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I first noticed water splashes on the plastic next to the area where the drivers feet are, A pillar area following heavy rain,initially thinking that water was getting past a door seal. Further investigation revealed water was leaking from the panoramic roof,onto the headlining then running down the A pillar trim,behind the plastic panels and being absorbed by the sound deadening under the carpet. By this stage there was a lot of water under the carpet as the sound deadening is plentiful and acts as a sponge. A bit of searching on here pointed towards blocked drains...there are 4 drains,the two front ones exit near to the front door check straps on the A post,they are just visible when the doors are open.The two rears exit at the top of the boot opening,again visible when the tail gate is open. Mine were not blocked.Bugger. A bit of a red herring followed,the external seal that runs around the perimeter of the sunroof,it has a felt edge was slightly torn on my car,it was that way when i bought it,that must be the problem...so i stripped the head liner out of the car...not the work of a moment...dropped the complete sunroof assembly...which is surprisingly easy,its held in place by 12 or so T30 bolts...its just heavy,ask a friend to help.Then i replaced the seal,which was approx £80 and put everything back together. Just to note,there was evidence of slight weepage at the point where the drainage tubes connect to the sunroof,its really obvious with the head liner removed. I have addressed this by securing them with stainless fuel pipe clips,lightly tightened,as the stubs attached to the sunroof tray are made of plastic. I was not best pleased to find i still had a leak....infact it was worse than before,and on both sides now. At this point i thought i had found the answer to my problems on the Yeti section of this site. They are fitted with the same sunroof. Actually the same roof is fitted to a lot of VAG estate cars. Someone with the same problem had been able to stop their leak using a solution that boat owners buy that finds cracks and seals them. This solution is applied to the visible join between the plastic front section and aluminium sides. Brilliant...that worked....well long enough for me to put the car back together including the now dry underfloor sound deadening. But the next instalment wasn't good news... So,headliner removed again...quicker this time...sunroof out again,its really obvious why these things leak,the joins between the aluminium side sections and front plastic section are subject to flex, there is little structural integrity. I separated the joints just enough to see that inside is a flexible rubberised seal,this was carefully removed and replaced with a good dose of black tiger seal which oozed out nicely when it was all put back together. The joints were clamped for several hours before the sunroof was put back into the car. And here we are,i have fingers crossed,i'll test it properly tomorrow,i want to give the tiger seal 24 hrs before subjecting it to the jetwash I just wanted to put this here incase anyone else runs into the same problem,its do able by a competent home mechanic, actually probably anyone can do it,i'm living proof. I honestly wouldn't buy another car with a panoramic sunroof,when you google to try to find a solution you realise this is far from an isolated incident.

Only a week before did I decided to get off my arse and do Scotland's Nc500, 500 miles in a turbo/supercharged fabia combi on scenic long roads by myself? Hell yeah! Sorry for the picture overload, I've kept the pictures as low quality as possible to try not kill your browsers. Lets have it! Loaded up the fabia will fuel and essentials and headed off, My first 3 hours would be spent just getting to the start at Inverness. Reached Inverness In no time and proceeded up the east coast of Scotland while visiting a few places on the way before reaching my accommodation( Bower Wig Wams) in Wick Dunrobin Castle, Golspie Second day seen me travel the whole breadth of the North of Scotland form east to west, I've seen most of Scotland before but this place will stick in my memories forever and I seen my first puffin! As you travel from east to west the beaches and views only get better. Dunnet Bay, Thurso. 2 miles of pure white and aqua blue water.....Best beach in Britain in my opinion. As you make your way across the north coast through the Bay of Tongue and towards Durness the beaches continue to be as spectacular however the landscape get a bit more rugged. Ardvreck castle from above Decided to camp up on Balnakiel Beach for the night, Had the whole beach to myself...... To my surprise I woke up to the sun splitting the sky and some visitors.......Yep its 7am and the cows are crossing the beach to reach a fresh water stream, Apparently a daily occurrence Leaving Durness Your pretty much in the most north westerly point in the UK, Visited a few places before heading south down the west coast and entering Wester Ross(Game of thrones fans will grin). Smoo Cave The landscape changes dramatically on the west coast, Huge rolling mountains start to appear as I headed south towards Ullapool,Gairloch and Applecross. After staying in Ullapool for the night I was off sharp in the morning for another spectacular drive south west, Passing the Kylesku bridge and hotel for some well needed grub! From here I continued south through Wester Ross at which point he NC500 heads to Applecross then Back to Inverness, I went off track and headed home via Skye, Fort WIlliam and Glencoe When reaching Applecross you encourter the "Bealach Na Ba" mountain pass, Regarded as one of if not the best roads in Britain with views of the Isle of Skye to the West and The mountain pass on the other. Deciding I could probably be home for midnight I cut my last day short and blasted the 6 hour journey home passing "Eilean donan castle" and the might " Buchaille Etive Mor" mountain in Glencoe. So nearly 3 tanks of fuel and 960 miles later I made it home, Car was awesome, Weather was awesome and the scenery was even better! Would highly recommend anyone to head up north and just do it, The road conditions are perfect and if you get the weather......I don't think may places in the world could top it. I'll hopefully have a drone vid posted up soon. Thanks for reading.