Anyone out there who as a Mark 1 Octavia (ie 1998-2000) who wants a fancier gear knob forget it. These cars have a totally non standard mechanism for selecting reverse gear which means the knob has to have a huge hole in the bottom (over 2 cm diameter). My wife bought me a chrome knob for Xmas, I went to the trouble of removing the original to find that the new one just would not fit, despite others here having fitted 3rd party knobs with out trouble).

Recently I had the chance to buy a Octy vRS knob thinking it would fit, but no although the actual knob is the same size and shape the collar at the bottom that fits over the lever is only about 12mm in diameter compared with 22 mm on my original plastic knob! I have now realised that obviously the Mark 2 octavia (2001-present) has a different lever which presumably is closer to standard in diameter.

As a result I have a vRS knob for sale (see sales forum).

/mode=Ben Elton

..........Grits teeth and just manages to avoid making any knob jokes

/mode=normal

:smileyrai

Phil

As a result I have a knob for sale (see sales forum).

Sorry, couldn't resist (making the joke, that is!)

Rob.

Rob, you bugger, you beat me to it!

Oh the temptation!

Does that mean it's better to have a newer knob than an old one?

By the way hi Rob it must of updated now!

:smileyrai

Yeah, just took a bit of patience...

Not sure if it's better to have a new knob, it sounds like the shaft is narrower...

Rob.

Good point but it seems to be an easier fit!

:sour:

Good point

Why thank you... :p

Rob.

Recently I had the chance to buy a Octy vRS knob thinking it would fit, but no although the actual knob is the same size and shape the collar at the bottom that fits over the lever is only about 12mm in diameter compared with 22 mm on my original plastic knob! I have now realised that obviously the Mark 2 octavia (2001-present) has a different lever which presumably is closer to standard in diameter.

William, the shaft on my 2000 1.8T SLX is around 13mm in diamater, so the larger diameter must be specific to the 1.6 gearbox.

Well following on from my gear knob woes, I was looking at the Milotec web site and they sell several replacement gear knobs for the Octavia. However they state that they are not suitable for the 1.4 or 1.6! So there you go it is the engine size not the mark of the Octavia that causes the problem.