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Old 17th July 2018, 13:37   #451
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

With so much dirt, it is best not to attempt cleaning using water-less wash. When my car gets monsoon dirty, I prefer to get it foam washed and then use the water-less wash till the next cycle of a muddy drive.

@itwasntme, I bet you can't get a recommendation out of Nikhil on others vs. Perfinzas.
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Old 17th July 2018, 14:30   #452
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by itwasntme View Post
Nikhil, you are tantalizingly close to recommending a Indian brand over the big daddy European ones .

Considering the 205/55/16s are at ~7k (Perfinza), ~8k (Conti MC5) and ~8.7k (Michelin P3ST), which will you recommend?
See Hell's Bells' post!

Quote:
Originally Posted by deepfreak15 View Post
Sorry but could not resist, this is my attempt at a dual shade.

Attachment 1781739
Sorry, not good enough. Go back to the paintshop.

Quote:
Originally Posted by krish3 View Post
The natural dual tone is far better than the ones from any company
Hahaha! For sure!


Quote:
Originally Posted by roby_dk View Post
Hi Nik,
I remember you used to carry water-less wash and microfiber cloth with you in your trips and after reaching you couldn't resist to move without cleaning your car. How did you managed to leave the beauty like this, anyways it is looking cool.
Like Hells Bells mentioned, whn the car is so dirty, it doesnt make sense to wash it with the Waterless wash. Will cause a lot of swirls and scratches. Also, a dirty car tends to have less people leaning on it when parked on the side of the road or in a hotel's parking lot!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hells Bells View Post

@itwasntme, I bet you can't get a recommendation out of Nikhil on others vs. Perfinzas.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-youregoddamnright.jpg
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Old 17th July 2018, 20:38   #453
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

So, since my drive to Hyderabad, helping my friend move there, I haven’t been able to go on a properly long drive. The quick drive to Hubli helped calm the itchiness but a really nice long drive was pending.

I had to attend an inauguration of a tyre store in Kolhapur and well, what better way than to go driving? The road is good, the car is good and I was a 100% up for it.

With this fixed, I also made a plan to drive further into Maharashtra. No, I wasn’t interested in sight seeing but I had work. I had anyway planned to visit Aurangabad and nearby areas sometime soon. Now that I was going to Kolhapur, I decided to just continue my drive.

Before I get into a lengthy explanation, here is a quick summary:

Day 1 July 10th: BLR-Kolhapur.
Day 2: Kolhapur – Jaysingpur-Kolhapur – Pune for the night.
Day 3: Pune to Aurangabad early morning and work in Aurangabad
Day 4: Aurangabad to Jalgaon and back to Aurangabad.
Day 5: Aurangabad to Ahmednagar to Loni to Narayangaon to Pune for the night.
Day 6: Pune to Bangalore.

Total Distance covered: 2884 kms at an average speed of 63 km/hr and with an average fuel economy of 11.1km/litre.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5674.jpg

I left home at exactly 5:00 am and drove through NICE road and then hit NH4. Reached Kolhapur in good time and had a good day’s work.

This was my reading at the end of the day when I parked my car for the night.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5471.jpg

I saw a lot of heavy rain starting from Hubli.

The highlight for me on Day 1 was the performance of the Perfinza in such heavy rain. The tyres performed flawlessly. I’ve mentioned this in one of my previous posts.

These tyres thoroughly impressed me throughout the trip.

Day 2 involved us driving to Jaysingpur, famous for being the home town of the famous Sanjay Ghodawat. I had a glimpse of his car parking area from outside. I could see a couple of sports cars covered along with a Hummer, a Mini, a G-Class, a Rolls Royce (I think it was a Phantom) and another bright blue Rolls Royce Dawn.

I couldn’t take a picture as it was clearly in a private property and I didn’t want to take an unauthorised picture.

Anyway once we were done with work, we drove back to Kolhapur, hit the highway to Pune, made a couple of stops along the way and camped at Pune for the night. The road from Satara to Pune is absolutely brilliant. Mostly 6-lane with some diversions. The amazing thing though is the road surface. Absolutely fantastic tarmac.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5508.jpg

Day 3 had an early start. We left Pune around 6:00 am and had to drive straight to Aurangabad. We reached in good time in spite of terrible traffic till Ranjangaon. Post Ahmednagar, the car was just flying all the way. Got done with our work and called it a day. Till Aurangabad city, these are the stats:

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5512.jpg

At the end of the day, which included another 60 odd kms of driving around within Aurangabad, these were the stats: 314km pic.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5534.jpg

This was the condition of my rear view camera that evening thanks to dirty roads and heavy rain from Pune to Aurangabad.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5452.jpg

On Day 4, we drove to Jalgaon, worked and returned. The road till Ajanta is quite good. Dual Carriageway but the condition is decent. Not great, but decent. Early morning traffic was minimal and we were able to keep a good pace till there. Post Ajanta, the road deteriorates very badly.

Reached Jalgaon in time for breakfast

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5535.jpg

Worked till afternoon and returned by night.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5579.jpg

The next day, we drove to Pune via a number of small towns and cities where we had to meet people. Reached Pune very late in the night and the rains too didn’t make driving easy.

Up until now, my drive was pretty uneventful. At Ahmednagar, I had a nagging feeling that something didn’t feel right about my car. We finished our meeting at a tyre shop there and just before driving off, I took out my trusty pressure gauge and checked the pressures on the front tyres. Both were exactly 34. I pushed this nagging feeling to the back of my head, got into my car and drove off. Less than a km later, the TPMS sensor gives me an alert saying that the rear left tyre is losing pressure. We were on our way to another tyre store and I wanted to know if the car would make it without damaging the tyres. I checked the air pressure it was down to 18 PSI. Without knowing how bad the leak was, I didn’t want to take a risk, so we took a U Turn and went back to the place which we had just left.

Our customer was quite surprised to see us and till then he didn’t realise that I had driven down from Bangalore.

Anyway, he asked his team to quickly fix the puncture and even though it was quite crowded at that point of time, his boys fixed it quickly enough and soon we were on our way.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5587.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5588.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5589.jpg

The offending nail/screw. It wasnt even sharp. Quite blunt and flat the end. I was surprised how it managed to get in!

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5590.jpg


From Ahmednagar, we went to Loni and the roads were pretty good along the way. Simple 2-lane roads but the surface was quite good and it was a nice drive.

From Loni, we decided to join the Pune-Nashik highway near Sangamner. The road till was excellent. The best road I had driven on in the past 4 days. Superb quality of tarmac, well marked lanes, wide lands and the scenery too was beautiful.

However, you pay a price for it. The road till Alephata is amazing but after that, it becomes a two-lane road for a fairly long time. The worst part is that the traffic is terrible on thos stretches as it passes through numerous small towns and villages like Narayangaon, Kalamb, Manchar and you lose a LOT of time.

And of course, even when it becomes four lane closer to Pune, the traffic is insane and you can barely maintain 40 kmph.

Reached Pune late in the night, crashed and then left at exactly 5:00 am to Bangalore .

From Aurangabad to Pune.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5627.jpg

Had a quick, uneventful drive to Bangalore.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5673.jpg
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Old 18th July 2018, 06:58   #454
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

FUEL:

Fuel was a big concern. Especially since a friend, TBHP-ian Suraj had a bad experience filling at some petrol pump outside Tirupati. Getting good quality fuel in rural areas isn’t always possible.

A fellow vRS owner also voiced his concern. However, I’ve always believed that a car should run. No point in keeping it parked at home worrying about every single aspect.

I topped up my car’s fuel tank on Monday with Power 99. On the road to Pune, I filled up at a couple of pumps which looked safe. One was a Reliance pump at Ranebennur and one was some pump in Kolhapur.

I also filled up at a petrol pump on the highway between Aurangabad and Jalgaon. Apart from that, I usually filled up only inside a city. In Pune, I filled up once at a BPCL COCO pump and once at a Shell pump in Hinjewadi. In Aurangabad, I filled up once at a reasonably large, decent looking pump on a main road in the city centre. On the return journey, I again filled up at a Reliance somewhere after Hubli and that was good enough to get me back to Bangalore (I had topped up at the Shell in Pune the night before).

I had some basic criteria before deciding to fill up at a pump. It may or may not make sense to you.

I prefer a COCO, obviously, but on the highways, it may not be always possible to find one. Also, in many cases, the COCO is not obvious. So, I may have passed a few bad looking COCOs in favour of a cleaner, better looking privately operated pump. The BPCL pump in Pune city was a COCO but I didn’t realise until I checked the invoice.

Apart from that, I look for the Pure For Sure Platinum sign on BPCL pumps. Or an IOC Swagat fuel station.

Near small towns and villages, I look for a pump crowded with 2 Wheelers. My logic is that all 2 wheelers run on petrol and if they are crowding a pump, chances are that the pump is giving clean fuel.

Reliance generally seems a safe bet on the highways.

Overall, I would say I didn’t have any issues with fuel. Throughout the 2800+ kms, I didn’t have a single moment where I felt the car was underperforming. I did top up with a full tank of Power 99 yesterday though.

Below are some of the places where I topped up.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5781.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5782.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5783.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5784.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5785.jpg
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Old 18th July 2018, 09:14   #455
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Tyres:

Absolutely brilliant. No other way to put it. Heavy rains and high speeds and the tyres performed brilliantly. Way way way above my expectations. Silent and comfortable as well. Quite rugged and strong as well. Hit a pothole really really hard and bent a wheel very badly(report coming up in the Wheels section) but the tyres didn’t give way. Continued my trip peacefully and got back. Of course, now I have nightmares because of 2 bent wheels.

One small point is that the tyres matter a little lesser on a car like this. Why? Because the chassis is brilliant, the suspension is brilliant and the stock size of 225-section is good enough to keep this car on the road at the speeds I drive at.

A hardcore driver on a track would probably have a different opinion on these tyres. However, for road use, these tyres are brilliant.

The ride comfort is also pretty decent and I don’t have any complaints.

The tyres have now covered over 22,000 kms and I am very surprised that the grip levels in the wet haven’t deteriorated much (if at all). As a tyre wears, the grooves in the tread which are essential for water channelling get shallower, thus move less water away from the contact patch. This is why a worn tyre can be very dangerous in the wet. However, these Perfinzas continue to perform flawlessly.

I know this sounds like an advertisement for MRF but I wouldn’t risk my car, my life if I didn’t have faith in these tyres. Even if MRF gave me a set of tyres for free, if I didn’t feel happy with them, I wouldn’t run it.

This happiness and contentment probably stems for reasonably low expectations to begin with. I’m sure the Michelin PS4 STs are a class apart but honestly, in these 22,000 kms, I have never felt a moment where I thought I missed the PS4s.

Do keep in mind that while I have a 230bhp car, I do not drive like a maniac. I do not do hard launches, hard brakings deliberately and very very hard cornering at very high speeds. I do take corners at my vRS’s highway speeds without slowing down and the Perfinzas handle those with aplomb.

Suspension:

The handling is brilliant thanks to this suspension. Even on not so great roads in the rural areas, the suspension allows you to maintain good speeds.

However, it is definitely too stiff for the typical Indian road. Driving around on the nicer highways of India is absolutely fine. Even there though, the sudden ruts in the road, expansion joints, rough patches are uncomfortable but I can make my peace with that.

On the rural highways where the road surface is usually broken, where there are plenty of badly designed “speedbreakers”, potholes, etc, the car really has a busy ride. It can get very tiring. I have driven bad roads in my Civic with the Tein Suspension but I never got this tired. In the vRS, I was at the same level of tiredness in spite of the ease of an Automatic transmission. At times, it was more tiring, especially on the highways where the M/T of the Civic was good enough.

However, this is a sports sedan and I have made my peace with that. I do not want anyone to think that it’s a complaint but more of an observation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since there are very few pictures related to tyres and suspension, I'll just add some pics of my Road Warrior!


2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5511.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5513.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5514.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5530.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5540.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5542.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5544.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5558.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5565.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5562.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5547.jpg
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Old 19th July 2018, 07:06   #456
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Wheels:

HEARTBREAK! I hit a bad pothole on the highway from Pune to Kolhapur (I think it was the Satara stretch) and it was a terrible impact. The entire car jumped and the wipers came on. I was doing about 90-100 kmph early morning on Sunday. It was raining, it was dark and there was simply no way of seeing the pothole and avoiding it. It just looked like another stretch of tarred road.

The moment I hit the pothole, I knew my wheel was bent. I was only hoping I hadn’t damaged the tyre as that would mean, I would have to get down, swap to the spare wheel and drive at a maximum of 80kmph the remaining 750-800 kms to Bangalore.

Since it was dark and raining, I didn’t bother getting out of the car to check but continued driving at a slow speed so that if there was a sudden, quick deflation of the tyre, I would still be safe.

After a km or two, the car continued to be fine, there were no TPMS warnings and I upped my pace and continued to drive.

Anyway reached home safe and sound.

At the earliest possible opportunity, I drove to the tyre store, and got all the tyres and wheels re-balanced and checked.

And as expected, the front right wheel is badly bent. As can be seen from the picture below, it has a runout of 3.84mm. Another wheel had been bent earlier and I knew about it the last time I got the balancing done. That has a runout of 1.96mm. The two good wheels have a runout of 0.60mm and 0.55mm. That shows how badly that front right wheel has been bent because of the impact.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5764.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5765.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5767.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5772.jpg









It is absolutely INFURIATING to experience this when we pay insane amounts in road tax and toll charges. And I am not even going into the other forms of cesses and taxes collected by us.

I am feeling really bad. There is no other option for me right now but to use it. It doesn’t make sense to invest another 60k or so for 2 wheels. I am wondering if I can claim insurance and replace these two wheels. Or should I just continue to use this set of wheels until the damages get worse and then change them altogether.
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Old 19th July 2018, 08:08   #457
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
HEARTBREAK! I hit a bad pothole on the highway from Pune to Kolhapur (I think it was the Satara stretch) and it was a terrible impact. The entire car jumped and the wipers came on. I was doing about 90-100 kmph early morning on Sunday. It was raining, it was dark and there was simply no way of seeing the pothole and avoiding it. It just looked like another stretch of tarred road.

It is absolutely INFURIATING to experience this when we pay insane amounts in road tax and toll charges. And I am not even going into the other forms of cesses and taxes collected by us.

I am feeling really bad. There is no other option for me right now but to use it. It doesn’t make sense to invest another 60k or so for 2 wheels. I am wondering if I can claim insurance and replace these two wheels. Or should I just continue to use this set of wheels until the damages get worse and then change them altogether.



Completely agree with you. There are some stretches of road where they dont even level the old asphalt and the new one. Sometimes this gets nasty and it cannot be judged from a distance either. Sometimes the jolt is good enough to make the passengers lift off from the seats. Same case applies for shoddy expansion joints. Insurance does not cover aftermarket stuff right? Have you revised the policy to include the value of the BBS wheels?
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Old 19th July 2018, 12:04   #458
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

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Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
At the earliest possible opportunity, I drove to the tyre store, and got all the tyres and wheels re-balanced and checked.
Nikhil, sorry to hear this. Maybe a hopeless noob question but what is the machine being used to assess the rims?

I can't recollect ever having used it. Have only done 'traditional' wheel alignment and balancing and never seen this detailed screen.

Last edited by itwasntme : 19th July 2018 at 12:06.
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Old 19th July 2018, 12:57   #459
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by itwasntme View Post
Nikhil, sorry to hear this. Maybe a hopeless noob question but what is the machine being used to assess the rims?

I can't recollect ever having used it. Have only done 'traditional' wheel alignment and balancing and never seen this detailed screen.
That's the road force machine, it also recommends which tyre is best suited for which corner. It's the reason I go to Madhu's.

I think I saw the RS last evening in madiwala, on my way to Madhu's for balancing /alignment.
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Old 22nd July 2018, 17:47   #460
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by audioholic View Post

Insurance does not cover aftermarket stuff right? Have you revised the policy to include the value of the BBS wheels?
Good point. I havent considered it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by itwasntme View Post
Nikhil, sorry to hear this. Maybe a hopeless noob question but what is the machine being used to assess the rims?

I can't recollect ever having used it. Have only done 'traditional' wheel alignment and balancing and never seen this detailed screen.
You've been going to the wrong places then.

Quote:
Originally Posted by avira_tk View Post
That's the road force machine, it also recommends which tyre is best suited for which corner. It's the reason I go to Madhu's.

I think I saw the RS last evening in madiwala, on my way to Madhu's for balancing /alignment.
Madiwala? I'm not sure..... I did go towards Koramangala but I dont remember Madiwala... I went through the underpass, but it was on Thursday noon rather than evening.
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Old 22nd July 2018, 18:29   #461
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Driving Experience:

There’s really not much to say. I’ll just end up repeating myself. The car is fast, reasonably refined, more fuel efficient than expected, has a slightly uncomfortable ride and has been quite reliable in getting me from Point A to Point B on relatively tight deadlines. Suspension is definitely a bit too hard for rural roads.
Power is addictive but very sedate and delivered in a nice elegant manner. No hooliganism or anything.
Ground clearance is satisfactory. It did scrape ocassionaly but manageable. We drove through many rural roads with ridiculously made speed breakers and we had a couple of suitcases and 3 people on board. The car was perfectly fine and the ocassional scrape was minor.

I inspected the underbody of the car during my 30k service and there is no cause for concern.

Causes for concern:

The quality on this car is not the best. I understand that Skoda is supposed to be a budget VW, but the problems I am facing are inexcusable.

The sun shade never stays in one place. Even when fully closed, it starts to slide back as you drive. Clearly the vibrations of a drive make it slide back on it’s own.

I closed it completely when I left Pune but when I reached Bangalore, this was it’s position.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5720.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5719.jpg

The second issue I faced is that the headlights are quite poor in heavy rain. Throughout this drive I drove in some heavy rains and the headlights didn’t seem to be piercing through the rain/fog/mist/spray from other vehicles. I really felt hobbled and it didn’t improve much even after cleaning the headlights with some soap solution and a cloth.

The next issue was with respect to the wipers. In Auto mode, they can be highly erratic. At times, the rain was mild but the wipers were wiping at very frequent intervals. At times, the rain was heavy and I needed the wipers to sweep constantly and quickly but the wipers seemed to be in their own mind and were sweeping once in 4-5 seconds. It was erratic and wasn’t consistent. I had to force the wipers into manual control mode and use them. Which defeats the point of automatic wipers.

After all the driving through some rural areas, the dashboard seems to have developed a rattle that can be heard in specific conditions. It’s not at all a good sign. My Civic went 1.8 lakh kms through the worst roads and it was probably only at 1.5 lakhs that I need to open a few panels and damp them. A rattle from a European car at 30k just shows how poorly it’s been put together.

The creaking and groaning from the door beadings and sunroof is omni present. It is time for a re-application of Gummipfledge. It always pisses me off when I have to apply it. After charging a customer 25+ lakhs for a car, cant a multinational company get something as simple as the door beadings right?

The last thing for now is a very concerning matter. The steering wheel control system has two rotary dials/knobs. One on the right and one on the left. The one on the right controls the MID on the main console The one on the right is now behaving erratically. Typically, one scroll on the rotary dial means the menu moves up or down one menu. However, now, it requires 4-5 scrolls to move once on the menu. And many times it simply doesn’t register.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5631.jpg

This is a known problem on the Octavias. This troubled me for 2-3 days and I even informed my friend Shankara Narayan who is the spares manager at TAFE. He said he has the part in stock but when I finally went to TAFE for my 30k service, the knob was working perfectly well.

Anyway, I’ll keep an eye on this and the next time it behaves abnormally, I will take a video of it and get it replaced under warranty.

It is extremely annoying because I use the one on the left to control the music volume a lot. If it fails (and now I feel it is bound to, it’s just a matter of time), it will be a major inconvenience to me.

The cheap door handles and interior plastic trim is a major tunr-off as well. Every time I pull the door closed, I feel the cheap plastic and it reminds of my parents’ Maruti Zen from the 1990s. I am 100% sure that Skoda could have given us better plastics. I know no one buys an vRS for the quality of the interior trim, but it can help enhancing the overall experience of owning this car.

Last edited by Nikhilb2008 : 22nd July 2018 at 18:32.
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Old 22nd July 2018, 20:37   #462
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
The sun shade never stays in one place. Even when fully closed, it starts to slide back as you drive. Clearly the vibrations of a drive make it slide back on it’s own.
This seems to be a common issue in VAG cars! This issue is present in A3 also. It just partially opens on its own and I have to manually close the sun shade after every trip in my A3.

This could have been avoided if the sun shade was electronically operated.

Last edited by Flyer : 22nd July 2018 at 20:40.
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Old 24th July 2018, 09:21   #463
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
Causes for concern:

The sun shade never stays in one place. Even when fully closed, it starts to slide back as you drive. Clearly the vibrations of a drive make it slide back on it’s own.
The second issue I faced is that the headlights are quite poor in heavy rain.
The next issue was with respect to the wipers. In Auto mode, they can be highly erratic.
After all the driving through some rural areas, the dashboard seems to have developed a rattle that can be heard in specific conditions.
The creaking and groaning from the door beadings and sunroof is omni present.
One on the right and one on the left. The one on the right controls the MID on the main console The one on the right is now behaving erratically. T
The cheap door handles and interior plastic trim is a major turn-off as well.
At 34k Km and 2 years 7 months with my Octy 1.8, I am facing very similar issues except for the sunroof shade which I suspect is more due to the G-forces you put your vRS through.

The door beadings and overall groaning sound terrible in a super-silent car while the door plastics can certainly be improved. Another gripe of mine is the faux wooden trim near the gear lever which has terrible swirl marks even though I am very careful with interior cleaning.

I've already had the steering buttons changed under standard warranty but had to push very hard. I was told EW will not cover it so keep that in mind. Better to ensure it is recorded as a complaint on your job card so that they cannot deny all knowledge about your concern.

The link rods are another weak point at least in the 1.8. Mine groan over speed-breakers especially when wet. Need to get them checked quickly as it can also affect the bushes as well. The stock GY tyres I have ranted enough about and now overdue for a change. I also suspect wheel bearing noise but cannot figure out if its the tyres or the bearings.

My Bi-X headlights are totally pathetic and I detest driving when dark and rainy because of it. I have found that manual mode is better than the auto mode, as it focuses more light in the 'standard' pattern rather than the AFS mode.

The headlight washers are also irritating in its compulsory wash (every 5 times I think) under Auto mode. Many times, I have washed the car and absentmindedly applied the windscreen wash, only to find the headlight washers operating and coating the car with fine droplets.

The tiny windscreen wash reservoir is also an issue. I use it liberally and needs to be filled up weekly in current conditions.

At the end of this rant, I relish a drive in it anytime! Any stray errand and I am first in line to do it. Wife is now suspecting it's the car rather than the domestication :-)

Last edited by itwasntme : 24th July 2018 at 09:39.
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Old 8th August 2018, 09:01   #464
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km


30,000 kms service



After my Maharashtra trip, I got TAFE to complete the 30,000 km service.

Oil Change
Oil Filter Change
Air Filter Change
AC Cabin/Pollen Filter Change
All fluids inspected.
Brakes inspected.

Rear Brake pads were worn on one side, so we decided to change the rear brake pads. Since I had another 2500+ kms to cover the next week, I didn’t want to risk getting stranded somewhere with worn brake pads or worse, having the metal backing plate eat into the rotors.

I had booked an appointment for Thursday July 19th. I got a call a day or two prior confirming the Service Advisor’s name and phone number. I also spoke to Mr Venkat and he told me that he would also be there that day.

Mr Sambhu was my service advisor. He was busy with another customer and I had to wait approximately 5 minutes. My car was parked in the service reception and behind my car was the driveway which had filled up with cars after I had arrived.

Mr Sambhu and Venkat were like Moses parting the Red Sea. Once they came, he and Venkat cleared out all the cars blocking my car in a matter of a couple of minutes. I’ve always been happy with the service, but it felt like I was in for a treat that day.

As usual, I drove my car into the workshop and into the service bay.

Two mechanics started working on my car and in a matter of minutes, they had inspected my brakes, other fluids, lifted the car and started draining the engine oil.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5982.jpg

Old Air filter
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5985.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5986.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5987.jpg


New Air Filter

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5988.jpg

New Pollen Filter
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5989.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5993.jpg

Old Pollen filter
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5990.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5991.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5994.jpg

Oil being poured in
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5983.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5997.jpg

New Rear Brake Pads
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5998.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_5999.jpg


Comparison with worn brake pads
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6001.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6002.jpg

The job card was ready in a few more minutes and the spares were issued from the spares department. I had also asked for a new pair of wiper blades as my current set was showing signs of wear. However, I felt that I could still run with the current blades for a few more days. So, the new wiper blades were just dumped in the boot of the car.

The entire service was done professionally and very quickly. Once the decision had been made to change the rear brake pads, the mechanics worked very quickly and on inspecting the brake pads, I was convinced I had made the right decision. This was in spite of 3 of the 4 pads being decently thick.

Once the job was done, Mr Venkat and I went for a short drive just outside the workshop. We went just about 200 metres or so and then we felt everything was fine and we returned.

AS usual, the billing took some time as the job card has to go through a couple of people before it reaches the person in charge of billing. Frankly, I have no complaints. I met a person driving a Laura vRS and it looked in great shape and I ended up chatting with him and turns out he had seen my vRS at my office when he had come there recently! It’s either a very small world or my car is just too conspicuous!

I reached TAFE at 9:50 am. Car was up in the air at 10:06 am. By 10:44 am, all the filters had been replaced and fresh liquid gold was being poured into the engine. By 10:54, all the old brake pads had been removed and placed next to the brand new ones so I could take a picture.

By 11:35, the brake pads had been replaced, Mr Venkat and I had gone on a short drive and returned and I was waiting for the bill.

I left TAFE around 12:15 pm.

Once again, a great experience and I believe they are extending this kind of Red Carpet treatment to all vRS owners. A couple of other vRS owners have also reported having this kind of an experience.

I’m very happy to see TAFE working like this. I hope for their own sake, they extend this kind of quick, professional, no-nonsense service to ALL their customers. At least in Bangalore, Skoda will have a chance to salvage their reputation.


TBHP Overnighters Meet:

I very badly wanted to join the full team to Ooty but an insane work schedule meant that I could only join them for a breakfast drive to Chamarajanagar and back to Bangalore by lunch time.

A couple of pics with a few cars who had gone on the overnighter.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6029.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6031.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6033.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6030.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6038.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6037.jpg
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Old 8th August 2018, 09:10   #465
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re: 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km

Monday saw the return of my vRS to it’s natural habitat. The National Highways. Monday consisted of a trip to Hubli and Tuesday we returned.

I finally got a Fastag to use. It definitely saved me a lot of time.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6067.jpg

Our hotel in Hubli was right next to the Unkal Lake and we had a lovely view from our room. It would have been better if the car parking was right next to the lake and I could have seen the vRS from my room!

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6078.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6079.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6080.jpg

Some people use the term “low flying objects” for a fast car. And a bird hit is only considered to be a problem for an aircraft. I do not know in which category my vRS falls in. Looks like we had a bird hit and didn’t noticed it until we stopped somewhere on the highway. Poor bird was dead by the time we saw it wedged in the grille.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6149.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6152.jpg



My Dad had never driven my vRS and I wanted him to experience this car and what it’s capable of. The stretch from Chitradurga to Tumkur is one of the best roads to drive on and my Dad made full use of this road. He pushed the vRS as hard as it could go on those roads. Bouncing off the rev limiter in almost every gear!

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6154.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6156.jpg

Clearly he had a blast. It felt like he suddenly shaved 30 years off his age when he was in the driver’s seat! He blew through a quarter tank of petrol in about 80 kms! Mad man he is!

The good thing that came out of this drive was that he has lost the right to ask me to drive slow. EVER.

On Wednesday, my colleague and I drove to Hyderabad. I was really sleepy and somewhere near Bagepalli, I asked my colleague to take over the driving and he drove till we stopped for breakfast at Blue Moon Restaurant on the highway. He is only the 3rd person to drive my car I think. He drove really well and I didn’t regret giving him a chance!

Thursday we were in Hyderabad and drove around meeting some customers. Hyderabad has good roads and traffic of course is quite manageable. I got some pretty good fuel economy figures while driving around the city.

On Friday, we drove from Hyderabad to Vijayawada for some work. Once again the car swallowed a lot of luggage and showed how versatile it is.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6208.jpg


On Saturday, I left my hotel in Vijayawada at exactly 5:57 am and drove non stop to Bangalore. I only stopped once for a coffee and two other times for fuel.

I was back in Bangalore in time for a late lunch and the drive itself was uneventful.

This entire week saw me cover over 2500 kms and this is the final result when I reached home that afternoon.

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6271.jpg

Since then, the car hasn’t run much and I feel like it’s already itching to go out again on a long drive.

The month of July has been a truly epic month in terms of distance covered.

Started 1st July with 26,631 kms on the Odometer. Ended on 31st July with the Odo reading 33,781 kms. A total running of 7150 kms in a single month!

Except for the time I took my Civic to Leh(where I covered 8717 kms in 20-odd days), this is the longest distance I have covered in a month.

The vRS didn’t put a single foot wrong. It performed exactly the way I expected it to.

Fuel Economy:

The Fuel Economy is extremely good considering what this car is capable of.


Home to Hubli hotel
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6070.jpg


Hubli to Bangalore 483 kms.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6166.jpg

On the highway from Bangalore to Hyderabad. Home to Hotel.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6181.jpg

This is a picture of a drive from my house to the airport and back late at night. Relaxed cruising.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6387.jpg


Driving around in Hyderabad city, it returned surprisingly good fuel economy.
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6207.jpg

Drive to Chamarajanagar and back:
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6043.jpg


After all this driving, it was time to give the vRS some TLC!

2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6336.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6338.jpg
2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 | 4 years and 83000 km-img_6341.jpg
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