Team-BHP - The Yeti® writes a car story - (and review of Skoda Superb)

Quote:

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7 (Post 2499718)

Btw, just wanted to ask, anyone has a non DSG Skoda? That is, manual gears? I don't seem to recall any reviews of the manual version. Are their manual gear boxes problematic too?

I do. But then its a Laura, not a Superb. Till date, I havent had any problems with the manual gearbox whatsoever. Heck, I havent had any problems with any parts whatsoever. Touch wood!

If they are known for failures, why cant Skoda do a recall and change them completely. Is'nt it unfair that an owner has to pay for a part (out of warranty) that is known for failures.

Hi Sam,

These DSG failures are really very prevalent across the entire VW range and even Audis suffer from it. Good thing I came to know is that they have changed the design drastically post Dec-2010 and the revised design should not fail (touchwood!).
I loved the DSG gearbox when I test-drove the Superb during my buying decision days! But the fear of the unknown DSG and coupled with the sky high cost of fuel changed my decision to the Yeti (your namesake!).
(OT: Have been following your travelogues and exploits for a long time and we all need a fresh dose of your writing now.. so please share your travelogues! There are very few people who 1) get the opportunity to travel so much and 2) can share it so eloquently!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ms001 (Post 2499290)

arey Yeti baba it does not matter if its Goa or Germany or Venice we need a Yetiblog jaldi bas!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behemoth (Post 2502482)

(OT: Have been following your travelogues and exploits for a long time and we all need a fresh dose of your writing now..

Requests noted lol.

I owe you guys Vegas and London. I will get around to writing it soon. Stay tuned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by n.devdath (Post 2499810)

I know quite a few people at Skoda and their dealerships at Bangalore and there has not been any issue that I know of where a manual GB has failed.

Thats good. That means whatever problems are there, seem to be limited to the DSG box, at-least in India. That is; at-least until someone reports a problem with a manual gearbox.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar (Post 2499974)

I do. But then its a Laura, not a Superb. Till date, I havent had any problems with the manual gearbox whatsoever. Heck, I havent had any problems with any parts whatsoever. Touch wood!

:thumbs up Great! Really touch-wood. Doesn't matter if it is a Laura or a Superb, what's great is that you ain't had any problems till date. Actually I had wanted to ask, if anyone on T-bhp had a Superb TSI with the 6 speed manual gearbox.

Anyways, all the best to Sam. May the car be back on road soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi (Post 2498688)

I still love the car, I do.

Clean, beautiful spacious and so many toys and stuff that can be tweaked. Everything works fine.

Well, almost.

for them to return me the car and the total bill, including an oil top-up was 900 bucks. Actually the Mechatron and window button replacement was free.

All is well again.

You sir and your man friday aka Akbar are a class apart. The "megaphone" was enough to make my day sending me into splits.

On a serious note though why have VW/Audi/Skoda not been able to stabilise the DSG system is a mystery. If it is by design prone to failures then it should have a standard warranty which extends well beyond the vehicle as a whole.

Hi Sam, very interesting thread i must say. Lets hope your Skoda is back on track soon.
Something i'd like to check, even my superb 1.8TSI (32,000 kms - Jan 2010) is now acting a little funny, it happens after two or three hours in Delhi traffic (which is not much better then Mumbai) where the car vibrates in second gear just before it engages, sort of like riding the clutch hard. When i first noticed this a couple of weeks ago, Khudoos (our Nawab) got a good yelling "jhatke kam marr yaar", but then when i drove it myself i noticed it wasn't him but the gearbox itself. But then the next morning it was fine again, no rubbing, no vibrations so i forgot about the whole thing, now on subsequent long traffic stops the same thing crops up (like the DSG giving up after a hard days work) and it only happens in second gear. Did you notice anything similar in the weeks before your DSG failed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi (Post 2498688)

No, everything worked wonderfully till 2 weeks ago.

Akbar parked the car one saturday and I went off for a foot massage. Yeah I'm like that sometimes. lol.
When I returned, my relaxed state of mind didn't last too long. The car refused to move forward. The engine would revv and in a few seconds the "D1" indicator would blink along with another warning light.

I called my friends at the service centre.
Gearbox problem he announced gravely.

Mechatron failure.

I

I should not even say, "Welcome to the club" but seriously, welcome to the club!!:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7 (Post 2499718)

Correct. After V16's mechatronics problem, this one is another ghost of mechatronix. Btw, just wanted to ask, anyone has a non DSG Skoda? That is, manual gears? I don't seem to recall any reviews of the manual version. Are their manual gear boxes problematic too?

Ive had two Skodas with DSG gearboxes and both had Mechatronic failures as is mentioned in my thread. The Old, Octy manual, still survives, outrunning every car i know from start at red lights, zooms around town driven like a sports car (by the driver) and still manages to bring a smile to my face when i see the fuel gauge showing less than half and the range reads in 440 kms. SO full marks to the manual gearbox, no issues, until your clutch plate needs to be replaced.

Quote:

Originally Posted by avishar (Post 2499793)

Wow," mechatron" failures have become the norm it seems for DSG boxes.It has become less of a "will" it fail to,"when" will it fail!

1 lakh!,thats a lot of dough,thank goodness your car was in warranty.

"Megaphone" had me in splits!

1.25 plus labour to be exact.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi (Post 2502555)

I owe you guys Vegas and London. I will get around to writing it soon. Stay tuned.

Sam,

I just noted you said Vegas. That's my current home town. Our humble 'casa' is always open to you if, you haven't finished your trip yet. And that's true for other BHPians also. Otherwise, please keep me in mind for your next trip here. Looking forward to your travel diary, as always.

Regards.

A few people have asked me what news of the Skoda Superb. In general, all is well. The car still pleases and excites me every single day.

Visitors and friends from Europe and the US still exclaim in surprise at how amazing and spacious and solid the car is. This still remains the best car I have ever used.

No failures. Well, however...

About 3 evenings ago I sat in the car (Akbar was on leave) and cranked.

*Click Click*. Nothing more. Click click.

The display said ESP FAIL. If I had a display on my chest it would have said HEART FAIL.

Everything worked, but the clues were:

1) The car was 2 months and 2 years old. (My experience with modern batteries is that they rarely last more than 2.5 years)

2) I was pretty sure that the power windows and seats were running a little slower than usual.

However, everytime I would attempt to crank, it would go click click, ESP fail.

To cut to the point, the battery had failed.

It had a 12V/70Ah battery, fairly large. Considering the number of electronics and motors in the car, not surprising.
The OE battery was strange and carried no marking, except for a sticker on the top with the specifications.

Itna bhaari gaadi mein china battry diya says Akbar, bina naam ka china battry

I chose not to send the car to Skoda to replace the battery. I contacted a competent battery shop who sourced a battery of the same identical physical size, a perfect fit.
It was a Furukawa Supersonic battery, 12V/74Ah and that works well for me, as close to the original spec as can be got. No load on battery or alternator.

The battery cost me a whopping Rs. 11,200/-

Post this, everything works beautifully. The battery guy confirmed that 2 cells on my battery had failed and the battery was delivering only 9V instead of 12V, thereby confusing the onboard electronics.

The car is perfect and I don't know about anyone else on the forum, mine is truly a Skoda success story. I am a happy Skoda Superb user.