[Ice]

Originally Posted by PPS

Nice detailed report.

Thanks!

Are these the slightly whitish light? How much did these cost for high beam as well as low beam? Me too planning a bulb upgrade on my Octavia Ambiente.

One bulb serves the purpose of high and low beam - hence the 100/90 rating. The bulbs are around Rs.300 a piece, but if you are getting the 100/90 ones you will need to put a cut-out and new holders. The whole upgrade will cost around Rs.1,500 - 2,000. In my opinion, the Osrams give a superior spread of light compared to the Hella and Philips bulbs.

Yes, even my Ambiente variant doesn't come with ABS & in panic situations i literally have to jump on the brakes!
I too am experiencing rattling on my ageing Octavia. Apart from the parcel shelf, the handles as well as the sun visor are rattling.

I don't have any rattling issues apart from the seat and the rear parcel shelf, thankfully. The car is pretty will put together.

If its the ones giving out whitish light, how is it during the rains?

I haven't faced a problem in rains, regardless of whether it's in-city or on the highway

They look good but cost seems to be a bit steep. Which brand is it? Plug & play,right?

They are superior to the Chinese imports but cheaper than the Philips set (see previous post). And if by plug-and-play you mean just swapping the bulbs out, then no. The installation involves putting ballasts for each bulb before swapping the bulbs out.

Which brand? Cost?

Cheap, ready to use LED bulbs at Rs.125 a pop. Don't remember the brand.

Hope i didn't ask you too many questions! Cheers.

Not at all. You're very welcome!

[Ice]

A family emergency entailed a quick blast to Chennai on Friday evening. I left Koramangala around 4.30 PM, and reached Chennai well after sunset, at 9 PM. Since I left from Koramangala, I chose to take the Hosur-Krishnagiri route rather than the Old Madras Road. Suffice to say I'm not going on that road again till they finish with the 6-lane construction. The road surface is appalling mostly, with the lack of a shoulder and flyover constructions making it difficult to cruise steadily.

The car performed admirably, though. The HIDs were a blessing after the Sun bade goodbye, and lit all the areas the main headlamp beams chose to ignore. With these lights, I find it much easier to cruise safely around 100-110 kmph, when the road allows it of course.

The new synchronizer set made gear shifting a pleasure, and the resulting smoothness in the general drive allowed me to use engine breaking optimally, decreasing my reliance on the brakes. The car does not vibrate at speed now, but I suspect that it will take a new tie-rod set, new lower arm bushes, and new engine beds to bring the car back to its like-new feel. I've planned for these replacements during the 120,000 km service.

I left Chennai Sunday morning, and allowed our family driver of 23 years, Rt.Hon.Shanmugam, to take the wheel. Shanmugam has started using the gears a lot better since his initial days with us, and now knows enough to comment on how drastically the drive has improved since the synchronizer replacement. We made it back to Bangalore on the Old Madras Road in 4.5 hours, with Shanmugam giving a white X1 a hard time on the four-lane strech from Mulbagal to Bangalore. The car did the trip on one tank, averaging 16 kmpl. with the AC on all the time.

I've included some pictures that I took of the Octy at Woody's near Kolar. Still need to take an in-cabin picture of the road ahead lit with the new HIDs.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by Ice

2. Tootling along - After fixing the Pete's box, I've found that the car easily moves at 20 kmph in 3rd gear without a fuss, and with enough torque to close gaps in traffic easily. The brakes take a beating though, because engine breaking is now next to zero.
3. Rattling from rear parcel shelf - ......
.....
Over time, the cladding itself has loosened considerably, allowing the parcel tray to jump about every time I hit an undulation.

Fantastic thread. Extremely well written and very informative. I'll be subscribing to this thread so keep the updates coming.
Also, I'd like to say you've maintained the car extremely well, so kudos on that front too.

I used to have the Race Dynamics box on my Swift diesel which I sold a couple of months ago when I bought my Cruze. I'm going to wait for a little while longer (maybe 2-3 weeks) before I get start investigating which box is optimal for the Cruze.

As for the rattles you're facing, what I've realized is sometimes a little rubber solution, sofa foam, and double-sided tape is all you need to stop annoying squeaks and rattles. If you've already isolated where the noise is coming from then all you need is a few minutes to fix the problem for good.

[Ice]

Originally Posted by ghostrider

Fantastic thread. Extremely well written and very informative. I'll be subscribing to this thread so keep the updates coming.
Also, I'd like to say you've maintained the car extremely well, so kudos on that front too.

Thank you so much! I enjoy reporting on every small aspect of the Octy, and it's a wonder I took so long to get started. As far as maintenance goes, the car was kept in pristine condition by my dad for the first 5 years, and I dare not let the levels slip!

As for the rattles you're facing, what I've realized is sometimes a little rubber solution, sofa foam, and double-sided tape is all you need to stop annoying squeaks and rattles. If you've already isolated where the noise is coming from then all you need is a few minutes to fix the problem for good.

'Sounds' like a plan. I'm going to give this a shot on Sunday. Keep you posted.

[ghostrider]

Sure thing.
If you take some pics of the DIY while you're doing it, they'll be very well received especially by other members who have the same issues.

Btw... just saw your profile pic and made the correlation with your handle. My two favourite drivers in the post-Senna era have always been Mika and Kimi.
I''m guessing you enjoyed Bahrain?

[Ice]

Originally Posted by ghostrider

Sure thing.
If you take some pics of the DIY while you're doing it, they'll be very well received especially by other members who have the same issues.

of course.

Btw... just saw your profile pic and made the correlation with your handle. My two favourite drivers in the post-Senna era have always been Mika and Kimi.
I''m guessing you enjoyed Bahrain?

Kimi all the way, man. Bahrain was glorious and I for one am grateful he didn't push too much after his last pitstop to catch Vettel. That Lotus seems to handle really badly past a point of tyre wear - the difference is stark, almost like turning a switch off.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by Ice

Kimi all the way, man. Bahrain was glorious and I for one am grateful he didn't push too much after his last pitstop to catch Vettel. That Lotus seems to handle really badly past a point of tyre wear - the difference is stark, almost like turning a switch off.

I know exactly what you were saying. I was gutted in China - the Pirellis seem to fall off the metaphorical cliff much faster on the Lotus than on other cars.
If Lotus had let him through past Grosjean when they were on different strategies Kimi would have had the win in the bag. The 5 or 6 seconds he lost behind Grosjean for those 2 laps cost him the win.
But his 2nd place did have a silver lining for me in the form of Vettel going P1 in the rankings.

[Ice]

Quick update:
I've been traveling this past week, and the Octy's been getting some well-deserved R&R. Plan to do the rattle fixes this week -will have a step-by-step post up soon! To see what I've been traveling in - check out this thread

[Ice]

Long overdue pictures of how effective the lights are. Here goes:

With the HIDs on, and the headlamps off. Remember, the HIDs are fixed in the projectors at the outer edges of the headlamp assembly, in the foglight housing.



Notice how the spread has improved. Things that are at 2.30 and 9.30 were previously in the dark; they're pretty well lit up. The HIDs are good enough for me to potter around Bangalore without switching on the main headlamps.

With the low beams and HIDs on:



Again, the spread is fantastic. The Osram Night Breakers (90/100W) in the main headlamp already give a good spread, and the HIDs add to this. I've never felt more comfortable driving on the highways at night. The high-beams are seldom used; if they are, it's only to encourage the son-of-a-bachelor coming at me with his high-beams on to re-evaluate his illumination strategy.

I've also realized something courtesy this set-up - illumination spread is more important than outright brightness. It promotes safer driving by making you more cognizant of your immediate surroundings, and doesn't blind oncoming traffic as much as brighter head lamps do.*

*my opinion

[Ice]

Another weekend, another blast east and back. The car is behaving superbly at speed. I got a (slightly) depressing 14.5 kmpl. for the round trip, but I blame it squarely on the searing heat and constant downshifting in the Ranipet-Mulbagal 2 lane stretch.

[shankar.balan]

Nice writing style. Especially the bits about the Right Honourable Shanmugam!

[Ice]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Nice writing style. Especially the bits about the Right Honourable Shanmugam!

Thanks! Watch this space.

[shashank.nk]

Ice, thanks for the thread! Itss of great help to all Octy owners looking forward to hold their cars till 1 lakh mark.

We have a '07 Rider with 72k on the odo, the only serious problem encountered so far is the clutch. Its gone hard and also the low-end pick up isn't great. Was your 'first' clutch showing similar signs before giving up ? If you can PM me the approx cost for replacement it would be great.

The rattle from the rear parcel tray troubles me too, since i've Infinity Kappa's in there. Did you try out the DIY to fix it yet ?

[thegame]

Originally Posted by Ice

I've included some pictures that I took of the Octy at Woody's near Kolar. Still need to take an in-cabin picture of the road ahead lit with the new HIDs.


Attachment 919339

I hate to let the dealership use my car as their Ad. banner. And after the experience you had, I'd say lose the sticker! Nice log btw.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Ice, thats a lovely detailed report on the good ol Octy!
That was and is one car that, was probably the best ever made by Skoda. Though I have the Laura, I much prefer the old Octy. That one is built like a tank!

The car does NOT look like a 100,000+ clicks car. Very well maintained. Kudos. The efforts can be seen.

Just a quesiton though - Do these hedlamps cause any concern with the cops in Bangy? Heard they are quite strict on any after market lights.