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I've had the chance to drive about 10 mi in it. so impressions at the moment are restricted to. Fk me it's big. Nah it's bigger than that. I'm physically looking down on most SUVs Lots of pretty touch screens but I still think they suck for a car. Buttons buttons everywhere The most complex ICE ever. I mean I've worked in IT for 20yr and I'm struggling with some of it. The seats, oh lord the seats are comfortable It's actually quite nippy for a 2T truck, plenty of poke Steering a lot slower than the BM that'll take a bit of getting used to the driving mode defaults to comfort which is a bit wafty for me, I have to keep changing it to dynamic and there is no way I've found to make it stick. £80 to fill the tank, which was less than I thought. short run got 32mpg, I'm guessing the paper figure of 38 might be possible which would make it no worse than the 335d. We'll do some more miles over the weekend and we have some load lugging tasks for it which should be good.

That's great and all, not really sure how it relates to my post about a hybrid Octavia though

Some goodies arrived today. SuperSkoda. Will be a few weeks before I get a chance to fit them. Have to wait until the paint guy is finished before adding the new bits. Car being debadged for a 2 stage Polish to remove swirls that the dealer put on car with weekly washing. Then being nano coated with the self healing stuff. Then I will fit the new stuff. Most excited about the backlit door sills. But the new black badges ( still can’t believe they don’t come standard on a Sportline), and the mudflaps will make a big difference to looks.

MK2 Ford Escort.

As there seems to be a lot of people asking questions about this lately, I thought I'd put together a quick guide showing how I fitted my reverse camera to a facelift VRS hatchback. They way that i've fitted this will apply to most models, with the key differences being the size of handle (based upon car model year) and whether hatch or estate (but this is just inside trim differences), there may also be wiring loom differences for earlier cars or none VRS models. I've benefited from info from these forums so hopefully this will be useful to others. I am by no means an expert & I won't be able to answer all of your questions, hopefully others will chip in and can add other info as well. First of all, this is the camera that I ordered for my MY 2017 VRS (Camera A/Handle A): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000230897829.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.40694c4dTEPT93 (link may no longer be valid when you read this so screenshot below) No programming is required for this camera and it supports dynamic reverse guidelines Tools: Trim removal tools would be useful, but otherwise plastic tool that won't mark your car, or screwdrivers or similar with masking tape over the end. A T20 torx head tool is required if you have a hatchback to remove the pulldown boot strap Cable rods are very useful, I couldn't have fitted through the roof lining without. Stereo removal tools unless they come with your camera kit Cable route - I went with an OEM route for my cabling, following existing cables through the roofliner and out to the back as show by the red line below. The camera: The first thing that I did was to check that the boot release switch was working on the new unit - there's no way you want to wire this in and find it is faulty. You'll need to start removing the boot trim to access it. Remove the plastic clips from the lower boot trim- this consists of a few plastic clips which easily pop out with trim remover/screwdriver. There are 8 of these on the hatchback. After that start removing the upper plastic trim, this simply requires forces to release the metal clips. You don't need to remove all of this for now, but it will all need to come off later Remove the lower upholstered trim covering the tailgate. More metal clips - work your way around. You'll also need to remove the pull down strap with the T20 torx head. When this is down you should be able to drop the boot liner which will give access to the boot release handle. This can be awkward to remove, but can be done by pushing in the clip on one on the ends whilst also pushing down on the handle from the inside (ignore the clips along its length) - it should then pop out. Repeat for the other side. Unplug the harness and plug the new handle in - check the release switch works. You can either now push the new handle in until it clips, or leave it out to test the video connection later before fitting. To wire it in Remove the glovebox (open, rock left to right whilst pulling up & you'll hear the bottom clips release. Raise the glovebox lid up and inside the housing and reach in and remove the dampening on the left hand side) Use the stereo release keys to release the multimedia unit. The kit used here comes with a replacement harness that sits between the original one and the media unit & includes the video feed cable. Some people have removed the upper glovebox section to provide more access, be careful not to unplug the airbag connector if you do this. This can be fiddly, but I found the best way was to lie on my back with my head in footwell looking up at the unit from underneath. With the media unit slid fowards this gives access to the harness. It's the large one at the bottom and there is a locking connecting that needs to be pushed backwards to release. Check how it works on your replacement harness. Unplug old harness and plug it in to one end of the new one, push the harness in to the void and plug the new connector block in to the media unit. This took me a while to get it all to fit in. When done you can now test the video feed to the rear camera before your start wiring it in permanently. I took the camera cable over the top of the fusebox cage & out through the side panel I then ran the cable up the A Pillar to the roof lining and all the way to the end. Cable rods were really useful at this point, especially to get around the B pillar , and to go from the end of the roof liner through the cable exit point behind the rubber trunking where the original boot cables are. You can also run the cable in the trim above the sill and work your way back up to the roof lining on the C pillar. When you get to the end of the roof lining you'll need to unclip the rubber gator at the top of the boot so you can get the cable out of the roof liner and in to the boot via this gator. If you install the same way as me you only need to peel the roof liner down a few cm, being careful not to deform or damage it and you'll see the OEM cables behind. Once you've got the cable this far it's a case of feeding it through the rubber gator, up the side of the boot and over to the handle; connect the video cable and tidying up any spare cable. Everything should now be up and running. Retrace your steps to refit your trim. You now have a fully working reverse camera, activated when reverse is selected and with dynamic guidelines. The parking sensor guide now shifts to the left of the screen the same as an OEM reverse camera. I will come back and re-edit this tomorrow and resize pics as it's getting late. I'll tidy up any errors as I see them so please don't jump on me straight away!

If you do 5k miles or less a year I'd trade it for petrol or electric. My last diesel was fine when I did some miles, it got worse and worse when I only (usually) did short trips. But yes, change the oil. Low mileage can be worse for oil than high mileage. It doesn't get hot enough to evaporate condensation and gets contaminated. Beat me to it by seconds ...

For such low annual mileage, annual changes will be better for the engine and turbo as if you do lots of short journey the oil may not always get fully hot enough to burn off water vapour.

A stage 1 mapped 245 2.0 TSI will make 480Nm and theoretically out -accelerate the hybrid.

Oponeo do several 17" alloys, that they say are suitable for the Phaeton, from £89.00 a wheel upwards. https://www.oponeo.co.uk/alloy-wheels-finder

The slide/guide pins don't take the rotational forces, it's the edges of the pad backplates resting against the sitcky-outy prongy bits of the bearing housing that do that, as far as I can see.

They quote £499 for the Autoglym product and 2 services on a new Superb cost £396. Maybe cheaper in Scotland but down south everything is dearer.

I work for Arnold Clark, our service plans are nowhere near that kind of price, not even close, their good value

There is good reasons the paint is what it is these days and different when i started out as a car painter more than 4 decades ago. Many do not faff around with PPF and have lovely paintwork even with what leaves car factories in 2020.

Pro, as well beyond me. i thought pretty cheap £400 as there was probably 12 little dinks Plus the weird crease in bonnet

Absolutely, all that waxed cotton rubbish is very expensive and will leave little in the kitty for a glorified golf cart but as an alternative consideration try an old Jeep Grand Cherokee with the excellent Mercedes V6 oil burner, automatic is best, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Whoops, too late, I see you bought a designer handbag instead.

Oh, sorry for this. As far as I know, there should be no problem with anything from what you have mentioned. If you want to be 100% sure, I can ask my friend next week. I think that he knows this for sure.

Did you do this yourself or get a professional in? Cost?

The Quatrac Pro is a more summer focused tyre than the Quatrac 5. The Quatrac Pro is aimed at high performance cars so is made in wide, low profile tyre sizes usually with a high speed rating. Some tyre sizes are covered by both the Quatrac 5 and the Quatrac Pro. With other tyre sizes there will only be one choice. The Euro Label usually shows that the Quatrac Pro is 1 or 2 decibels louder than the Quatrac 5. In general, I prefer the Quatrac 5 but the Quatrac Pro might still be safe in the winter whereas an ultra-high performance summer tyre would not be safe in the winter. Safety, is mainly down to the driver. Drivers really shouldn't be having accidents just because their tyres' performance is a few percentage points off the very best. If you are sliding off the road into a ditch and driving into the back of stationary traffic because a tyre only came in 6th place in a tyre review, I would suggest that it wasn't the tyre that caused the accident.

Hi, I wouldn't worry - your current boot release harness will plug into the block in the middle to provide the normal function, and the wire on the left with the purple connector is the only one you need to feed to the front and into the replacement media unit harness to provide all of the reverse camera functionality

Clear Screen / Rain X are not a problem. My cars are sitting with it applied and refreshed regularly, new ones and old ones and summer or winter. I was a car sprayer and i use the stuff in the picture to rinse cars, then clean the glass of vehicles, but i use Meths so that it is handy and i can drink it if no Brasso is available.

There's silicone getting onto the screen somehow, whether it's in your washer tank, on your wiper blades or from a car wash I have no idea. I really can't be bothered arguing about it.

Finally picked up the Yeti from the dealer today. Wasn't supposed to be getting it until next Friday when the wifes redundancy money gets paid, but with potential lockdown restrictions coming in where I live I wanted to get it sooner rather than later. Thankfully my mother stepped in and lent me the cash to pay for it. I ended up putting some of the purchase price on Skoda/VW finance to get the warranty extended by a year and two services for £79. I will be withdrawing from the finance in a day or two and settling the account. Had a nice drive home in it, now got to read the handbook to learn whats what and get Apple CarPlay working. First expense will be Haldex clean, Skoda have done the 3 yr Haldex service but probably won't have cleaned the sieve. Then I'll be getting a towbar fitted for the caravan, and a Hatchbag boot liner for the dog. 2017 Yeti 2.0L 4x4 150 DSG SE L OUTDOOR DRIVE - PEARL GREY

Last time I took it for a wash was a month ago. And just last week I used glass cleaner that I had bought from Halfords

It's the car wash, just clean the screen with glass cleaner.

Thank you for your constructive advice, there is a lot to take in and I am in the cautious stage of this area, I might just use the OBD11 as a last resort. I did not order a RVC with my car at the recommendation of the dealer as I had ordered Park Assist that came with front sensors for not much more than just adding front sensors, also came with headlight washers as standard I think. There is an old saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, how true, I have built my own PC and have delved into the registry on occasion, so far it's still running fine . I did build my own car, a JBA Falcon in the early 1990's but due to two disabled relations arriving (Long Story ) I got very little use after becoming a carer so had to sell it. It was a lot simpler to turn a Mk5 Ford Cortina into the JBA than do anything on a modern car!

Are you serious about the smell of vinegar? I would not bother then. You wet a cloth with vinegar and wipe the window and it cleans it. Or kitchen towel. Just as you did surely with the Halfords Glass Cleaner. Your Dads and others might not have what ever was used on your screen. I would be getting the windscreen wash out that you have and fill with what you usually use so you know what is what.

Looks like your Wash & Wax from the car wash means you need to be really cleaning your windscreen after using it. I would try Vinegar if there is any in the house to cleanse the screen well.

Is it a 87 litre tank, so a few gallon still in before filling?

It doesn't work like that. I'm becoming less and less a fan of what OBD11 does the more I see posts like this. Coding is like playing with the Windows Registry. Some stuff seems trivially simple and some hives like HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE exist for all computers. But where HP might add a specific tree "HP", it would be a little... obtuse to expect Lenovo to do the same or MSI. Just because it's a Windows 10 machine doesn't mean any changes you make are going to work and be without side-effects. You may or may not be able to see or experience those side-effects immediately. The registry may or may not be case-sensitive. You won't know until you try and even then it might not be clear without damage, like not being able to start the computer up any more. Having a backup or plan b starts to be important at that point. Back to VCDS: reading the VIN is trivial as it's in the top level of the ECU. Connecting the VIN to a setup and / or software and firmware versions is something that I see as being well beyond both the remit and capability of the log-reading companies and comes across as naive. It's not even in the capabilities of ECP and co, whose business model depends on them selling you the right thing, and even dealer information isn't always 100%. So why should it be possible for a small outfit to know definitively? If you don't know what you are doing, you should leave it alone. If you understand what you *want* and *why* it should work like that, then you'll also know that you should be taking care to ensure you have a record of "was" before anything changes and the changes you make. Understanding the principles of "leuchtfunktion", that side and tail and DRL lights are all seperate and each side is treated differently, that the BCM is trying to play nicely with the various electronic systems of the car, that the complexity of the systems involved is significant - the connection between headlight switch and LED is at the level of "tell the LED to turn on" being sent by bus and no longer "just" a relay or switch connecting. Like the facelift wasn't just a facelift and 2016 cars differ from 2015 ones (MIB version is a starting point), the facelift brought a whole bunch of changes - this is non-trivial information which seems irrelevant to those who are not versed in the ins and outs but may actually be quite important. Long coding gets around some of this by allowing you to understand that you changed the value of Byte 1 from 0x0011 to 0x0111, which is the better way to do it. Then you really should have a note of what the preceding state was and what you did to "fix" it.

agreed, up to a point, remember the Octavia has newer tech and is probably a better car. Imagine how much the next Superb will cost , EDIT: if they even make one

Now after

My August 2017 Vrs245 when tested on a rolling road using 99 octane petrol actually produced 400nm and not the 370nm Skoda claimed at the time. The new hybrid is just over 1,700kg with raised suspension and has a top speed of 139mph for £35,000 for the hatch. My 2017 weighed 1,370kg and cost £27,595 and was very well specified as standard. It would also do an indicated 160mph as standard, 168mph at stage 1 and 177mph at stage 2. Better to spend £35,000 on a Superb IMHO.

Well yes, but for the majority of journeys it seems perfectly feasible.

Have a good holiday and I hope the tests are negative. What happens if there is a +ve result? Will you be prevented from travelling or is it a case of self confinement during and after the holiday?

Press release and UK pricing for vRS iV hybrid. http://skodamedia.com/index.php/latest-news/electrifying-new-skoda-octavia-vrs-iv-charges-into-the-uk

You also need to understand the maximum permitted weight of caravan your car can tow - I think it's 1500kg but your handbook will confirm.

NEW

I'm in central scotland, nearest town is a place called motherwell.

Everything is FREE in Scotland is what George is hinting at including University. Uni Fees now over £9,000 per year in England whereas when my wife studied between 2011-2014 it was just over £3,000 per year hence her Student Loan is much lower than students pay now.