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Old 1st October 2017, 17:51   #16
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Quote:
Originally Posted by i74js View Post
It seems that the last 100 years of progress in IC engines is now in its last leg (if one has to believe in successful execution of the EV policy for India).
I always wanted to have a turbo petrol but was shying away from Skoda. Things are improving now and you would always be smiling at this lovely machine on open roads.
Congratulations on this lovely possession and enjoy the sinful performance of 1.8 TSi mill !
I don't really know how successful the execution of the EV policy is going to be, and even if it is, we are only now seeing EVs becoming actually appealing to own on a day to day basis in the rest of the world. I feel it is still some time away from penetrating into the Indian market to actually make financial sense.

But thanks a lot for the wonderful words about this car. It really is a pleasure to drive.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sawnilrules View Post
Congratulations on your acquisition mate and welcome to the 1.8 Tsi club. You need to be gentle with her, as she ends up getting mental otherwise most of the times on the highway. Even before you blink your eye, you end up touching sinful speeds.
At all times, remember to idle her for 30-40 seconds minimum before killing the engine. Also, though owners manual says the first service in 15,000 kms/12 months, do take her to the service station to top up oil when you are touching around 7000-8000 km on the ODO as she guzzles oil like crazy during the initial running period.
Rest, she is absolutely hoot to drive and will plaster a wide grin on your face, everytime you crank her up.
Drive Safe and wish you happy miles ahead.
First of thanks a lot! I know exactly what you mean about reaching silly speeds. Happens to me so often! The idle rule I've been following quite regularly, but thanks for letting me know about the oil bit. I was anyway planning to get it checked at 7500 kms, will now definitely get it topped up. Just out of curiosity, do you remember how much oil you had to get filled around then?

Quote:
Originally Posted by behaln View Post
Congratulations on your new car. Indeed it's a hoot to driveve this car. It will look even meaner after the mods you have planned would be carried out. Awaiting your updates on the mods.
Thanks a lot! I'll probably be going ahead with the cosmetic mods soon. Need to find a reliable place to get the alloys painted though.

A quick mileage update, the first tankful was used for only highway driving coming back from Vizag. The car gave me a great 11.5 or thereabouts on this tank. Subsequently mixture of 70% highway and remaining city was around 11.2. Since then I've filled up twice with pure city driving and the car has consistently given me 8.5 kpl. I've also noticed that consumption seems to go up quite a lot with A/c usage. I'v filled up form the same bunk and have used the tankful to tankful method. The on board computer is quite accurate as well. Its only been off by .1 kmpl or thereabouts all the times. I really do wish Skoda had given a bigger fuel tank though. Would have extended the trips between the pumps and made things more convenient.
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Old 3rd October 2017, 10:01   #17
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Nice review, happy motoring. waiting for the update after your your mods.
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Old 3rd October 2017, 10:21   #18
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Quote:
Originally Posted by mrpitt View Post

First of thanks a lot! I know exactly what you mean about reaching silly speeds. Happens to me so often! The idle rule I've been following quite regularly, but thanks for letting me know about the oil bit. I was anyway planning to get it checked at 7500 kms, will now definitely get it topped up. Just out of curiosity, do you remember how much oil you had to get filled around then?
I remember topping up almost 300 ml. I had purchased 1 Ltr can as OTC. Again, the quantity will vary depending on the traffic situation outside. I end up driving in heavy bumper to bumper traffic one way 5 days a week. And I have limited highway runs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mrpitt View Post
A quick mileage update, the first tankful was used for only highway driving coming back from Vizag. The car gave me a great 11.5 or thereabouts on this tank. Subsequently mixture of 70% highway and remaining city was around 11.2. Since then I've filled up twice with pure city driving and the car has consistently given me 8.5 kpl. I've also noticed that consumption seems to go up quite a lot with A/c usage. I'v filled up form the same bunk and have used the tankful to tankful method. The on board computer is quite accurate as well. Its only been off by .1 kmpl or thereabouts all the times. I really do wish Skoda had given a bigger fuel tank though. Would have extended the trips between the pumps and made things more convenient.
The best cabin temperature with a good fuel economy would be around 25 degrees on manual mode. Also, probably with time fuel economy figures for highway should improve. I have settled at around 13.5 kmpl to 14 kmpl on highway trips with cruise set at 120 kmph, that gives me a tank full range of almost 650, with additional 30 km as the range for empty. I agree on the tank capacity part, Skoda should have at least provided 60 ltr tank.
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Old 21st October 2017, 18:53   #19
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Quote:
Originally Posted by sparky@home View Post
Nice review, happy motoring. waiting for the update after your your mods.
Thanks! Mods might take a while! Quite happy with the car in its current state!

Quote:
Originally Posted by sawnilrules View Post
I remember topping up almost 300 ml. I had purchased 1 Ltr can as OTC. Again, the quantity will vary depending on the traffic situation outside. I end up driving in heavy bumper to bumper traffic one way 5 days a week. And I have limited highway runs.
The best cabin temperature with a good fuel economy would be around 25 degrees on manual mode. Also, probably with time fuel economy figures for highway should improve. I have settled at around 13.5 kmpl to 14 kmpl on highway trips with cruise set at 120 kmph, that gives me a tank full range of almost 650, with additional 30 km as the range for empty. I agree on the tank capacity part, Skoda should have at least provided 60 ltr tank.
Thanks for the info. Will keep it in mind when I go for a checkup. My driving seems to be fairly similar to yours, but anyway lets see. And yes I too have started maintaining a cabin temp of around 25 degrees with the blower at 1. The AC is really quite good at cooling the cabin down quickly.


A quick 2000km update:

I've driven the car mostly in the city. I've also been babying the engine as part of the run-in procedure. No more though! Finally today took the car on the highway. Smashing the throttle is a pure thrill. There is a seconds delay for the car to figure out that one wants power, post that its comes in droves at a steady pace. It really does get you to silly speeds very quickly. Paddles also have really good response to both up and down shifts. Properly tested engine braking and downshifts for accelerating and can honestly say they are the best paddle shifts in terms of shift times that I've used!

I also did a bunch of 0-100 kph runs. Unfortunately I don't have an OBD port reader, so all the timing was done manually using my phones stopwatch. I tried 3 GPS timing and speedometer apps (Ulysse Speedometer, 0-60 mph GPS and GPS Acceleration) however none of them worked properly as they all had a lag and would not record the correct speed at the right time.


This was done at a slight incline with the ESC (traction control) on:

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20171021-15.49.43.jpeg


This was on pretty much the same stretch, however the ESC was turned off. As you can see there is a big difference in the time:

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20171021-15.59.29.jpeg


The big difference I found is because when the ESC is turned on, I think the computer takes a little time to process the input and control the wheelspin. However with it off, the wheels do spin a bit, but no so majorly that it effects the time. Infact I was quite impressed with how much grip the Michelins offered off the line!

This was on a flat stretch without any noticable incline/decline:

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20171021-16.02.551.jpeg


Finally this timed run was on a slight decline:

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20171021-16.02.55.jpeg


All my runs were done with the Gearbox in S (sports) mode. I tried doing these in manual mode, however the quickest and most seamless shifts seemed to be leaving the gearbox to sort itself out as it always keeps you in the power band.

Below are stats for just this 50 kms drive that I did which included all the 0-100 kph runs:

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20171021-18.08.53.jpeg


I also filled up a full tank of fuel post this drive, and I was pleasantly surprised by the mileage of 8.2 kmpl.

I do want to mention a couple of niggles that have come up. One is the sunroof makes a noise evertime there is a twist in the body/chassis (for example when turning on to a slope) and the passenger seatbelt buckle is rattling away no matter what I do to it (when not being used). A contact at Mahavir Skoda has told me that they are already trying to work on a solution to the Sunroof noise as they have received complaints from several new Superb owners with the same issue, so hopefully this should get rectified soon. But despite all these issues, I'm very happy with how the car is doing.

Last edited by Aditya : 23rd October 2017 at 16:33. Reason: As requested
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Old 16th November 2017, 18:32   #20
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Went for a 450 km drive to Kurnool this past Sunday. We had a mini Octavia meet there with 4 guys coming in from Bangalore and 2 of us from Hyderabad. Of course I played spoilsport as mine was the only 1.8 TSI present. All the other cars were vRS. (a white Stage 2 vRS isn't in the pictures as he had gone to refill fuel).

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3000 KM Update:

The car performed flawlessly on this drive. Surprisingly the rattle form the passenger seatbelt has also stopped. I don't know how it happened, or if its just a result of the roads being good, I was very thankful for the peace and quiet. And it really was peaceful and quiet. Even at silly speeds. Overtaking was a breeze on the highway, however on our way back there were a couple of times in traffic where I wished the car would shift down an extra gear. No complaints though. Car seems to be steaming on without any further issues.

Also on this trip on the way back, got to do a couple of 0-100 kph runs again. This time there was a Gtech GPS timer available for more accurate readings. The best run we could manage was 7.94s. Keep in mind the below figures were with a full tank of fuel and 2 of us big guys in the vehicle!

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20171112-12.46.01.jpeg

With a full tank method the mileage for this trip came up to around 11 kmpl. This was despite some aggressive slightly higher speed driving. All in all, I'm really happy with the mileage I got on this trip and with the car in general!
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Old 16th November 2017, 21:37   #21
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Quote:
Originally Posted by mrpitt View Post
Went for a 450 km drive to Kurnool this past Sunday. We had a mini Octavia meet there with 4 guys coming in from Bangalore and 2 of us from Hyderabad. Of course I played spoilsport as mine was the only 1.8 TSI present. All the other cars were vRS. (a white Stage 2 vRS isn't in the pictures as he had gone to refill fuel).



Also on this trip on the way back, got to do a couple of 0-100 kph runs again. This time there was a Gtech GPS timer available for more accurate readings. The best run we could manage was 7.94s. Keep in mind the below figures were with a full tank of fuel and 2 of us big guys in the vehicle!

Attachment 1697001

I played a bigger spoilsport by being the only guy on the drive without a car . That of course gave me a nice opportunity to sit in both a VRS and 1.8 TSi side by side over a long highway drive, and form my opinion on the two.

First, the 1.8 TSi.

Even in the company of the VRS's the 1.8 TSi looks nice and elegant. Classy comes to mind. The engine is so refined and even post 4000RPM, when you are gunning it there is barely any noise, both engine and exhaust. The gearbox is fabulous, shifts are quick and imperceptible. Sometimes on the highway when you move to the overtaking lane, and press the throttle you do wish it would drop two cogs, instead of the one gear that is usually drops. Nothing, the paddles cannot fix and I quite enjoyed using the paddles over the 100km stretch I piloted the car for. The car does roll a little on bends, after all it is an executive sedan, so that is expected, and frankly it is nothing to complain about. If you don't want roll at such speeds, you know which car to get -the VRs, or do a suspension upgrade. Frankly for our Indian roads this is a great setup. The Michelin's on this car are silent and do the job well. Even on the 0-100 run, the wheelspin wasn't that excessive.

Coming to the 0-100 run, as you can see it was on a full-tank of fuel(we had just tanked up), an uphill stretch, and 2*85kg guys in the car. So ideal conditions a 7.6s 0-100 time is easily possible. Oh, and all this on normal highway pump fuel, nothing fancy. There are very few cars that are this quick, and definitely none below 25 Lakhs.

The steering is the only thing that leaves you feeling a little disappointed. There is no feel and there is a slight vagueness around the centre, typical of many audi's that I've driven. The headlight switch plastic and one plastic panel on the door armrest is atrocious(same on the VRs as well).




Now, to compare the 1.8 TSi and the VRs.

The VRs's ride quality is 90% as plush as the 1.8 TSi. At high speeds it is the VRs that felt more surefooted and well damped, obviously as it is lowered and has stiffer dampers/springs. I was really impressed by the ride the VRs offered, there is hardly any sacrifice when compared to the 1.8 TSi. Also, fun fact, the additional torque actually makes the VRs a little more fuel efficient when pottering around town. Exhaust noise is nice, and post 4000RPM the snarl and brap at the upshift is quite welcome.

Interior wise, the beige of the 1.8TSi does make it feel airier, all the best maintaining it though. Seats, the rear seats are the same, I sat back to back in them just to confirm. Front seats, the VRs has better bolstering and holds you better, the TSi is more armchair like, you really cannot go wrong with either.

I guess it is the same with the two cars as well, you really will not regret buying one over the other. The TSi is a good 6 Lakhs cheaper, and does make sense for a lot of people, even an enthusiast. It will excel and pamper you in the daily commute, and yet be able to excite you on the highway. The VRs, is well worth the premium, and is very much liveable in Indian conditions as a daily driver. If I was in the market for a car, these two would definitely be on the top of my list.
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Old 17th November 2017, 09:54   #22
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Bhuvan, the biggest difference between the two:

The DSG.

One has an unreliable one and one has a relatively reliable one. For city pottering about, the vRS will be much more reliable. If you want to mainly drive on the highways, then either car will be good from the reliability perspective.
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Old 17th November 2017, 10:25   #23
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
Bhuvan, the biggest difference between the two:

The DSG.

One has an unreliable one and one has a relatively reliable one. For city pottering about, the vRS will be much more reliable. If you want to mainly drive on the highways, then either car will be good from the reliability perspective.

That is true Nikhil, and is a topic that has been touched upon on various threads, including your vRS thread.

However, as I don't own the cars, neither do I intend on owning them, I left that bit out, as mine was more of an initial driving impression report, and nothing to do with the reliability.

Skoda reliability, spare parts availability, service standards is something you guys have the good fortune of experiencing and sharing with us.
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Old 17th November 2017, 11:09   #24
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

The only 'cons' I can think of with the vRS are the overlapping price point with the Superb TSI, the worrying requirement for RON95 fuel and maintaining the Alcantara seats.

It's a winner from all other angles.
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Old 18th November 2017, 11:40   #25
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Quote:
Originally Posted by bhuvan_prasad View Post
I played a bigger spoilsport by being the only guy on the drive without a car . That of course gave me a nice opportunity to sit in both a VRS and 1.8 TSi side by side over a long highway drive, and form my opinion on the two.
First, the 1.8 TSi
Even in the company of the VRS's the 1.8 TSi looks nice and elegant. Classy comes to mind. The engine is so refined and even post 4000RPM, when you are gunning it there is barely any noise, both engine and exhaust. The gearbox is fabulous, shifts are quick and imperceptible. Sometimes on the highway when you move to the overtaking lane, and press the throttle you do wish it would drop two cogs, instead of the one gear that is usually drops. Nothing, the paddles cannot fix and I quite enjoyed using the paddles over the 100km stretch I piloted the car for. The car does roll a little on bends, after all it is an executive sedan, so that is expected, and frankly it is nothing to complain about. If you don't want roll at such speeds, you know which car to get -the VRs, or do a suspension upgrade. Frankly for our Indian roads this is a great setup. The Michelin's on this car are silent and do the job well. Even on the 0-100 run, the wheelspin wasn't that excessive.
Coming to the 0-100 run, as you can see it was on a full-tank of fuel(we had just tanked up), an uphill stretch, and 2*85kg guys in the car. So ideal conditions a 7.6s 0-100 time is easily possible. Oh, and all this on normal highway pump fuel, nothing fancy. There are very few cars that are this quick, and definitely none below 25 Lakhs.
The steering is the only thing that leaves you feeling a little disappointed. There is no feel and there is a slight vagueness around the centre, typical of many audi's that I've driven. The headlight switch plastic and one plastic panel on the door armrest is atrocious(same on the VRs as well).
Now, to compare the 1.8 TSi and the VRs.
The VRs's ride quality is 90% as plush as the 1.8 TSi. At high speeds it is the VRs that felt more surefooted and well damped, obviously as it is lowered and has stiffer dampers/springs. I was really impressed by the ride the VRs offered, there is hardly any sacrifice when compared to the 1.8 TSi. Also, fun fact, the additional torque actually makes the VRs a little more fuel efficient when pottering around town. Exhaust noise is nice, and post 4000RPM the snarl and brap at the upshift is quite welcome.
Interior wise, the beige of the 1.8TSi does make it feel airier, all the best maintaining it though. Seats, the rear seats are the same, I sat back to back in them just to confirm. Front seats, the VRs has better bolstering and holds you better, the TSi is more armchair like, you really cannot go wrong with either.
I guess it is the same with the two cars as well, you really will not regret buying one over the other. The TSi is a good 6 Lakhs cheaper, and does make sense for a lot of people, even an enthusiast. It will excel and pamper you in the daily commute, and yet be able to excite you on the highway. The VRs, is well worth the premium, and is very much liveable in Indian conditions as a daily driver. If I was in the market for a car, these two would definitely be on the top of my list.
Thanks for the response. Yup the 0-100 is probably the best in this price bracket. I don't think I've sat in a car that does it this quickly with such little drama. The biggest difference interior wise for me is the front seats that really offer superior bolstering (though don't know how much of a difference this will make in daily city driving) and the colour of the interior. Also the vRS makes a nice noise whereas the 1.8 is way more subdued. And of course the monster torque that engine has. But no complaints. I'm very happy with my ride!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008 View Post
Bhuvan, the biggest difference between the two:
The DSG.
One has an unreliable one and one has a relatively reliable one. For city pottering about, the vRS will be much more reliable. If you want to mainly drive on the highways, then either car will be good from the reliability perspective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bhuvan_prasad View Post
That is true Nikhil, and is a topic that has been touched upon on various threads, including your vRS thread.
However, as I don't own the cars, neither do I intend on owning them, I left that bit out, as mine was more of an initial driving impression report, and nothing to do with the reliability.
Skoda reliability, spare parts availability, service standards is something you guys have the good fortune of experiencing and sharing with us.
I've read so much about issues people have had with Skoda in terms of service and spare parts especially on TBHP and have really refrained from saying anything. Obviously luck seems to play a massive part, but over the 13 year period that my family and me have owned almost all of Skoda's models, we have till date (knocking on wood here) really never faced any major problems at all. And obviously its because of this confidence that I purchased this vehicle.

Of course spares are more expensive, and someone buying any German car will probably face the same problem across segments. As I said I have full confidence if taken care of well, there shouldn't be any issue with this Octavia.
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Old 6th January 2018, 12:17   #26
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

5000 KM Update:

At the end of December my wife and I decided to go on a road trip. The plan was to go somewhere from Bangalore as its the most convenient form Hyderabad. After a lot of deliberation we decided to go to Kabini which worked out well cause I've been itching to go back to a forest. The total distance we traveled was around 1700 kms which included all the travelling around in Bangalore.

The Hyderabad-Bangalore leg was a really peaceful drive. We left early morning so apart from Anantapur and Kurnool we didn't encounter too much traffic. It took us 6 hours and 15 mins with one break in the middle. As the roads were really good, we could maintain good triple digit speeds for the most part. The car performed flawlessly as usual and I was mighty impressed with the mileage figures it chucked out. By the time I filled fuel in Bangalore, I had covered 580 odd KMs and the system still showed another 100 kms till empty. Overall got a mileage of 13.4 kmpl. The best part was that we got out at Bangalore quite fresh. There was no fatigue at all because everything about the way the Octi cruises on the highway just feels serene.

Bangalore-Kabini also the roads were really good for the most part. However there was quite a bit of traffic even though we left early morning again. The traffic was present almost all the way till Mysore, post which we got off the main Highway to a state highway which is a typical Indian 2 Lane State Highway. The road surface was really good (maybe freshly laid) but there quite a few blind curves (cause of overgrown trees/bushes on wither side). Obviously I was much more cautious on these roads. Unfortunately since we were visiting the Nagarhole forests, our resort comes up in such a position that we didn't really get to drive through the forest itself (obivously apart form the safaris).

We did 4 safaris in Kabini, 3 of which were in the Canter and one in a Jeep. We had a great sighting of a leopard for about 25 mins and saw Gaur and Elephants as well. Try as we might though the elusive black panther wasn't to be seen. We did come very close to seeing tigers on two ocassions but alas it wasn't meant to be. FOr those who haven't visited Kabini. it is absolutely gorgeous in the winter. The cold breeze in the morning is killing though. Below are a few pictures of what we saw.

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-dsc_7192.jpg

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Unfortunately with the amount of pictures I took of the wildlife, I completely forgot to take some of my beast parked under the trees

On our return leg from Kabini, we stopped just outside Mysore fo some delicious food at A1 Punjabi Family Dhaba. Must visit for anyone travelling on that road. Really fresh good food. We left Kabini late, so obviously got quite a bit of traffic. Thankfully getting in to Bangalore, via NICE road (which is simply fabulous to drive on) was quite hassle and traffic free. Unfortunately during our stay in Bangalore, I hit a parked car in Indranagar. I was a bit distracted looking for parking on the opposite side of the road and just completely misjudged the distance between my car and his. It was a Swift and thankfully there was very minimal damage to his car (the bumper came out a bit which we pushed back in). Apologised profusely to the owner and he was nice enough to let it go. Below was the paint scratches and dents that happened to the Octavia.

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20180106-11.59.49.jpeg

On coming back to Hyderbad I promptly took the car to 3M the same day. Thankfully they were able to remove pretty much all of the white paint streaks that are visible in this picture. There is a slight dent where the initial impact was, but honestly unless you look at it closely, you can't tell there is any damage. A big shoutout to the guys at 3M who really did a stellar job of removing this, and not charging me anything extra for it (apart from the foam wash which I got done).

Also while in Bangalore, I got a chance to fill up Shell V Power. I was really impressed with this fuel. Even though it commands a premium, I think it well justified with how much noticeably smoother it makes the engine and drive. I don't know the long term effects of using this, but I very happily filled another tankful of it for the journey back to Hyderabad. Unfortunately Hyd doesn't have Shell bunks so it was back to regular fuel fairly quickly. It didn't improve the mileage really because for the Kabini round trip and the return journey to Hyderabad the car gave mileages of 11.8 and 12.8 respectively.

On coming back to Hyderabad I cleaned the front seats with Mr Leather Leather cleaner and conditioner as they had become quite soiled. Must say quite impressed with the ease of use and results. Below is a picture of the after and the amount of dirt that came out from the seat. Unfortunately because I'm a bit slow, completely forgot to take the before picture

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20171230-12.39.02.jpeg

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-whatsapp-image-20171230-12.40.09.jpeg

Also recently drove around Hyderabad fairly late in the night on empty roads. I tried driving quick around the twisties on known roads, and man do the tyres squeal quite easily. They do have fairly good amounts of grip though! Still feel like one size wider tyres would be better overall.
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Old 10th July 2019, 12:36   #27
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

20,000 Km Update:


The first couple of years with the Octavia seem to have gone by pretty quickly and were fuss free. The first service was done on 13th November 2018 at Mahavir Auto Sanathnagar. Dropped the car off in the morning and picked it up the same day itself. Engine oil and filters were all changed as per regular protocols, and as Skoda were running a promotion, was charged around 7500 for the entire service.

In 2018 I did two more road trips to Bangalore. One was in July and the other in October. In October I actually used the car to move a lot of stuff between the two cities. And let me tell you this, with the seats down, the car can simply swallow everything you throw at it. It is just super impressive. The best part was that the performance was hardly affected by all the additional weight on the highway.

The big change for me came in February this year. Instead of getting the alloys painted as initially planned, I decided to take the plunge and go in for an upsize. I got 17in Lenso Yaeger Dyna’s in Satin Black with 225/45/R17 rubber. I didn’t really consider any other tyre size as this size has the least variation error and is the stock size on the vRS. The Michelin Pilot Sport 4s have a massive amount of grip. There is a huge improvement from the Primacy 3st’s on this front. Absolutely no tyre squeal no matter how hard I’ve pushed it. The slight lack of confidence at higher speeds that I had has just vanished. Of course, the downside of this tyre is road noise. It is quite irksome at times (especially compared to the primacy’s which were super silent) but I’ve learnt to ignore it. I haven’t done a road trip with these tyres yet so cannot comment on how annoying it would be at highway speeds for long periods of time.

With the larger size tyre, there are two definite drawbacks. The first being performance. Because of the larger rotational mass, the car feels a little less sprightly than it used to. I haven’t measured out the hit the performance has taken in 0-100 times however it is noticeable. It doesn’t mean that the car has become slow, I mean you still get to silly speeds quite quickly, it’s just that the initial eagerness on pressing the accelerator has disappeared. The second thing is the ride has become stiffer. Naturally with the lower profile rubber, the suspension ends up doing more work over bumps. At lower speeds this has resulted in the ride becoming a little crashy over broken roads unless one is really slowing down. This ‘crashiness’ however disappears at anything over 50-60 kph. Of course I’ve also started driving a little more carefully to protect the tyres and rims from damage and the dreaded tyre bubbles. I have already had one puncture on the new tyres (unavoidable I guess), so I am perhaps being overly cautious.

The interior is still just a great place to be. The AC has been extremely effective even in Hyderabad’s peak 45 degrees in cooling the cabin down. The audio set up is just exceptional. I don’t know what I’m missing out with the L&K’s extra speakers/subwoofer but I cannot imagine it making that much of a difference. Listening to music on a good system while driving (especially those long night drives on empty roads) is one of those indulgences that just makes the world seem like a better place.

The drawbacks of the interior being beige are quite obvious. It gets dirty very easily and one has to clean the seats and other touch points quite regularly. I’ve always preferred black interiors for this reason, but unfortunately, Skoda doesn’t give us such choices in India. The other major gripe that I have with the interiors are the glossy black plastics surrounding the gear lever and on the AC controls. They have gotten scratches just by cleaning the dust off them with a microfibre cloth. I’d be grateful to anyone who’s got a solution to fix this (without replacing the part). I recently had all the chrome bits on the exterior (apart from the badges) and the boot lip spoiler wrapped. A quick note, the boot lip spoiler started coming out all by itself and was re-fixed by the guys who wrapped it. It is quite shocking to me that something like this could happen to a stock part on a car that costed this much. I’m quite happy with how the exterior is looking (the looking back at the car after parking feeling is stronger than ever ) and don’t think I will be making any more changes.

Coming up is a remap soon!
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Old 19th August 2019, 12:40   #28
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

So this weekend I decided to finally take a few pictures of my car. As mentioned earlier, the external changes are all complete. I'm pretty happy with the way its turned out.

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-dsc04823.jpg

I got the butterfly grill painted a gloss black (the removable vinyl paint). And have wrapped the other chrome bits matte black.

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-dsc04826.jpg

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-dsc04830.jpg

You can just about make out the lip spoiler has been wrapped gloss black here.

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-dsc04833.jpg

Lenso Yager Dyna 17inch with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 225/45/R17 tyres

2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-dsc04836.jpg

For the mirrors, I ended up buying a set of replacement outer covers in CF finish from AliExpress. The swap was a fairly simple DIY. Just followed the firt few steps in the link below.



2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus-dsc04839.jpg
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Old 22nd August 2019, 12:09   #29
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Great looking car mate! Just the right amount of add ons to the exterior. Wheels look really impressive, just that the 45 profile tyres give an impression that wheels are actually smaller cos of the gap between it and the wheel arch. But otherwise, solid look for a solid car. You better get it blessed from the nearby temple, its gonna get a lot of eyeballs for sure

Just a suggestion on the interior, try using Sonax interior cleaner and a wooden boar hair brush to agitate the gunk off the seats and wipe it off with a damp cloth. Thats what I have been doing since some time. Using leather conditioner just made the seats more shiny and slippery where as I prefer it to be matte and clean! Same Sonax cleaner can be used on door sills, carpet stains, dashboard, door cards, but not on any glossy bits. Especially avoid on the infotainment screen and the door panels with ambient lighting. You can find Sonax products on CarPowerGrid or Amazon.in
Wish you many miles ahead!
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Old 23rd August 2019, 11:31   #30
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Re: 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8L TSI Style Plus

Quote:
Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead View Post
Great looking car mate! Just the right amount of add ons to the exterior. Wheels look really impressive, just that the 45 profile tyres give an impression that wheels are actually smaller cos of the gap between it and the wheel arch. But otherwise, solid look for a solid car. You better get it blessed from the nearby temple, its gonna get a lot of eyeballs for sure

Just a suggestion on the interior, try using Sonax interior cleaner and a wooden boar hair brush to agitate the gunk off the seats and wipe it off with a damp cloth. Thats what I have been doing since some time. Using leather conditioner just made the seats more shiny and slippery where as I prefer it to be matte and clean! Same Sonax cleaner can be used on door sills, carpet stains, dashboard, door cards, but not on any glossy bits. Especially avoid on the infotainment screen and the door panels with ambient lighting. You can find Sonax products on CarPowerGrid or Amazon.in
Wish you many miles ahead!
Thanks for the tip! Will try out the Sonax cleaner. I actually just noticed today how dirty my door pads/handles/power window surrounds are so your suggestion came at a great time

And yeah I know the gaps in the arches are damn ugly. Unfortunately don't want to use lowering springs or anything because I don't want to mess with the ride any more. Maybe sometime in the future could get coilovers to solve this problem but otherwise I've become quite used to it.
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