stay in lane very well. Strangely, it doesn’t seem to tramline or pull to one side, it just feels like I am floating on top of the road and it is getting blown all over the place. Th Mk5/6 Golfs I have owned didn’t do this as much, nor my previous Astra J estate, dad’s B8 Passat etc. Admittedly the latter two are vastly heavier cars with wider tyres (both on 225/17’s.). It's essentially lacking that "planted" feel a lot of other cars have.

 

My other concern is the initial steering input about an inch either side of the centre feels incredibly light, vague and twitchy. My Astra was much like this but still felt very planted at speed. The Octavia’s steering seems to firm up and become very responsive after a few degrees of input, after which it handles pretty well. It’s not quite as bad in sport mode though still very spongy and vague. It's like the steering isn't quite sure what to do until it's been turned a few degrees which can make it feel pretty all over the place in a straight line. I feel I have to always keep two hands on the wheel or it will be too twitchy.

 

I recently changed my rear shocks to Sachs Mk7 Golf ones (I may make a post to discuss how I did this and the difference it made), and this has helped make the car a little more planted and ride vastly better, though it still is not amazing. I’m going to look into getting the fronts changed as well. Slightly higher tyre pressures have also helped a bit.

 

In December, I had 4 Michelin Primary 4 tyres fitted as it was still on its original Michelins. I also had the alignment done. These tyres have now done about 3000 miles. The tyre fitter said to me something within the steering rack/suspension had a small knock to it, as if the car had hit a big pothole/been in a minor accident. He said he had adjusted the tracking to account for this but the car may pull slightly to the left (it thankfully doesn’t). He then said whatever the issue was would cost hundreds to fix but should not ever need doing. I annoyingly can’t remember the exact bit he said was slightly damaged.

 

Here is my alignment check. Does this look as it should? People seem to suggest that cars should have a slight toe-in for straight line stability. I’ve always thought the car didn’t feel quite as good after changing the tyres and having the alignment done.

I’m pretty used to how it drives and it doesn’t always bother me – is the Octavia just a very wallowy car, or does mine need looking at? I definitely am going to get the damage looked at by an alignment specialist again. Thoughts?

 

The Octavia mk3s with the small turbo engines are relatively light for their size and my 1.4tsi wagon definitely feels a cross wind more than my old mk2, with the heavier 1.9pd engine up front, ever did.

However, while I agree that the steering is very light about centre I find it is also very sensitive to any steering wheel movements and very accurate so I don't so much as steer as 'think' it (minimal wheel movements) in the direction I want, on straights or on long bends.

We recently completed a long trip, principally on pretty average, undivided, single lane in each direction, roads at 100kph(ish) speeds and it was interesting to note that my wife made more and larger continual steering corrections  than I do when driving. I think this is the reason she finds long distance driving more taxing than I do.

I find that while the car readily feels the effects of cross winds and the slipstream of large trucks from the other direction if I resist the temptation to move the steering to 'counter' the wind effect it still steers accurately because I find the mk3 (and mk2 before it) has little or no slack in the steering.

 

Out of curiosity what pressure do you run your tyres? I ran our previously fitted 17 inch Michelin Primacy tyres at 37psi which I found to be best (purely personal preference) but even then for the last 10k km of their 50k km life the ride had deteriorated noticeably whatever pressure I tried. The Primacy also felt like they were not in contact with the ground at all when new but did improve after a couple of hundred km when the tread lost its 'gloss'. I did not think my experiences with them were as good as some of the glowing test results I read.

 

I was always told that RWD cars require toe-out settings and FWD toe-in settings to maximise tyre life. Might be different in a competition environment but I have no experience in that area.

 

Thanks for the advice. I tried your idea of "thinking" the steering and it worked well. I think I'm still used to 2 years of driving my Astra which did have a dead zone and required a bit of over-correction to keep it steady. The hot weather at the moment is also helping the car feel more grippy and planted.

 

I'm currently running the backs at 31 psi (Skoda's recommended pressure) and the fronts at 33. I've had the fronts up to 34-35 psi which helps things but starts to deteriorate the ride a bit, hence I'm reluctant to take the fronts or backs much higher. It's a shame Skoda seemed to do a pretty sub-par job of both handling and ride quality - there doesn't seem to be a good compromise between the two without changing the shocks as I have done for the rear of the car.

 

Interesting point about the Michelin Primacy, I thought the ride felt much firmer for the first few hundred miles after getting them. Grip is excellent however, particularly during the frosty winter.

The problem is the basic functioning of electric power steering compared to hydraulic power steering, the latter if correctly designed feels exactly like and has the same responses to control inputs as a non assisted manual rack but simply less effort.

 

The former is a crock of sho1te by comparison and I absolutely hated the steering on my MK2 Octavia compared to the MK1, the Yeti is no better I have just become used to it and having to make continuous fingertip control inputs to maintain as close to a straight trajectory as I am able.

I'd say that your steering sounds similar to mine & you have the same sized wheels & tyres fitted as I do. It has a slightly none directional feel to it on longer runs or mine does, anyway. I'm generally happy with the 16" wheels to be honest, one of the reasons I'd bought my car. I prefer a slightly softer suspension set up. I've owned many Astra's previous to this car, too, but on a whole I'd say the Octavia feels far better put together & up to now has been more reliable, too.