My "fleet" (2008 Octavia 1.8 TSi Ambiente HB & 2008 Nissan Qashqai 1.6 Visia) are both due their first service.
I have previously entrusted most mechanical work to a well trusted friend of the family, but this time I find both cars need the main dealer to reset the service indicators.
Anyway I rang round and was as always amazed by the variation in price quoted for what amounts to little more than an oil change.
In the end I was quoted £99 (inc VAT) for the Octaiva. I then managed to get this down to £57 by taking my own oil (I got a cracking deal on Castrol SLX II longlife VW505/507 at Cost-co last year). They also greased all the hinges/locks, checked tyre pressures, inspected the car underneath and also checked for stored error codes in the ECU (none found), so not bad for the price paid.
The Qashqai however is another matter. My local Nissan main dealer, who is situated less than a mile from the Skoda place quoted me £190 I asked what this involved and was told an "oil and filter change". The service guy told me the book time is 1.3 hours for the service, so I can only imagine what their hourly rate must be. I've Emailed 5 other main dealers for a quote and as of yet have had 1 reply !! This is a much more reasonable £120, so up to now it looks like they get the business.
As far as the cars go I'm pleased with the Octavia. The new 1.8 TSi (as seen in various new Audi's and VW's) is a marked improvement over the old 1.8T 20V in terms of performance and fuel economy. It is also chain cam, so no more 4 yearly cambelt changes. The car looks very plain in Ambiente trim (15" alloys, no exterior chrome, no spots etc) but is fairly quick (139 mph, 0-60 7.8 seconds). The six speed box is slicker than the 5 speeder in my old Mk1 Octavia's and is geared at just under 30 mph/1000 revs in top, so makes it a relaxed cruiser on the motorway.
The Qashqai I'm less enamoured with. It is obviously much slower than the Octavia due to its 45 BHP deficit, but also manages to be marginally more thirsty to boot (? power / weight). It has developed numerous rattles in the cabin and a knocking from somwhere in the rear over the last few months, which I hope the dealers can rectify. I do however like the way it looks and find the chunky tyres let you mount kerbs with no thoughts of damaging the alloys.
I've looked around at other cars, but think I'm finally loosing interest in swopping every few months. I could be tempted with the facelifted Octavia vRS in June/July though.
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Many thanks for this - very interesting as both cars were on my shortlist (albeit as diesels) in 2007 before I finally went for the VW Golf estate.
The 1.8 Octavia engine sounds like one of those new efficient petrol engines which might persuade me next time to desert diesel, despite my 20,000 miles a year. Could you tell me:
- does it need super unleaded like the 2.0 TFSI?
- what's fuel consumption like? I'm not surprised that it's better than your Qashqai - that's a big lump for a 1.6 engine to pull around.
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I think this is the same as the Golf GTi MK5 engine. Mrs P's has been run exclusively on Shell Optimax (I still call it that for despite the re-branding) since new as recommended in the manual. (The sales person had no clue when asked). I suspect it would be the same for the Skoda version. Briskoda website would be able to answer more authoritatively.
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I've been running it on Tesco superunleaded (99 RON) for the last few months (2p/litre more than 95 RON).
I did check with Skoda technical when I bought the car. They told me super unleaded was "better" but couldn't tell me why! My old Mk1 Octavia vRS had a sticker inside the petrol flap stating 98 RON was required. It would however happily run on 95 RON, but apparently lost a few BHP along the way!
I understand from a spot of research on the web that the new TSi engines (1.8 is BZB) run a lower compression ratio than the old 1.8T 20V engines, and are therefore more tolerant of lower octane fuel. Certainly my manual makes no mention of the need for anything other than 95 RON (the sticker inside the petrol flap states 95 RON).
If I remember correctly the older normally aspirated FSi engines (1.6 / 2.0) needed super unleaded to operate optimally ?
As for fuel consumption the Octavia has averaged 32 mpg over the last 3000 miles according to the OBC (80% urban / 20% Motorway). Cruising at 70mph brings that up to low to mid 40's. It does however drop off somewhat at higher speeds (85++). The OBC is fairly accurate when compared to brim to brim figures.
The Qashqai see's high 20's around town, rising to mid 30's on the Mway.
I came to the 1.8 TSi from a remapped (Revo Stage 1) 1.9 TDi Roomster and found the petrol a revelation.
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further to my last post the manual actually states 95 RON minimum, although makes no mention of the need for higher octane fuel.
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