New Octavia RS owner with a couple of questions!

[drc13]

Hi Guys

First off this post got a little longer than anticipated so the TLDR version is "I bought a skoda! Should I chip it? Where should I service it? Thoughts on Warranty"

For the longer version keep reading!

After changing my mind many times, yesterday I purchased a used Skoda Octavia RS Liftback 147TSI DSG MY11 in Race Blue which I pick up tomorrow afternoon.

I originally set out to buy something like Mazda 2/3 type car but before I knew it I was eyeing off a new Polo GTI. I went in to get some pricing but when given ETA's of December 2012 I was thrown in a loop and needed to find another car. The natural progression was a Golf GTI but I soon discovered these were substantially more expensive once you added a couple of options.

Enter the Skoda, everything I read indicated it was a Golf GTI in a different body but with a couple more standard inclusions and most importantly significantly cheaper for demo/used. It took me a couple of inspections to come around to the styling of the skoda and the whole skoda "stigma" but I loved the interior fitout and the snug seats. A last minute 147TSI jetta nearly sucked me in but I managed to negotiate what I think is a decent price and handed the cash over for the Skoda.

I've already lined up darkest legal "midnight express" tinting to be done over the weekend (having to explain to every tint place what a skoda octavia is!) and have ordered in some genuine skoda floor mats (mysteriously this car doesn't come with any)

Anyway enough about that onto some questions:

Mods:

From my reading on these forums the first no brainer mod seems to be a chip remap. Do you guys generally agree with this? I've noticed you can get a bluefin imported for a tad over $600 should I be considering any other options? Am I correct in saying for a remap you still need to add this to your insurance policy?

Servicing:

I really have no idea what I'm going to do here. I purchased the car from a volkswagen dealer and I live in Cronulla (though currently work in the Liverpool area so thats an option) so there isn't a Skoda dealer anywhere close. I'm presuming there is the standard ultratune type options but I would love to hear your thoughts and recommendations for reasonably priced servicing that will maintain my factory warranty.

Warranty:

This was a concern that went through my head a couple of times before purchasing. I've witnessed a couple of Skoda dealerships shut down in Sydney and was wondering what position we are in should Skoda shut up shop in Australia. Obviously I hope this doesn't happen but with 2.5 years of warranty remaining I'd like to know if there's a definite answer like VW will pick up the scraps etc.

Also did any of your bother with extended warranty? I've been offered to extend the warranty by 3 years. On one hand I think it would be handy should the DSG blow up but generally you should expect a maintained skoda/vw to be relatively trouble free over 6 years.

I think that's it for now I'm sure I'll have many more questions when I actually have the car in my hands.

Cheers!

[woofy]

It should have come with mats, so someone took them at some stage. You can extend warranty at any time as long as its before it expires. As you've already bought it and negotiated it, just wait a while.

My memory with bluefin is that is might not work anymore in recent models, but that might just be the diesels I'm thinking of. I've never found much reason to remap it yet, especially while under warranty.

I'll leave it to the Sydney people, to say what places to get serviced, but there seems to be a glut of Skoda dealers over there. In Melb there are only a handful, it might be to do with VAG being in Sydney themselves. One dealer shut down here, but they were a joke, so no surprise. I doubt Skoda are going anywhere soon, but VW Australia sell Skoda, so either way, it will never be an abandoned car here.

[ausspace87]

Great choice, welcome to the minority!
Yeah, you're kinda contradicting yourself if you're thinking about remapping and then purchasing an extended warranty. You won't even be covered by your standard warranty if you chip your engine...
Skoda shouldn't be going anywhere in the next 3 years at least, they have signed with the GWS AFL Team as their main sponsor for 3 years. I'm waiting until my standard warranty is almost up to purchase the extended warranty. Who knows where you will be in 3 years.

[K1W1]

and have ordered in some genuine skoda floor mats (mysteriously this car doesn't come with any)

It's too late to legally do anything but go back to the dealer and get them to check their detailing department or outside detailers who did the vehicle. What often happens is the mats get taken out for cleaning and are forgotten. Detailing departments and detailers usually have piles of orphan car mats.

[drc13]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I wasn't too worried about the mats as I had noticed they were missing before we started negotiations so kind of factored that into the final price that I wanted. That's actually a good suggestion though they certainly could of been stored in the detailing area but the car was also purchased by the dealer from a VW auction so who knows what was stripped out before the auction. Only other thing I noticed was missing was the satnav disks but I've heard that pretty common. If it was a brand new car I'd be fuming but for a demo/used at a decent price I can accept it.

Suprisingly a set of 4 genuine skoda mats were "only" $128 from a skoda dealer.

Interesting comments on the warranty I think I'll definately wait out the 2.5yrs on my factory warranty and decide down the line if the extended is desirable.

Looks like I will need to some more reading on the chip remap. I thought you were still covered by warranty unless it was the remap that directly caused the problem (obviously open to interpretation)

Haha yeah certainly feels like I'm joining a minority club, I'm already getting sick of spelling skoda out and explaining what shape the car is etc.

Having said that as I walked out of the dealer yesterday after basically never having seen a skoda on the road a bright red RS drove past and when I got to my car a silver RS wagon was parked behind me!

Still very keen to hear recommendations on places to get the car serviced!

Cheers

[dArK5HaD0w]

congrats on the purchase.

i too had looked at the same cars u looked at, before knowing that the octavia rs was "the one"!
6 months on with the car in hand, and i still happy about the decision i made almost a year ago now! will b 1 yr next month when i handed my deposit over n placed the factory order

as kiwi said - they come standard with floor mats. check with the dealer....actually demand them from the dealer.

i too am itching to remap mine, but i don't want to void my warranty. so i'll wait, impatiently, till the warranty period is over before remapping.

in terms of servicing, i believe most vw dealerships r skoda friendly. it is the case for me here in canberra. we have a skoda showroom, but no service dept. this is handled by the vw service centre down the road.

[RSOK]

G'day, welcome to the Skoda fold and the RS in particular, happy days await you!! Eventually you'll be able to stop spelling out 'S-k-o-d-a' to everyone who asks, they're becoming more well-known here in Oz now, and are certainly a more common sight on our roads than they were a couple years ago.

ECU upgrade, well that'd add a few more expletives to your passengers during hard cornering!! For me that is probably down the track some time, but if you go ahead definitely inform your insurance company (there will likely be little to no change to your premium). Warranty implications are a little unclear, opinions vary but bet your bottom dollar should engine/DSG play up and Skoda discovers your ECU remap, I don't like your chances of them covering it under warranty!

Servicing, can't really help you given I'm in a different location in Sydney west, but some recommendations on here for the guys at Camden GTi Performance (Camden GTI). I'm using the dealer I purchased from for my scheduled 12 month servicing (because they extend the warranty to 6 years if I keep the car serviced with them, cheap insurance policy in my book)... but I'm doing oil changes every 6 months using my local guy and supplying my own 504-spec oil.

As for Skoda shutting up shop, no chance in the foreseeable future. Sales are still looking a bit slow (I think about 120 cars/month on average Australia-wide) but given the investment in recent advertising as well as 4yr sponsorship deal of AFL's newest team, unlikely that VAG Aust has plans other than to push the brand. In any case, yes your warranty would be covered by Volkswagen Aust should Skoda 'disappear'.

Glad to hear another RS enthusiast driver out there!! Hope your Skoda lives up to the expectations we've created on here!!

[brad]

Hi
I'm at Carss Park - red Octy with a tellytubby strapped to the grill.

Mods:
You might have issues with a handheld remap as you have the MED17.5 ECU which might have encryption enabled. The tuners should be able to tell by your VIN - so ask lots of questions first.
Bluefin UK won't sell you a handheld at the moment as they are trying to support the local distributors. Not sure what JKM in Portsmouth are doing. The local guys can do a tune with their own gear if the handheld doesn't work.

Cheap alternative 2 is Viezu (rename for Chipped UK). They have a new local distributor doing tunes for $700. There's a thread in the tuning section.

Cheap #3 is Custom Code - also on this forum - $800?

I can't remember what I did with my insurance - IIRC, because I hadn't changed a component, they didn't care. Your insurer may be different.

Servicing:
Sothern Suburbs are poorly catered for.

I was getting mine done at Wakelings Campbelltown, but they are 1 of the TWO Skoda dealers that gave up. I'm now getting it done at Camden GTI.

I looked into getting it done at a VW or Audi Service Centre but apparently they don't have access to any software updates, Workshop Service Programs (unofficial recalls) or any of the other Skoda specific service items.

Warranty:
Given the various sponsorship deals Skoda have put in place & the advertising on Masterchef (How much must that be costing?), I think they'll be here a while.

Extended warranty is available - there's a thread about preferred suppliers on this forum. Buy now for about $1400 to avoid price rises or wait till just before the warranty expires & hope the price doesn't go up much.

Skoda/VW relatively reliable over 6 years? LOL

[drc13]

Thanks for the welcomes and answers guys I picked it up yesterday and immediately got stuck in a traffic jam but fortunately had the rns510and MFD menus to keep me occupied. When I did get a stretch of open road a smile came to my face and the more I drive it the more I'm starting to appreciate the car. Had a whole bunch of questions come up (I drove most of the way home with my rear window wiper going! eventually worked it out) Also had a pretty hilarious Jeremy Clarkson style "chat" with the voice recognition system. I'll have a browse through the manual and the rest of the forums before bombarding everyone.

Looks like warranty/skoda are safe for the forseeable future which is comforting.

Going by the replies the chip remap doesn't appear to be as popular as I first suspected, I might drive it for a while first and weigh up the pros/cons

Hah finally came across someone who had some idea what a skoda was today. The bloke doing my tinting said "you'll notice a difference between the cars" when i jumped in the loan car (only a manual swift so i'd hope so!) when i dropped it back off I asked him if he actually knew anything about the car and he said "yeah it's a VW isn't it" which was good enough for me!

Hi
Servicing:
Sothern Suburbs are poorly catered for.

I was getting mine done at Wakelings Campbelltown, but they are 1 of the TWO Skoda dealers that gave up. I'm now getting it done at Camden GTI.

I looked into getting it done at a VW or Audi Service Centre but apparently they don't have access to any software updates, Workshop Service Programs (unofficial recalls) or any of the other Skoda specific service items.

Skoda/VW relatively reliable over 6 years? LOL

Camden GTI seems popular here so I may be able to justify the trip out there. Going by what you've said they have access to the updates and service programs?

Skoda/VW relatively reliable over 6 years? LOL

Is this the good or bad kind of LOL?

[K1W1]

Is this the good or bad kind of LOL?

Well they have only been in Australia for around 3 years so there is zero local experience but seeing as that consistently win or place in the first couple in reliability and owner satisfaction ratings in the UK and Europe I'd suggest it's probably a good LOL.

[brad]

Camden GTI seems popular here so I may be able to justify the trip out there. Going by what you've said they have access to the updates and service programs?

I don't think they do but it's best to ask them. But at least they are priced right & a qualified mechanic works on your car.

Is this the good or bad kind of LOL?

bad-ish. I had a 1997 Golf Cabrio Mk3.5 before this and a 72 Superbug 20 years back. I'd class the Cabrio as needing a reasonably high amount of money thrown at it. In the end I decided it was cheaper to get rid of it than fix up what needed fixing. None-the-less, I gave the Skoda a try because it was a good drive. If I'd wanted trouble free motoring, a Camry was similar money.......

My wife isn't a car person but even she says that driving a VW is "different" to driving other cars.