Test Drive Impessions

[Inego]

Sorry, yes, "mine" is a Scout, delivered in January. It's listed in my briskoda profile - forgot it wasn't on this one.

It appears that more recent deliveries have gone to Dunlops, which do have the tyre noise issue, but the tyre brand seems to vary for no apparent reason.

[brad]

Haven't done it yet, but I reckon best part of a day (which I have). I'm time rich but money poor. To get it done costs a fortune. I only do about 8000 kms a year so it wouldn't happen often..

Every 60,000km or 4 years for the Vectras & Astras IIRC. Was 100,000km when they first fronted Australia but there were some premature failures & Holden revised the numbers.

I note Subaru used to be every 100,000km with no time limit but in recent years they are insisting on 100,000km/4 years which ever comes first. Between $850-$1400 a go.

[wfdTamar]

Here's a good bit on Briskoda about the 'bad bits' of the Octavia. It starts 'All the reviews i've read have been positive, positive to a fault -- they forgot to mention the negatives for a balanced review.'

Skoda Octavia - The Bad Bits Review - BRISKODA.net - The Skoda Forum and Community

Worth quoting here in full:
'The Exterior

The lower sides and the entire rear of the car are mud magnets. After only 100 miles in rainy conditions my car has visible muck all along the bottom of the doors coming to half way up the door at the front and at the rear the muck seems to focus on the sides. This must be because there's no mudflaps.

The Interior

Road Noise. Absolutely deafening on the motorway. This car is almost silent while sitting at idle, it's a fantastic place to be, even about town it has acceptable noise levels -- it's certainly not loud. On the motorway, you need earplugs. The noise clearly comes from the rear of the car. The popular prescription of decent quality sound blanket material under the rear bench seat and under the load bay in the rear should hopefully cure this.

The stereo. I've not found the equaliser on mine yet (Bolero) but i'm hoping i can fix 70% of the problem here with the equaliser. The stereo sounds very tinny at low volume and then at higher volume there is bass that appears after around 20% volume, but still missing the lower mid range. Very disappointing as it comes from the factory.

The A Pillar. It's just in the road when going round a roundabout. It's very thick, can't imagine it being much thicker. I can subconsciously work round it the rest of the time, but on roundabouts, it's a pain.

The ticket holder is on the wrong side. Skoda provide a small clear plastic ticket holder on the windscreen. Unfortunately it's on the drivers side. This should hopefully just be an unclip and re-clip on the other side job, although the A-pillar trim will have to come off.

The Drive

Slightly busy ride over very uneven surfaces. I feel slightly disloyal mentioning this one, on account of the fact that the car rides better than a 15" rim'd VW Golf and this is on 18" rims with sports suspension. The Octavia does somehow manage to give a very good ride, much better than expected, but it does feel busy over uneven surfaces.

The Xenon headlights are too high and there's no adjustment. I don't need the beam that high and i can see the pattern shining over oncoming traffic's drivers eyes as i go over any bumps or undulations on the road. That's annoying for them and frustrating for me.

The Conclusion

Buy one

The good bits i didn't mention but the other reviews did, far out weigh any issues this car has. Just budget for some sound deadening material '

[dodgey]

There's always been a range of tyres with all recent VAG cars. (A bit of a lottery, really)

Depending on which shipment you get, you can get Dunlop Sport SP01A (on my old MkV GTI), Continental CS2 (which is on my RS), Bridgestones, and even Pirellis. On the lower range cars, I've seen Hankooks, too...

I did read that on Briskoda.

I don't think the A-Pillar is that thick. It's similar to my old GTI, so I guess I'm used to it.

At least there is a ticket holder. I don't know of many cars with 1.

I don't have the Bolero, so I can't comment on that one.

The Xenons can be adjusted, but it would be best to leave it to the professionals. Mine's the right height

As for the ride comfort, it is similar to the MkVI GTI, but firmer than the MkV GTI.

As mentioned previously, I don't have any issues with the road noise in my liftback. It's similar to my old MkV GTI so I can't help there...

[Inego]

At least there is a ticket holder.

I spent the first week trying to pull mine off, assuming it was some display thing left over from when the car was floor stock - but it turns out to have been a "feature". It would be better on the other side, but I do occasionally use it.

I found the treble overwhelming initially on my Bolero - having to turn it down, wheras it's had to go up in almost every other car I've owned or driven. Some have suggested the plaement is the issue. Apart from that, it's a 200% improvement over the Subaru unit, although perhaps not quite as even in its freq response as the Golf IV.

[brad]

I don't think the A-Pillar is that thick. It's similar to my old GTI, so I guess I'm used to it.

At least there is a ticket holder. I don't know of many cars with 1.

A-Pillars are positively svelte compared to a VE Commodore.

Ticket holder is weird placement. I keep thinking I should buy a 2nd & fit it to the other side. I do use the drivers side but passengers would be handy for pay & display

I found the treble overwhelming initially on my Bolero - having to turn it down, wheras it's had to go up in almost every other car I've owned or driven. Some have suggested the plaement is the issue. Apart from that, it's a 200% improvement over the Subaru unit, although perhaps not quite as even in its freq response as the Golf IV.

I ahve the Audience HU. I changed the resistor on my front tweeters. $6 of parts & much better. I still have to do the rears.

[woofy]

There's always been a range of tyres with all recent VAG cars. (A bit of a lottery, really)

Depending on which shipment you get, you can get Dunlop Sport SP01A (on my old MkV GTI), Continental CS2 (which is on my RS), Bridgestones, and even Pirellis. On the lower range cars, I've seen Hankooks, too...

I did read that on Briskoda.
..

They use to put Michelin PE2s on RSs in the first year. I've found them pretty good and wear evenly. Not sure how long they will last for, but have heaps of rubber left at 20k so far. $$$ here though but around $US170 on tire rack so might import some if they last ok.

[dodgey]

A-Pillars are positively svelte compared to a VE Commodore.

Ticket holder is weird placement. I keep thinking I should buy a 2nd & fit it to the other side. I do use the drivers side but passengers would be handy for pay & display

It's the correct side for those Euro drivers Funny that they would change the park brake to the correct side, but didn't change the ticket holder across...

Michelin PE2s, there's another one for the list

[Jake02]

It's the correct side for those Euro drivers Funny that they would change the park brake to the correct side, but didn't change the ticket holder across...

Michelin PE2s, there's another one for the list

I like the handbrake on the correct side, especially considering that Golf's/Jetta's don't! (But neither so Superb's though...) And it does make me happy that parking rangers have to go onto the road side to check the ticket however...

[brad]

It's the correct side for those Euro drivers Funny that they would change the park brake to the correct side, but didn't change the ticket holder across...

No, on the LHD cars it is on the left. Allways on the drivers side AFAIK

[spellbound]

Spot on brad logic , dodgey how are your conti's holding up , mine are up to 15k and still looking pretty good .

They grip nicely , reminicent of yokahamas in my BMW days , big bucks to replace though .

[dodgey]

Spot on brad logic , dodgey how are your conti's holding up , mine are up to 15k and still looking pretty good .

They grip nicely , reminicent of yokahamas in my BMW days , big bucks to replace though .

Perhaps they should have left it on the left hand side then...

My car's still new, only 1.5k kms still good, pretty quiet. I know they get noisy and loose some grip when they get old, but it's still better than the Dunlop Sport SP01As I had to the GTI. I lost traction almost everytime I touched the accelerator. The Yokohama Advans v103 was better (although wet was not as good)

CS3 are out already and much better apparently but probably even more expensive. Not sure why Continentals are so expensive here...