[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by streetracer_919

Getting a K&N filter won't reduce your service cost much. Because a new stock filter will cost 1000 Rs ( I assume) . If you are using a K&N , it's true that you won't need to change. But you will have to clean the filter every 10000kms. So a cleaning solution Wil cost around 850- 1000 Rs. Which can be used many times. But still I believe spare parts of Laura will be expensive that octavia.

My independent garage who does performance mods, installs K&N filters etc, charges 250 bucks for a recharge/cleaning kit every 10000 kms.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead

Thanks for the information. I am going for the Octavia 1.8 TSI, hence the question. On Skoda's website, they have a service cost calculator, i checked the same for an Ambition Laura 1.8 TSI AT and Superb 1.8 TSI AT. Both of them returned almost identical results, as they share the engine, so I figured this would be my average maintenance cost which is pretty cheap compared to the diesel counterparts. These service calculators had an interval of 30000 kms for a spark plug change, and I would get a K&N filter too so that would further reduce the cost of spares in a regular service.

The new Ovtavia 1.8 TSI is going to be a fantastic car. I believe you own a Laura DSG. Do post an ownership review once you get the car and have clocked a few miles. It'll be interesting to see how the new 1.8 TSI 7 spd DSG compares with the Diesel 6 spd DSG.

Why do you want to risk your warranty and go for the K&N filter? The 1.8 TSI is going to have more than adequate performance anyway. Things like K&N air filters will be very visible alterations. Why take the risk, when the gains will be very marginal (or no gains at all)?

ACI ran a test of various branded air filters on a Laura VRS and found very marginal to no gains with these performance air filters. I know for a fact that the cleaning oil used to clean these filters interferes with the smooth functioning of the mass air flow (MAF) sensor in some of the European Octavias. The oil forms a layer on the sensor and this affects its ability to give out correct readings to the ECU.

[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

The new Ovtavia 1.8 TSI is going to be a fantastic car. I believe you own a Laura DSG. Do post an ownership review once you get the car and have clocked a few miles. It'll be interesting to see how the new 1.8 TSI 7 spd DSG compares with the Diesel 6 spd DSG. Why do you want to risk your warranty and go for the K&N filter? The 1.8 TSI is going to have more than adequate performance anyway. Things like K&N air filters will be very visible alterations. Why take the risk, when the gains will be very marginal (or no gains at all)? ACI ran a test of various branded air filters on a Laura VRS and found very marginal to no gains with these performance air filters. I know for a fact that the cleaning oil used to clean these filters interferes with the smooth functioning of the mass air flow (MAF) sensor in some of the European Octavias. The oil forms a layer on the sensor and this affects its ability to give out correct readings to the ECU.

Yes I guess you are right. Its more of a psychological satisfaction to have K&N installed. I've had it in all my cars till date. My Laura was totalled sadly. Thats why the decision to buy the octavia.

[mobike008]

Santosh, just read through your update on the new tyres and alloy upgrade and wanted to drop in a note of congratulations as your ride looks even more wonderful with these upgrades

The tyre depth of the Primacy LC looks pretty decent even after 43K. I think my CPC2 also have similar depth ( atleast for the rear ones while the front tyres seem slightly more abused)

Could you please share the size and cost of the PS3 ( even a PM would do fine) with some additional info like its speed rating and year of manafacture?

Congrats again and iam sure your enjoying this fast machine as it truly deserves to be enjoyed

[anandpadhye]

Thank you for the update on 40,000km service and inputs on the spark plug replacement. My third service was done around 30,000km which coincides with the second service mileage, so they did not suggest spark plug change, which is a good thing :-)

BTW, your 16" alloys are up for sale? If so let me know. My OEM Goodyears are going good, but when it's time to replace them, I am wondering if up-sizing like you did would add more fun...The most compatible up-size without having to change the rims would be 215/60R15 but that's a rare size it seems...

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Santosh, just read through your update on the new tyres and alloy upgrade and wanted to drop in a note of congratulations as your ride looks even more wonderful with these upgrades

The tyre depth of the Primacy LC looks pretty decent even after 43K. I think my CPC2 also have similar depth ( atleast for the rear ones while the front tyres seem slightly more abused)

Could you please share the size and cost of the PS3 ( even a PM would do fine) with some additional info like its speed rating and year of manafacture?

Congrats again and iam sure your enjoying this fast machine as it truly deserves to be enjoyed

Thanks!

My tyres have lasted this long since more than 80% of my car's running is on the highway. Driving this car in Bangalore's horrific traffic has no meaning really. Offlate the road surfaces have also deteriorated real bad. My daily drive is an i10 AT

The PS3s are 225/50/16 ZR 16 92 W. I don't know why the PS3 have 'ZR' marking while others just have 'R' which stands for radial construction. The tyres are manufactured in 2011. The four tyres have a manufacturing date ranging from week 35 of 2011 to week 47 of 2011.

The PLCs that I had were 205/55/16 91W. 225/50/16 is a perfect match with 205/55/16 as the outer diameter of the tyre is maintained. I think your Cruze rides on 205/60/16. So these 225/50/16s won't exactly match.

The tyres costed me about 12K a piece including fitment, balancing and alignment.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Thank you for the update on 40,000km service and inputs on the spark plug replacement. My third service was done around 30,000km which coincides with the second service mileage, so they did not suggest spark plug change, which is a good thing :-)

BTW, your 16" alloys are up for sale? If so let me know. My OEM Goodyears are going good, but when it's time to replace them, I am wondering if up-sizing like you did would add more fun...The most compatible up-size without having to change the rims would be 215/60R15 but that's a rare size it seems...

I don't know what's the interval for the spark plug change as per the service manual. My service centre was willing to just clean the spark plugs and put it back. But they said that they will last another 5k kms only. So I decided to change.

The Skoda alloys are stored in my garage as of now. Since I've just installed the new alloys I want to hold on to those OE alloys for a while. If I end up damaging or cracking these aftermarket alloys, I may have to fall back on the OE Skoda Alloys. Borbet alloys are supposed to be well engineered and pretty sturdy unlike other cheap aftermarket alloys. But still you never know...

215/60/15 will be hard to source in the Indian market. Your best option is 205/65/15.

[Santoshbhat]

Had a bit of an incident on the highway today. I was driving to Belgaum with family on board via NH 4 . Somewhere near Hiriyur some workers were painting the side rails. No signboards of any sort to warn motorists, instead a few traffic cones were placed that too with at very wide intervals so as to prevent motorists from using the right most lane. I was following an Innova at a safe distance. The road at this point had narrowed down to a two lanes and truckers were occupying the left lane.

After a short stretch it seemed like the blocked lane had opened up as the Innova guy took the right most lane in order to overtake a slow moving vehicle. I too followed promptly. Then came the shocker. The rightmost lane had NOT opened up and instead of a cone a large stone about 6 inches in height was used. The Innova guy decided to pass over it (as he knew his vehicle's GC will allow him to clear the stone easily), overtake the slow vehicle and jump back to the middle lane as the next cone was quite a long distance away.

Since I was maintaining good distance I saw the stone after the Innova went over it and could have braked hard to avoid going over it myself. But I was very aware of another Innova which was sticking to my rear. Had I braked, I am certain that Innova would have crashed into me. Had to make an instinctive decision not to brake and go over the stone, hoping against hope that the Laura will clear it. It was not to be and we felt the stone hitting the under body with a bit of a thud.

I stopped the car after a few meters to check and to my relief only the engine guard had taken the hit leaving a long scratch on the plastic guard. The car was fully loaded which is why the stone hit the guard. If it wasn't so loaded I am sure I would have cleared the stone.

THe rough road package provided on Indian Laura's surely saved the day for me. Not to mention the good ground clearance.

THis incident just highlights why it is so important to maintain good distance from the car in front and also watching your rear view mirrors and being aware.

Wider tyres = Reduced FE

This was my first highway drive after the tyre change. Had a bit of a revision on the laws of physics .

Wider tyres cause increased friction and rolling resistance. With the 205 Primacy LCs the car would coast much more easily when I'd let go of the throttle. With the 225 PS3s the car loses speed quickly and more throttle input is required to maintain speed. The FE clearly took a hit. By the time I completed about 60% of the 500 km journey I realised that if I pushed the car at the same rate I would require a fuel stop to complete the journey. So I had to ease off the throttle in order to push that FE figure up. I did NOT want to fuel en route as the fuel quality could be suspect.

The beauty of the TSI engine is that if you go easy on the throttle, the FE really improves. From 10 kmpl for the first 300 kms , I ended up with 11.50 kmpl by the end of 500 kms. With the 205 PLCs I would usually end up with 12 kmpl without any need for feathering that accelerator pedal. The combined effect of sporty rubber + wider patch will definitely increase my fuel bill.

On the other hand, the tyres do grip beautifully and at speed the feedback on the steering wheel is really good. The feeling of control is much better and car feels like its hugging the road. Braking distances will be shorter for sure and tyres do provide better safety in that sense. Another plus point of course is visual appeal. The car looks really good with the new alloys and the wide tyres.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Wider tyres cause increased friction and rolling resistance. With the 205 Primacy LCs the car would coast much more easily when I'd let go of the throttle. With the 225 PS3s the car loses speed quickly and more throttle input is required to maintain speed. The FE clearly took a hit. By the time I completed about 60% of the 500 km journey I realised that if I pushed the car at the same rate I would require a fuel stop to complete the journey. So I had to ease off the throttle in order to push that FE figure up. I did NOT want to fuel en route as the fuel quality could be suspect.

OK, that's what I had been thinking about. I just love the coasting ability of this engine + gearbox and would not like to let it go. The braking by default is good anyway. So I will stick to the stock size and enjoy the throttle...

PS: Good that the stone did not cause much damage. Few cars can stop as quickly as the Laura can!

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

OK, that's what I had been thinking about. I just love the coasting ability of this engine + gearbox and would not like to let it go. The braking by default is good anyway. So I will stick to the stock size and enjoy the throttle...

PS: Good that the stone did not cause much damage. Few cars can stop as quickly as the Laura can!

Try to get 16" Alloys from Skoda and 205/55/16 Michelins and you won't regret it. Skoda website has some new alloys for the new Octavia in the accessories section. Prices are a bit lower than the Laura's 16" alloys.

[BackInTheFold]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

The Skoda alloys are stored in my garage as of now. Since I've just installed the new alloys I want to hold on to those OE alloys for a while. If I end up damaging or cracking these aftermarket alloys, I may have to fall back on the OE Skoda Alloys. Borbet alloys are supposed to be well engineered and pretty sturdy unlike other cheap aftermarket alloys. But still you never know...

Your Borbet alloys look sweet. I've used variants in the US a while back and they were super-sturdy. I'm sure that they will last.

+1 to the offer to buy your OEM 16" rims should you ever choose to clear your garage

[jvm_1986]

Hi ,

This is my first post in the forum. Hope it is in the right thread.
I have a Laura TSi (July 2009) which has done just 49K kms. Last week, I had a coolant leakage problem which was diagonised to be the result of a water pump failure.
The service advisor mentioned that the water pump was totally damaged and a tensioner belt too had been damaged. Both have now been replaced and the car is running fine as usual.
I just wanted to know if a water pump failure is common issue on Petrol Lauras. That too within 50K kms and what did he mean by the tensioner belt?

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by jvm_1986

Hi , This is my first post in the forum. Hope it is in the right thread. I have a Laura TSi (July 2009) which has done just 49K kms. Last week, I had a coolant leakage problem which was diagonised to be the result of a water pump failure. The service advisor mentioned that the water pump was totally damaged and a tensioner belt too had been damaged. Both have now been replaced and the car is running fine as usual. I just wanted to know if a water pump failure is common issue on Petrol Lauras. That too within 50K kms and what did he mean by the tensioner belt?

If this was the case, your engine would have been cooked!

First your car has a chain cam engine so there is not tensioner belt as such unless the water pump is driven a separate belt. It is quite possible that the gasket has failed and since the pump etc needs to be removed, you might as well replace so I would go along with his suggestion. My Octavia RS water pump failed at 30000km so you did ok.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by jvm_1986

Hi ,
The service advisor mentioned that the water pump was totally damaged and a tensioner belt too had been damaged. Both have now been replaced and the car is running fine as usual.

Interesting.
Can you share the part numbers and prices?

Originally Posted by ajmat

If this was the case, your engine would have been cooked!

First your car has a chain cam engine so there is not tensioner belt as such unless the water pump is driven a separate belt. It is quite possible that the gasket has failed and since the pump etc needs to be removed, you might as well replace so I would go along with his suggestion. My Octavia RS water pump failed at 30000km so you did ok.

Yes, even I though TSi uses timing chain and not a belt. So not sure why the chain would fail. If I remember correctly, I read on your RS tread that Octavia TPi uses water pump with plastic fins instead of metal so it has a shorter life. Not sure if the one on TSi is also plastic? The water pump on my Tucson failed at 1,19,000 km and it's fully metal.

[jvm_1986]

Originally Posted by ajmat

If this was the case, your engine would have been cooked!

Luckily, the temperature sensor worked and the car gave an audible beep sound thrice and the A/C stopped working as well. I checked the manual and got to know that the temperature was way above the acceptable level. Stopped the car and checked underneath to see that coolant was leaking.
Immediately got it towed to the service center. Should thank my mechanic for responding to my call and instructing me promptly. He insisted that I get it towed.

[Santoshbhat]

Reached office in a bad mood today.

This happened to my front left alloy this morning.









Today being a Saturday I decided to drive the Laura to office instead of the i10. There is a big 80 feet road which joins New BEL road at Ramiah junction. Just before the junction there is a small left turn that allows us to join the main road, without having to wait at the signal. A perfectly legal turn I must add. I hit the left indicator as usual well before the turn and just as I turned the steering towards the left, BAM! a biker brushes against the left of the car. He was trying to go straight and wanted to squeeze through before I made the turn. The sound was pretty bad and I thought the left fender would be badly scratched and damaged.

When we tried talking to him, he said that he thought I was going right. I was like , from when did a left indicator mean that the driver wants to go right? The left turn is actually quite a tight turn and I needed a wide angle to get into the road. This apparently made him think that I wanted to go right.

Luckily there was not a scratch on the fender and the alloy took the full hit of his foot rest. There are deep scratches on the new Borbet alloy. Luckily the hit did not tear up the tyre which also took some hit. PS3s are no more in production. The 225 tyre size also is hard to source. I feel really vulnerable now having opted to go for wider tyres.

My mistake too. I should have been more watchful. I always keep an eye on the mirror esp while making turns and changing lanes. Don't know from where this guy popped up.