CrazyCam

Replying to my own posting..... Today, I drove the Roomster up to our local Skoda dealership, went into the service department office and told my story. Firstly, I found out that the bloke who told me I needed a 750 dollar part to fix the problem had left. Then, a helpful bloke went and had a look at the car, the parts cattledog, mumbled a bit and a mechanic appeared. He only seemed to be carrying a pair of pliers. "Did I want it fixed right now?" Errr, yes, please. He sat in the car, took almost four minutes, and there it was back, fixed, just like new....... :-) I think, but wouldn't swear to it, that he fitted a split pin into the selector mechanism. No charge! :-) It has renewed my faith in nice car dealerships.

Hi there. I drove my wife, in her Skoda Roomster, to the shops.... so far, so good. Roomster in question is a 2012 model 1.2 turbo petrol, 7 speed DSG, with about 20,000 kms on clock in Australia. Found a parking spot (eventually) then tried to switch off engine and open doors.......... No, sorry, you haven't selected park in the transmission. Ah... but I couldn't shift into Park..... or Reverse. Now what. I also couldn't get the ignition key out of it's wee slot. I don't actually remember how I got out of the car, but, while it was in Neutral, I pushed it backwards enough to drive it forwards and out of the shopping center and down to the nearest Skoda dealership. So far, so good..... I parked on a bit of an up-hill so I could get back out without reverse.... fine.... but there was no way I could open the doors of the car. So we have the windows wound down and we are waving at the mechanics passing by, shouting:"HELP!" Eventually, a bloke came and managed to get the doors open and let Angie and I out. He pulled apart the selector lever thingie, leaving me with a lever, with a wee bit sticking out the top and told me to pull on the wee bit at the top and that would let me then move the main selector lever into whatever possie I wanted... including Park and Reverse. That did work, and allowed us to continue, back to the shopping, but their quote for a replacement gear selector knob was over seven hundred dollars! The seven hundred dollar part, was, by number 5J2713 1112 according to the bloke at the dealership. I can't find such a Skoda part, nearest seems to be 5J 2713 111F or possibly G. If the required part does indeed end with F, I've been quoted 22 pounds 48 pence, out of England....... a far cry from $750. Anyhow, I now have a metal tube as the main lever, with a white plastic rod inside the metal tube, which I have to pull up to allow selecting Reverse or Park. The white plastic bit has a slot cut in it, where I expect something should be to allow it to be pulled up by the button on the side of the knob. There is no sign of a broken bit, but I can't be certain. Have any of you folk had cause to pull apart and then re-assemble your gear knob bits, and, if so, can you give me some hints on how to do it, please?

The wife's Roomster came with MDI fitted. To be honest, I wouldn't pay any extra for it, had it been an option. I've stuck an 8 Gig USB stick onto it, and it works just fine, except there is so much music that it takes too much stuffing about to find any give album. (Maybe I am missing something, dunno?) I end up just burning a few CDs full of mp3s and playing one of them. regards,CrazyCam

That's the trouble. But for a small mistake in geography, you'd have been Scottish. regards,CrazyCam

My wife's Roomster is known as "Fortigo" (Greek for truck) unless we are really happy with it, when it is "Fortigaki" (Greek diminutive and/or affectionate term for truck). My three motorbikes are named after the three avenger penguins, Bluey, Rockie and Marlon. regards,CrazyCam

Hi George. I was hunting on some more info, and came up with :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_referendum Specifically the bit that said: The principal issues in the referendum are economic policy, defence arrangements, continued relations with the UK and membership of supranational organisations, particularly the European Union. So maybe the Scots get to bail out of the EU first, if that is their wish. regards,CrazyCam

Thanks, Ken, for the explanation, I totally misunderstood the figures. regards,CrazyCam

"The turnout was around 65% and the yes vote was 67%. " err... are you hinting at something there, moley? regards,CrazyCam

But if Scotland votes for independence, in 2014 would it then still be in the EU or out of the EU? There doesn't seem much point of "throwing off the English yoke" and still be lumbered with Brussels making rules. regards,CrazyCam

Hi folks. Over here in Oz, we just just heard that David Cameron has "promised" a referendum on the UK staying or leaving the EU. It seems to be couched in conditions, and not likely to happen for years yet, but, I was curious what folk living in the UK thought about this, and since most of you folk are in the UK, I thought I'd ask here. regards,CrazyCam

When my wife bought her black Roomster, we discussed having the rear windows done in a very dark tint to keep out the sun, but she decided that it would look too much like a hearse for very short people. regards,CrazyCam

Hi folks. A few weeks ago now, my wife bought a new Roomster. She went into the Skoda showroom, saw the car, fancied it and bought it. There wasn't any tick a box for options, it was "as is". Anyhow, it had a DMI thingy installed, but no cable. I asked about the USB cable and was told it was $85, so I got a mate to buy a cable from eBay for $26. Fine. So far, so good. I grabbed a couple of wee USB flash drives, dumped a whole bunch of .MP3 files, plugged them all together, and... as if by magic, great music. OK so at this point I got carried away. I grabbed an 8 gig USB flash drive and filled it up. Plugged it into the cable in the car and it works a charm. BUT! While I now have enough music to drive three or four times round Australia without repeating a song, it is hopeless trying to find and play any one song or album, as I only seem to be able to control one track, forward or back or one folder, forward or back. Is this as good as it gets? Am I missing something here? Frankly, at the moment, burning a few CDs with .MP3 files seems a better option. regards,CrazyCam

Dunno about anyone else, but I remember driving some of the faster Porsches back in the 1980s, and being seriously scared by them. Most recent one that I drove was a Carrera 4, which wasn't as bad as the earlier ones, but still gave me the feeling of being on the knife edge of disaster. regards,CrazyCam

Where abouts in Oz are you? Are you another Cameron, too? I'm in Beecroft, NSW, and my wife recently bought a Roomster. regards,CrazyCam

My fantasy car, ever since my wife bought the Skoda thing, is finding a good straight rust free Fiat X1/9, and having the Skoda/VW 1200cc turbo engine and 7 speed DSG box grafted into it. I'd settle for that. Super cars are rather over rated if you ride motorbikes most of the time. :-) regards,CrazyCam