So, for anyone interested, I hit the 1000 mile mark in my new Octy, having collected it on Saturday the 22nd.

The car is Satin Grey metallic, with 17" Pegasus wheels and the sports suspension option from Skoda, along with the DSG box, and Maxi-Dot as extra's. To this, so far I have added my MFD2 navigation system and my OEM Bluetooth kit as supplied by Stu and performed some Vag-Com recoding of various "comfort" features.

My previous car was a mildly enhanced Mk2 vRS, running slightly over the quoted 200BHP book figures, and was fitted with Koni FSD's and Eibach springs.

Styling / Looks

The Satin grey does seem to really suit the lines of the Octavia, being similar in many ways to the VW cornflower blue that you will see a lot of Mk5 golfs painted in as well as Polo's. The Skoda sports suspension upgrade goes someway to removing the cavernous space between the wheels and arches and is helped with this by the larger 17" rims which I really like the look of. Coming from a vRS, I am not a big fan of the large rectangular foglights and think the vRS bumpers front and rear would be a major style enhancement and is something I may look into at a later date. The lack of a boot spoiler in this spec works for me as the Octy, when sitting on lower springs looks quite "slick / Slippery" (It's hard to explain, will post pic's when it's clean).

The interior in black onyx cloth is a bit sober, but I am finding the seats more comfortable than the vRS seat's, but admitidly they don't support you as well as the vRS items. The upholstery seems pretty hardwearing and survived the first weekend of kids football and horse riding with a quick wipedown. I am not a big fan of the metallic criss/cross trim panels on the interior as they remind of what was fitted to my old Passat 1.8T in 1998, and to brighten up the interior I may check up on the price of the vRS silver items and along with the silver MFD2 trim may just give the interior that slight “lift”.

Performance

Ok, so it’s only a 1000 miles on the car so the motor is really tight. The PD140 has got a good spread of torque from tickover which it seems to hold well until the 4K Rpm mark, anywhere above that and it feels breathless. I am going to have to adapt my driving style to stay in the torque, but the DSG gearbox does a fine job of keeping my “petrol” habit’s in check. The DSG gearbox is a pretty fine piece of kit once you get used to it and it seems to be almost a perfect mate for the PD140 engine. So, why almost a perfect mate? Well the main reason is that sometimes when coming off the gas and coasting down to a stop, (when approaching an island for example) , it sometimes hesitates to select a gear to get going again when you spot a gap and get back on the gas. It’s not a major fault, and it is something I will adapt to. It’s almost as if the gearbox occasionally says “look mate, I thought you wanted to stop, now you want to go again ...... cor blimey g’uvnor (in a Czech accent)”, it does not happen often and is nothing more than a very very mild annoyance at worst.

Things that I like about the DSG box are the sport mode where it will pull to around 4.3 / 4.5k before changing up. The car pulls strongly (not as strong as my old 2.0TFSi though) and the changes are very smooth. In lazy “normal” auto driving mode, the wife commented on how smooth the car is, she says it almost feels like an electric motor in the way it pulls cleanly and shifts ratio’s. Manual mode on the DSG is fun, and can be used to good effect when your wanting to approach a drive in a “spirited” manner, but buttons on the wheel or flappy paddles would be nicer than nudging the lever up or down to change gear.

DSG was the selling point for me, I need an Auto because of a couple of med problems, and if someone was considering it, I would say don’t hesitate to test a DSG because it is a great gearbox and you will be impressed by it. My only negative comments are based around the 2 things I think should be there... paddles or buttons and the addition of a “winter” mode.

Handling

As mentioned before my car is fitted with the official Skoda sports suspension and the 17” alloys. I find the ride pretty compliant, but firm enough when pressing on. The suspension is not as refined as my vRS, but that was running on Eibach springs and Koni FSD’s. The car does not feel as nose heavy as my Brother in Laws Civic, and dive under braking is pretty well controlled by the “sports” suspension. In some way’s it reminds me of my vRS to drive, with predictable understeer when pushed hard, and I think the suspension, whilst a little cruder than FSD’s is working well and is giving plenty of feedback, without being harsh or intrusive. Members of the extreme pipe and slipper brigade will NOT like the upgraded suspension, but someone coming from say a Furby vRS or dropping down from an Octy vRS will certainly appreciate it.

Conclusion ....... thus far

Well, so far I am really enjoying the car, but do miss being able to bury the rev counter over to the right hand side, hearing the gulps of air going into the Evom’s and the growl from the milltek. I needed a change of car to help out with surgery to my shoulder and pelvis so settled on an Octy DSG.

I would have bought a vRS with DSG, but they will never be, so for me the equipment of the elegance spec, coupled with the sports suspension , 17” wheels, enhanced by the Maxi-Dot and my additions listed above make the car for me, a comfortable and pleasant place to be.

The PD140 is pretty good ...... for an oil burner and I feel that it perhaps has more to give (cough) and I must admit to finding the economy a major pluspoint now that fuel duty has just increased. Hopefully I won’t turn into a full blown diesel bore, and I am pretty certain that I will end up in a petrol motor again at some point in the future. All in all, It’s an impressive, comfortable, well equipped and sporty package. I will post some more ramblings when I have got some more miles on, have maybe applied some tweaks and the motor has loosened up. Some pictures will follow over the weekend.

I'm glad it's living up to expectations Tony.

Blimey, did'nt know you could string more than one sentence together!

Good write up mate, glad you are enjoying your new purchase

All good stuff.

Skoda really missed a trick not offering DSG with the 2 VRS Octavias... :( Ho hum.

Good write up, I'm finding myself torn; really, about what to change to. I crave comfort, from driving Clare's civic around yet something that can still be driven. Although perhaps not as rewardingly as the octy.

Overall I am predicting a shift in my motoring to much more m-way miles e.g. Manc to Scotland once a month so comfort, coupled with age will win.

Problem is there are a lot of comfortable cars in the Octy dsg price ranges. So thanks for your write up Tony, I might still pop my head in the door of a stocking dealer.

Glad to see you are enjoying it, I'm enjoying 'your' Koni's and Eibachs.

Looking forward to enjoying 'your' EVOMS intake too after a much needed service.

Didn't see a mention of your Phatbox. Have you not fitted that one yet?

Look into my eyes

:orb_futur

You have seen the future

You have been assimilated into the Dervishers

Nice report (for a petrolhead :P )

nice write up there mr fluff. what did you mean by a winter mode on the DSG box?

nice write up there mr fluff. what did you mean by a winter mode on the DSG box?

Many moons ago I had an S60 T5 with an auto box, and you could choose winter or sport modes, winter mode put the car in second gear to pull away on snow or icy surfaces.

I'm glad it's living up to expectations Tony.

So, whats arriving off the docks in 2 days, and whats an MFD3 mate?

Glad to see you are enjoying it, I'm enjoying 'your' Koni's and Eibachs.

Looking forward to enjoying 'your' EVOMS intake too after a much needed service.

Didn't see a mention of your Phatbox. Have you not fitted that one yet?

Oooops, forgot to add that yes, the phatbox is in as well mate, glad your enjoying the suspenders mate

Blimey, did'nt know you could string more than one sentence together!

Good write up mate, glad you are enjoying your new purchase

I can't normally, but I had this really boring nerd at work today that insisted on staying back to ask me a thousand questions about his network, so I thought, "quick, type loads and look busy and he will bugger off" so got to work on knocking this small review up

I shall write up something else, once the girl in pompey, speaks to the bloke in pompey, and the bloke in pompey speaks to the bloke in daventry so the bloke in daventry can talk to a yankee bloke in daventry and he tells the bloke in pompey what what he needs to load so the girl in pompey can then talk to the bloke in pompey to find out what to charge the bloke in warrington with the funny gearbox

So all you need now is a remap to c.170bhp and you have a vRS TDI with DSG

Interesting comment about coming to a quick halt and the DSG becoming confused. I suffer the same issue, but also if you do come to a complete halt rather than slowing to 10mph or so, the down changes to 2 and 1 can be quite abrupt and not smooth at all. I wonder if the DSG is changing down a fraction too soon, so engine revs are higher and therefore the change from 3 to 2 to 1 is a bit jerky. Anyone have any thoughts?

Been driving a DSG for about 3 years now, have a 2.0TDi Octy having upgraded from an Audi TT 3.2 with DSG.

I love the gearbox but it does need some getting used to, it doesn't drive like a traditional auto nor a manual it requires its own driving style. It suits a lazy driving style around urban areas, if you want to quickly nip into that gap in traffic you need to be fairly aggressive with your accelerator or sports mode seems to suit that driving style better. I now drive like an old man around town and enjoy where the dsg really shines, on those lovely b roads.

I do miss my paddle shift and what is more annoying is the missus' Golf Plus comes with them.:thumbdwn:

Been driving a DSG for about 3 years now, have a 2.0TDi Octy having upgraded from an Audi TT 3.2 with DSG.

love it

Performance

The DSG gearbox is a pretty fine piece of kit once you get used to it and it seems to be almost a perfect mate for the PD140 engine. So, why almost a perfect mate? Well the main reason is that sometimes when coming off the gas and coasting down to a stop, (when approaching an island for example) , it sometimes hesitates to select a gear to get going again when you spot a gap and get back on the gas. It’s not a major fault, and it is something I will adapt to.

Glad your enjoying it so far.... my Dad has a VW Touran with a 2.0TDI mated with a DSG box and when he first got it that was his main critisism. However, like you say its something you can adapt to, but he also found that a remap worked wonders

So all you need now is a remap to c.170bhp and you have a vRS TDI with DSG

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/technical-guides/selecting-fitting-dragon-tuning-box-pd140-dsg/85229/