[Endless....]

Originally Posted by denomathew

I also changed the steering mode to dynamic(i prefer little heavier steering). Didn't enable other feature. Cable with laptop didn't work for me(skoda's server were down), so they sent me a bluetooth device to be connected to OBD port and coded using mobile app.

What exactly does dynamic mode do? Weighs up the steering at speed..more than it does now? Also, what were you charged? I was quoted 8.5k for the service. 8 odd features included.

[denomathew]

Originally Posted by Endless....

What exactly does dynamic mode do? Weighs up the steering at speed..more than it does now? Also, what were you charged? I was quoted 8.5k for the service. 8 odd features included.

Yes, steering weighs up a little more than the current default mode. Charges were the same irrespective of how many feature you enable.

[vagster]

I just wanted to give you an update on how dealers try to upsell a TD car with 15k on ODO.

Recently i was contacted by a dealer from TN that there is an octavia L&K available readily and it is on sale. On enquiring the details, i was told the below

• MY21 model L&K White
• It is not used and a 'Brand new' car (You will know the emphasis on the next point)
• Have clocked just 15K KM , but its brand new
• It is not a TD vehicle, but it wasn't used
• Due to year end clearance, they are offering 33Lakh OTR

I had this question "When it is not a TD car and clocked 15K km, how come it is still unregistered"

Just declined the offer and here are my thoughts

• Since this is a Seller's market, buyers are not shown mercy.
• Octavia L&K MY21 was sold for 31OTR on 2021 after discounts and the same vehicle was quoted 33L today with 15K on odo.
• Wont Skoda have any check on such practices by the dealership? there should be some Thumb rule followed for TD cars

Crazy Inflation and Demand for chips is spoiling the automotive market (For buyers)

[neoonwheels]

Originally Posted by vagster

[*]Wont Skoda have any check on such practices by the dealership? there should be some Thumb rule followed for TD cars
Crazy Inflation and Demand for chips is spoiling the automotive market (For buyers)

The TD car is billed IIRC, which means the dealer has paid for the car and registered it on the dealership name (Or worst case, temp registration and insurance)

Why would Skoda keep a tab on how much the dealer earns by selling this car? If the ownership is with the dealer, they are free to sell it for whatever they feel its worth for. Unless the car is registered on Skoda's name, then it makes sense for them to have some uniform practice. Am I missing something?

[vagster]

I agree, But selling a vehicle above a price that was sold earlier as a 'first owner', one raises these queries.

If it is registered on the Dealer name and the buyer is second owner, i agree it is the freedom of the dealer to quote the price.

[EaurougeatSpa]

Originally Posted by vagster

I agree, But selling a vehicle above a price that was sold earlier as a 'first owner', one raises these queries.

If it is registered on the Dealer name and the buyer is second owner, i agree it is the freedom of the dealer to quote the price.

Originally Posted by neoonwheels

The TD car is billed IIRC, which means the dealer has paid for the car and registered it on the dealership name (Or worst case, temp registration and insurance)

Why would Skoda keep a tab on how much the dealer earns by selling this car? If the ownership is with the dealer, they are free to sell it for whatever they feel its worth for. Unless the car is registered on Skoda's name, then it makes sense for them to have some uniform practice. Am I missing something?

Dealers offering TD vehicles is not an uncommon practice. The vehicles are on temporary registration certificates (TC) with dealer insurace already paid for. If one does pick up these cars then they are the first owners. The date of invoice of the car determines the length of the warranty that is left on the car e.g if it’s a 2021 invoiced vehicle then on the standard 4 year warranty, 3 years would been available for the owner.
In most cases these cars go below sticker value and not above.

Originally Posted by Endless....

Been itching to do 2 things.
1. Upgrade tyre and wheels. Really on the wall with this one. Finalized Lenso Jager Dyna rims. Haven’t looked at tyres yet. But 225 45 R17 seems too low a profile for the side wall. Any recommendations?
2. The speed chimes have become a nuisance I cannot ignore even after 10k kms. Talk about doing its intended purpose really well Nevertheless, it’s gotta go. Closing in on 2 people. Dr Code my VW and also considering Harmonixx tuning. Anyone has feedback on either of them?

TIA

I would recommend DRcode my vw. He is very helpful and will do all the needful in terms of setup.

[rahul1407]

1st Year's Ownership Update
It was this time last year when we bought our Graphite Grey Octavia Home. With the first anniversary, I would like to share some of the brief updates and experience with the car.

Tyre Upgrade
Ever since the car was delivered, I had the itch of changing the tyres but it wasn't something very high in my priority list. However, sometimes things don't go as planned and few things are bound to happen. During the 2nd month of ownership at about 1000kms on ODO, we were venturing on a road trip where we stumbled upon a gigantic ditch in middle of a national highway and I lost both left tyres in no time. What followed was a horrendous experience but I end up changing the other 2 tyres as well with all Michelin's Pilot Sport 4 225/50/R17 tyres. The trip was screwed up but the blessing is the switch to better tyres which increased the car's steering precision and handling by multiple leaps and bounds. The steering started feeling more sharp but there was a significant increase in stiffness in suspension owing to sporty nature of these tyres.

Aesthetically, they fill the wheel arch better and look flush with the body. I think Michelin's Primacy 4 STs could have been a good consideration too which provides the needed softness but its an individual's choice. Given PS4 low tyre life (I reckon reading 25000-30000kms), I still decided to go with these and I am quite satisfied. wrt fuel efficiency, its needless to say but there has been a drop 1-1.5km/l owing to fatter rubber.



Speed Chime Removal
I dont drive recklessly fast but the acceleration of the Octy is such that you often toggle around the 80km/h mark especially during overtakes on bigger roads and it becomes annoying to hear that chime along with the home minister constantly asking to lower the speed even the roads are clear and the speed limit was obeyed. Decided to get rid of both chimes.

Although its great to enjoy your car building speed without those irritating chimes, but there is a degree of consciousness which is also stolen away and I am not completely happy with that either. For instance I felt chime at 80 a bit intrusive but I would have been happy with a single chime at let's say 120 to be more aware. This wasn't available with coding but I found a hack, you can set a warning for "winter tyres" from the settings menu which will notify you with single chime whenever you cross the set speed. I now use with setting at 120km/h and it was pretty useful on KMP western peripheral expressway during one of my recent trips.

Enabling of dynamic mode and increase in mileage.
Along with speed chime removal, I also got new VRS like tachometer and dynamic mode. There isn't much to talk about VRS layout other than it making the cockpit look more engaging. However the underdog was the dynamic mode. With dynamic mode, one can immediately feel the difference with a slightly better and responsive throttle input. This has translated into slightly less pedal work while still maintaining same acceleration and I am happy to say that the drop in mileage which we saw due to tyre upgrade has now been compensated by this enhancement. Earlier where I was averaging 7.5-8.5 in Gurgaon traffic, I am now able to see 9.5-10+ often. During my recent 300km round trip, I was driving between 110 to 130 on the KMP expressway and I was able to get an overall average of 15km/l, I personally find it quite good. I would have easily fetched upto 17 if I would stuck with cruise control at 100km/hr, but its an Octavia you want to stretch its legs from time to time.

Paint Scrape
It is that one sub-section for which I always hoped that I never need to write about but bad things happen and they are inevitable. During the last one year, I had always tried my best to keep my car in best shape for which I often wore a devil's hat which involved not sharing the steering with anyone including the dear wifey. However, I myself did the deed in doing something which we do every time we come back from a drive, i.e. while parking the car at the usual spot in my house. Its a narrow aperture which widens inside but the mind becomes so habituated to those parking sensors and buzzers that you tend to misunderstand when the car is actually making an impact. End result, scraped front bumper from a side.



Is it big enough to claim insurance? HELL NO, but is it an eye-sore, HELL YES. Considering like a self imposed evil eye on the car, I kind of lived with it for a few weeks but eventually decided to get it fixed this week. I went ahead with an FNG who has more experience with repainting/detailing 1Cr+ club cars with more finesse than any of the OEM ASC of Skoda. Hoping to see great results soon.

Annual Service.
Due to an eventful year on the personal front and owing to our WFH routine, we couldn't use our car much and covered ~6000kms. With the completion of the year, the time came for the annual service. Visited Ring Road Skoda's ASC. The business was as usual, only essential stuff added, nothing unusual offered to bloat the invoice and free a labour in first service was applied. I opted for a few add-ons and paid about Rs 8500 for the first service. A few good touches, first, the car was dropped in promised time, although I expected a few followups but they weren't required. One can say that the first service doesn't require a lot of work either. Second, I was having some niggles with UPI payment on my side, they promptly sent a Card machine along with the driver and the overall experience was smooth.

PS: I didn't opt for SMP and since the first year labour costs are NIL, I am not sure how much value SMP would have added over the individual service considering the money getting blocked for 4 years.

I was also thinking around buying the extended warranty but realised that the charges for extended warranty as of today stays the same from 7th month of ownership until 47th month. Didn't see a value of buying it now either given we have a standard warranty for 4 years anyway.

Overall it had been a bitter sweet experience with more sweetness and I am looking forward to clock many more miles on this wonderful car.

[denomathew]

Originally Posted by rahul1407

What followed was a horrendous experience but I end up changing the other 2 tyres as well with all Michelin's Pilot Sport 4 225/50/R17 tyres. The trip was screwed up but the blessing is the switch to better tyres which increased the car's steering precision and handling by multiple leaps and bounds. The steering started feeling more sharp but there was a significant increase in stiffness in suspension owing to sporty nature of these tyres.

I had exact same experience after upgrading the tyres to Continental SportContact5 225/50/R17. Steering feedback and precision is just amazing now...huge difference wrt to the stock tyres. Even handling is much better now, but ride has become stiffer. Planning to check with tyre pressure of 30PSI(currently set to 32PSI).

[rahul1407]

Originally Posted by denomathew

I had exact same experience after upgrading the tyres to Continental SportContact5 225/50/R17. Steering feedback and precision is just amazing now...huge difference wrt to the stock tyres. Even handling is much better now, but ride has become stiffer. Planning to check with tyre pressure of 30PSI(currently set to 32PSI).

I think 30PSi would be a tad bit lower, it might put pressure on side wall and also increase rolling resistance. I have found somewhat sweet spot at 32PSi with medium load. You might want to check if the place from where you are getting air checked has calibrated machine and there is no deviation wrt tyre pressure. I usually prefer a good tyre shop and mostly try to get the cold pressure checked/corrected at 32-34PSi (depending on load).

[Jo2]

Originally Posted by neoonwheels

I maintain 34-35 on all tyres with full load and never faced any issues of bounciness or bottoming out.

Originally Posted by Endless....

Full load 34 has been the sweet spot for me. I’m usually on 32 PSI. Do note that I am running on the stock set up.

Thank you all for the recos. Completed my drive( detailed updates to follow), We went with 35 in the front and 44 in the rear (vs 51 recommended as per manual) and found that to be a good balance. But next time might bring the rear down to 40-42 to reduce some of the rough edges while battling bad roads.

[Jo2]

Completing year 1 of our Octy and realised I never used the OEM floor mats ( felt/soft type) since I procured the Skoda OEM rubber mats at the time of delivery itself. The rubber mats have done the duty really well given the weather conditions in cochin.
With the realisation that I'll never need the felt mats anymore, I am looking to re-sell them. Please DM me if anyone's interested in getting n unused mat at a bargain.

Also if anyone has recommendations for a rubber boot mat supplier, please let me know.
Enquired for the same at the dealer here and was told 'not available'

[Skodaslavs]

Originally Posted by rahul1407

Speed Chime Removal

Hi, where did you get the speed chime removed and the other changes done related to software in Gurgaon. I need some contact asap. The highways drives have become very irritating with the warnings on.

[rahul1407]

Originally Posted by Skodaslavs

Hi, where did you get the speed chime removed and the other changes done related to software in gurgaon. I need some contact asap. The highways drives have become very irritating with the warnings on.

I got it done via Autopsyche Delhi. You can either get it done by them or "Dr code my vw" through instagram. I think both are using similar tools for the job.

[mudhasir]

I noticed some queries few months ago on music quality via Apple CarPlay. My Octy was probably of the last batch that had canton music system and I somehow felt the music quality in Octy is bit hyped and always wondered if Superb had more enhanced output (not the case luckily). However, I noticed that the mobile phone you use makes all the difference in quality. I was using iPhone 12 mini and it went kaput just like that few days before. I had to upgrade forcefully to iPhone 13 two weeks ago. The difference in music output is world apart; while iPhone 12 mini still had good output but iPhone 13 made me realise that the hype is real. Music quality is at a different level now and my drives since then have become much more complete with amazing ride quality and awesome music

[Az_Dan]

Finally, got the car home! Took ~1 month from booking to delivery. Still in two minds about getting any ceramic coating done (no PPF for sure). Do I need to run-in the car? and for how many kms? Am keeping it under 2k rpm but was told that it is not required. Appreciate any input. Thank you.