Went out to get some milk, came home with a Skoda! [Archive]

mrx

03-04-2008, 01:01 PM

Well, not really, it was a bit more planned than that.

Last night the wife and I took the plunge and signed up for a Black RS Wagon, no options. I was a bit hesitant due to the "unknown" factor, but in the end just thought bugger it, any new car purchase is liking throwing money down the drain the second you leave the dealership, so let's not worry about it and enjoy the car.

If anybody is thinking about purchasing, they are doing deals if you try (or take your no nonsense negotiator wife with you). We managed to get a little over $3000 off the driveaway price and $500 above the top end of the redbook price for our trade-in. So it's goodbye Honda CRV, hello Skoda - the Honda won't be missed, not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just boring.

Originally we specified a sunroof, which would have meant a 4 month wait. Luckily there is already exactly what we want, minus the sunroof, sitting on the dock in Fremantle, so we only have to wait about 2 weeks instead - sweet!

Mods that I'll be doing straight away are an ECU reflash and torque arm insert. I have both on the Golf GTI and am very happy with them (Most probably go with Bluefin, for the convenience and stealthiness of it). The wife is also eyeing up some bling in the form of a body kit and perhaps colourcoding the grill, but since those bits will have to come from Europe that won't happen straight away.

Thanks to gregozedobe for spurring my interest in these cars to begin with, with your objective comparisons. Ever thought of working for Skoda?

gareth_oau

03-04-2008, 01:23 PM

Congrats MRX, i'm sure you will be both very happy.

I presume that the proposed Perth cruise will be on yr radar?

DanSA

03-04-2008, 01:27 PM

Great one mrx! , and might I say a fine choice ;)

I saw you had the bluefin on your GTi, good to hear your thoughts on it. I have been doing some reasearch and found you can get it for $970
AUD delivered from the UK. This makes it very attractive on cost with the added bonus of no worshop fees due to the DIY aspect (plus for me).

My only concern would be drivability and that the power/torque seems to be a little lower than others. (or others quote high) Other than that thers the warranty issues, but thats the same with any mod.

Having had it on the GTi (and hence same engine) iths good to know you would buy it again.

May send you a PM on the rest... :rolleyes:

Enjoy the car , im loving mine.. , just cooking up schemes for Koni FSD/Eibach combo and chips.. one day maybe..:(

PS: added u to the register.

gregozedobe

03-04-2008, 10:22 PM

Last night the wife and I took the plunge and signed up for a Black RS Wagon, no options.

The wife is also eyeing up some bling in the form of a body kit and perhaps colourcoding the grill, but since those bits will have to come from Europe that won't happen straight away.

Thanks to gregozedobe for spurring my interest in these cars to begin with, with your objective comparisons. Ever thought of working for Skoda?

Thanks for the feedback, MrX. I'm enjoying retirement way too much to even think about going back to work for someone again. Besides, I like to tell the truth, and if a different manufacturer came up with something better that's exactly what I'd be saying, so I wouldn't last very long at all :)

When you talk about colour coding the grill do you mean making the chrome grill surround black, or do you intend to paint the (already black) centre part of the grill the exact same gloss black as the bodywork (or both) ?

Just asking as I have been idly speculating what my (on order) yellow wagon would look like with all black trim (including roof rails as per NZ version, grille surround, B and C pillars, and possibly the wheels too - certainly wouldn't show the brake dust as much)

Be aware the front vRS badge on the grille is very difficult to remove.

If you want to bling up your vRS have a look around this site
http://www.briskoda.net/forums/octavia-ii/

Defo going to remove my rear "OCTAVIA" badge, and possibly the rear vRS badge too, as they seem to clutter up the rear too much (I like the "less is more" smooth look).

Frufru

04-04-2008, 12:14 AM

Mods that I'll be doing straight away are an ECU reflash and torque arm insert. I have both on the Golf GTI and am very happy with them (Most probably go with Bluefin, for the convenience and stealthiness of it). The wife is also eyeing up some bling in the form of a body kit and perhaps colourcoding the grill, but since those bits will have to come from Europe that won't happen straight away.

Where do you have it done? Or can they be DIY??

DanSA

04-04-2008, 05:28 AM

Defo going to remove my rear "OCTAVIA" badge, and possibly the rear vRS badge too, as they seem to clutter up the rear too much (I like the "less is more" smooth look).

The first thing I did Greg ;) Comes off pretty easily with patience and dental floss.
CAn post a pic if u like, i think it looks much better. - clean.

Dan.

rym

04-04-2008, 05:38 AM

Dan, what is involved in the removal? That's what I want to do as well, removing this badge. Thanks for tips and details

DanSA

04-04-2008, 06:25 AM

Rym, I just used short lengths of dental floss and some water. The letters are held on with double sided tape, so if you work the floss under the edge and then work the floss back and forth it will slowly cut/lift the tape - without damging the paint.

After that a quick wash and voila.. I purposely did mine early so the was no marks left due to fading paint or super sticky dried out tape..

Can't notice the difference now, and a lot easier to clean to boot! (bad pun inteneded :D)

Dan
PS: I'll post a pic when the sun decides to get up.

DanSA

04-04-2008, 09:32 AM

So here is the result: :)

Yes , I know, the car is filthy, we have had a few storms here the last few days..
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/9982/04042008379hs1.th.jpg (http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=04042008379hs1.jpg)

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/1091/04042008380xm9.th.jpg (http://img176.imageshack.us/my.php?image=04042008380xm9.jpg)

mrx

04-04-2008, 12:46 PM

When you talk about colour coding the grill do you mean making the chrome grill surround black, or do you intend to paint the (already black) centre part of the grill the exact same gloss black as the bodywork (or both) ?

If you want to bling up your vRS have a look around this site
http://www.briskoda.net/forums/octavia-ii/

Undecided, I thought I'd buy a new grill & surround from europe to experiment with, one bit at a time - while keeping the original intact, or possibly get one of those mesh replacement grills. My wife also wants eyelids and possibly a front spoiler, and I think if you have a front spoiler you need side skirts, and so it goes on... (Will probably end up getting nothing!)

I've already signed up to that forum, it was invaluable for deciding on the colour. Technically this will be my wife's car, so I let her choose the colour, and have given her the lecture about black cars but she has promised to wash it every week (yeah right, guess which sucker will end up doing it?!)

Where do you have it done? Or can they be DIY??

Bluefin is DIY, order the handset mail order, plug it in to the diagnostic port of the car. The Torque arm insert is also literally a 15 minute job, not hard at all if you don't mind getting under the car, use lots of spray lube and have a torque wrench. As for painting, I've had sucessful results painting bumpers myself before - it all comes down to whether you can get a good match for the paint or not. I've also used one of those mobile ding repairers before to respray my bumpers after I had difficulty matching the metallic paint, he did a perfect job and was reasonably priced too.

The first thing I did Greg ;) Comes off pretty easily with patience and dental floss.

Fishing line also works wonders! As I mentioned in a post a while back, I think the badge on the back is way too big. At the time I also mentioned the wife wanted new wheels, and didn't like the half leather seats - but thankfully she's over that.

DanSA

04-04-2008, 01:02 PM

I love the half leather - saves you from sticking to the seat in summer!

Wheels aren't as bad as I thought to keep clean, just a bit dissapointed I got Conti tyres rather than the Michy Exaltos :( They are very quiet tho.

gregozedobe

04-04-2008, 02:08 PM

Wheels aren't as bad as I thought to keep clean, just a bit dissapointed I got Conti tyres rather than the Michy Exaltos :( They are very quiet tho.

Which model Contis ? All (3) vRS' I've seen so far had Exaltos fitted, so that was what I was hoping mine would come with. When was yours actually built ? (as different from compliance date)

mrx

04-04-2008, 04:02 PM

I love the half leather - saves you from sticking to the seat in summer!

I also found them to be way more comfortable than the full leather seats in the 1.8.

mrx

04-04-2008, 05:22 PM

Just found out that car's at the dealers already and we can pick it up on Monday! That must be the fastest car delivery in history. Due to a trip to Sydney this coming week, it'll have to stay at the dealership for another week. I'll put some pictures up when we get it, just incase anyone wonders what they look like. :D

Blitzen

05-04-2008, 11:29 AM

Dan, what is involved in the removal? That's what I want to do as well, removing this badge. Thanks for tips and details

Another good way of removing badges is to heat them up with a hair dryer so that it releases the tape. Just have to heat them evenly, and remove the excess tape gum with metho after you have removed the badge. I have done this a few time, and never had a problem.

rym

05-04-2008, 09:45 PM

Guys, thanks for the badge removal tips, makes perfect sense to me.

Put 300km in the first 24 hours. Family laden trip but also managed decent run in stints.

So far, very happy with the 1.8TFSI wagon. The pram only takes up about 1/3 of the boot as opposed to the 50% in my previous Wagon. The width is similar but it is much deeper down and seem longer.

The 1.8TFSi is just an impressive kit even at this early stage. Once free up, it would be fantastic.

The switches and controls isn't as intuitive as the Japanese brigade but... much better than a recent BMW that I've driven... with its bleeding Idrive.

DanSA

07-04-2008, 08:13 PM

Which model Contis ? All (3) vRS' I've seen so far had Exaltos fitted, so that was what I was hoping mine would come with. When was yours actually built ? (as different from compliance date)

Early cars (07) were fitted tith Exaltos' , including press cars (hence high praise in handling department)
Later cars were/are fitted with Conti's as they are quieter.

90% sure yours will have conti's , unless they have changed it again. :confused:

THey hold on well, dont worry..:cool:

DanSA

09-04-2008, 11:33 AM

Nice review of Bluefin here:

http://briskoda.net/forums/maintenance-performance/verdict-bluefin-my-mk2-octavia-2-0tfsi/107387/

mrx

09-04-2008, 01:14 PM

Nice review of Bluefin here:

http://briskoda.net/forums/maintenance-performance/verdict-bluefin-my-mk2-octavia-2-0tfsi/107387/

I can highly recommend it too, I don't need a review - I just need the cash! :D

I've also decided on the grill colour coding, just going to paint the chrome surround and get some eyebrows, like this one...

http://briskoda.net/forums/octavia-ii/skodas-vag-meet/106548/

DanSA

15-04-2008, 01:29 PM

Have you seen this one mrx? Im a fan of the mesh rather than the straight factory slats.
http://www.superskoda.com/octavia-ii/sportgrills/skoda-octavia-ii-badgeless-grille-milotec

Dan

mrx

15-04-2008, 06:25 PM

I was originally eyeing up something like that, on this car...

http://milotec.de/popup_image.php?pID=1836&imgID=0

...but I think I actually like it with the Skoda badge on it a bit better.

My intention is to find out how much / how long it will take to get a genuine chrome surround from the spare parts department when I pick up the car (which will now be tomorrow, due to the finance company F'n things up for yesterday's scheduled pickup). If it's cheap enough I'll get one to experiment with. It seems removing the chrome prior to painting might prove a bit time consuming.

Golf Loon

15-04-2008, 08:13 PM

If it's cheap enough I'll get one to experiment with. It seems removing the chrome prior to painting might prove a bit time consuming.

Let us know how much they want for one ;)

gregozedobe

16-04-2008, 12:42 AM

Let us know how much they want for one ;)

Me too, if they aren't too expensive I might do a vinyl wrap in some kind of near black (to match the grille). I'll keep the Skoda badge, I think it would look a little bare without it.

I actually prefer the vetical bars in the grille, it is a matter of personal taste I guess :)

99gti

16-04-2008, 07:09 AM

I was originally eyeing up something like that, on this car...

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2008/04/popup_imagephppID1836imgID0-1.jpg

...but I think I actually like it with the Skoda badge on it a bit better.

My intention is to find out how much / how long it will take to get a genuine chrome surround from the spare parts department when I pick up the car (which will now be tomorrow, due to the finance company F'n things up for yesterday's scheduled pickup). If it's cheap enough I'll get one to experiment with. It seems removing the chrome prior to painting might prove a bit time consuming.

This looks ace! Although IMO they arn't as pretty as the golf, they sure as hell can very quickly and easily be made to look a lot better . Thumbs up!

CanberravRS

16-04-2008, 07:58 PM

Early cars (07) were fitted tith Exaltos' , including press cars (hence high praise in handling department)
Later cars were/are fitted with Conti's as they are quieter.

90% sure yours will have conti's , unless they have changed it again. :confused:

THey hold on well, dont worry..:cool:

Trust me when i say the Exaltos are like tacky gum on the road.. best road tyres i have ever driven on..
I had a set of Conti's of the same size on the mini at one stage.. great tyre but they are no Exalto

mrx

16-04-2008, 11:50 PM

Here's a couple of pics, taken on the phone camera, while the wife took me on a cruise, just after we picked it up. I haven't had a chance to remove the rear badge, or dealer advertising, and haven't even been allowed to drive it yet. (Couldn't pry my wifes hands off the steering wheel!)

Note that it is a Jan '08 build and came with the Michelins :cool:

There is no "parts department" at my Skoda dealership, they actually get parts and do servicing through VW, just down the road. I've got the grill surround part number off Briskoda, so the sales person is going to get a price / ETA for us.

Some slim line white on black plates are on order, apart from that the first thing on the to do list is some 20% tinting.

They're pretty much the same car, but there's a few subtle differences I've noticed between the RS and GTI so far (all 67km of it):

Seats in GTI are more comfortable.
No gas struts to hold the bonnet up on the Skoda. (This is the most annoying difference.)
No Steering wheel controls in the Skoda.
No damping on the grab handles in the Skoda. (Big deal)
No lights above the sun visor mirrors in the Skoda.
Skoda has underseat drawers.
Skoda has tinted rear view mirrors.
Skoda has entry lighting built into the doors.
Skoda stereo plays MP3's and is far more integrated with the rest of the car (shows temperature, time, parking distance info, climate control info, etc.)

DanSA

17-04-2008, 08:13 AM

mrx

17-04-2008, 08:24 AM

My Twin! :)

Looks very tasty mrx.. Look forward to seeing it with the tint, another thing on my list but can wait till next summer now..

There are alot of setting you can change via MFD i found the other day, just hold down the bottom trip switch for more than 2seconds. Acces to all convienience settings, audio, etc etc...

Noticed the other day when i was filling up with petrol and i had the windows ajar, i went to wash the screens as u do, and viola! the windows all shut! Our Golf didn't do that.. tasty..

Had no idea about the convenience settings, but I had to drop the car & wife off at home and come into work straight after picking it up - just finishing my night shift now - hopefully I'll get more of a chance to play today.

I have Vagcom, part of the reason I bought it was to change some of the settings on the Golf, because mine only has the half height display, which doesn't enable you to change anything. I set the rain closing windows on the golf with Vagcom, and it worked - but not reliably. Sometimes the windows would close for no reason. Maybe it needs a different control module or something.

mrx

17-04-2008, 10:53 AM

I was just looking at the pictures again, thinking to myself there seems to be a lot of clearance between the front wheels and wheelarch - almost like a Subaru Outback.

Sure enough, look what I found...

So much for their pre-delivery checklist, which shows "spring spacers removed" - tick.

Now they're removed! Looks much better, I guess it'll settle a bit more yet, as I haven't actually driven it since removing the spacers.

BL33SU

17-04-2008, 10:55 AM

very nice!!

looks like a passat b5.5 lol

99gti

17-04-2008, 11:29 AM

DanSA

18-04-2008, 12:52 PM

Will you be going with the APR Torque arm, or other?

I see BFI is almost half price from US, not sure how much shipping would be tho...:confused:

mrx

18-04-2008, 02:57 PM

I'll be going with what ever's cheapest - as far as I'm concerned they're all much the same. I have the Neuspeed one in the Golf.

My Bluefin unit (for the Golf) has just arrived back in Australia after going to the UK to be updated to the latest firmware, I should have it early next week. I'll be able to confirm once and for all how it works with regard to increasing the flash counter (ie. leaving any trace your ECU has been modified). If it works as promised, it'll be the only reflash that you can load in & revert back to standard without leaving any trace that anything was ever changed. ;)

Still haven't heard about the Chrome surround.

So many things to buy, so little money! :(

The car looks a lot better without those spring spacers too. :rolleyes:

Here's a better quality picture, since the spacers were removed. (Note the Octavia badge has already "fallen off").

mrx

06-05-2008, 10:03 PM

I see BFI is almost half price from US, not sure how much shipping would be tho...:confused:

Enquired, but they wont ship to Oz.

MJKooLio

07-05-2008, 10:24 PM

Just came back from 3 test drives at Ŝkoda. The RS Wagon and Hatch and a Elegance.

Didn't drive either RS's, shame but ah well. Friend drove the Blue RS hatch, few stalls, I didn't like it new clutch very chunky but after a while, of course the car will be fine! Comfy seats, great breaks!

RS Wagon - dealer manager drove that one, much better drive as it has a few thousand km's under the hood. Nice control and traction - drives like the hatch.

I drove the Elegance, normal 6 speed auto 2.0ltr petrol not the DSG :? but boy is that normal gear box is beautiful! In manual mode changing gears smooth as! DSG guessing smoother?? :D

Didn't drive it in 'S' mode perhaps 'Ŝ' mode :rolleyes: j: lol

Anyways, driving position is wonderful, non DSG box is great! interior perfect, this one had no leather and I was expecting leather to be standard on an Elegance! Rims could be a bit bigger, freeway driving very smooth, cornering lost it a bit but that was because of not use to the car. Visually perfect around in changing lanes, weird trailor mirror on driver side haha

Reverse parking great! Only thing is the B pillar is in the way of getting out with seat not evening being all the way back (im fairly tall!) also seat belt leveling for highness could go up a bit more on interior B pillar.

Ŝkoda service 5 stars with great sales women. Will be back in 6-8 months to purchase if finances are right!

Roobuls

07-05-2008, 11:51 PM

mrx

08-05-2008, 01:14 PM

Just got myself a Skoda and am in the postion of anxiously waiting to pick it up at the end of the week. I went for the Elegance sedan 2.0 TDI with DSG.

What I've read on this forum has swayed my decision to go this way (was also looking at VW Jetta).

I hope this car turns out to be everything I expect it to be as my wife thinks I've made a huge mistake.

One more Skoda on the streets of Perth.

As long as people like you and me keep buying them then it won't be a mistake! Still loving ours after a few weeks of ownership. Finally got the windows tinted yesterday. :cool:

RS Wagon - dealer manager drove that one

You must look pretty dodgy! j: When my wife went for a test drive they just chucked her the keys and told her to come back when she'd had enough!

DanSA

08-05-2008, 07:05 PM

Snap, we got ours overnight to test ;)

Roobuls

08-05-2008, 07:15 PM

hi mrx, would the diesel benefit from adding the torque arm engine mount inserts ?

I'm interested in chipping it eventually and am interested to know what else I should do with it ?

mrx

08-05-2008, 07:30 PM

hi mrx, would the diesel benefit from adding the torque arm engine mount inserts ?

I'm interested in chipping it eventually and am interested to know what else I should do with it ?

I'm sure the torque arm insert would assist, but you might get some unwanted vibration with the diesel? Also, I have no idea if the insert will fit or if the engine mounts are the same on the diesel engined cars?

There are lots of options for chipping the 103kW diesel, personally I will be using Bluefin or similar so that I can revert back to standard whenever I want. In my opinion it's well worth the money. In your case, as an example, the Bluefin is good for an extra 27kW and 75Nm! ($950 direct from the UK at todays rates)

In terms of what else you can do with it - how about, wheels, suspension, & bling. I'm about to order a new chrome grill surround which I'll be painting the same colour as the rest of the car, and some eyebrows (also colour coded) to give it a bit more of an aggresive look.

This place has a fair bit in the bling department...

http://www.superskoda.com