10,000 miles gone in a Scout

[Decron]

Well that only took about 5 months although thats slow for me.

So how is the Scout handling it?

Overall very well. Nothing has fallen off yet!

Good Bits;

1. Driving position - Still comfortable now I am used to it. Nice and upright, firmly seated with good visability and everything to hand. It makes it really easy to drive.
2. Stereo - Great if a little thin. Added a small alpine underseat Sub and sorted that right out I have my Archos wired in and positioned behind the sunvisor and had a brand new Parrot fitted and it's all sweet.
3. The Storage and space - Got 4 adults, a baby, a wheelchair and a pram in there this week and no one moaned. Brilliant!
4. Solidity - Still solid, well almost.... (See below)
5. Drivability - It's loosened up now and it's a little less crashy. The RARB is a worth it mod too
6. Tyres - 10k down and the fronts are on between 5 and 6mm, rears on between 7 and 8mm. These will probably last at least 22k for the four which will be just in time to put my summer wheels on
7. Fuel consuption - It's average for the 10k is 45.8mpg (Real average not the MFD) which I think is excellent. There have been a few people on here saying how they get 50+ out of it.... This will be my 4th PD engined car and unless you are driving it like my mother would you won't (More about that later). Secondly,
8. It runs fine on Bio Diesel despite the NO BIODIESEL warnings. It's had between 10 and 25% in it since day one and it runs great. I have noticed when filling with BIO that the expansion or tank gap is less on this than the Fabia where you could squeeze sometimes an extra 10 litres in. This will only take about 3-4 litres before it overflows
9. How good is Isofix! Got the baby a new car seat this week and it just clips in and solid as a rock! (BTW if your thinking of going for the Skoda one, don't bother as it's a non branded Britax Isofix Duo Plus and buying online or even from Mothercare will save you about £50 over your dealer for the same seat. BTW it's a really good seat and can be used in non Isofix vehicles)
10. Cruise control - Better, more responsive and accurate that the one in the Fabia. I really like this feature.


Not so good bits;


1. Drivers seat is coming loose I can feel it clicking/moving and it's really winding me up! The passanger seat has a vibration in the headrest and I can fix this either - Dealer time....
2. The Horn, dear lord this is poor, the baby has louder toys. I went to get a Nautilus but everytime I have ordered one or gone to get one, there has been no stock so I gave up.
3. Weather sensitive fuel consuption - Odd this one, low temps really drive the economy down more than I ever would have thought. A trip down to Plymouth one night saw the temp plummet to -3 and the car dropped to 38mpg on a motorway run. I checked the tyre pressures and everything but it all seemed fine. It's consistant too, the temp drops, the consumption goes up. I know they all do it but this seems disproportionate. Windy weather also seems to ruin the fuel consumption a lot more than any other car I have owned
4. Speed sensetive fuel consuption - Yeah I know the faster you go the more fuel you burn. However this has surprised me; In my fabia or my Golf, an 80mph cruise would use little more than what it would at 70. In this it's like there is a whole in the tank, it really does validate the Speed Squared law suffering really badly in terms of aero efficiency
5. Drivers Door seal - Caught it with my arm and it came loose. I shut the door without noticing and damaged it. It took a while to get it to fit again and now this happens often, causing me to swear muchly! Debating to get this sorted by the dealer along with the seat but think Ill have to wait until both problems get bad enough for them to go "Oh yeah, I see the fault...." To be honest, with all the issues I had with the Fabia leading upto 10k and from what I have seen of a lot of our fleet cars doing the same mileage (Honda Accords/Civics, Vw Golfs,Passats, Audi A4's,) if this is the worst thing ot happen in the first 20k I will be happy
6. Small Washer bottle - The Fabia had a 5 ltr bottle and it was brilliant. This has a two litre one and I need to fill it every few days. There is also no warning on it either so it will just run out
7. The wheels are not "Wife Proof". I suppose they do have proud bits on them but last week she found a curb and RUINED the front nearside wheel. Chips Away are giving me a quote tomorrow but I think it's too bad and it will be £115 for a new one
8. The Boot gap cover - You know the £12 quid fabric and velcro job. It's crap, it really is. If you have one you will know what I mean but if you don't dont bother, it's the afterthought of all afterthoughts

Servicing - I'm cheating. I gave the VRS a FSSH and it made no difference to trade in or resale so I decided to save some money on it this time round. I take it into a garage owned by a mate and it costs me the parts (Which was £30 for the 10k). My book is stamped and the car gets what it needs! One problem I have is the service warning will not go out. Despite my following the manual to the letter it will not go out. It will cost well over £200 quid to upgrade my Vag Com to something that will work with the Roomster so I have to make a decision on it soon to get the value out of it

All in all a good start! Here is to the next 10k!

[VRStu]

Nice write up Martin - Thanks.

One thing that does concern me a little is when people try to save money on servicing. I fully appreciate your comments however there are often hidden costs associated with this (Some of which may not apply in your case).

Self servicing - on a car still in warranty is simply suicidal.
Cheap back street garage servicing - sometimes good but often corners are cut.
VAG Specialist servicing - a good alternative to Main Dealer but choose with care.
Main Dealer - Sometimes a little more costly in the first instance however these guys 'should' be fully up to date with the latest technical information for your vehicle as well as having the proper tools and know how to complete the service operations.

A lot is to be said for a full dealer service history when buying a car, anything under 3 years with anything other than main dealer would not be bought by me - Personal choice.

Full dealer history can also have other gains such as the current campaign with the Fabia Engine Bay Wring Loom. If you have a FSkSH then SUK will cover the full material cost of the replacement of this part (£900 last time I enquired) no matter the age of the car.

If you don't support your local dealer then to put it bluntly when you want your free warranty work carried out you'll find you don't have a local dealer anymore because chances are he's gone out of business - They don't run charities.

Finally - A service amounts to a lot more than an oil change. I recently had several email from a guy asking if a special tool was required to change the oil on his new Octy II vRS as he didn't trust "Garage Monkey's" to carry out the service properly. That'll wipe £000's off of the value of your car IMHO.

[StuartBell]

So it's not just me who caught and damaged the driver's door seal! It really is a bad bit of design.

The washer bottle size got me as well; lasted less than a month, whereas my old Fiat Multipla bottle was about 5 litres, and ran for two months at least.

And, indeed, the horn. Embarrassing in the only word for it.

Thanks for the summary.

Stuart

[irfant]

IIRC only the Roomsters with headlight washers have 5 L bottle capacity and low level warning light.

[woodenspatulas]

good to hear another scout owners having a good run. mine is fast approaching the time and milegae where i will be chucked into something else soon tbh the cars done me proud and i will be sorry to see it go!

ive also caught the door rubber but luckily it hasnt broken yet. my MPG is about the same too and thats on bp diesel. so bio isnt affecting your MPG by the looks.

totally agree on the wheels too they just arent kurb friendly at all. i let one of the boys here drive it for just a 10 mile round trip and he caught the wheel!

spot on with the horn, ive given up using it now, if i need to alert someone i just flash using the main beam or fogs, they are far better and more noticable than the horn!!

[OctaviaT81]

Good writeup, I've only done 2500 miles in mine so far so will do a write up at maybe the 6 month period...

I also have a little bit of play in my drivers seat so will get that looked into next time it's in the dealer. No other problems so far and the engine is beginning to loosen up too.

Re: the wheels, they are a bit prone to kerbing but I'll forgive them because they're gorgeous Attractive design, and I like the way the spokes curve outwards from the centre. Also a nice pearlescent finish to them too.

[Tom_vRS]

Cheers for the write up, nice to have a good balanced report.

I do agree with Stu on the service front, and much of what he says applies to the Bio too - but you pays your money...

[ScoobyChris]

Originally Posted by irfant

IIRC only the Roomsters with headlight washers have 5 L bottle capacity and low level warning light.

This was also true of the Mk1 Fabia and only those with xenons got the 5 L bottle. It was a relatively trivial retrofit though and there's a guide on here so it may be possible to do something similar with the Roomster. Not sure if the wiring is standard fit for the low-level sensor though - the Fabia came with one fitted in 2L and 5L guise.

Chris

[Decron]

I am quite confident that the work done on the car is up to scratch especially as I know who is doing the work and what they are doing to it When I get the code reader/Vag Com sorted out Ill be able to keep on top of anything that may occur (Like I did with the Fabia) and I will probably have this car for a long time to come as I will pass it onto thie missus in about 2 years. The Bio isn't just about the cost either, it's about the whole "reusing waste material" and not giving the goverment the extra 29p a litre you have to at the pump. I know the risks with Bio and what can happen, I have been doing this now for about 5 years so I am pretty confident what I am doing is ok.


My local dealer is supurb for service they always sorted the Fabia out (And it spent a long time in there). However I don't feel in the slightest bit bad about not taking the car there, they own the local Audi, Ford and Vauxhall dealerships as well as a few other in South Wales. The also weren't that interested in selling me the vehicle in the first place so....

[StuartBell]

Originally Posted by ScoobyChris

This was also true of the Mk1 Fabia and only those with xenons got the 5 L bottle. It was a relatively trivial retrofit though and there's a guide on here so it may be possible to do something similar with the Roomster. Not sure if the wiring is standard fit for the low-level sensor though - the Fabia came with one fitted in 2L and 5L guise.

Chris

OK; who's got a Roomster with the headlight washers? If they can photograph their 5L bottle, I'll do the same for my 2L one, and we might be able to see if it's a trivial upgrade.

My current fill is about 75% washer fluid, because I hadn't realised how small the bottle was, and put the fluid in first.

Stuart

[VRStu]

The larger bottle is 5J0 955 453. You will also need Seal 7M0 919 382 and Gasket 431 955 465 A.

You'll also need something to block the hole for the level switch. It appears to be quite cheap so you may as well use the switch itself 7M0 919 376.

Perhaps if somone buys the parts they can post the prices.

[Meadway]

I was interested to read your 10k experiences. My R3 is just on 4000 after 4 months: the fewest miles/month I've done in years. I am retired now, though. I'm generally very pleased. Had no trouble with clonky seat, but no-one drives it but me so it never gets adjusted. Having beige trim and a hairy dog I bought a set of seat covers. Not too bad to fit until I came to the front passenger's seat. It has the cubby hole in the front face and I gave up trying to work out how to get the seat cover elastics through. It'll be going to the dealer in a couple of months (I'm a great believer in frequent oil changes) so he can fit the damn thing.

Fuel consumption seems to run around 49 mpg - I do a lot of short trips nowadays. The display is generally about 6% more optimistic. I'd like to know why, as the distance recorder, checked over motorway km posts and a known 97-mile cross country run, is as near as dammit spot-on. Another 1000 or so and I'll do a 1000 check, returning for the final fillup to the same pump I started with.

I've no real niggles. I chose a Roomster on the strength of my disabled wife being able to get in and out unassisted. Funny sort of criterion but the choice has been well justified.

One last query: is anyone using a sat-nav with TMC receiver? Reception is pretty poor here (East Hants). I'm going to try routing the aerial out of the car and up the tinted plastic cover over the A-pillar. Thought I'd solicit any other views before I tried it.

John

[PAArsko]

Not sure if this is frowned upon but there are some really good reviews for sat navs on this site plus I remember reading on here about TMC aerial routing on their Navman forum.
Pocket GPS World

[spinndrift]

I've just had the 20K service done on my 1.9tdi 3 and the only issue I've had is the glovebox light staying on and making the base of the top glove box too hot to touch.

I've had no issues with the wobbly seat which is quite interesting as I had two replaced in the vrs under warranty and the third wobbled so i gave up trying to sort it out.

One thing that is nice is to have hit 20K without needing new tyres for the first time in years.