OCTAVIA III Owners discussion thread

[GTR27]

I cant wait to try out the acc in a manual. Must be ok, since cruise doesnt disable with the clutch.......

Normal cruise is borderline useless unless you go way out in the country with no traffic. Even going to the sunny or gold coast, its practically impossible to use.

[Dzl_Dubba]

Ordered some things from Superskoda, bit pricey but I have a feeling the local parts department wouldn't have anything anyway. Got me some rear RS door seals and seat handle inserts. Should look the business.

[GTR27]

I cant remember if I asked. Does anyone with an ambition+ (or ambition) have the metal door sills? do they come factory? I was thinking of ordering them from superskoda. Along with a few other choice bits

[brad]

To date I have used 95 octane with no problems at all, runs well and get good fuel economy, but in the last month it has developed a 'stutter' when cold. Still runs great after the first 300 metres or so.
This is Adelaide and the fuel is only as good as what comes off the boat.

Even before the Bluefin my 1.8tsi had more torque & got significantly better economy on 98 than 95.

Doesn't all the petrol come off the boat these days?

[PassatB6]

I cant remember if I asked. Does anyone with an ambition+ (or ambition) have the metal door sills? do they come factory? I was thinking of ordering them from superskoda. Along with a few other choice bits

I have an Ambition + and no metal door sills. Mine is MY14 though and Skoda has a history of changing specs randomly.

[Gerrycan]

You don't use 98? What are you using?

So I filled up with 46 litres of 98 octane and went for a 450 km country trip and I can say with certainty there was no discernable improvement in performance or economy.
Consumption at 110 kph was about 5.5 l/100, a couple of points better than my previously calculated 5.7 l/100 during the day but it was three points worse at night (6 l/100) so the average fuel consumption for the whole trip was identical to previous country trips
The reason for the day/night variation was the temperature during the day was 25 degrees C and as low as 7 degrees at night (My datum point was achieved at around 20 C). I have noticed this effect before with my old diesel but I am not clear if it due to engine performance or more likely that air density is greater when cold and therefore creates more drag on the vehicle.
I will put in a further tank of 98 octane to reduce the dilution effect of the first fill, but I am now not expecting any real improvement.
The morning 'stutter' in first gear has markedly reduced but morning temperatures are now in double figures so it may not be attributable to the fuel. Colder weather forecast for later this week may be opportune.
Most of the journey is relatively flat with only one point exceeding 100 metres and very light traffic so there was no slipstreaming.
I am expecting a barrage of protests from the 98 octane supporters

[Dzl_Dubba]

Might not matter much with the 1.4, though i do notice an improvement once i put in BP 98, after using up the fuel supplied by the dealer. I suspect it was 95 as its the minimum for a RS.

[brad]

I am expecting a barrage of protests from the 98 octane supporters

You do what you do - if it doesn't make a difference then Que Sera Sera.

My car uses more fuel when the whether is cold. According to my mates that have had turbos for years, colder air is more dense, therefore more goes in the engine, therefore more fuel is injected to compensate. Sounds like bunkum to me. If that was happening then you'd use smaller throttle openings to compensate for the increased power & therefore fuel economy wouldn't / shouldn't change.

As an aside, I object to this thing that dealers have of forcing you to use a more expensive fuyel to compensate for issues with the engine.

One of my colleagues is currently in formal dispute with Hyundai as his car has a cold start issue where it stalls when D or R is selected. Hyundai have given him the run0around with fuel (told hiom to run everything except diesel) and changed several items & still can't fix it. The vehicles under warranty but he's put up with it for 3 years so (of course) they won't take it back - nor do they appear to want to fix it.

In short, your vehcile should run properly on the recomended fuel.

Might not matter much with the 1.4, though i do notice an improvement once i put in BP 98, after using up the fuel supplied by the dealer. I suspect it was 95 as its the minimum for a RS.

Maybe it's changed but when I got my car the only option available at the dealer was ULP. All the cars were delivered with it. It was a multi-franchise dealer (Holden, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Skoda) and the ULP wasn't doing the Skoda product any favours. Salesdrones didn't have a clue that there was any fuel besides ULP.

[GTR27]

Have a look on briskoda - the poms all mention when weather is cold you will get worse economy.

98 will be a slight improvement on 95, but prob not enough to justify the price difference. I run 98 for safety margin in hot weather, and 98 generally had more cleaners etc and burns slightly cleaner than other fuels.
YMMV, so stock with what you are happy with, as long as it meets the minimum requirements.

[Antiplastix]

Yawn, is this going to turn into an oil thread too ?