Mute

Yeah i think you are being unreasonable, and here's why. If we look at this from the mechanics point of view we can see that the mechanic didn't do anything wrong. If the mechanic didn't do anything wrong, why should it be his responsibility to replace a part which has reached end of life? These studs corrode over time, some you can get off with a lot of futzing around. Some just break and there's absolutely nothing you (as the mechanic) can do about it. There is no other course of action the mechanic could have taken that would not have resulted in this breaking. At some point the part becomes so corroded that it even heating the surrounding area will not relieve enough pressure to allow it to remove without overcoming the remaining strength in the fastener. That's just life. If VAG made the fasteners with better quality materials (see 80s / 90s volvos for example which to this day are still easy to work on) then this issue would be avoided. Who should foot the bill for a part which has reached end of life? Note that I'm not saying it's a substandard part. This is because the car was cheaper to buy because of the optimisation of materials used. We got what we paid for. I say that the customer is 100% responsible. Now the only caveat would be if the mechanic had not exercised reasonable care and attention while doing his job. This would be unlikely. We can say this since he still has a job and would be unlikely to keep it if he had repeat occurances like this. The other bit i'd raise issue with is Skoda UK's response. If the part is so super duper, then why was it changed? Think of all the costs involved in changing a part post-production on a car. It is not something to do lightly as a manufacturer. I'd suggest it's because of issues reported with the design and or materials used. It is not in Skoda UK's interest to support the garage. If they did so, they'd have to foot the bill for your car. They want the garage or you to pay. Since you're on the phone it's easiest to say "ah well but the garage have been a bit silly here". Now likewise when the garage phone up i'm sure they're super nice and say things like "wow, how long does this customer really expect this part to last, just have the customer pay for it Mr Garage, you've done the right thing". I'm sorry agentz but i can see both sides. I don't agree with you being told you'd get a call and that not happening however, i think that's poor service and hopefully just a one off.

The coating is supposed to help with initial bedding in, it shouldn't remove with just brake cleaner, it'll wear through in the first couple of brake applications. It's designed to 'open' the top layer of adhesive binder on the pad. The idea is that you get better braking quicker.

As above it will be the rotten factory fit Bluetooth unit. Swap for a fiscon basic plus. DIYable, it's just unplugging a wee box and plugging in a different one. No rewiring or anything difficult.

Easiest one to see is under the carpet in the boot, top left of the wheel well there's a sticker with gearbox code (among a list of every option fitted to the car etc.).

Must be the struts are weakened with age, the red springs i installed back in May last year are still going strong, never failed to open yet. Blue's would have gone by now based on the last time.

Is the engine definitely dead? A wee bit of swarf in the oil wouldn't put me off finding out if it can be made to run again - provided it's not seized of course I'd give them a bell and get the list of fault codes - doesn't cost anything to get a second opinion on them and might save you some mullah. I wouldn't remove the head without a possible diagnosis to give a reason to do it. Use a boroscope through the spark plug hole and through the intake manifold for a cheap look-see.

Still the red's are the ones to go for. Still going strong ignore the blue's, they were a distraction

This kind of thing --> http://www.kenlowe.com/pre-heaters/cars/automatic.html is the only real solution on a petrol car. A 240v mains block heater & cabin heater. Although you can get petrol webasto heaters they're prohibitively expensive, where diesel ones are ten a penny second hand (ok more like £200) the petrol ones are often over £1k, i guess due to the rarity of them. With a diesel car i'd find a second hand webasto auxiliary heater and use that.

I reckon the vxr will get off the line faster (they're 4wd i think?) but there will be no more than a car length in it at the finish line if a rolling start from 30mph.

Depends on the car for me. I reckon i step out of long journeys in the big 7er fresher than i stepped in The octy makes me feel a bit fidgety, drained and generally poor after 300 miles.

120watts of heat (12v x 10amp fuse on the ciggy socket) wont defrost a window in this lifetime :-(

Made them go hard, lost all flex in the rubber, the alcohol dried the rubber out. Made them useless as wiper blades. Not had the same issues with the soapy type of winter screenwash rather than the cheaper methanol ones.

Watered down 1 part concentrate to 3 parts water (~ -20 degrees protection).

Got an AppleTV the other day and I'm really impressed with it, I'd kept an eye on them for a while but never took the leap because I've got a ps3 and it plays all my media anyway. I'm blown away with it, such a useful device! Tried renting an HD (720p) film, the expendibles, worked really well. Good picture quality and surround sound, all worked as expected. Tried YouTube and what not but it was video podcasts that got me - that works really well, there's even some HD ones. Playing stuff off iTunes on the PC works as expected. It'll browse photos off the PC too which I didn't know about, as well as Flickr. The bit that's got me is AirPlay though, from the iPad or iPhone, if you're listening to something or watching a vid on the net, there's an AirPlay button,press that and whatever you've got playing just appears on the telly. That is ace. Old news I know but I'd never bothered before, it just looked a bit meh to me, but for £100 delivered, it's a cracking wee bit of kit.

The DSG shift times are light years ahead of the manual -- DSG get's it 100% perfect, lightning quick, everytime, even the best race driver in a manual will only manage a DSG quality shift a few times out of every 10. I'd say the manual car handles very slightly better. Weird because the only weight difference is about 40 kilos or so but i swear i can tell the difference even though it is very slight.