Hello.

Have owned the (2011) Yeti from new (and been here all that time.) its a 1.2 dry clutch DSG with 45,000 miles on it. It remains fault free and immaculate and continues to give good service.

I have written on the Yeti forum about my wife's trouble with her leg .... getting it over the (fairly high) door sill when entering the car now that she has a medical issue.

I am toying with cars that have lower door sills .... examples being the Toyota Corolla or Seat Leon - probably in estate form. Both have door sills around 365mm from the ground. The Yeti is 420mm from the ground.

The Octavia (on paper) shows up as 385mm from the ground. We can easily drive to a dealer and check in the flesh - but if she CAN get in to it easier than the Yeti then it might be a possibility.

The Seat Leon estate doesn't come as a diesel estate auto ... only a 1.5 hybrid DSG with the dry clutch.

Maybe the dry clutch is as right as ninepence now and shouldn't be a concern - it's just that the wet clutch is, to the best of my knowledge, acknowledged as being more reliable.

A bit of homework would obviously be in order, but there are some stand-out queries from the outset ........... one being putiing my head in the lion's mouth insofar as buying another DSG. My present one is great but my understanding, over many years of following the matter, is that if you DO happen to get an issue it can be a nuisance.

I'm fairly certain that all diesel versions will be a wet clutch DSG ???? but want to be 100% sure. My own dry clutch DSG has been fine since it had the manufacturers recall (change of oil and software update whilst within warranty) but I'm obviously aware of the possibility of DSG's causing issues out of warranty and costing a small fortune. I would take out the extra two years cover if purchasing a new Octy and maybe that is enough precaution given I'm 75 next month and five years warranteed protection might be thought sufficient.

Alternatively, Toyota will cover a Corolla estate for 10 years if serviced by a Toyota dealer every year. That's quite a good scheme for those of a cautious disposition. Seat is much the same as Skoda

As a matter of interest the Fabia, Scala, Karoq and Kamiq all have sill heights higher than the vehicles mentioned above. She has tried them all. A Honda Jazz is OK and our Hyundai i10 is also OK but she is really struggling with the Yeti so it's looking like something needs to happen.

In the short term she is currently using a leather belt formed into two loops with which to yank her leg up and over the door sill, but it's not ideal.

Ta for any thoughts about ownership of an Octavia (estate).

The VW / Skoda DQ381 DSG wet clutch has not been fault free or reliable, nothing like. We will not know if the ones built in the last couple of years are any better for a year or so.

You don't paint a pretty picture there.

If that's the case with the wet ones then presumably you would look even less favourably on the dry ones?

I'm having second thoughts.

I only do low mileage with one regular weekly 15 minute 60mph 'A Road' journey there ... and then the return journey. At the moment the rest is local stuff at low speed. I guess that's not great for a 2 litre diesel.

And diesels aren't exactly simple bits of kit. I was only thinking of a diesel because they have a wet clutch, not a dry one. I don't need one for mileage reasons.

As I said earlier, mine has been fine but DSGs don't have a fabulous rep. for simplicity and for being bombproof (or cheap or easy to fix).

The only attraction is the VW dealer (who services Skodas) is nearer than the Toyota dealer - and they collect and deliver for routine services. But I'm thinking that, in itself, isn't the most sensible reason to choose a particular make and model.

Edited 30 December, 202530 Dec by oldstan

Very few reported issues of DQ200,s from the builds in the past 5 years. Maybe best with the 1.0 TSI. There is a member recently that has had an issue with a MHEV, but that is not because of the DQ200-e.

I honestly didn't know that. I have always thought (rightly or wrongly) that the wet ones posed less of a risk than the dry. I was very much aware that the dry was maintenance free and that the wet needed oil changes but apart from that have assumed the wet to be the ones to go for if looking for reliability.

The thing that initially encouraged mt was the fact that so many Octavias are used by Police and Ambulance services. not to mention minicabs - and they're not noted for mollycoddling their cars.

As mentioned, I would definitely take the extra two years warranty whichever model I chose ..... but it's a tiny bit disappointing that more manufacturers (inc. VAG) don't show more confidence in the way that Hyundai, Kia, Toyota etc. do. Heck, even Dacia have extended warranties up to 7 yrs. Slightly odd that Renault have gone back to a shorter warranty length, I rather thought Renault was on the up and up.

Edited 30 December, 202530 Dec by oldstan

7 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

The VW / Skoda DQ381 DSG wet clutch has not been fault free or reliable, nothing like. We will not know if the ones built in the last couple of years are any better for a year or so.

I spent some time trying to see evidence of the wet clutch being less than reliable .... and the dry clutch being the more reliable option and wherever I look I see that popular opinion dictates that the wet version holds up considerably better than the dry ones. Which is what I've long believed to be the case.

Help me out. I'd like to see something a concrete.

Edited 30 December, 202530 Dec by oldstan

@oldstan If all good for you then fine. 6 speed wet clutch DQ250 DSG,s are just that, reliable. 40,000 mile oil and filter changes. DQ381 80,000 with more and more failing prematurely which is good if in Warranty. Skoda saying filter change not required til the 2nd service which by their schedule is @ 160,000 miles because service guidelines, recommendations and advice from them is 80,000 mile servicing. Have you read the threads on DQ381,s and MCU failures in the Octavia, Superb, Karoq & Kodiaq sections? Where are you finding the threads on DQ200's with failures on cars from about 2020 on?

Edited 30 December, 202530 Dec by Evolution13

No, strangely enough I haven't been through all of those topics ... my enquiry was about the Octavia diesel, asking if they all had wet clutches, thinking that they were more reliable than dry ones ... which was my belief having read so many instances of dry clutch issues as opposed to the wet versions.

I fully acknowledge that my information may be ill conceived and that DQ200's are now the more favoured option ... I simply wasn't aware of it. If so I stand corrected. It's just that wherever I look in the motoring press or online I kept seeing that wet is best and dry is, well, ... less best 😊

2.0 TDI,s are wet clutch except on the 2.0 TDI,s with only 115 ps which have DQ200,s. AdBlue is the further issue. But really what are the odds of issues? You have a warranty and keep extending. New cars have Clutch Packs of DSG,s covered which is good.

All received, yes, thank you.

AND I didn't know that the 115 PS version of the 2 litre diesel is fitted with DG200 dry clutch. I don't know where you spotted that but I haven't been privy to that little snippet in all the checking I've done. That defeats the whole point of my enquiry because I would only want the Icon version (for one or two reasons) and, unless I'm mistaken, the Icon only comes with the 115 PS ... so i might as well have the 1.5 petrol with the DQ200. (and take the two years extra warranty). Would you be good enough to show me that in black and white so that if and when I mention it to a Skoda salesperson I can have it in writing when he says he doesn't know.

I had a loner 2021 Golf 2.0 TDI DSG and it was a 118ps one. Damn amazing fuel economy. It used GPS to get the best economy in corners. No engine braking was the first thing so much different from 2.0 TDI 6 speed DSG,s i have had, and i have had DQ200 vRS Fabias so know the box well enough. It was a car i could have lived with, and a Golf Estate would have been great. Only issue was the no Switches just touch sliders on the dash that did not even light up at night. Once home, filled up and on runs it was doing 80 mpg easily.

Edited 30 December, 202530 Dec by Evolution13

Thanks for the above.

But can I ask again for the data print out where it will tell an argumentative salesman that the 115 PS Tdi 2 litre diesel engine has a DQ200 attached to it. I just spotted in an article online that that same engine (the 115PS) exhibits 300 Nm torque in the graph it displays. And we know that the DQ200 only, apparently, served engines up to 250 Nm.

Believe me, these are only snippets I picked up ... I don't make any claims of expertise at all.

Edited 30 December, 202530 Dec by oldstan

I'm very confident I'm guilty of over-thinking this whole thing.

But if I'm going to spend getting on for £30k on a car I want to try to get it right.

My current Yeti and the little Hyundai i10 1.2 petrol i also have were bought new in 2011 and have been great but the Yeti might have to go and I want to try to get the right replacement.

In all honesty I'm thinking I stand the greatest chance of not getting it badly wrong by moving away from VAG and going with a base model 1.8 Hybrid Corolla Touring Sport (the estate car version) ... their engine and transmission seems to be well proven, extremely economical and Toyota have enough confidence in their product to offer an ongoing 10 year warranty (if serviced at a main dealer). I don't mind spending time researching and am grateful for advice received but get the feeling that's where I should be looking further. I could be wrong though ... I can only do my best (which sometimes isn't all that wonderful)

5 hours ago, oldstan said:

more manufacturers (inc. VAG) don't show more confidence in the way that Hyundai, Kia, Toyota etc. do. Heck, even Dacia have extended warranties up to 7 yrs.

Idk if it is different in UK, but in Europe Skoda does 9 years extended warranty.

There's most certainly nothing like nine years cover included in any of the VAG products.

Off the top of my head Toyota / Lexus give a basic 3 yrs but if serviced at a Toyota dealer they extend the warranty for a further year at a time up to ten (I don't think that includes breakdown cover though).

Similar thing with Dacia and Suzuki - up to 7 yrs.

Kia - 7yrs

Hyundai 5 yrs

MG 7 yrs

@Edela Which regions of Europe or the EU have a 9 years Manufacturer Warranty on a Skoda? The UK is still actually in Europe. In Australia there is a 7 year / unlimited warranty on most new Skoda's. @oldstan The 20.tdi with 115/116/118 as i unstand has 300 Nm with the manual and 250 Nm with the DSG. Same as VW did with the Polo GTI 192 PS from 2015 after the 1.4 TSI Twincharger. 320 Nm manual & 250 Nm and the DQ200 DSG used. Actually that was a load of kidology, the seemingly heavier DSG car with lesss torque was actually faster, and when we put one on the Dyno and the scales the official figures were kidology. What we did was put them head to head as well. It was a pity Auto Car did not.

Edited 30 December, 202530 Dec by Evolution13

All received.👍

I think you’re worried about something not worth worrying about. Buy a new Octavia and enjoy it.

2 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

Which regions of Europe or the EU have a 9 years Manufacturer Warranty on a Skoda?

Manufacturer's 5 years, then it is downgraded in coverage, but still covers pretty much everything. Here in Spain I'm on 6th year of warranty currently.

I can only see that is Spain there is the option of an extended manufacturers warranty to 5 years. In the UK you have the option of 4 or 5 years, and you just need to opt for that before the car is First Registered. Then obviously pay the cost of which option you go with.

In UK we can also use the All-In service plan to get an extra two year’s warranty, services, two MOTs and breakdown cover. Can be purchased for cars up to 6yo and less than 100k miles - so potentially up to 8yr warranty.

Need to check Ts & Cs for the full details of the warranty cover though.

16 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

I can only see that is Spain there is the option of an extended manufacturers warranty to 5 years. In the UK you have the option of 4 or 5 years, and you just need to opt for that before the car is First Registered. Then obviously pay the cost of which option you go with.

Just to make it clear, standard manufacturer warranty in Spain is 2 years. You have option to extend it up to 5 years when buying a car, or when 2 years is finishing. If you choose to extend it past whatever amount of years you got when you bought a car, you may keep extending it up to 9 years for a reasonable price. After 5 years it is downgraded one step below manufacturers (and frankly, I could not get a clear answer from workshop nor from reading contract what the difference is), or you choose lowest coverage, which is main components coverage, for even smaller price. Again, list of these "main components" is so long that I struggle to understand what it does not cover.

18 hours ago, whippersnapper said:

I think you’re worried about something not worth worrying about. Buy a new Octavia and enjoy it.

If I'm spending nearly £30,000 of my own money on something I'm going to do more in terms of trying to get it right than simply buy it and hope to enjoy it.

Briskoda has, for all the time I've been a member, prided itself on in depth conversation about detail .. sometimes in much detail in order to arrive at a conclusion. My enquiry was reasonably simple and revolved around what type of DSG was fitted to a particular range of cars. It transpires that the answer isn't necessarily that straightforward so forgive me if my enquiries appear unnecessarily pedantic.

@Edela Plenty threads on here over the years on the Manufacturers Warranty, Extended Warranty before car registered then Extended Warranty or the Skoda Approved Extended Warranty as there was. Then the Extended Warranty to purchase at the End of the 3 year or 4 or 5 if the vehicle has that cover. Or the All in one. The people that seem to not know are usually in the Main Dealership or Skoda's Customer Services. I used to have a friend that would even go in on a day off or holiday to sign up New or Extended Warranties. That was because the commission she got made it well worth her time.