Short Review: 2014 Skoda Octavia RS 162 TSI Combi

[99Reza]

Just picked up a Race Blue RS Combi (wagon) to replace the Tiggy. The vehicle is one of the early model, therefore no Driver select mode or any fancy gear.

I have had the car for few days now, my first impression with the car is how solid the car feels and to drive. Steering is very sharp and chassis is beautiful. The ride is stiff, however this is offseted by being composed and sorted. No squeaking or rattle from the car so far.

Interior layout is smart and simple yet still feel special enough especially with the bucket seat. Initially, I have reservation with the Green coloured LED on any car (outdated, cheap, etc), however this is unfounded, not only it still looks and feel premium it also 'dissapear' nicely at night time, less glaring like the Red coloured LED one in VW car.

There are few cost cutting exercise that is evident in the car. The first noticeable and important thing is noise at higher speed (I drive without radio on, I will notice every single sound the car makes). I inspected the car closely, to my surprise, the car is actually well sealed. There are plenty of rubber seals around the doors to suppress external noises. What missing is sound deadening and/or sound absorption material around the body panel. This actually makes the car whisper quiet up to say 50 - 60km/h, above that speed noises from the suspension and tyres will start to resonate the undeadened body panel and make humming noises inside the cabin. I'm going to order some Dynamat Extreme and focus on the trunk plus doors to see if this will reduce some of the noises.

Another important one is the quality of the bi-xenon bulb. The light output is very ordinary compare to my already sold Tiguan or my previous C-classes. Perhaps Skoda uses a cheaper bulb to save cost. There are brighter bulb out there, like Osram Xenarc NightBreaker. This could be a solution for weak light output.

Other than those two issues, the car is flawless. If you are on the line thinking whether or not to buy this car, buy it, you won't be disappointed.

I shall write up more as I clocks more miles on the car v

PS: Will post some photo in the near future

[MJKooLio]

Please do keep us posted with your thoughts. I have another 2-3 month wait until mine arrives. Same specs as yours! DSG with glass roof no leather.

Quick questions.

How would you change the Bi-Xenon bulb to another brand? And how much do they cost? I thought the standard bulbs were great that come in the RS, compared to my standard lit Polo GTI (Non Bi-Xenon) I think as i'm moving up in car size/specs having new lights are obviously going to be better but if i already had B-Xenons and comparing to another model, which you've done then I can understand.

Sound deadening,,, how would you install more of it in the doors? I've seen photos of people ripping their boots apart to install a layer or layers of it.. but in the doors? Is it a lot of work? How much is this Dynamite Extreme material?

Regarding green interior lighting... I've never had a car with Green inside, I did have an RS over night, and noticed more white then green, and thought it was much cleaner then boy racer red/orange... but I do like the Golf R's white with blue!

[99Reza]

You can change the bulb as per halogen headlight. They have actually provided a brief instruction on the manual under 'Do it Yourself' Section. Cost is approximately $220ish for pair bulbs. Compared to Halogen headlight, the output is better however it's less intense and less widespread compared to other manufacturer Bi-Xenon.

I was hoping to find instructions on the net on how to open the door skin. Installing sound deadening is a lot of work, that's probably the reason why they left this out. Depending on how elaborate you want this to be, they are selling bulk pack which has 9 pieces of 457mm x 817mm for under $200.

I think you are referring to the speedo which as you have said is white. The green LED is limited to the Steering wheels, Nav unit and A/c buttons, the rest is either white or orange. It blends nicely and is quite classy.

[GTR27]

Be careful with the door skins. Reports on briskoda say there are pressure sensors for the airbags in the doors.....

[99Reza]

Be careful with the door skins. Reports on briskoda say there are pressure sensors for the airbags in the doors.....

Thanks for the heads-up. Will leave the door last, see if improvement can be made on the trunk area alone.

[GTR27]

Search for the thread, I'm sure someone will find a way around it. I'm planning on dynamatting entire boot floor and spare wheel well. Made a good difference in all the cars I've done it to do far

[Benmac]

Dynamat seems like a mandatory move. How easy is it to remove the grey carpet on the sides of the load area to install Dynamat?

[99Reza]

That's what I'm hoping. I bang the boot floor with my hand just behind the passenger seat the other day, it sounded like a drum LOL. The spare wheel well sounds more inert compare to the floor. Good to know it works well on your previous car.

[99Reza]

Dynamat seems like a mandatory move. How easy is it to remove the grey carpet on the sides of the load area to install Dynamat?

Just using my eyes, I can see few screws holding some hooks that is attached to the side carpet. I'm pretty sure the plastic trim around the carpet will need to be remove as well, do-able but will need sometimes to wiggle it out.

[dArK5HaD0w]

Dynamat seems like a mandatory move. How easy is it to remove the grey carpet on the sides of the load area to install Dynamat?

If its anything like the mk2 Octavia - its the boot area, including the sides is not to hard to remove.
its under the rear seats and interior floor space that's tricky!!
below is a pic of half my boot floor done. I also put some carpet deadening material in addition to the dynamat. not shown in pic.

[MJKooLio]

Before and after?

[brad]

How would you change the Bi-Xenon bulb to another brand? And how much do they cost?

It's just a bulb. Remove the plastic cover, unplug the harness, undo the hold-in clip, replace bulb, reverse steps.

Price is about $150each from powerbulbs in the UK.

Sound deadening,,, how would you install more of it in the doors? I've seen photos of people ripping their boots apart to install a layer or layers of it.. but in the doors? Is it a lot of work? How much is this Dynamite Extreme material?

There are severaal threads on adding more sound deadening in the Octy & ICE sub-forums.

Yes, it's a lot of work - esp if you haven't done it before.

The boot is the noisiest spot IMO & a lot of that can be done just using underlay.

Drummy-ness in the panels can also be reduced by spraying on bitumised/rubberised sound deadener.

I also think the front wheel arches would benefit from some extra sound deadener & don't forget to add the under-bonnet insulation panel if it isn't already there (usually diesel only IIRC).

[brad]

Before and after?

FFS. Is it laziness or ignorance?

Before, the silver bits weren't there. Simples.

Hunt down the thread "darkshadows timelime".

[readerr0r]

It's just a bulb. Remove the plastic cover, unplug the harness, undo the hold-in clip, replace bulb, reverse steps.

Price is about $150each from powerbulbs in the UK.

Its worth noting getting access to the bulbs on the Oct3 is super hard, you have to take off the front bumper and buy a kit as a part needs replacing afterwards.

All this stuff is just a thread search away on briskoda (and here when more octy3's arrive) though.

[99Reza]

Its worth noting getting access to the bulbs on the Oct3 is super hard, you have to take off the front bumper and buy a kit as a part needs replacing afterwards.

All this stuff is just a thread search away on briskoda (and here when more octy3's arrive) though.

I did come across that thread, i think it was a red octavia, he was trying to change the indicator bulb. Hopefully it's not the case for the main bulb. Otherwise that will be a major PITA.