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Almost a year on and I thought I should update this in case anyone ever reads it and wonders what happened. The NHS route proved to be a bit messy, eventually getting offered an ultrasound scan somewhere in north Wales and declining it on the basis that so much seemed to be stacking up in favour of just leaving it and doing nothing. Private consultations and scans were priced up but not followed up on a cost/benefit judgement. Back to the gym tentatively in May when things started opening up again, and finding to my significant surprise that the right arm still worked just as well as before! No right shoulder pain (which used to be a chronic problem) and apart from the bulginess when working hard, no pain or other obvious deficit in the right bicep. No cramping. My sports massage guy reckons it has re-attached itself to something, possibly the other 'cep', without any active measures. Sailboat racing has also resumed without any apparent issues, in fact I've been winning more than usual. Stronger winds in the coming months may be a tougher test though. Overall I think I'm better off than before the tendon rupture. Who'dathunkit?

Hi Folks, A wee update on my Octavia VRS iV. Ordered in May and the dealer just called to say it's now in the UK and all being well I should have it in around two weeks. Can't wait. Hopefully all the software glitches are fixed. John

UPDATE after 1 year of driving my Super IV L&K 2020: (Plug-in) I've done 7000 miles in total in 13 months, most of which has been during lockdown for covid-19. About 3000 miles have been all electric, the rest being in hybrid mode, with about 100 miles in sport mode just as a test. In my opinion: 1. If you do not have a home charging capability then a Plug-in Hybrid is a waste of money since you have to pay at least an extra £4000 for a battery that hardly gets used - I only have a fixed 13amp outside connection not a £700 fully featured home charging system - it takes far too long to charge (0% to 100% takes over 5 hours, this is equivalent to only 7 miles per hour of charging) - which is OK some of the time, but is useless for long trips - if travelling more than 40 miles round trip I have to use petrol which is not good - using a public charge point its a bit quicker being about 4 hours to get fully charged (7kw or quicker, about 8 miles per hour) - the car is designed to be seriously restricted to a very slow speed regardless of how fast the charge point can work, which is a MAJOR drawback 2. The cost of charging at a public charge point is so variable as to be totally stupid - it can be FREE at some supermarkets or up to 25p per mile - the 25p per mile chargers can charge at a rate of over 600 miles per hour, which is useless for the Superb which cannot benefit from the speed but still costs the same - running on petrol only cost about 11p a mile (about 48 mpg on average) - there are FREE 7kw chargers at places like Tesco and Sainsbury, these will add about 7 miles of range in an hour, which is fine if you can do your shopping and have a meal in a cafe, otherwise it's not much use. - FREE charges are also very difficult to find when touring the country on holiday, so not really that helpful, and the range added is not worth the time wasted. 3. The average range is too little to be of any real value in terms of reducing cost - I've averaged about 25 miles on a full charge, varying from 18 to 42 miles. 4. The Skoda app for controlling the charging remote is helpful for the 1st year being FREE, but is not worth the £80 for each year thereafter since the advertised map and software updates are not possible online and my car does not have a memory card reader, or CD unit to do it any other way. 5. My best all electric journey was 42 miles on full charge with a bit being added by the regen system. This was done in eco mode on a non-stop drive on a dual carriageway, at a speed of about 45 mph, in 6th gear, with virtually no acceleration, on a warm day with no wind, with no heating or cooling to use power. - a more normal scenario around home is an average of about 25 miles, being with heating / cooling, stop start etc. 6. Driving in SPORT mode to charge the battery is a waste of fuel and creates more pollution than it saves. - it better to drive in the driver selected "individual mode", and selecting some but not all of the sport features that stop the car using too much fuel and pollution 7. It's a real pain taking the time to plug in the cable in a public place in bad weather since virtually NONE of the locations are covered - simply not worth the bother for a view miles of electric range - in addition most of the FREE charging points are a long way from the door of the place that you want to go to - plus there are virtually no signs to direct you to where the points are in the car park, so you have to drive around just looking - many locations are either already in use (for many hours), or are being used by NON-Electric cars (people that can't read maybe - or you waste 30 mins or so trying the get these things to work using one of dozens of different supplier apps - or the thing are just faulty 8. Skoda are useless at diagnosing any faults on IV cars, including none IV related features such as map updates / serious SAT NAV issues 9. The setup of all the options in the car are far too complicated 10. The benefits of driving an electric car are lost because of the very limited range and very long charging times 11. Effectively it has been an expensive trial with really an otherwise great car. 12. I have been looking for an all electric car this year but decided that the cost for anything decent (same size as superb) is still far too high - in part because the silly government decided to cut the grant this year, and will no doubt cut in again next year. 13. The lost luggage space and extra weight make the car less usable, which is common for all plug-in hybrids. 14. my best trip was where I managed 40 miles all electric PLUS another 8 miles from regen over a trip of about 100 miles. Suggestions based on my experience: 1. Plug-in hybrids could be far better if the car makers supplied faster charging, and at least 80 miles of range (which would qualify for a grant) 2. Skoda need to get their act together to properly support IV drivers 3. Voice command needs a massive improvement - the current system is next to useless 4. The skoda SAT NAV system needs a re-think to be more like Tesla, and it MUST have monthly updates for maps including all new charge points 5. The Skoda connect app should be included for free for at least 3 years 6. The skoda app needs to be made more functional and be made reliable (currently fails too often) 7. Skoda needs to get the problems with basic SAT NAV functions sorted, now - I've had faults logged for over 6 months, with no fixes, or any date for a fix. 8. Skoda should never tell its customers to rely on non-Skoda apps to make up for Skoda failures on a car that costs over £41,000 (ZapMap) Hope this is helpful

@Gax Check the links in my signature. 👍

All fuel injected cars have a coolant temperature sensor.

That's right. On the plus side, the timing chain almost never has to be replaced because it's so wide and reliable. On the negative side, look at my engine. I'm the fourth owner (mother in law gave me the car for free :D ) and it has 166,000 kilometers on the dash. Looks like the previous owners didn't know what oil changes were. Also, wow isn't that 59hp engine in the Octavia really underpowered?

@Llanigraham - thank you!. So..I was driving along today with this ringing going on in my ears and thinking about your comment about "That is definitely NOT a standard Yeti sound"...and then I remembered... I fitted a dashcam last year and it was tucked behind the rear view mirror. This fooled me, my mate, my wife, the local independent garage (who spent 15 mins with a diagnostic machine but couldn't find it). Amazing how it sounded like it was coming from behind the dash Thank you @Llanigrahamand everyone for your help. WhatsApp Video 2021-10-05 at 11.34.08 PM.mp4

Just to add a slightly different perspective... I went from a 30kw Nissan Leaf to the Skoda Superb iV. I really wanted to stay electric but I also needed/wanted a bigger car for a growing family (height wise not number!). I'm 6ft 4 so not a lot space for someone behind the drivers seat. For a decent size electric car I was looking at what I considered an unaffordable amount of money. My work commute is 14 miles return journey and most of the family journeys are circa 20 miles with the odd 100/200 mile journey thrown in occasionally. The Superb iV ticked a lot of boxes for me and was a compromise from not going fully electric. I also much prefer the drive in e-mode vs hybrid. From a pure financial perspective an extra £4k after around 40k miles I would have saved circa £2.5k on the equivulent 2.0l petrol engine (performance wise electric motor in the iV plus the 1.4 petrol provides similar performance to the 2.0l petrol). So at face value on pure financial merit it does not stack up but factor in personal preference for the electric driving experience and the added bonus of zero emissions for approx 50% of my mileage I'm content. Also, when I bought mine, the iV was pretty much the same price as the 2.0 petrol so I was genuinely going to save £2.5k over the 40,000 miles. I got an ex demo, 11 month old SEL with VC and reverse camera for £25k. I already had a home charger fitted from the Leaf so charging has been easy.

PHEVs do work with caveats. If you have a quite consistent commute within the EV range or a bit above, you win. If you do a lot of multiple short trips like school runs, you win. Both above assumes you also need a car for longer journeys during the weekends and can only afford one car. Also assumes you can charge at home on the cheap. So yes, lots of caveats but certainly within a lot of people's use case. Ability to preheat in winter is a bonus I guess. I would do well with one but then, I drive maybe 3-4k max a year so I rather bomb around in my 4x4 280 while I can.

well they arent screaming at me but im very very aware of my lower legs all day today....

@troutybrown Sorry i can not for near Motherwell, @AMD87might be able to suggest someone, and i assume you know not to go near Arnold Clark or Parks (Hamilton) or any Dealership.

Having very similar issues with my Octavia VRS IV, which I took ownership of from Trust Skoda Stourbridge at the end of July. Had an amber warning light on the dash due to 'Vehicle Lighting' and 'Adaptive Frontlight System' at the beginning of September. Which meant I was driving with the head and tail lights on permanently for almost three weeks. When I was finally able to get the car in at the dealer (due to lack of curtesy car availability at Trust Stourbridge) they swapped out lighting control switch with a doner vehicle, the warning lights cleared. Swapped back with my original switch, still no warning lights. 👍 A software update was also completed during the same visit. Dealer has ordered a new light control switch in any case, currently awaiting delivery. This past Friday the car was connected to the 3pin HV charging cable after getting back from work, HV charge at roughly 30%. I use the 'Departure Planner' within the MySkoda app to schedule overnight charging. Leaving the car at home, I went out for the evening. On my return, at roughly 23:45, I could hear that the radiator cooling fan was spinning! The car was locked, the HV charging indicator was not illuminated, nothing displayed on the dashboard. Unlocked the car, fan still audibly spinning. Turned on the ignition, turned off the ignition, fan audibly spinning. Switched power off at the socket supplying HV charging cable, fan stopped a few seconds later?!? The car remained parked up at home during Saturday whist I went out. On my return I had a visit from the neighbor to let me know my car alarm had gone off a number of times during the afternoon. Unlocked the car, switched on ignition. The dashboard displayed numerous error messages and warning lights. Exited the car, pressed 'lock' on the drivers door handle, nothing happened. Pressed the lock button on the key fob, nothing happened. Back in the car, ignition button pressed, nothing happened. The 12 volt battery was completely dead. Visit from Skoda assist on Sunday morning, connected a 12 volt charger and shortly after the car was back to life. Hooked up to diagnostics and the results displayed a number of warnings and errors. I was told that the errors pointed to an issue with charging of the HV battery. But the engineer was not HV certified and therefore nothing further he could do, other than pass on diagnostics outcome to a dealer and recommend I get the car booked in ASAP. The car is now with Trust Skoda Wolverhampton. I'm told a replacement vehicle control module will be fitted later this week. 🤞

Just found this on the Skoda site, spark plugs are not included. If you 100% haven't asked them to change the plugs, refuse to pay... if that doesn't work tell them to remove them and refit your old ones (they'll be in the bin)... they might then offer them as goodwill.

I guess the service plan will be Oil & Filter only, in most cases they will suggest add-ons. Additional filters and plugs tend to come under an 'inspection'. They will work on the basis 'If it doesn't say it is included, it isn't'... but did you ask them to change the plugs? If you didn't approve the work, they shouldn't have fitted them... therefore you can't be charged. It really does depend on what you agreed when you booked it in.

Where did this mysterious air lock come from? If you have not done any maintenance on the cooling system, then there would have to be a problem to cause an air lock?

This app isnt worth it imho. Mirrorlink is also not going to work as its for older devices before apple and android auto was made. The app works fine for me but doesnt work on my friends identical fabia... but like I said above. Dont waste time, its a crap app that doesnt benefit you at all... If you really want to use it, look into getting the 'Skoda Data Plug' dongle from skoda that allows you to connect to the car without plugging it in.

Small update, made a 400 mile round trip to see oggy1234 and now she is wearing these

And £28 will get you 5 litres of Fuchs Pro C3 VW 504/507. Delivered! Enough for a topup AND your next oil change.

Just had a call from Kate Laws. She says there is "a meeting" this afternoon (Wednesday) and hopefully news on a resolution by Friday. Fingers crossed...

I think the facelifted model was due to be announced anytime now, but in light of the current delays, who knows? I had thought they would announce it in the autumn, make the production line changes over the Christmas shutdown and start deliveries in January, but that seems unlikely now. Clearly there will need to be changes to the tooling and multiple new parts (new light units, grille etc.) which one would assume have a considerable lead time with suppliers. Equally, however, Skoda will need to use up the inventory of parts for the existing model and if they aren't building as many...

Been running around for a couple of days but revs stay resolutely at 1000 regardless.

Not a bad price that! I have fitted TRW discs many times, the only downside is some of them are not high carbon discs, whereas lesser competitors will offer it. Great discs other than that. I just ordered a set of Brembo 340mm discs & pads for a friends car, £168 all in but not sure if the pads come with all add-ons.

Hi everyone Just an update to say, I am still around and still own the Audi although it has now become a second car rather than my main daily driver. The Audi has had so much done now since the last update. Serviced by me, New disks / pads and front brake calipers ABS Sensor replaced Cambelt and tensioners done New tyres all round. All this work resulted in a clean MOT a few weeks ago, and it's hardly been driven since.

I actually got hold of my local specialist garage and they had some Quantum Longlife 3 for sale. £14 a litre. I didn’t need loads, just a top up. Thanks for the help!

I appreciate the much better explanation......... I agree with you there, either give folk the room to move out if necessary for them to do so or at least move to where they can see you more easily. Cheers.

PHEV are not the con that you describe. The concept is sound, it's the implementation that is poor. All attempts to encourage NON-ICE vehicles should be made. I accept that a PHEV for a business user may mean that they make no attempt to use the battery, and that maybe most of these car are sold to fleet buyer to be used as a "company" car, HOWEVER, that is still better than an ICE car without any scope for teaching drivers about the benefit of electric cars. I am annoyed that the grant was removed on PHEV, which I did not get as a NON_Business user. I'm using my own money to teach myself about the good and bad things about electric cars, before deciding when to convert to all electric. No Electric car is pollution free over it's life cycle. They all suffer the same basic issues as ICE cars, but batteries will create a new problem, and cannot be fully recycled, however it is still a better solution than ICE only vehicles.

I didn't but my dad did have a BMW Isetta - the one with twin rear wheels in blue and white - so the Microlino appeals in a nostaligic way...

I had a bubble car when i was 15 year old. Never again.

How about one of these George... This is not a car! | Microlino - microlino-car.com

I was just checking my driving license yesterday to see the expiry dates / classes and when points are due to come off. Due to my disability my Motor Cycle entitlement has been limited to a Tricycle. Also there is the Quad Class. Maybe in another few years that will be all i do ride / drive. Hopefully there will be more proper EV's that are Smart Car or Toyota iQ cars around. An iQ EV would be rather good IMO. Car / bigger vehicle Restrictions is Automatics.

It's my opinion that, the current electric cars are NOT the final solution (maybe hydrogen will be better), because electric cars still create too much damage to the planet during production and in disposal. However for the time being, they offer the best solution to an immediate problem, hence my wish to at least do something to help, by going part electric. What your opinion highlights, is the that our Government has got the whole strategy on saving the planet wrong, if they cannot convince you do to do anything more than knowingly continue to cause unnecessary pollution with your car.

This is what you get when politics tells you that the pollution problem is caused by cars and you, as a good citizen, want to contribute to the health of the planet. And let's pretend we don't know that industries can continue to pollute simply by trading emissions on the carbon market. I'm sure the future will be electric, but today the choice is very limited and it is not within everyone's reach. Until then, I still enjoy the smell of gasoline every time I start the car in my garage.

Manual says that oil needs to meat VW spec 504.00 for 220hp version and 508.00 for 245hp version. 504.00 usually has 0/5w30 viscosity. Where 508 is usually 0w20. Castrol pays to have their brand on the oil cap The brand is your choice. I personally would try Millers if I were in UK, but there are so many good oil brands out there. If you don’t track, I don’t think it matters much as long as the oil meets the required oil spec.

I also use them for filters, pads and rotors, and some other parts from couple of years. If you order through the mobile app, you can get additional discount. For oils and some other liquids, I use ato24.de. They do have good Black Friday offers.

That higher spec gauge is called a "maxidot" display. Probably is possible but would be easier to use an app called torque pro like I use, or put an auxillary gauge on yourself. I've been using torque for quite a while and it does the job well. Much cheaper than putting in new gauges I know that much.

Well done you and its nice to see someone else repairing rather than replacing an alternator even if it did not turn out to be the fault.

Are you saying that indicating after having done a mirror check and not seen anyone is a sloppy driving habit and should be discouraged? I know full well that even after checking all 3 mirrors there could be traffic in a blind spot, I cannot see a vehicle arriving at a side junction ahead while I am looking in the mirror. I have to be super aware when driving as I only have vision in one eye, on autoroutes or dual carriageways my blind spots seem to be magnets for other motorists who slow down to my speed once they have hidden themselves there, it is much much worse in recent years and I think that they are using active cruise control which slows them down to maintain a seperation with the vehicle in front, they seem happy to sit there mile after mile and oblivious to the danger they are causing. I see them approach in my rear mirror and if they have not passed through the blind spot in the time it should take at their speed I have to move my whole body round to see where they are (left eye blind) which is dangerous in itself, and if they sit right beside me I still have to turn my head every few seconds, I know young motorcyclists in town have not learned the hard way what an angle mort is but the name should tell them something. I know that I don't always indicate, it's not something I do every time because thats how I was taught, I never had a single driving lesson either from an instructor or family or friends. Returning home at night on deserted country roads I can be reasonably certain that a lack of headlight beams indicates a lack of vehicles but given that at least 20% that I see on those journeys have at least one front or rear light not functioning I can't be sure of that, dependant on the circumstances I will indicate if I have any doubt.

This test should really have found this problem, I'm not sure why it didn't improve things; can you remember what thickness the parallel cable was, and length? When you say 6mm cable do you mean 6mm² cross-sectional area? If so that sounds thinner than I would choose if I were fitting a replacement cable. I would go for at least 10mm² if not 16. Well done for your persistence and eventual success.

Well said, that man! I agree that it's better to signal even if there's no-one there to see it. You never know if there's going to be someone you don't see due to blind spots or other reasons.

Tayna - 096 AGM CAR BATTERIES - https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/096-agm/ ETA: I've just remembered, when I bought my battery in June there was apparently a shortage and the price was £9 higher than now (from Tayna). What are the chances of a battery shortage at the second cold snap of this autumn/winter?

Style 809M

The Camera. 😉 I was taught when I learnt to drive. Thanks, AG Falco

i've never seen the point of an iv, if i was going electric, it would be fully electric as better range with an iv the car is always on a charge and if you dont charge it, you might as well have a diesel or petrol as it costs you more to run as car is heavier. iv cars are dearer to buy as well, so not for me

"expecting a hill start", yes, maybe. I'll give it a go tomorrow when I am out and about. It's cold at the moment and I don't want to waste fuel warming up.

Red led indicators and white led light

Thats sounds like your rear mainseal has failed. It can do it after a pcv failure or the glue on the seal just seperates due to age (the new revision is sandwiched toprevent this happening). Its an easy fix albeit expensive labour costs. My clutch was covered in oil so needed replacing as well. Heres me diagnosing mine after two dealers and two indy garages couldnt work out what the problem was. https://youtu.be/dTRXkwSwbxM

New BSO picked up today, Paint Protection fitted, need to find a bottle carrier that doesn't foul the frame and a colour coordinated tube strap. Suspension tweaks in the morning then a test ride. Orbea Wild FS M20, part Carbon frame, 38 Fox forks, DT Swiss wheels and Shimano 12sp and 4 pot brakes, Bosch motor

Picture as requested.

Some way to physically go, but can I suggest you call Colin Marshall at Wheelbase in Hersham, Surrey (link here). Our Superb 280 had the dash alight like a Christmas tree, biggest issue was ABS and ESC were off, which I explained in turn to the four closest Skoda dealers as I called them in turn last week - Allams Epsom, Lookers Guildford, Garlands Aldershot and Skoda Crawley. Not one showed the slightest empathy and none of them could even LOOK at the car for a one hour (chargeable) diagnosis slot for three weeks and further weeks wait for the appointment to have the work undertaken… unless I needed a courtesy car which would mean between an 6 to 10 week wait! I called Wheelbase last Saturday and the very pleasant lady I spoke to said that’s bad news, but it was probably just a failed sensor and then said they could take the car in on Monday. I said I need a courtesy car and said unfortunately they wouldn’t have a courtesy car until…. Tuesday! The 280 went in and it was fixed by 5pm. It was the NSR wheel sensor. It was a very, very easy and pleasant experience. I won’t be returning to a main dealer again; Wheelbase will now be getting our custom. It’s worth a call as I’m sure they’ve had this issue on a number of VAG products.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/491089-sos-error-message/page/2 http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/437853-skoda-sos-error http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/454047-sos-fault-on-dash EDIT. http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/469174-emergency-workshop-error http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/473760-emergency-sos http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/480017-help-with-sos-call-function-warning