Here in Greece, Skoda-Auto offers both the 4x4 and the RS models with an Abt mod (ECU only) that is covered under the official warranty and comes with an extra cost of 1700 Euros.

Mods are as follows:

for the 4x4, 193Bhp and 27Nm of torque at the same rpm as the original

for the RS, 210Bhp and 31Nm of torque at the same rpm as the original.

I just got my new 4x4 Elegance with the Abt mod (figured that 1700 Euros were well worth the mod + warranty) and have to say this car drives absolutely great! The suspension feels a bit on the soft side (it is still the standard 150bhp model springs) but it is still a family car so I don't worry too much.

As far as the Abt mod is concerned, Skoda-Auto GR say that it is Abt's mod and comes with Abt logo's and keyring motif, so I guess it's a decent one.

Welcome to Briskoda, otheos, and lucky you for being able to tune your car and keep the warranty cover. We can't do that here in the UK, so members who chip/tune their cars are at risk of losing warranty cover. That said, I don't recall hearing of anyone who has had trouble with a warranty claim on a chipped car - although I could be about to be proved wrong!

Time to talk to the dog........

Otheos, congratulations on your new car, and welcome.

I will take delivery of a similar car in a couple of weeks, so can't wait! My upgrade cost 1200 euros (also under warranty), so I hope that doesn't reflect on the performance I will be getting...

Have you thought of putting your car on a rolling road and test the actual output? I remember a fellow Briskodian from Greece (was it ckosm?) that upgraded his front-wheel drive 1.8T Elegance with an Abt chip and found that he had 210 hp on tap!

Denis, I feel that you should unite and form a British front against Skoda UK on the warranty issue. Why should the Greek and Dutch importers (any other countries? Sweden?) be good sports while their EU counterpart in the UK keeps a deaf ear? Perhaps you don't shout loud enough...

Have written to Skoda UK to point out this anomaly and ask whether there are any plans to offer UK customers "dealer performance options" and, if not, why not. Let you all know what reply I get - but I don't hold out much hope :(

Unfortunatelly, right hand drive Skoda's are not an option in local dealers, but for anybody in the EU (that drives LHD), as long as the block exemption is not completely raised for car pricing, maybe buying a car in Greece and export it to your country could be an option (and an economical one). However you still need to check how well those international warranties would hold with the "official" (made in Greece) modification.

Well, as promised here is the reply from Skoda on my query :( :

"Thank you for your message dated 14th March 2003.

I can confirm that currently, there are no plans to introduce any approved performance enhancing modifications to any of our range. We believe that our range of vehicles offer a blend of performance, practicality and economy that not only meets our customers needs, but which exceeds them. We do not recommend any unapproved modifications as this could have serious warranty implications that you must be made aware of. Also, any performance modifications may have serious safety implications and we would strongly recommend against any modification of this nature.

Kind regards

Christopher Smart

Customer Service Specialist"

Bog standard response with lots of warnings that I expected - still don't understand why the approach differs from country to country (is it only Skoda uk that thinks that their vehicles offer " a blend ... etc" )

Also, VAG may block it, the Skoda is already much better value than the VW / Audi cars & if they were as quick (sorry quicker) it would cut profits.

V.A.G in Sweden does not aprove of any kind of performance modifications. In Sweden it's actually not legal to do any mod to your car if it's build in -98 or later. This means it is for example illegal to change the rear spoiler, exhaust, wheel dimensions etc. Nobody seems to care anyway

Btw, there are atleast two seriously fast Octavia 4x4 Combis here in Sweden. One tuned by Mr Dahlb