RE: Shed of the Week: Skoda Octavia vRS
Discussion
Richard-390a0 said:
The washer jet on these comes out of the high level brake light rather than through the motor.
The rust on mine appears to be just below the bottom edge of the window on one side only as if previously the wiper arm was fitted slightly out of alignment & hence then swept too far & rubbed through the paintwork.
Thanks for the correction, I must admit I assumed all the 90's based VAG stuff was the same. Is that just estates?The rust on mine appears to be just below the bottom edge of the window on one side only as if previously the wiper arm was fitted slightly out of alignment & hence then swept too far & rubbed through the paintwork.
I had the saloon on a 54 plate for 4 years from 08 to 12 and I have to say it was the least reliable car I've owned 
It was reasonably fun when it was working (and arguably much better than the equivalent Golf) and it was very useful as a transport/tow car for my Caterham at the time. I actually slept in the back a few times at race circuits!
In 60,000 miles of driving (ended on 120,000) I had:
- Coil pack failure the day I picked it up
- Coil pack failure at about 80,000 miles
- 3 (one went twice) front wheel bearings
- Rear wash wipe pipe became disconnected somewhere in the rear 3/4
- CD changer packed up at 80,000 miles
- Radiator mounts perished and failed (resulted in rattly radiator that moved back and forth by an inch)
- Diverter valve failed
- 2 sets of discs (they had terrible DTV if you ever braked hard from highish speed as I discovered on the autobahn)
Despite all that it seems like it's still on the road and going strong at 165,000 miles....
It was reasonably fun when it was working (and arguably much better than the equivalent Golf) and it was very useful as a transport/tow car for my Caterham at the time. I actually slept in the back a few times at race circuits!In 60,000 miles of driving (ended on 120,000) I had:
- Coil pack failure the day I picked it up
- Coil pack failure at about 80,000 miles
- 3 (one went twice) front wheel bearings
- Rear wash wipe pipe became disconnected somewhere in the rear 3/4
- CD changer packed up at 80,000 miles
- Radiator mounts perished and failed (resulted in rattly radiator that moved back and forth by an inch)
- Diverter valve failed
- 2 sets of discs (they had terrible DTV if you ever braked hard from highish speed as I discovered on the autobahn)
Despite all that it seems like it's still on the road and going strong at 165,000 miles....
kambites said:
I've come across this before. Some people think the term "dump valve" refers specifically to atmospheric blow-off type valves and not to recirculating units. I suppose there's probably no formal definition.
Yes a lot of people use "dump valve" to mean vent to atmosphere, as then you are "dumping" the air, whereas as with a recirc you are not "dumping" as such as you are reusing, which is very important if your car has an AFM as these vent to atmosphere mean they don't run as well recirc's because you lose metered air, although the vent to atmos do sound very "fast and furious" if that is your desire.
court said:
Richard-390a0 said:
The washer jet on these comes out of the high level brake light rather than through the motor.
The rust on mine appears to be just below the bottom edge of the window on one side only as if previously the wiper arm was fitted slightly out of alignment & hence then swept too far & rubbed through the paintwork.
Thanks for the correction, I must admit I assumed all the 90's based VAG stuff was the same. Is that just estates?The rust on mine appears to be just below the bottom edge of the window on one side only as if previously the wiper arm was fitted slightly out of alignment & hence then swept too far & rubbed through the paintwork.
GTEYE said:
147k is nothing for an Octavia.
There's a series on the Car Throttle channel on You Tube about a 400,000 mile (diesel) Octavia and the cars are very well engineered.
One of the episodes he drives from London to the Nurburgring and back none stop on one tank of fuel - all within 24 hours and the car was faultless.
Solid cars!
That's mostly down to possibly the best diesel engine ever made, the VAG 1.9 TDI. There's a series on the Car Throttle channel on You Tube about a 400,000 mile (diesel) Octavia and the cars are very well engineered.
One of the episodes he drives from London to the Nurburgring and back none stop on one tank of fuel - all within 24 hours and the car was faultless.
Solid cars!
This belonged to a friend of mine (who's selling /sold it) and I am the chap mentioned who had a similar hatch at the same time.
It's a really good example of the breed, and I'm fairly certain it had a ko4 turbo or something done to it, it was certainly a fair bit faster than mine!
Overall a great shed. And miles better than the gopping Jeep Cherokee he's madly replaced it with. And it's definitely the best car you've owned Tom because I found it for you and you usually buy rusty Range Rovers and other assorted s
te....
It's a really good example of the breed, and I'm fairly certain it had a ko4 turbo or something done to it, it was certainly a fair bit faster than mine!
Overall a great shed. And miles better than the gopping Jeep Cherokee he's madly replaced it with. And it's definitely the best car you've owned Tom because I found it for you and you usually buy rusty Range Rovers and other assorted s
te.... 
A mate of mine has an identical one with a 210 bhp AMD remap and 230,000 miles, over half of which have been done with the remap. It's used as a family hack, as a tip run car, and carts his mountain bikes all over the south of England. It gets regularly serviced, but otherwise it leads a pretty hard life, and it just keeps on going.
It's had a couple of clutches, an alternator and a couple of engine mounts, but the engine, gearbox and even the turbo are all original. He does the timing belt and water pump every 60k on his driveway. Engine is still sweet, and it pulls really well.
He tells me the coil failures are much rarer than they were as the parts were revised some time ago.
It's had a couple of clutches, an alternator and a couple of engine mounts, but the engine, gearbox and even the turbo are all original. He does the timing belt and water pump every 60k on his driveway. Engine is still sweet, and it pulls really well.
He tells me the coil failures are much rarer than they were as the parts were revised some time ago.
Edited by Limpet on Friday 8th June 11:40
I just bought one for a shade more £ with a shade less on the clock. Good fun all round, you could probably fit a Fabia in the boot just in case.
I found 5p and some maccy's fries under the back seat as well as managing 44mpg on a 20-mile country run so these cars practically print money
I found 5p and some maccy's fries under the back seat as well as managing 44mpg on a 20-mile country run so these cars practically print money
Limpet said:
A mate of mine has an identical one with a 210 bhp AMD remap and 230,000 miles, over half of which have been done with the remap. It's used as a family hack, as a tip run car, and carts his mountain bikes all over the south of England. It gets regularly serviced, but otherwise it leads a pretty hard life, and it just keeps on going.
It's had a couple of clutches, an alternator and a couple of engine mounts, but the engine, gearbox and even the turbo are all original. He does the timing belt and water pump every 60k on his driveway. Engine is still sweet, and it pulls really well.
He tells me the coil failures are much rarer than they were as the parts were revised some time ago.
I know this kind of contrast can be found in almost any car, but i either hear about them being faultlessly strong or relentlessly unreliable. These are people that i know that have owned and ran them.It's had a couple of clutches, an alternator and a couple of engine mounts, but the engine, gearbox and even the turbo are all original. He does the timing belt and water pump every 60k on his driveway. Engine is still sweet, and it pulls really well.
He tells me the coil failures are much rarer than they were as the parts were revised some time ago.
I do find myself eyeing them up, albeit in hatch form, either way.
nicfaz said:
I remember that the wags at Skoda gave Autocar one of these to road test that had actually been tuned to at least TT 225 spec. They pretty much got away with it, getting some good press and the start of a cult following.
Yeah, I remember the testers smelt a rat pretty quick with the performance of that demo. It was about 5 seconds quicker to 100mph than the subsequent one they tested which had the more 'normal 180bhp'! 
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