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Old 24th November 2017, 23:06   #211
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post

There was another scary moment on the Hyd highway when I was doing triple digit speeds and around a bend, there were barrels kept in the middle of the highway. I wasnt doing illegal speeds but cruising around 100-110. The barrels came up absolutely suddenly around a bend leaving me with almost NO time to react. Drivers are expected to perform a slow speed slalom course through them. I had to brake hard and steer the car left, then right, then left again to get through.
Nikhil, whilst the credit has been given over to the tires and the engineering which has gone into building the vRS, very little credit is what you've taken for yourself mate - that's hell of a maneuvering you have done here is what I can infer by the way you've described the incident. This pic does seem scary looking at how unscientifically these barrels are placed on the highway. Were there any indications or sign boards of these barrels placed before you spotted these? Looking closely into the pic reveals tyre marks that seem like as if the other vehicle have rammed into these barrels already which could be hazardous to the occupants or to the opposing traffic on the other lane where the barrels might have flew and hit the object on the opposite side causing serious injuries. Hope the highway authorities atleast puts up some signs for the travelers safety.

Nice review altogether I will get in touch with you when my car's tires asks for a switch.

Last edited by gururajrv : 24th November 2017 at 23:07.
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Old 24th December 2017, 23:33   #212
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

This thread has been dormant for a month. With good reason.

The car continues to rack up kilometres with ease. A trip to Kochi, a trip to Chennai, Pondicherry and back and a lot of timepass drives with friends.

The odo now stands at 14,7xx kms and it's time to start planning it's first major service!

A bunch of vRS owners had a nice meet at Ambur today. 8 cars from Bangalore and 3 from Chennai and another one from BLR joining us later (not visible in my pictures).

We had a nice representation of all the colours the vRS is available in.

My favourite picture of the day was captured by my friend Robesh in his friend's White vRS.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_9443.jpg

Other pictures below....

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_1165.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_1167.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_1179.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_1185.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_1188.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_1193.jpg

One of the guys makes chocolates for a living (wonder how he manages to still remain fit!)
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_1199.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_11702.jpg
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Old 28th December 2017, 17:35   #213
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Rant coming up.....

Skoda being Skoda decides that they simply CANNOT let a customer be happy. So, though they made a lovely car, gave it a great engine, a reliable gearbox, a well designed suspension with enough GC on our roads, great seats, all the electronic toys you could expect, they decided that they need to do SOMETHING to piss off a customer paying 32 lakhs. After of course annoying him with Hankooks while fooling the rest of the paid media with Michelin PS4 tyres.

The rubber beadings.

They are extremely annoying.

My 7.5 year old Civic is perfectly silent even after 1.81 lakh kms of abuse on Indian roads. My dad's Civic is perfectly quiet even after almost 10 years and 1.00 lakh kms on Indian roads.

However, my brand new "Simply Clever" car squeaks like anything when on the move.

I initially thought it was because everything was new. Nope. 3 months and 10k kms later the car still squeaks like rubber ducky when on bad roads or reversing out of an inclined parking spot.

There was a lot of talk about this on our vRS Whatsapp Group but no one had a solution.

The straw that broke the camel's back was my trip to Chennai last week.

I reached Chennai and picked up my colleagues and worked with them in the field for 4-5 days. Since we were 3 of us in the car and usually talking about work and other things, the music was off. While roads in Chennai are generally good, the main road through Maduravoyal is pretty bad and broken.

The car squeaking and groaning like it's about to fall to pieces.

My colleagues couldnt help mocking me by asking "Sir, this is a new car, right? Why is it making so much noise?". They both said the Civic felt far better and quieter.

I had already ordered a product that is supposed to reduce this noise. It's called Gummi Pflege. It's a German product. Because other Germans know that German car manufacturers cant make a car with quality door beadings.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-gummi-pflege.png


I got my bottle today and applied it on the 4 door beadings.

It is like a bottle of shoe polish. You have to squeeze it a bit and when the liquid starts oozing out, you gently wipe it on the rubber beadings.

I am yet to apply the same on the sunroof beadings which I will do this weekend I hope.

As of now, the car is much more silent. I simply cannot hear the beadings creaking and groaning anymore. I will update this thread if the noises come back.

For the amount of money I spent on this, it is absolutely worth it. The creaking and groaning was driving my crazy.

After applying on all the 4 door beadings, I have enough to use it at least 4-5 times more over the life of the car.

Thank you Skoda for making me pay attention to inconsequential stuff like door beadings so soon in the car's life. It is making me "Simply Clever".
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Old 28th December 2017, 18:14   #214
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

My cousin has an XUV500 for which my cousin gets the beadings sprayed every service.
I understand it is some silicone spray/window channel lubricant
https://www.amazon.in/3M-Dry-Silicon...ilicone+grease

something like this perhaps ?
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Old 29th December 2017, 14:13   #215
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

With few VRS's crashing already and some believe Hankook tires to be the main culprit due to it's ability to lock on hard braking. Shouldn't potential customers be warned of this and advised to change their tires immediately.
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Old 29th December 2017, 14:25   #216
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

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Originally Posted by stanjohn123 View Post
With few VRS's crashing already and some believe Hankook tires to be the main culprit due to it's ability to lock on hard braking. Shouldn't potential customers be warned of this and advised to change their tires immediately.
I dont agree at all.

People crash because they overestimate their driving capabilities.

Money doesnt buy ability.

A good driver will know the limits of his car, tyres, his own ability, etc.

A bad driver will crash even in a good car with great tyres.

Havent we seen and heard of enough crashes of luxury cars and sports cars? Are they all due to bad tyres?
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Old 30th December 2017, 08:18   #217
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
The rubber beadings.
You might wanna try this:
.

This is an inexpensive one time fix and has worked well for many including myself.

Btw, great car & really glad to see the odo ticking so fast. Enjoy!
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Old 30th December 2017, 10:06   #218
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Got the first WA and Road Force Balancing done yesterday for the MRFs after their installation.

The odo is now 14890.

Have booked an appointment for the first full service on 4th January at TAFE Hosur Road. Oil change, all filters and have asked for new wiper blades.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBrad View Post
You might wanna try this:
.

This is an inexpensive one time fix and has worked well for many including myself.

Btw, great car & really glad to see the odo ticking so fast. Enjoy!
Thanks. I already tried soemthing else and it seems to have worked.
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Old 3rd January 2018, 01:58   #219
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

I have booked my first major service at TAFE for Thursday morning. Before that, I wanted to update the thread.

This post will take no particular order as it’s just a collection of thoughts I have on various aspects of this car.

The TSIs are famous for drinking oil in the first 15k kms or so. Some say it’s about 5-10k ,some say it’s more. In my case, I have never had any issue. I changed the oil around 8000 kms and a few days back, when I checked, the oil level was perfectly fine. It was in the middle of the notched portion on the dipstick. I still topped up about 300ml and it reached the top of the notched portion. I guess it was not strictly necessary, but did it as a precaution as I was leaving on a long work trip which would cover 1200 kms in total.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-1.jpg

Went on a long drive to Chennai, worked in Chennai for 3 days, then went to Pondicherry and returned to Chennai, worked for another day and then returned to Bangalore.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-2.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-3.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-4.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-5.jpg


The car looks stunning. This lovely blue shade with the spectacular Kamikaze ISM and Miyabi coats really turns heads wherever I go. On the highway, I can see people give me a second look, at traffic signals, people stare and once in Bangalore, a young bloke on a red R15 actually turned around, waved to me and gave me a thumbs up!

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-6.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-7.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-8.jpg

What was truly amazing was the fuel efficiency. BLR to Chennai, 337 kms and the car returned 12 kmpl! At the end of the day which included about 40kms of driving within Chennai, it still showed 11.3 kmpl!

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-9.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-10.jpg

On 21st, the day I drove to Pondicherry and returned, 316 kms at almost 12kmpl.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-11.jpg

Return journey to Bangalore on the 22nd, which included a lot of driving within Chennai on work:

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-13.jpg

What I really liked was the great FE in the city. Chennai city traffic isn’t as bad as Bangalore and I was consistently driving with the occasional stop for a traffic signal.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-12.jpg

What this demonstrates is that the car can give great FE as long as the car is moving. Sit in traffic for a long time and the numbers start to drop rapidly!

For the entire trip, 1200 kms, 31 hours of driving, avg fuel economy of 10.6kmpl.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-16.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-17.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-14.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-15.jpg


After spending so much time in the driver’s seat, I am happy to report that the seats are very comfortable. Absolutely no discomfort or back ache or any other problems.

The suspension is still too hard if you ask me. I’m a big old softie it looks like. It’s fine, but it can get tiring on bad roads. Some parts of Chennai have terrible roads (the main road through Maduravoyal, the interiors of Ambattur,) and the suspension really makes it’s intention clear. It is not really as compliant as my Civic’s and my colleagues were also complaining. They were asking if I have modified the suspension. When I said no, they asked me why it was so uncomfortable.

They then got a lecture about what a sports suspension is supposed to feel like.

The exhaust starts to feel a bit drone-y on long drives. Usually, the music is good enough to drown it out. However, there are times it’s audible. Even when accelerating hard in the city (without revving above 3k rpm), the exhaust makes it’s presence felt.

I do not like this. I would much rather have a silent exhaust that pops when I upshift but remains silent at other times. I would also rather hear the turbo whine rather than this drone.

The torque is addictive. Especially when running on Power 99. There is a noticeable difference with 99-RON fuel. The car seems much more torquey and pulls harder. This torque is what makes the car a brilliant mile muncher. It can easily cover intercontinental distances. Without tiring you out.

However, my original grouse remains: The car is not exciting. It’s fast and that is exciting in it’s own way, but it doesn’t make you laugh like a madman or scare your passengers when you floor it. Your passengers may have a heart attack when they see the speed but it doesn’t feel fast. Unfortunately this is something I have to live with.

Other minor stuff:

The beautiful touchscreen Head Unit is a delight to use. I mentioned this earlier but it bears repeating. The touch interface is as good as a high end tablet. However, there have been 2 occasions when it just remained blank. I could control the music through the steering mounted controls but the display was blank. I changed the climate control settings and that came up on the screen, but rest of it was blank. I had to hold the Power button for 15 seconds or so to do a hard reset.

No big deal, but just though I would mention it. I guess this is the usual with electronic stuff nowadays.

The small MaxiDot TFT Screen between the Tacho and the Speedo is very useful. It’s quite easy to control a well on the road and not as distracting as I expected it to be. The two scroll wheels on the steering wheel now feel like an extension of my body and I’m very comfortable using them.

The creaking from the door beadings has definitely reduced and now it’s quite audible from the sunroof. I need to give the sunroof rubber beadings a quote of the gummipflege as well.

A coupe of lovely photographs taken by two different friends of mine

Below pic taken by Robesh Vasudevan
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_1218.jpg


A phenomenal pic taken by Abu Abraham.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-5y0a223901.jpg
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Old 3rd January 2018, 10:44   #220
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

The older gen TSI especially the 1.8 were oil drinkers, the newer generation are okay
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Old 3rd January 2018, 11:38   #221
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post

The TSIs are famous for drinking oil in the first 15k kms or so. Some say it’s about 5-10k ,some say it’s more. In my case, I have never had any issue. I changed the oil around 8000 kms and a few days back, when I checked, the oil level was perfectly fine. It was in the middle of the notched portion on the dipstick. I still topped up about 300ml and it reached the top of the notched portion. I guess it was not strictly necessary, but did it as a precaution as I was leaving on a long work trip which would cover 1200 kms in total.
I believe the reason why you haven't had the need to top up your oil as often is because of your frequent highway driving where you are maintaining constant speeds.

Try driving for months on end only in the city, and in chock-o-block traffic and you will most certainly see the oil level indicator light-up a couple of weeks before every scheduled service.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
The suspension is still too hard if you ask me. I’m a big old softie it looks like. It’s fine, but it can get tiring on bad roads. Some parts of Chennai have terrible roads (the main road through Maduravoyal, the interiors of Ambattur,) and the suspension really makes it’s intention clear. It is not really as compliant as my Civic’s and my colleagues were also complaining. They were asking if I have modified the suspension. When I said no, they asked me why it was so uncomfortable.

They then got a lecture about what a sports suspension is supposed to feel like.

The exhaust starts to feel a bit drone-y on long drives. Usually, the music is good enough to drown it out. However, there are times it’s audible. Even when accelerating hard in the city (without revving above 3k rpm), the exhaust makes it’s presence felt.

I do not like this. I would much rather have a silent exhaust that pops when I upshift but remains silent at other times. I would also rather hear the turbo whine rather than this drone.
Clearly, you've bought the wrong car! You want a soft suspension and a quiet exhaust, and my Octavia has those! Could I interest you in an exchange program?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
A phenomenal pic taken by Abu Abraham.
Please blow this up and frame it for your office wall! Seriously!
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Old 3rd January 2018, 12:28   #222
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by suhaas307 View Post
I believe the reason why you haven't had the need to top up your oil as often is because of your frequent highway driving where you are maintaining constant speeds.

Clearly, you've bought the wrong car! You want a soft suspension and a quiet exhaust, and my Octavia has those! Could I interest you in an exchange program?
Hahahahahaha! No thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by suhaas307 View Post
Please blow this up and frame it for your office wall! Seriously!
I believe he has another pic of my car with the BBS wheels in prominence. I saw that image on the camera screen and I am waiting for him to work on it and give it to me!


Quote:
Originally Posted by ajmat View Post
The older gen TSI especially the 1.8 were oil drinkers, the newer generation are okay
Well, good for me then! Yay!
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Old 4th January 2018, 06:08   #223
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post

The suspension is still too hard if you ask me. I’m a big old softie it looks like. It’s fine, but it can get tiring on bad roads. Some parts of Chennai have terrible roads (the main road through Maduravoyal, the interiors of Ambattur,) and the suspension really makes it’s intention clear. It is not really as compliant as my Civic’s and my colleagues were also complaining. They were asking if I have modified the suspension. When I said no, they asked me why it was so uncomfortable.

They then got a lecture about what a sports suspension is supposed to feel like.

The exhaust starts to feel a bit drone-y on long drives. Usually, the music is good enough to drown it out. However, there are times it’s audible. Even when accelerating hard in the city (without revving above 3k rpm), the exhaust makes it’s presence felt.

I do not like this. I would much rather have a silent exhaust that pops when I upshift but remains silent at other times. I would also rather hear the turbo whine rather than this drone.

The torque is addictive. Especially when running on Power 99. There is a noticeable difference with 99-RON fuel. The car seems much more torquey and pulls harder. This torque is what makes the car a brilliant mile muncher. It can easily cover intercontinental distances. Without tiring you out.

However, my original grouse remains: The car is not exciting. It’s fast and that is exciting in it’s own way, but it doesn’t make you laugh like a madman or scare your passengers when you floor it. Your passengers may have a heart attack when they see the speed but it doesn’t feel fast. Unfortunately this is something I have
Nikhil, time you drove a 1.8 back to back with your 2.0. to get some real-world comparative insights.

Maybe coax TAFE to loan their demo 1.8 while you wait for your service?

Last edited by itwasntme : 4th January 2018 at 06:09. Reason: Formatting
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Old 4th January 2018, 13:13   #224
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post

However, my original grouse remains: The car is not exciting. It’s fast and that is exciting in it’s own way, but it doesn’t make you laugh like a madman or scare your passengers when you floor it. Your passengers may have a heart attack when they see the speed but it doesn’t feel fast. Unfortunately this is something I have to live with.
Thanks for the choice of words. This is exactly how I feel when I compare the Linea T-Jet (even in its Wolf remapped form) to the Palio 1.6 GTX. I own both and the former is a daily driver but when GTX has its day in the sun, am grinning like a madman coz its a way more involving drive and just more exciting.

Also, thanks for (i) the detailed reviews of the Perfinza. Am seriously considering those for the T-Jet in the coming months, and (ii) recommending that I stick with the stock Acceleres instead of an immediate upgrade. The Acceleres are pretty good tyres.

Am guessing you have now completed more than 5k km on the MRFs. Any change in your opinion now? Have they gotten harder and/or noisier?
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Old 4th January 2018, 13:32   #225
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Thanks for the candid review Nikhil. Even I am not a fan of loud exhausts. I like fast cars that don't make much noise. I like my 2010 Laura T.8 TSi - it's silently fast. And ride is plush. Whenever I start thinking of vRS, the exhaust, especially the weird snore during upshift in 'S' puts me off. Not my style. Let me test drive the Polo GTI to see how it feels.

Last edited by ampere : 4th January 2018 at 15:51. Reason: Typo Fixed + Removed dotty part
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