[sawnilrules]

Originally Posted by Pedaltothefloor

I am a little confused with that timeline. I thought the Skoda Lura was recently replaced by the new Skoda Octavia, at least in India? It is definitely not 5 years old.

Well yups, October 2013 was when the car was officially launched in India. Skoda had organized a launch and drive at Shimla that time. So technically it is a 4 odd years old design

Originally Posted by Pedaltothefloor

I didn't expect to hear that about a 25L car. Could you please elaborate as one of the reasons I am selling my diesel car and looking at VAG petrols is for a quiet cabin.

I think Ragesh answered correctly here, it is not hoarse sounding noise, it sounds sweet, but if you have sat in the third generation Honda City, that engine inside the cabin is eerily silent. And hence I made that comparison

Originally Posted by rageshgr

Hi Nilesh!

Enjoyed reading your thread. I could re-live your excitement as I read through the ownership! Congrats on the only car worth buying in the 20 lac bracket from an enthusiast perspective.

Thank you Ragesh, I am glad that you liked the write-up. True Octavia was my only true blue choice in the market, and I am glad that I took it and love the fact that it still remains the only option even today.

Originally Posted by rageshgr

Having a GT TSI from 2015, I have already decided that nothing less than the Octy 1.8 TSI will be a worthy upgrade. I really hope they don't retire this explosive mill till I save-up

Now we have the new king of 4 cylinder petrol in the country, that is the Octavia RS, man its one lethal monster. You should go for it instead.

Originally Posted by rageshgr

Have you got any mod plans?

I want to upgrade to 17-inch rims, now that RS is here, should be easier to simply swap provided folks at Skoda agree to sell me the alloys as an accessory. Rest nothing comes to my mind as of now, coz I think why to tinker with an already brilliant car.

[sawnilrules]

10000 km & 9 months



Hey all, sorry for not being able to update the thread, as got really busy with work. Meanwhile, 9 months down and as on the day I completed 9 months, 10000 km came up onboard. These 9 months had been absolute bliss and mostly niggle free. How do these 10000 km stack up with reference to drive is below

Highway Drives 3110 km

• Mumbai-Shirdi-Mumbai- 480 km
• Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai- 380 km
• Mumbai-Jawahar-Mumbai – 270 km
• Mumbai-Goa-Mumbai – 1620 km
• Mumbai- Nasik- Mumbai – 360 km

Within City Drives 6890 km

Roughly the car has been put to use 70% times in last 9 months for City use (mostly a commute which includes the drive from home to work and vice a versa). At all times I avoid taking the car to the areas where I know, safe parking would be an issue. 30% of it has been highway trips, with the last one being a return trip from Goa. This was the one which was long awaited by everyone in the family. Including my 3-year-old kiddo. More of it in a bit.

Overall, the real fun of this monster is on the highways, this car just isn’t made for city drives. I really feel bad when I lugg it in crazy bumper to bumper Mumbai city traffic. How have been this 10000 km, just a few pointers below.

• Considering crazy metro work is going on all around Mumbai, the full tank range has further dropped from a steady of 350 km -320 km earlier to 260 km- 280 km now. Probably, got to live with it till the metro works all around finishes.
• Bi-Xenon’s in rains just have no clear visibility, it is clearly driving in the blinds. However, the moment the rains clear, the road starts brightening ahead. I believe the AFS programming is at fault here, the moment you switch to lights on mode, visibility in rain marginally improves. The word here is marginal, there is no significant difference. God save you if you happen to drive on single lane road with oncoming traffic and rain. If this combination exists, I strongly recommend, either wait for the rain to subside or be the south side of 40 kph.
• With multiple permutations and combinations, I feel the sound quality is best when heard through Apple Car Play. With 3 modes of connection, this is how I feel the sound quality stacks up to Apple Car Play > USB Format > Bluetooth. Now, if you are kind of a person who has a lot of calls to do while driving or pottering around the city, I would recommend connecting the phone via Bluetooth and streaming the songs through Bluetooth. The benefit here is, the entire call list is in front of you in MID and you don’t have to move your hands off the steering. However, if there are no significant calls to make, and only you have to receive calls which are one off, Apple Car Play is better as handling music with Apple Car Play is better here. You can easily browse through your library without taking eyes off the road for a long time. Plus via voice command (Siri) you can play any track you want if Siri is well trained. Important to note here, when Apple Car Play is connected, in MID in phone option, Apple Phone connected is the only message you get, you cannot scroll through the list of calls in MID. Hence I said, if you have a lot of calls to make, then pairing the phone through Bluetooth makes more sense.
• Another aspect pertaining to calls, if you have colleagues with you in the car and you have connected the phone via Apple Car Play, and a call comes in, you cannot take the call in private or phone mode. However in Bluetooth mode, via phone, you can switch over to phone mode to take the call.
• Goodyear NCT 5, the stock tires are good only and only for low speeds. The moment you gain momentum, the grip levels fall, and you start feeling nervous. Untrained eyes may blame the car as a whole, however, the problem here is with the tires. A missed opportunity for me as I didn’t change them right at the start.
• MMI Navigation though has predictive capabilities but is nowhere close to what Google offers or even some better map companies’ offer. If you happen to misspell something, it does not have the capability of showing you correct options. For example, while driving down to Jawahar, I typed Jawhar, and it just could not find the place, or it did not give me alternative options. The screen kept prompting location not found.
• Left ORVM makes an irritating noise while closing/opening, same as what Aditya was experiencing in his car. Will try and get it fixed during the first service scheduled in November.
• Had gone for a quick maintenance check-up before I headed out to Goa. The engine oil levels were less than the optimal levels, hence topped up the oil. The car gulped 250 ml of oil. I always knew about this characteristic of the car. She is a drunkard.

To sum up, overall if someone was to ask me, how have been my 9 months with the car, I can easily sum up with just one word.- Effortless.

Now for some photos

Getting Ready before that long trip


Midnight city drives are fun too...


Somewhere near Amboli ghat.


Relishing Goan Roads, people relish Goan food


You pass via amboli and don't stop there, not possible


The first thing that you do after a return from a long journey is a thorough wash. Love the reflection. There's a Volvo for company


Got Bhp?


Beautiful in any angles isn't it?


I must have really gone fast over some pothole


Adding a Teaser Photo of what Tanveer and I were up to on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Will let Tanveer add it on his post once he is back from his Goa trip; in full details

Monsters from other mothers


Wifey discussing, when are you buying this

[sawnilrules]

I quite like the feature that Facebook has called- on this day, it allows the person to see what happened in his/her life this day that time, that year, etc if the person has posted something on Facebook.

Just today morning, while glancing through the on this day section in facebook, I realized that today was the day last year I had booked the Octavia 1.8 Tsi, and post the booking had gone for a sumptuous lunch to a Malvani Restaurant in Thane.

Now that is sort of a dilemma, as to whether I should be happy about booking the monster on this day or gulping that awesome malvani fish curry with some rawa fried fish.

Have been climbing steadily on the ODO meter and quite an interesting number came up on the ODO which I was able to capture the moment it came up.



Also, Skoda being Skoda, Oil Change Now has started showing up on the MID. The countdown for the Oil Change started somewhere in the first week of October, and now the pop up comes for Oil Change Now. Ideally, this message should have started coming from today, considering I had picked up the car on 4th of December 2016. Few calls here and there in Skoda and then getting on a discussion with Adi realized that the guy doing a PDI just forgot to reset the date of service basis the day of delivery



So technically, as my car is October manufactured and I am assuming October last week, from the factory, the oil change interval is set at 12 months starting the date of production. However, the PDI guys are supposed to reset that interval basis the delivery date, which usually is one day prior to the PDI. As this guy conveniently forgot to reset the date, everytime that I start the car, the oil change warning keeps coming.

This is how in-car settings in the central audio unit the screen shows up



God knows when will Skoda pull up the socks of such irresponsible technicians.

Meanwhile, over the weekend had gone to PMP to get the car washed, the same guy who got done the ceramic coat on my car, and guess what, I met this monster there...

When you know there is a monster in there.


One look and you go weak in your knees


The King of Performance, meets the Emperor of Performance in 4 cylinders petrol turbocharged category


In the last photo, it looks like the 1.8 Tsi telling the 2.0 Tsi VRS, for 4 years I have smoked the roads, now it's your turn

[sawnilrules]

Basis the sale date of the car, my first service was due anywhere between 2nd week of November to 1st week of December. Considering I had already done 12k on the ODO which I didn’t expect to, decided to give the car for service a bit earlier than usual. There’s this saying in Hindi, Nekki aur Puch Puch, which means, you think about something and it gets done. While I was thinking of giving the car for service, I ended up getting a call from JMD Skoda, to remind me about the impending first service. I ended up taking the service appointment for 11th November 2017 for the car. The lady on the call asked me whether there were any specific problems in the car, to which I replied none. Just out of curiosity I asked her, why did she ask me about specific problems? To which she answered, so that I can quickly get on the call the advisor assigned to you right now, so on call you can decide if any part would be required, and if not in stock, at least we can place the order before-hand. Nice, I uttered in my mind.

The moment, I disconnected the line, I got an SMS for the appointment that was booked for me. So far so good I said to myself. On 10th November, I got a reminder call for the scheduled service and was also informed about the advisor's name who would be attending me.

So 11th November, I reach the service station basis my allotted time of 10:00 AM. Actually, I ended up reaching 10 minutes late. Got the car inside the workshop parking, went inside the workshop customer lounge and was greeted by the lady at the reception. I mentioned my name and she responded by saying welcome to JMD Skoda sir, we were expecting your Octavia any moment. As discussed yesterday, Prasad would be in charge of your car who would be assisted by Vishal. Not bad I thought. Both Prasad and Vishal came over to have a word with me and we got down to the business. Customary tea/coffee was arranged, and what came as a surprise package were the biscuits.

As a part of the first service, following things were to be carried out

• Air Filter Change
• Pollen Filter Change
• Oil Filter Change
• 5.4 ltr. Oil changed
• Old Oil Drained
• Brake Pads serviced & brake fluids checked
• Entire underbody checked for any damage
• Suspensions checked
• Battery Health checked
• Coolant Top-up
• Drive Shaft Checked
• Overall general check-up
• Car washed and vacuumed
• Any software updates if received from Skoda.

Additionally, I had asked them to get the alignment & balancing done as I did not intend to get it done from outside. Also, the nut cap had fallen off, so I asked them to replace it. The estimate given to me for the first service, as I had not taken Maintenance Pack was INR 11,000. Fair enough I said to myself. And I informed Vishal that I would be around as the work progresses. The car was taken in by approximately 10:45 and the work began. They took almost an entire day to get the car ready, the car was delivered by 16:30. Pretty slow I would say, considering a number of cars for service were nowhere in volumes as compared to Honda or Hyundai. Barring this the quality of work done was brilliant. Special mention of Vishal, Prasad and the lady from the reception, who came and kept asking me for whether they should order some lunch for me, as the car was taking time to be readied.

Apart from what was mentioned, following things were carried out

• Service Interval and Oil Change interval updated to 12 months/30,000 km
• Maps were updated, and now they come with voice guidance. All my fellow bhpians, if you own the MY17 with maps, please get the same done from the service stations.

Below are the detailed photos and some video’s taken during the service.

The Workshop Entrance


Reception Area


Body Shop Advisor zone


Service Advisors Bay


Customer Lounge


Nice Initiatives, though late to the party


Work Order Copy


Service Bay


Service Bay


Service Bay


Cover to protect the paint from scratches


Engine Guard removed


Engine Guard removed front view


Underbody Protection in full view


The stellar multi-link suspension


Engine Guard from below being removed



Look without the engine guard


Oil being drained


Old Air Filter



The new one

[sawnilrules]

Brakes being Checked


Tires Removed for rotation


Brake pads removed


Ready for alignment


Alignment in progress


Alignment in progress


Alignment done


Update in ODIS for service interval


Update in ODIS for maps


Car ready for washing


Detailed invoice Copy


Invoice Copy


Pre/Post Service SMS


Few videos...

Battery being checked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATsC...ature=youtu.be

Oil being drained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuPS...ature=youtu.be

Overall the quality of work done was fairly good and the total bill came up to INR 10,890/-, which was again below estimated INR 11,000/- Let me be honest, with Sachin Panchal, the earlier Service Manager for JMD Skoda Kandivali leaving the dealership, I was quite sceptical about the quality of the job they would do, but I must admit, that Mahesh, who took over from Sachin as new Service Manager and his team of Suhas, Vishal and Prasad did a fantastic job.

Mods planned

Following things are planned for this weekend for the car

• White Front Parking LED Lights, have ordered error free led bulbs via Amazon, should be delivered by Wednesday.
• LED Fog lamps, well thanks to fellow bhpian Harry, to pass on the extra lights that he had with him, he was kind enough to courier them to me, should receive the delivery by Wednesday or Thursday.

Once the parts arrive, I will update the thread further on how they have enhanced the looks/lighting performance on road.

Ciao, till then, for any queries, please do post, I would be gladly happy to answer.

[pickdj]

Originally Posted by sawnilrules;4304591


Following things are planned for this weekend for the car[LIST

[*]White Front Parking LED Lights, have ordered error free led bulbs via Amazon, should be delivered by Wednesday.[*]LED Fog lamps, well thanks to fellow bhpian Harry, to pass on the extra lights that he had with him, he was kind enough to courier them to me, should receive the delivery by Wednesday or Thursday.[/list]

Thanks for the constant updates. They are definitely adding to the knowledge of the forum and are 5* in my opinion.
Look forward to seeing the results of your planned mods. I am interested to see the front parking lights mod. can you also post the link to the bulbs on amazon?

[sawnilrules]

Originally Posted by pickdj

Thanks for the constant updates. They are definitely adding to the knowledge of the forum and are 5* in my opinion.

thank you mate.

Originally Posted by pickdj

Look forward to seeing the results of your planned mods. I am interested to see the front parking lights mod. can you also post the link to the bulbs on Amazon?

My reason for updating to LED fogs is because the xenon's of the Octi is good only during dry conditions, the moment you start driving in rains, you become blind. I had a harrowing time getting the car back home safe during my recent trip to Goa during monsoons. I am hoping that the powerful LED's in fogs should wade me through these situations in future.

Below is the link to the bulbs that I sourced.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B01...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[sawnilrules]

Having driven almost 100 odd km post the first service, few things that I ended up immediately noticing are as below

• The first thing that I noticed was how eerily silent the engine has become. Earlier it at-least had a silent murmur, now even that is missing.
  
• When I used to start the ACC, there used to be a foul smell emitting for few minutes after the start, now that has gone. I think some foul smell must have got stuck in the old pollen filter. Things are sorted now on that front.
  
• I remember speaking to Harry just last Friday and complaining to him how acceleration has dropped and the car nowhere feels what it used to feel earlier. We attributed it to the DSG learning to go slow as 90% of the times the car gets driven in heavy traffic. We concluded that a DSG Remap should sort the issue. However, I am happy to report that, the car is back to its original “mental” avatar. Clogged Air Filter was probably causing the issue earlier. Now a slight dab on the accelerator and she flies like crazy.
  
• Voice guidance on maps is a nice thing to have, earlier I had to look at the MID to see for directions, now that is sorted. Two good news here, one the volume of the voice guidance can be increased/decreased basis the personal choice & two, the voice is soothing to hear and one with a very soft tone.
  
• Brake bite has marginally improved, thanks to the brake-pad cleaning carried out during the service.
  
• Can’t really comment on the fuel efficiency figures at this point in time, as most of the driving has been in the city traffic and has remained unchanged. The real difference if any could be on the highway drives.

Rest the car has been hassle free.

Posting a parting shot of the car, as Tanveer says, it's not possible that you park the car and don't turn around and look at her. If you don't however, you bought a wrong car mate.

[Hells_Fury]

Originally Posted by sawnilrules

[*]Voice guidance on maps is a nice thing to have, earlier I had to look at the MID to see for directions, now that is sorted. Two good news here, one the volume of the voice guidance can be increased/decreased basis the personal choice & two, the voice is soothing to hear and one with a very soft tone.

Hey there!! Was something done at the service center to enable voice guidance? I have a 1.8 TSI too and I too do not get any voice prompts when using navigation.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by sawnilrules

LED Fog lamps, well thanks to fellow bhpian Harry, to pass on the extra lights that he had with him, he was kind enough to courier them to me, should receive the delivery by Wednesday or Thursday.

Hey sawnilrules,

I also am deeply disappointed with the OEM Bi-X lighting. As you mentioned, it is too weak overall for our 2 lane highways and totally inadequate in the rain.

What LED fogs are you fitting?
Are these BCM compatible and will the cornering function still work?

[sawnilrules]

Originally Posted by Hells_Fury

Hey there!! Was something done at the service center to enable voice guidance? I have a 1.8 TSI too and I too do not get any voice prompts when using navigation.

Yups, during the service, the software for maps was updated to activate voice guidance. Comes as a nifty feature, especially if you are driving fast or in dense traffic in unknown areas, as you need not get your eyes off the road to see the directions.

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Hey sawnilrules,

I also am deeply disappointed with the OEM Bi-X lighting. As you mentioned, it is too weak overall for our 2 lane highways and totally inadequate in the rain.

True that. I was absolutely disappointed during my recent Goa trip in monsoons. As the sun sets down, you expect the lights to get stronger, especially with such AFS tech on board. Everything is hunky dory till it rains. The moment it starts raining, all that tech looks like a waste.

Originally Posted by itwasntme

What LED fogs are you fitting?
Are these BCM compatible and will the cornering function still work?

Part sourced by Harry, he can throw some light on it in our group. Yup, they are very much BCM compatible and yes the cornering light does work. Uploading the photos and videos so that you can better understanding.

[sawnilrules]

Hey guys,

For all those who are wondering what happened to the LED Fogs installation, below is the link to the thread for easy reference.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ml#post4310349

Feel free to ask any questions.

[itwasntme]

What about CANBUS compliant LED indicators and brake bulbs? I like the snappy Audi style LED experience rather than the 'slower' incandescent bulbs.

[sawnilrules]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

What about CANBUS compliant LED indicators and brake bulbs? I like the snappy Audi style LED experience rather than the 'slower' incandescent bulbs.

Didn't try it mate, however just to think aloud visually, our DRL's are not the sleek ones, so I doubt whether it would look appealing visually, just my two cents though.

[sawnilrules]

Hey folks, at the outset apologies for not being able to update the thread on timely basis.

New Year started with a bang, shifted the house so the first two months went in settling and then annual appraisals meant work kept me busy most of the time.

However, on the Octavia front, the car has been steadily climbing the odometer. Roughly car now is at 17800 odd kms on the odometer. Considering just 15 months into ownership, 17800 kms definitely called for a diesel mill, but then hey, would the diesel mill excite me every day when I cranked her. Hell no. 14 months and still there is this sheepish grin on my face as she accelerates past everything and puts them to dust. And I truly love that feeling.

This February, we celebrated our fifth anniversary and fortunately an extended weekend ensured we did a getaway out of Mumbai. First weekend of February, and off we were to Panchgani for a quick outing. Panchgani from Mumbai is roughly 260 km out of which 200 km run is the Mumbai- Bangalore Expressway. The fun really starts after you take the right towards the Panchgani from the highway. The twisters on the ghat sections actually liven up the car. How I missed not upgrading my tires immediately after the delivery. Keeping that aside, one thing that really shines in Octavia is her ability to mask speeds and at the same time keep the cabin insulated from whatever is happening outside. Even after a 260 km drive, we were as fresh as we were when we started our day that day. Some pictures that I managed to click while in Panchgani.

Monster behind you


He loves the Skoda, and calls mumma's car boring


When you love the car, and it shows


Any angle, she looks classy, isn't it


Even he knows, safety comes first


When you spot another Octavia


Undoubtedly, she belongs to the mountains


Be it any angle


Or even rear three fourth quarter.


February, we also welcomed an American Muscle in our extended family, the Jeep Compass came home. And man, does she look hot in Red. So now the family is kind of complete with a Hatchback for that daily runs, a Sedan for fast outings and a SUV for a bit of adventure. We are heading out to Shirdi this weekend with both the cars, would add in few pictures then. For now, ladies and gentlemen presenting to you all, The Jeep Compass- the dominator on the roads with creed street presence. This one also is ceramic Coated- looks pretty classy in flesh

Front Profile


Rear 3/4th quarter


Last weekend, was on my way to the BMW Joyfest 2018, and an idiot from behind conveniently forgot to brake on the slope as he got busy chatting with his neighbor and bang… He ended up rear ending into me. Thankfully, due to traffic speeds were much below 30 kmph. Moment I heard the thud, I thought, damn that must have undone my bumper from its hinges. But then when I got down from the car, it was just a dent on the bumper and a virtually unnoticeable crack on it. Trained eyes will be able to instantly notice it, but for untrained eyes it will pass off as nothing. But the problem with us is, we have crazy trained eyes. We are able to spot the minutest paint dot on our cars and here there is a dent.

Can you spot the dent?


Week into it and I am still thinking what to do with it. Suggestions welcome guys.

So how does the car fare up after almost 18000 km on the ODO

• Immediately after the first service, had wobbling issues, at speeds above 120 the car would wobble, recently got the tires swapped again and voila that problem is gone. While doing the tire rotation, I noticed uneven wear and tear of the tires. Need to figure out the cause of issue.
• Gear box is extremely confused even today in start-stop traffic, can get irritating sometimes when you want to make the move, but the car is just not ready.
• Fuel efficiency has settled to a full tank of 330 km all this while, got to leave with it considering crazy Mumbai traffic. However, highway range is almost 550 km, which is decent enough considering that on highways I am mostly gunning her.
• Audio system is my savior in the maddening traffic, I am surprised that, this one actually sounds better than the Canton in L&K even without the subwoofer.
• Grip levels from the NCT have dropped down significantly as compared to what they were earlier. At speeds above 120, certain level of nervousness creeps in. Got to figure out, whether it is me getting old or the tires.
• Ceramic coat is holding up really well, car shines like crazy even today after a thorough wash, looks like money well spent.
• Bi-Xenon’s leave a lot to be desired, they aren’t well equipped somehow to lighten up the road ahead, and thankfully the LED fogs come to my rescue now.
• Maintaining the interiors in spic and span condition is a challenge considering lighter shade of beige used inside by Skoda. I end up sending the car once in 4 months of interior detailing to ensure that the interiors doesn’t lose its shin.
• The shut lines around the glove box are uneven, and the glove-box just doesn’t shut in the first attempt, needs two rounds of trials before it closes.
• This year, summers has been bad, temperatures have soared closer to 40, the ACC though powerful, but takes time to chill the car. If the car is parked in open, then it takes almost 10-15 minutes to cool down the cabin.

Overall I would say am absolutely happy with the car so far, no issues, no niggles per say. I am hoping to keep this car now for another 4 to 5 years more as from the current crop of cars, I don’t see any car that can set my heart on fire again, barring the BMW M5, till then this lethal monster would be my constant companion.

Ciao.

Few random pictures that I clicked at our new home. A perfectly washed car under perfect lighting conditions and she shines, much better than the cars kept in showrooms or just out for delivery.