Last week, whilst out in my Skoda Octavia Scout “Oskar”, my wife had a big accident in the car, writing the car off. She broke her thumb, and hurt her hip and ribs in the accident, but, she is currently recovering well.
The Accident
The accident happened in bright sunshine after a period of heavy rain, the road surface was still wet and the sun at that time in a morning was still low in the sky, and in direct alignment with the road making it difficult to see the traffic ahead stopped to allow a vehicle to turn right. She braked, but, still ran into the rear of the trailing car. A very unfortunate set of circumstances.
The car not only deployed air bags, but, the drivers door would not open, causing Mrs Rambling Motorist to be trapped as she was unable to release the seatbelt due to her injuries and climb over to the passenger side. Due to this, the Fire Brigade was summoned.
As the accident was so close to home, I managed to get to the scene before the Fire Brigade made “Oskar” into a cabriolet. I had to open the rear offside door in order to release and force open the drivers door. This told me the body shell was twisted, and would be a category A write off.
I had owned “Oskar” for 13 years, and he only had 252,000 miles on the clock. Quite a bit was spent on him, an engine rebuilt at 184,000 miles and mechanically he was in excellent condition, albeit a little scruffy around the edges due to a few light surface rust spots here and there.
So, he was recovered by Crouch Recovery and eventually taken to Copart for recycling, I now needed another family estate car. The reason we had a Scout was for the 4×4 capabilities in winter, and for towing, both of these it did very well due to the Haldex four wheel drive system. I wanted another.
A replacement family estate car
Searching the Internet for another Scout was more difficult than you would think. I am not a big fan of the later Mk2 Scouts because most of these have a DSG automatic gearbox, and frankly when towing, I prefer to tow with a manual. Most of the Mk1 manual Scouts were either in a rough state, or even higher mileage than the one I had.
In knowing that I was down a car in the fleet, a good friend of mine said, “if there was anything I can do”. He meant run me around, but, “Bluebelle” was available to me and on the road. I replied, “find me a replacement”. Bless him, he spent the afternoon searching the Internet and located a non Scout, which I initially ruled out, but, he insisted I take a closer look at the advert.
He was right. This Octavia 4×4 1.9 TDI was 69,000 genuine miles, with proof, and the DVLA car check showed mileage at the MOT that concurred with the paperwork. In addition, the paperwork showed the original order form, receipt for purchase (outright), and the dealer handover.
James
Yesterday, I decided to go to Bolsover, where this was being sold, and I instantly loved it. I realised that it doesn’t have a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter), not because it had been removed, but, in checking the build tag in the boot, there was no “7GG” listed on the build tag, it was never built with a DPF in the exhaust by Volkswagen in the first place. This means no more DPF regenerations, and better fuel economy. This car is immaculate inside and out and only had a few faults, as follows…
- A tiny rust spot on the passenger side sill.
- The rear window tint was bubbled.
- The air conditioning didn’t work.
- I didn’t own it.
The last one was easily resolved, and I purchased the car and named him “James”.
He came with half a tank of diesel, and, when driving him home, I estimated that he would cruise at 65mpg at 65mph in sixth gear. This is excellent news given the price of diesel these days. Hopefully this will be an excellent carriage for me and my family for years to come, and being the 4×4 version is very likely to be considered a future classic for its rarity.
Mark Smith
“The Rambling Motorist“