[RevJ]

I present to all, the 1,04,000KM run Skoda Octavia VRS230. So far so good, but the mileage has started reflecting on some maintenance. But the ownership experience hasn't gone down a notch, it has actually gone up. Major "maintenance" hurdles were sourcing parts, be it a plastic pipe to fuel lift pump. All the major components are thankfully compatible with other VWAG cars. Got it stock, keeping it stock. It's almost 6+ months of ownership, in a dilemma to keep it or get a 6 cylinder 250+ bhp car!

[SiddharthR]

This is the highest ever fuel efficiency I have managed to get out of my 1.8 TSI



Got this on a drive from Pune (Talegaon) to Mumbai with moderate to low traffic. Car settled in 7th gear with cruise control set at 80kmph did the trick. There was a some amount of coasting involved too. Gauge was showing 21kmpl before entering Mumbai city



The car is 2017 MY with 33k on the odometer

While this may be the exception, I consistently get 4-5kmpl in my office commute in-city driving

[satish_appasani]

My friend recently shared this video about a scam done by service centers while cleaning the car after getting his car serviced at PPS Skoda, Funancial district, Hyderabad.

Now a days these agencies are short of staff, instead of cleaning they are just spraying polish over the dust

https://youtu.be/HkfsWyNyaKg?si=ixB7x-ooPdzrOXg7

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by SiddharthR

While this may be the exception, I consistently get 4-5kmpl in my office commute in-city driving

Isn’t 4 to 5 kmpl very less mileage? Unless you are driving only in back to back traffic, I don’t think the mileage should be so low.

[anaghp]

I need some urgent help from the forum. I met with an accident on the 8th of January and the car has been in the workshop since then. The insurance claim is going back and forth and no repair work has started.

Accident and damage

1. I rear-ended another car slowly, but it deployed the 2 front airbags.
2. The damage is minimal. That is, the impact did not cause any structural damage to the car or any impact to the engine. Just the radiator, housing, etc in the front got damaged. It is in a perfect state to be repaired.

My problem

1. Towed the car to an ASC and the repair bill is more than 75% of the IDV value of the car because the parts are insanely expensive. ASCs don't repair even salvageable parts and instead want to replace everything.
2. The insurance company, Royal Sundaram gave me an offer for Constructive Total Loss. I don't want to do that and instead repair the car.
3. It's already been a month and they are just doing their processes painfully slow.

My requests to Royal Sundaram

1. I asked them yesterday (31/Jan) if they could bear the maximum cost as per their rules, that is, 75% of the IDV and I would bear the remaining cost of repair from the ASC. The manager said that he needs approval from the head office, and he called me today (1/Jan) stating that the head office rejected this request. As expected.
2. I asked him what the best they could offer was, and he said he couldn't say, and that I would put forward my offer (Something like 70% or 65% of IDV to be borne by them) which will then be sent to the head office again, and wait for their response which could take another few days. They are likely to reject it. I don't even think he's actually sending the offer to the head office or anything. I think he's just trying to tire me out.
3. I asked him about taking the car to an FNG, who will repair as much as they can, and only replace absolutely necessary parts. They are sure that their cost will be less. I wanted to know the process for doing this so that they don't cause any other issues saying that I moved the car from one place to another and now they can't give insurance.

Question to the TeamBHP family
The ASC's quote will not come below 75%, so I am planning to take the car to my trusted FNG. Royal Sundaram's manager is not giving me proper answers regarding the process of moving the car from the ASC to the FNG, so I am kinda stuck. Can someone help deal with this? I just need to know what the process is and make sure they don't bail on paying me the insurance.

It's painful to see my car collecting dust, and I know for a fact that it's not worthy to be considered a total loss. It will be as good as new if repaired as there are no structural or engine damages.

Additional details

1. I got the maximum IDV from Royal Sundaram when I took the policy and it's only 13.7 lacs. I know it's low, but nothing to do about it now. I didn't know at the time.
2. The car is an October 2019 1.8TSI L&K that's run around 60k and maintained very well.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by anaghp

I need some urgent help from the forum

Sorry to hear about your situation. It looks as though the car hit a pole, as the damage is uneven.

Whatever is going on between the Dealer and Insurer, its all very fishy.

Repairs costing >75% of your IDV suggests a figure no less than 9 lacs. That is impossible! I bet they have made up their mind on what is to be replaced without even thoroughly inspecting the car. I am sure an entire dashboard assembly unit will be on that list.

Ask the dealer to give you detailed part breakdown on their letter head of what is to be replaced and the labor cost involved. The goal here is to see the part list and get an idea of how it all adds up to that figure of over 75% IDV.

Sounds like the insurer is trying to take the easy way out by pushing you to sell the car as scrap.

Approach a good FNG and ask them to give you a detailed breakdown of the repair. Present that figure to the Insurer and ask them if they will do a pay out. I have a feeling they will try to avoid payout. In this case, you have no choice but pay out of pocket and fight the case later. Atleast you'll have the car back with you.

It is absolutely bonkers that Sundaram aren't willing to play along even if you present a lower repair cost. Maybe they need a real number on paper, so thats on you to do.

We seem to be heading in a direction where Insurance is only there for the legal sake of it. They aren't really there to help you. Raise this issue with Sundaram's Ombudsman. We take Insurance to save ourselves from prohibitive repair costs. They are taking the easy way out and not even giving you that option. Instead, inflate the number to the highest possible figure and put you in a corner. What is the point of Insurance then!

[SiddharthR]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

Isn’t 4 to 5 kmpl very less mileage? Unless you are driving only in back to back traffic, I don’t think the mileage should be so low.

Yes, unfortunately my office commute is mostly bumper to bumper traffic with multiple signals and I get 4-5 kmpl. Drops as low as 3 kmpl in heavy traffic
Other regular city commute with light traffic and the car gets 7 kmpl or so

I only fill XP95 from an IndianOil COCO outlet

Hence the delight upon seeing what the car is really capable of, when allowed to breathe!

[Sumesh_Jazz]

Hi All,
I own a Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSI which I purchased in 2019. The car has completed 4 years and nearly 31,000 kms in Nov-2023. I never had any issues with the car till then and it has been performing extremely well. On a fine day the next month (Dec-2023) when I turned the ignition on, the car did not start. It showed ESC and ABS warning lights. Along with that it also displayed that the battery voltage is low. I presumed that it should be the low battery that resulted in all the other warnings. I called up the Skoda service centre and they also said it should be the low battery. The service centre is ~300 kms away from where I reside and there was no way I could replace the battery from Skoda service centre. The stock battery with the car was 'Varta' 12 V 72 Ah. The close match I could find in the market was Amaron Pro (AAM-PR-574102069) with specs 12 V 74 Ah. I consulted Skoda service centre and they said that the Amaron model is ok. I went ahead and replaced the battery then and there. The car was not responding initially for few minutes after replacing the battery. However after waiting for ~15 minutes I tried turning on the ignition again and this time it responded. After a while all the warning lights went off. Everything went smooth and the car completed another 1000 kms after the battery replacement.

However a few days back (22-Jan-2024) I have encountered a major issue with the car. I was returning home from the city and all of a sudden the ESC and ABS warning lights turned on. Followed by this the steering wheel warning light also turned on. The car was running smooth, however after sometime I found that the steering wheel has become very hard. Luckily I have almost reached my residence and managed to park the car in the parking area. By then the steering movement has become even harder. I turned off the car and turned it on again. The following warnings popped up one by one.













The next day I turned the ignition on and the same warnings popped up. I did not attempt driving the car as all the warnings were still on.

I am unable to figure out what went wrong.

There was another incident which happened with the car few months back. I was driving on the highway and while overtaking the tyres fell off into a large pothole which I could not avoid. There was a loud noise of the underbody near the wheels hitting the bottom. The drive went smooth after this for few kilometers, however there was some abnormal vibration from the dashboard area every time I lifted my foot from the accelerator pedal. This behaviour continued for a day, but things got back to normal the next day. However something very unusual persisted, there was a sound of pulsation from the wheels and its pace used to increase with the speed. I have reported the issue with Skoda service centre the next day. Upon inspection they could not find anything abnormal. They could not even identify the noise of pulsation from the wheels although it clearly persisted. The front tyres of the car were worn out significantly and they said the pulsations should be from the worn out front tyres. They recommended replacement of the front tyres. Since it was costing nearly Rs. 22000 (2 front tyres) I decided to wait for 2-3 months and then go for replacement. Back home I lifted the tyres one by one on jack and rotated each of them to check for any unusual noise. I found that there is some noise from both the rear wheels with the brake disc surface touching the wheels unevenly.

I do now know whether the pothole indent has got anything to do with the warning lights which are appearing now.

I have doubts in the following directions.

1) the worn out tyres could be causing the warning messages from the speed/ABS sensors attached to the wheels
2) the shock from the pothole incident might have damaged/misaligned the bearings
3) could it be the battery replacement and it's compatibility (74 Ah against 72 Ah) which resulted in these warnings and failure?
4) the common case of normal sensor failure or cut wires/cables

As the service centre is 300 kms away it wont be possible to drive the car to the workshop. I think the car has to be taken to the service centre on flat bed.

Kindly advice is there any way I can diagnose or fix it.

Thanks and Regards,
Sumesh C R

[revsperminute]

Originally Posted by Sumesh_Jazz

Kindly advice is there any way I can diagnose or fix it.

The ABS and TC lights point to a wheel speed sensor that has gone kaput. Extremely common in these kinds of cars, I have replaced 6-8 of them during the course of my ownership of a 2015 example. I also got a steering light when one of my front sensors became faulty. I don’t think it’s a major issue but you should still get the underbody and wheels checked by a competent mechanic, if not the ASC.

[Desmosedici]

Originally Posted by Sumesh_Jazz

Hi All,

However a few days back (22-Jan-2024) I have encountered a major issue with the car. I was returning home from the city and all of a sudden the ESC and ABS warning lights turned on. Followed by this the steering wheel warning light also turned on. The car was running smooth, however after sometime I found that the steering wheel has become very hard. Luckily I have almost reached my residence and managed to park the car in the parking area. By then the steering movement has become even harder. I turned off the car and turned it on again. The following warnings popped up one by one.

The next day I turned the ignition on and the same warnings popped up. I did not attempt driving the car as all the warnings were still on.

Sumesh C R

ABS Sensor / Wheel Speed Sensor issue. Quite common. I recently replaced one of the sensors. The console will keep going in ‘Disco’ mode due to this and keep flashing errors.

Replacement will sort it out.

Cheers,
Raj

[treadmark]

If anyone is looking for a suspension upgrade, I have the Bilstein B12 ProKit (Bilstein B8 + Eiback Pro Kit Springs) available for sale.

For more information, please refer to the listing below.

https://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy...-Pro-Kit.html/

[Sumesh_Jazz]

Originally Posted by revsperminute

The ABS and TC lights point to a wheel speed sensor that has gone kaput. I don’t think it’s a major issue but you should still get the underbody and wheels checked by a competent mechanic, if not the ASC.

Originally Posted by Desmosedici

ABS Sensor / Wheel Speed Sensor issue.
Replacement will sort it out.

Cheers,
Raj

Thank you "revsperminute" and Raj for the suggestion. I will soon get the car inspected by the Skoda service centre. Although the car is in driving condition despite the warning messages, I won't be opting to drive the car to the service centre. The steering feels a bit hard to move and it may be risky as the distance to the service centre is ~300 kms.
I will be trying to send the car on 'flat bed' truck with the 'Road Side Assistance' support from Skoda.

Thanks and Regards,
Sumesh

[Desmosedici]

Originally Posted by Sumesh_Jazz

Thank you "revsperminute" and Raj for the suggestion. I will soon get the car inspected by the Skoda service centre. Although the car is in driving condition despite the warning messages, I won't be opting to drive the car to the service centre. The steering feels a bit hard to move and it may be risky as the distance to the service centre is ~300 kms.
I will be trying to send the car on 'flat bed' truck with the 'Road Side Assistance' support from Skoda.

Thanks and Regards,
Sumesh

ABS Sensor replacement is a simple task. You will need to remove the wheel and then disconnect the sensor and replace with new one. Check YT videos.

The only hitch would be to identify which sensor has gone kaput. If someone can help you with that, then just order the part on boodmo and get it done at any tyre shop or diy.

Flat Bed for 300 kms. That would be totally unnecessary.

Just my 2 cents.

[Sumesh_Jazz]

Originally Posted by Desmosedici

ABS Sensor replacement is a simple task. You will need to remove the wheel and then disconnect the sensor and replace with new one. Check YT videos.

The only hitch would be to identify which sensor has gone kaput. If someone can help you with that, then just order the part on boodmo and get it done at any tyre shop or diy.

Flat Bed for 300 kms. That would be totally unnecessary.

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you for the suggestion. I have watched some youtube videos on replacement of ABS sensor and it appears to be a doable task as you have mentioned.
I think the VCDS scan tool is available for free download, however the cable for connection is very costly it seems.
I will check with Skoda service as to whether they can extend some assistance for the scan at my place.

Thanks and regards,
Sumesh

[Dr.Vikas]

GM Friends

The Michelin PSP4 tyres on my Octavia are showing age by now in the 2.5 yrs of use.

They have done almost 37k kms and still have some life left. However I usually change the entire set irrespective of the wear and tear approximately around 35-40k kms as a preventive maintenance.

And this time I am looking specifically at the Vredestein Vorti tyres as a replacement and hence expecting some first hand feedback/ advice from fellow members on these tyres.

Thanks in advance