Now that we just added another Octavia to the 'collection' (one MKII (1Z5) and the 'new' 2018 MKIII (5E5 'Scout') I'm collecting service manuals for the thing. Since Skoda stopped using ELSAWIN (which I used for the first Octavia MKI and still use for the MKII) I'm looking for downloadable manuals of which there seems to be a plethora available at places like https://procarmanuals.com et al. There is also the 'official' way of buying a 1-hour subscription for erWin and slurp down whatever material is found there but I'm left wondering whether there is any difference between the (clearly official) material found on the various sites on the 'net and the manuals downloaded from erWin. As an example the most recent version of the 2.0l/110kW TDI CR engine manual I've found is the 'edition 07/2014', is the manual found on erWin newer and if so why is it not found elsewhere? I don't mind paying for an hour or a day but if all I find there is the same I already downloaded elsewhere I may as well save the time and effort in subscribing to yet another site and paying for access.

So, is the documentation on erWin the same as the stuff available on https://procarmanuals.com (et al) or is it significantly more up to date? It is rather surprising that there does not seem to be Skoda-related material newer than ~2015 on those download sites so I can but assume that erWin does not offer newer stuff either - but what about the facelift in 2017, that should have led to an updated body work manual at least?

FYI, I found at least a wiring diagram for the 2017+ facelift version:

https://fixmycarinfo.com/skoda/octavia-3/

19 hours ago, knarf said:

FYI, I found at least a wiring diagram for the 2017+ facelift version:

https://fixmycarinfo.com/skoda/octavia-3/

Good spot!

I looked-up my Superb and toyed with the idea of printing off the diagrams until I noticed that it is 7862 pages long!!😆

I think the download option might be better.

For those who want to know I found out that the manuals on erWin are more up to date than the ones found scattered around the 'net. This leaves the question why these updated versions have not appeared on sites like https://procarmanuals.com/ (which is but one of many similar peddlers of outdated but still useable manuals). To those running erWin a tip: allow potential users to see what information is available - i.e. show the front page of all manuals with their publishing dates for a given VIN - without having to buy time. It seems to be possible to download all you need for a single VIN in about 30 minutes (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1hnOxlVbuU 'If you only need info for 1 car, you can find all you need in 30 min.') so a 1 hour subscription (€7 excl. VAT) should be enough but maybe it is worth spending €25 excl. VAT to peruse the site for a whole day and pull off everything of interest - not having been there yet I can't tell.