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This topic has been a bit quiet lately. From an Australian context the time is nearing where the price I'm prepared to pay, the supporting infrastructure and battery technology will come advance to a point where I would buy an EV. Unfortunately it is unlikely to a be a Skoda. Some long promised Australian research is likely to influence future EV battery tech and supporting infrastructure. Lithium Sulphide batteries have long been known to offer much higher energy densities than existing options (up to 6x) but they were never capable of many recharges (massive expansion and contraction over the use cycle) Australian uni research had improved it from 5 recharges to around 50 but it was announced last week they had managed to improve it even further to around 500 recharges. Apparently they have managed to control the problem by adding sugar, prompting many Mary Poppins references in the headlines. Still a long way to go but apparently there are a few performance car manufacturers knocking on their doors. If they can get it into production then the implications for vehicles, aviation, well almost everything, would be revolutionary. Most of the technology used in currently produced solar panels was developed in Australia, but (at least) one of the scientists involved was Chinese and he set up production in China aided by the other Australian scientists. They made a lot of money. Anyway a small Australian start up company has a produced a PVC (photo voltaic cell) which has set a new efficiency world record. Ok it has only moved it by a couple of points (I think from 25.3 to 25.5%) but this is quite a big deal because the theoretical maximum is 27% (for a single layer silicon base). The REALLY remarkable thing is that they have achieved this by replacing the fairly high amount of expensive silver used in conventional solar cells with copper (99% cheaper than silver). IF we are going to produce more electricity with solar then it needs to be stored which segways into the next battery development of a production ready Nickel Bromide Gel battery. Nickel Bromide solution batteries have been available for years (Redarc) but involve pumps/valves etc. which offset their advantages of cheap materials and excellent high cycle use. The innovation is to turn the solution into a gel which overcomes the disadvantages. Apparently it does not require any special cooling and no risk of fire (the gel is a fire suppressant). It does not have the density of Lithium batteries but can easily replace lead acid on a production line with similar outputs at half the weight. It can support multiple 100% energy cycles so is an excellent domestic and large storage option at prices of around A$100 per kwh. Totally recyclable as well.

Ah I see, you mean the centre caps. That makes more sense, I thought you were referring to your bolt caps. 😁 But at least they were modifiable and you got them sorted. @DieselMonte That's the way! I had the same problem on my Fabia on the passenger's side front wheel too. The cap was there when I got the car but disappeared the first time I drove it. I found a spare cap in my tool box at home last week so that went on.

Ha! I do the same, except for the passengers wheel. For some reason the wheel nut caps on mine werent on right and one came off not long after I got the car. So since its missing a normal bolt cap I have it at the top. Always bugs me when I get new tyres on and the centrecap gets misaligned! Oh and the centre caps are 57mm iirc

The contents of an Oil & Inspection and Extended Scope are set out fairly clearly on Skoda's website and don't include much. Why would you assume that they include items like spark plugs that Skoda itemise and price seperately? I think the lesson here is to read the small print properly when you buy things, rather than make assumptions. They shouldn't have changed the plugs and then charged you without your prior authorisation to do the work but that's an entirely separate issue to whether they're included in a plan that said it covered Oil & Inspection / Extended Scope.

All units from skoda can go to 1806

I'm not known as a person who shows much empathy, but I do feel your pain. I would be incandescent !!

Whether you should avoid a DSG or not depends upon the weight you give to the comments of those who have have problems. Some 7 speed DSG gearboxes have indeed given trouble. However, there are literally millions of them out there working perfectly... and bringing delightful driving experiences to their owners. My 2015 1.2 TSi, which has now covered about 45,000 miles in its six and a half years, is running beautifully, and I wouldn't go back to a manual at any price. But I did have a problem with it in its first year, when gear changes were sometimes accompanied by a chirrupy noise; this was remedied by replacement of the clutch pack under warranty, since which it has given perfect service. The only way you will get one of the wet clutch versions (which have fewer reported issues) is to go diesel, but in my view that opens a far bigger can of worms, as the diesels have their own set of issues not related to the transmission. I have no data to back this up, but I get the impression that I see far more issues with problems relating to diesel emission systems than I do to dry clutch DSGs. There is a very vocal anti-DSG lobby; but you must remember that people who are happy with their DSGs (who are the overwhelming majority of those who own them), never write in to complain, whereas nearly everybody with a problem does write in.

The problem was combination of various flaws of the whole system. I did this test before cleaning the slip rings and it seemed like it didn't work. I cleaned the slip rings later but I tested without those parallel cables. 😞 The problem has eluded me this way. I remember 6 was written on the cable reel in the hardware store but not sure if it was mm². It's the same as factory cable or thicker but absolutely not thinner. I'll check the exact value. Thanks! This means a lot for me. Thanks! The bearings were in a really bad condition. Finding that before anything worse happens was good too. Also, I've been told that, aftermarket alternators for Favorit/Felicia were too unreliable. When renovated, original Škoda alternators are wiser choice.

@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

It was a fascinating series. He certainly seemed to make some of it up as he went along, fashioning it to his will. His Dowsett is up for sale at the NEC Classic car show next month I read somewhere.

A reduction in unsprung weight is always beneficial to handling and acceleration. I too use Audi pepperpot alloys, paid £100 for all four about eight years ago, sold a pair of the oversized tyres they came with for £40 as well, I have a 15" steel spare which came with the car but I'd be happy to use steel wheels if I didn't have the pepperpots, they each feel about 5kg lighter than the 16" VRS alloys which are very heavy indeed.

Yeah no worries. I've just read your post in the other section about number plates. Would you not be best just going to your local factors?

Welcome to the forums! Here is your best bet to get some decent answers in relation to buying a Skoda.

I missed the final programmes of the build and went to look online. Shame it had to go, looks lovely.

Tbh I would remove the screws at the rear only the front liners and pull put the leaf build up. I’d then flush it through from the top with some water check it flows then put the archliner screws back. Even if it’s not that it’s a good place to start and good general maintenance.

Thanks for trying though Wino. I bet its something stupid and I will perservere. If/when I find it I will post.

99 times out of 100 it's the return pipes that swell a little and this usually causes this oil mist, , they generally look ok but because of the braid they leak under this and some times need to be replaced

Hello everyone. Thank you for allowing me to join you in here. Purchased my first Skoda yesterday. A 2014 (64 plate) Skoda Octavia VRS Estate in Grey. Drove it 120 miles home from the dealer and loved every minute of it. Yeah I bought it blind. A risk I know but sometimes you have to take the chance. I’m Based in the North West in Warrington, more precisely Culcheth. Hope to catch up with some who are local at some point int he future Darren

I think you may be able to find torque info on here. You can get workshop manuals for a small fee via erWin Skoda but someone will hopefully be along shortly to offer you a free pathway to the same info.

The 1 means 1x inspection and oil change and 1 x inspection with extended scope

Wino's point is that the left tail light and left sidelight use the same fuse, so if the tail light works, it's not the fuse. Here's my fusebox from under the dash, it may not be the same as yours....

If it was done on insurance then its what happens, premiums after all are more expensive in city postcode areas.

Someone has been making hay on the insurance companies dollar, with a ramp/vehicle lift and transmission jack I could do the job in a few hours, I recently did 4 wheel alignment on mine involving realigning both front and rear subframes lying on the floor using a pair of laser spirit levels & a piece of card and it took less than an hour, very hard to get the rear subframe bolts loose from that position but with a 2 post lift it would have been easy. I bet the scrotes got more fuel on their tracky bottoms and the road than they did into their tank.

Thermostat fitted backwards? Aftermarket thermostat lacking the circulation hole? Heater would work with a blocked radiator, rather too well in fact, what you are describing points to thermostat but you really need a genuine temperature sender to have faith in the readings, if the whole system were at 130°c I would expect to see the pressure cap blowing off steam.

@Wino already gave you the correct answer, you can just snip the dead wire at the ECU end and the sensor end and run a new length of wire between them using crimp connectors or better yet, solder and heatshrink. Half an hours work and a few pennies then just zip tie that new wire tidily and it's fixed.

Hi, it all depends on what version your head unit is. Unfortunately you just won't be able to sit there and try everything out. Some people have been lucky while others worldwide have not. I can only speak about my vrs but hopefully your car will be ok. Its so hard with software on anything but i just don't think they tested it enough before releasing. All i said to skoda uk was you wouldn't buy a kettle that didn't boil water so why should i put up with software that doesn't do what it is stated to do. Good luck fingers crossed for you.

The rain isn't to ease off for a few days so I said "stuff it" and went out with an umbrella and the caps. Before: After: Unfortunately they don't fit over the locking wheel nut but I'll make allowances since it looks better overall. Now anyway, I'll go back to listening to a wee bit of Runrig whilst I dry off!

Steve Sutcliffe review on latest Porsche Macan GTS review.

A very interesting article for me but the graphics were absolutely crap, I could not see beside the text the skeleton representations of the two runners it was either behind the text or jumping around between random images, a picture is worth a thousand words and those words desperately needed the pictures. The shame is that the pictures and animations were so well done and could have really been helpfull, I guess whoever proof read it must have known the subject perfectly. A real shame, if you have any other articles to better explain running gait please post them.

Nah, just replace the default gauge set with the Maxidot earlier discussed. Having my phone connected to the OBD port, whilst practical, I don't really want to have my phone on the car at all times. Mounting a gauge to show me the coolant level is also a bit annoying, because it might affect its resale value (if I decide to sell it) and it feels like an unnecessary job. Replacing the gauge sets from this: to this: feels a bit more elegant and it might be easier to do. One such set is about 50 euros around here, maybe I'll get to 100 euros with the work a specialist might do to change the odometer to the correct value.

@nta16 In the General Automotive Chat section there are pinned threads on preparing for winter. Or maybe for a General Thread warning on battery conditions across Skoda models the 'General Maintenance' section would be a good place for a thread if there is not already one sitting waiting to be revived.

This will be either a USB mode setting on the phone or it will be a power saving issue on the phone itself stopping the usb port from working.

Technique is all important and having run for years it is really easy to develop bad habits especially as you get tired. This feature on the ABC Australian Broadcast Company is fairly simple but informative. I'm going to try to implement it but I really should do some interval training (which I do not enjoy one bit because it hurts sooo much) Why almost everything you thought about running is wrong - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) And for a bit of inspiration about a relative running late starter: Olympic marathon runner Sinead Diver's 'unique' story: From running for fitness to Tokyo Games - ABC News

Thanks to both of you. Update works perfectly.

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.

No, but there's A for Audi in Glasgow and Bedrock VW in Motherwell.

I went to the local 'unveiling' last night and was happy to say it looked just as good in the flesh as in the videos/photos. The EV 'Guru' seemed to spend a long time focussing on why EV car buyers shouldn't have range anxiety. He mentioned there was 8380 petrol stations in the UK and approximately double that number of EV charging locations. Maybe he forgot that petrol stations usually have more pumps that charging stations have chargers? He also said that Tesla was opening up their network to Kia but I seem to recall it was going to be opening to everyone? Is that right? The ability for the car to charge other cars or use external 240v devices came up - maybe nice to have but how many times will that get used? Anyway that aside, the car does look impressive - especially in the matt grey/silver metallic colour of this pre-release version. The rear seats made my knees raise up more than normal due to the batteries but not overly concerned as I don't normally sit there...... One other techy thing I noted was that, when the car had stopped and people were about to exit, the blind spot monitor will disable the door handles if traffic is approaching - not heard of the feature before. Nearly forgot to mention - food & drinks were available plus a ‘£350 sign on the day' discount. I think I'd rather wait until the demo car arrives! The photos complete with smoke machine dramatics. 👍

Wow a lot going on but like you said very similar. You are mentioning things and I am thinking ah yes ive had that too! With regards to the fan, mine still does this and I always assumed that it was to do with keeping the battery cool, I may be wrong though. Since the replacement module/part from a new donor vehicle, touch wood I have not had any 12v battery issues that I am aware of. I am keeping a close eye on it still however. Im interested in what you say about the hv battery charging so would love to hear when you get an update. Maybe the fan is not supposed to come on so be keen to hear what the garage say to you. I have noticed that full charging now will not display more than about 23 miles of electric regardless of weather etc. To be fair it seems to be a more accurate mileage prediction than when it would on a rare occasion say 30 to 40 odd miles and get nowhere near it.

That's the thing with cars though - what may be silly to one person is important to another. Hopefully others can come to assist the OP. 👍

i am really sorry to hear about your father passing away Edwards 😔 i hope you can get through the grief stages. brisky is nice in the some what anonymity if you need to offload anything you just want to lash out into the ether. on the shifter, yup, the plan is replace it as sram dont do parts for it going by a google search and long term if the derailleur starts acting the gowl the whole setup will be upgraded to a shimano set up. When i get the new one on, ll strip the old one and post up photos of the internals so anyone else who has the same problem will know whats broked and that changing is the easiest option.

Yes, click on the link. It's an Android 10.and above thing which will auto remove permissions to camera, GPS etc if the phone feels that the app does not use them. It's a security thing. Let me know if you get past my total though!!!! ROFL.

They drift against the side flange to rotate the plug. I think you meant a 6mm diameter rod but the witness marks in the 30mm plug indicate the use of both a 10mm and 20mm diameter drift. Perforated ones are a sod but the 30mm one should have come out with the right technique, with perforated ones its better to pierce a hole in the weak part to get a cranked lever through to lever outwards against the stronger part.

All of it, I made it all up as usual, all fantasy, I simply regurgitate what the main dealer tells me, I trust them implicitly as I would not know one end of a screwdriver from the other.

its the altenator pulley that causes that rumble, cost me around 30 quid for pulley and spline tool

Those codgers that were 'Advanced Drivers' & might think they still are and still display the IAM badges really need to consider if their observation is as good as it might have once been. Many are having a joke still putting them on cars. Muscle memory of using eyes / mirrors and seeing before indication is a good thing IMO. Too many think i need not indicated as there is nobody there to see them, well they are often very wrong because someone on a pavement or on the road further on is waiting to see what they might well do. The first you might know is because a DRL goes out, or a cornering fog or headlight goes on. Lane Departure / Warning systems is sometimes all that stops someone going into another vehicle in their blind spot. When drivers are going to be retested because it is 4 decades since they were last tested or how ever long it is decided best retest those that were Advance Drivers First. Maybe that will save time if they can be told after 20 minutes, all very good there sir /madam no need to go on longer you are an excellent and safe driver. Using brakes to slow not gears and not indicating because there is nobody there to see you. 'Lets get your eyes tested and do the theory test, see how you are with signs and the highway code and do the the hazard perception test. http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/371777-how-many-advanced-drivers

Audi porn.

Also, if there's no proof then assume it hasn't be done

I've been reviewing pics from our trip to the Western USA in 2019, this afternoon. I could do with getting out of the car into the desert blast furnace heat again, sometime soon.

I was taken with the colours in this ripening chilli pepper

The left one lets you turn on/off assistance systems (e.g. lane assist, blind spot, etc), and the right one turns adaptive cruise control and lane assist at once, so it is useful if you are on the highway and you want to turn everything at once or if you are in a slow moving traffic (traffic jam assist). The right one is way more useful than the other buttons around it