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I've done 500 on a full tank in my car - I went from my home to Lake Windermere and back, 250 miles each way. Trip was at 510 when I got back home. Gauge was reporting 20 miles remaining. I really wish I'd taken a photo of the screen at the end - but that's what, around 46 MPG?

Anyway, dropped the Octy off for some work on the brakes, mechanic says, is the locking wheel nut adapter in the boot, yes I said, we go in the boot to make sure, it's not in its usual place, we take everything out of the spare wheel well, check under all the tools, not there, we check in the two little storage compartments each side (estate), not there, must be in the glove compartment, not there, centre console, not there, little compartment by the steering wheel, not there, what am I going to do, little bit of sweat breaking out on my forehead, just driven hour and a half. AND THEN IT CAME TO ME, I DONT HAVE LOCKNUTS ON THIS CAR. Good job the mechanic saw the funny side, he did a brilliant job.

The mechanic at the garage I use did the same with my mk6 GTi. Without checking the wheelnuts he searched for the locking wheel nut and rang me when he couldn't find it. That's when I realised I probably should have told them I removed them!

So today I got my Haldex serviced by a local independent workshop. I bought the service kit from Auto Fault Finder. This is what the old filter that came out looked like: Pretty manky looking and gummed up. My car has just over 66k miles on the odo, and has had its Haldex “serviced” by Škoda main dealers twice - the last time just after I bought the car in September last year. The reason I use inverted commas around the word serviced is because of Škoda’s corporate attitude towards this task. Despite showing the Service Manager pictures of where it was located and emailing a video link to a clip of how to do it, he resolutely maintained that there wasn’t a filter fitted to my vehicle. So, the recommended service interval for this item is 30k miles. I’ll give it to the independent to do it from now on. I wonder how many people - following their main dealer’s advice in good faith - have had Haldex failures as a result of this corporate policy? Anyway, if you have a Haldex fitted to your car, you should probably be aware of this… Cheers, Mike 😎

If you bought the car expecting 18" wheels then that's what should be on it. Go back to the dealer.

It's better than forgetting where the locking wheel nut is for your Fabia, emptying the car out across the driveway, to find it in the 'emergency' bag beside a spare coil pack and wheel nut cover puller that you had set aside earlier thinking the locking nut adapter isn't in said bag.

Welcome to the seniors club. 🤣🤣🤣

So I was on with my Dealer today talking about getting my deposit back as i've now got 6 weeks to get another car before I go away on holiday in it to France. I ordered it in July 21 so 1 year wait. I asked him to check the status again and to his surprise and mine its changed to status 30 in transit from and now has a VIN and says its complete stage 8. Ive tried putting the VIN in the Skoda app but it doesn't seem to be picking it up yet. Dealer said it will change to status 38 when it's at Port of Emden then 40 when its at Grimsby. So fingers crossed it might just make it in time for my trip. Hope all of you that have been waiting for so long also get some better news soon.

I got annoyed with the lack of available filters for my newly acquired pickup. The previous owner hadn't found one either - the thing is full of dust. So... I've designed a grid that should fit on most 3D printers, and if anyone wants, I'll put the file on Thingiverse. Just print two and they fit together. (Same username as here) It fits in the "correct" place, and is to support any filter-material, and has little spikes to stop it from shifting. I'm going to experiment with making a pleated filter from a large synthetic vacuum-cleaner bag, but for now it has a cleanable fleece-style filter from a cooling fan in it to stop the tiny flies. I might make a second part to "clamp" the filter down. I'll test it first. The current design would need supports... I'll fix that.

I think non-freedom members can edit, but only for a limited window of time after their post was made; 30 mins or an hour or similar. Tons of other benefits to freedom membership though that make it very worthwhile.

Looks like 17" Tritons. OE on my 1.4tsi SE estate 2018. Like https://www.cars-equipment.com/en/shop/alloy-wheels/3v0071497-8z8-alloy-wheel-triton-17/#gallery-94252

Hope they took the pump out and cleaned the filter as well

Thanks everyone for your help 2 presses on the fob did the trick.

Received a call today informing provisional build week 34. At least some hope is restored

it looks like mine may be on the same ship has your.told on monday it was on it way and should get it some time in july.i hope you get your before your trip fingers crossed

Next the bottom of the tank - the plastic end of the fuel return - which looks nothing like the parts diagrams I have - snapped off as soon as it was touched so that went in the bin. Next job was to cut the bottom and get to that old gauze filter to remove it.

my turn, finally... driving home after tonights trail run... Donkey 2 turned 200k (km) btw, its a number plate bulb

L&K 190PS 4x4…

However that's terrible compared to a diesel, which for a long run on diesel will get 65MPG+ without doing much more than keeping it at or below 70 and looking ahead. I do agree that batteries are useful, but then if long journeys are rare, why not look at a short/long range EV for 99% of the journeys and renting an ICE vehicle for longer distance. The whole concept comes back to the same problem you currently have with all cars, which is too much weight. When on ICE you're carrying around an unused battery, if you're topping the battery up MPG tanks and if you're on battery you're carrying around a load of unused ICE and gearbox/transmission etc. The end story is poor MPG or poor range for a given amount of fuel/charge. If you look at it all, then you can find that people moving from great big heavy SUV with the aero/drag profiles approaching that of a brick to a normal car like an octy estate would make more difference than driving a hybrid SUV. Similarly people driving large cars who never need them would be better in a polo estate etc. Cars have got bigger and heavier and people have not looked at weight saving. It's huge alloys, big heavy brake calipers rather than lighter weight multi-piston designs, steel everywhere when plastic panels were used in the 80's and 90s (Citroen, Renault) and aluminium. The key issue should be weight and drag reduction to create more efficient cars, not greenwashing, by strapping a battery plus a glorified washing machine motor in an SUV then calling it self-charging hybrid technology (ICE powered you mean?). On an electric thread, it was suggested a mass based system of road tax would be a good replacement for the lost fuel duty, and I can see it would apply and help here too. I also posted this, which is food for thought... https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/opinion/354505/scrap-your-hybrid-diesel-campaign-might-just-happen I could be wrong, but I think the BIK advantage for hybrids is gone (or about to be). At which point a hybrid doesn't make sense as a company car driver any more vs an all electric ZEV.

Make & Model: 2019 VRS estate - TDI, DSG, 4x4 Colour: Metalic Red Mileage:32000 Price: £22.5k Description: 2019 - VRS estate - TDi, DSG, 4x4 - massive spec Condition: Immacuaklte Service History/Receipts/Recent Service work: Full Skoda service history - 3 services and last one in Dec 2021 @ 30,500 Extras: Pano sunroof - Columbus sat/nav - Canton speaker upgrade, Virtual cockpit, Heated rear seats, Rear USB's, Adjustable damper upgrade factory fitted, Spare wheel, towbar factory fitted, heated steering wheel. Included 2 year/100k extended warranty that I bought when new, need to check this is transferable. plus all usual Vrs kit. Shipping: Collection, Bristol Pictures: I will upload photo if required. Car is immaculate and no bumps or scratches. has many layers of polish. Never been through a car wash and hand washed only. New Goodyeasr Eagle F1's all round at around 24k. Selling due to ordering a 300d touring. Have been offered £21.5k from servicing dealer and guess this would go up for £25 to £26k with this amount of extras. Car is finance free and owned by me since first registered - 1 owner.

^^^ Primacy 4 are spawn of the devil and all about getting range / mpg / so ECO that are OEM on EV's and other vehicles through lack of grip / friction so traction. Ditch Finders from Michelin.

Totally agree, it used to be pleasure to watch, last weekend I watched the support races more than the main BTCC rounds, love the Mini's and the Ginnetta juniors some real quality racing

I used to have a 2014 TDI VRS DSG Estste, but had to sell it due to a divorce etc at the time, I’ve just done a deal on a 69 plate TDI DSG VRS 4x4 estste, and it feels great to be having a Skoda agsin really missed mine, pick it up in a couple of weeks once it’s had a few jobs done on it! Anyway, it has a tow bar, I won’t need that but I’m curious to know if this is one of the tow bars that can have the actual tow hitch unclipped then it will look clean at that back, then at least in the unlikely event I ever had to tow anything then I can just clip it back in and away I go!!! Thanks in advance

Seeing a lot of double race winners this season. The racing is just so much more predictable with no ballast, and no tyre compound options. Really hard to say this but BTCC is getting boring. Get rid of the hybrid junk Mr Gow. It's ruining your product. Need the scrutineers to find out just how the Dynamics Honda was so much faster than everything else too... The rest of the season will be exceedingly dull if Flash is able to hold on to that performance advantage.

These are on my 2016 SEL Executive.

How green (or 'un-green') is manufacturing a PHEV vs. pure ICE? How green is manufacturing a battery + electricity vs. manufacturing fuel tank + petrol over xxx miles? etc. etc. Call me a cynic but I don't believe anyone has yet done a proper comparative measure, all I have found come from sources with a vested interest one way or another. And by Green, I mean in terms of overall environmental impact; an EV (or PHEV in EV mode) will undoubtedly be better for air quality, especially in busy/congested towns and cities but that is only part of the story.

Sorry I don't think that you're going to sell EVs to us for a long time yet. The super convenient nature of a liquid fuel supply and the fast fill up and go nature of it, is what matters to me and the slow nature of charging points even in "Rapid" or "Ultra Rapid" modes taking upto 18 or 20 minutes isn't acceptable when I'm doing the long journeys, that's 18-20' dead time, whereas the liquid fuel just is so much more convenient (albeit with a significant cost disadvantage). Like I've said give me a performance EV car, with similar prices and specs that can be charged to 100% in 5 mins and they may have themselves a lot of sales.

Don't trust the gauge if it's the non maxidot one, useless. When I drove over to England a few weeks ago I got from my house to where I was staying and then some before the gauge came off the top bar, 270 miles. I was driving careful, but not that much. And just this week it took a notion of dropping like a stone with barely any driving. Might just be My car ofcourse but it is pretty useless as an indication of how much fuel you have left.

Russian army conscripts??

Not the best made fastener I've ever seen! There's a seller on ebay with username vagbolts who does a lot of common ones, new genuine, for reasonable money and dispatches rapidly. I avoid buying from the Berlin based websites because it's always going to be more grief if stuff needs to be returned.

Many people mislay or can't find where they've stored the spare key/remote so an easy way round this is to rotate, in whatever way or time suits, the use of both keys/remotes, that way you should always know where the second key/remote is and that it recently or fairly recently worked. It also evens out the wear and battery changes on the keys/remotes so you should be more aware of when battery changes are needed and don't get caught out with a worn battery in the second key/remote when needed.

@Breezy_Pete I can many thanks (that's a resource I will utilise in future) Job now completed, I was too reluctant to apply the correct amount of force 😕

A few 'new to me' gravel trails found..... Who doesn't like a large field of Sunflowers.....

Ah okay, just wanted to be sure. Thank you

Skoda won't invalidate the whole vehicles warranty because the camera is fitted. They'd only invalidate parts which have failed and can be attributed to the camera - which is none, as nothing else is touched. The camera is a completely independent electrical system that connections to the intended connection points. It connects to a dedicated point on the canbus gateway & a dedicated position in the fusebox

Did the early Columbus not have an internal HDD that you could upload to? I'm sure the manual described it a "Jukebox". I'm pretty sure my 16 plate did.

Agree - amazing what you can see and how it clarifies your understanding of how the whole thing works (or was supposed to!)

Is the outside temperature indication working?

Thanks nicknorman. I've just spoken to an independent, IVC in Leeds. They confirm it's a chain. Main dealer's lack of knowledge is worrying, I'll avoid them in the future. DSG oil has been changed recently but thanks for the info.

There is probably a bit of stiction on the float lever and also the hysteresis of the potentiometer and the damping of the fuel guage but as I said it is pointless relying on either the guage or miles remaining indicator beneath 3/8 of a tank of fuel.

Yes the £6 FREEDOM LIte gives editing, unlimited as far as I can tell. ETA: this is added 22 hours after post.

Thanks BillyParker. I have had an offer to format my SD and copy some music so I can determine if it is a duff card. Once that check is eliminated I will hopefully know where I stand. It seems most people use MP3 but my understanding is it is a relatively low fidelity format. If the file have to be MP3 so be it but would prefer a higher quality. Cheers

2 weeks of trail running as much as possible... ive been sticking to the tickincor area, nice long climbs and fire break/ deer path cuts in the trees. and trying out a few different routes. i really dont know why, but i find it so much easier to keep pushing myself to keep a pace whole on these harsher, rougher steeper trails than when i was running on the flat around the town. its just better, even when im completely shagged at the end after 8 or 9k half of which is uphill, it feels better than the shagged i was after 10k on the flat. antway, some routes and times.. tonights trot.. that local legend was after my second run up a new bit of hill. monday - same route other than one bit i did differently down into the trees, tomights was a tad longer because of it. its a tough route, but i think the whale shape route is a bit tougher as theres a really dirty climb in that for the last 2km back to the start.

Hardtail bars I ended up at about 760mm, the Orbea I've left standard, 780 ish? If your grips are lock ons and have push in end caps, experiment by slowly moving everything inwards to find best position. Otherwise adjust hand position and move clamps to suit. Modern MTBs are now slack geo-wise so now need weight over the front so are more of a hunched riding position and I think the majority will have short stems. The only way is trial and error = buying stems or possibly 'borrowing' a mates? Pump on the Felt in France I run similar to above but mounted behind the bottle carrier with longer screws. The Orbea has room only for bottle so I carry a mini pump in an EVOC 3l hip pack and now use the EVOC on the Whyte HT as well, saves on remembering what's where.

Thanks! When I spoke to the dealership yesterday they said they sent the request over on Monday and should here back within 48 hours. So we'll see!

From owners manual… Select S mode deactivate ASR keep brake pedal depressed fully press accelerator release brake pedal

Follow up for my keys, Tuts out, two of the three keys were for a completely different car so I now have two new silver keys under warranty, all coded and kessy working. Pleased with that as it would have cost a lot to sort it myself!

I will try again to drag this back on topic, if J.R. and skomaz will allow it 😀 All the while I have owned this Caddy, the B-pillars have been an increasing eyesore. The rust had been evident under the paint, and more recently it had broken the surface. With it being located so prominently, I was reminded of its looming presence every time I reached for the door handle. Finally getting it sorted had risen to the top of my to do list, and Nick at S&P Autos had a slot to do it. Before it went in, it had got to this state: On the nearside, it was worse because I had also scraped the rear wheelarch. Nick was kind enough to take a load of photos throughout the work. There are still a few bits of the bodywork which need attention, but slowly I am working my way round.

Before I took the Caddy off the road, it had been suffering from increasingly erratic reliability. It had begun mis-firing and cutting-out, and had me convinced it was a fuel issue. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had installed a fuel cut-out circuit, but for reasons of expediency I had connected this to the high current side of the fuel pump relay. This was a mistake, and the relay I had used to implement the cut-out had not been up to the job, so it had failed a while back. This relay had been replaced, and it appeared to have sorted the issue, but the same symptoms had re-emerged afterwards. I re-configured the cut-out circuit to switch the low current (coil) side, and hoped this might solve the problem. When I drove the Caddy off to JKM for its MOT, a journey of about 20 miles, I got about halfway before it started playing-up. On a couple of occasions I thought it was stopping on me, and my son, who was following me, said it produced some sizeable blue flames through the exhaust, but it kept going to get to Portsmouth. The MOT test was passed, which was obviously welcome news, but I left the Caddy with JKM waiting for them to have an available slot to test run it on the dyno. While I was waiting, I decided it made sense to replace the fuel pump with an uprated one, whether or not it was found to be the cause of the problem. The pump that was fitted had been swapped-over from the Felicia when the 1.8T transplant was done, and for all I know was a standard Felicia 1.3 or 1.6 part. Jim at JKM decided, probably wisely, to try to replicate the fault on the dyno before the pump was replaced. Sure enough when it was run up the fuel pressure was all over the place. A Deatschwerks 265lph in-tank pump was duly fitted into the Caddy. The spark plugs were also replaced as they were overdue. The subsequent dyno run showed the Caddy now making 200bhp (well 199.6, strictly speaking), up from the previous 180bhp. Happy days. One frustrating aspect related to the increased power is the fuel that the Caddy was running on at the time. I seek out Shell V-Power whenever I can for all of my cars. If I cannot get V-Power then I will go for BP Ultimate 97 octane. The Caddy had not been anywhere for months before I drove it to Portsmouth for its MOT, and the fuel gauge has not always been 100% dependable, so when it first started playing-up going to JKM I thought there was a chance it may be running low on fuel. I did not dare risk striking-out for the BP station five miles or so further down the road, so I stopped at the closest service station, and put £30 of normal unleaded in. The first time the Caddy has ever had anything but super unleaded in it, and that was when it goes on the dyno! There was a slight mis-fire showing-up at high revs on the dyno, so new coil packs were recommended. Luckily enough, I had some replacements in the shed, so no additional expense was incurred in putting that right. The difference between 180bhp and 200bhp really does not seem like it should be noticeable on the road, but the Caddy feels distinctly quicker than it did previously. I still need to get the suspension geometry done, as it is currently as I set it 'by eye' during the suspension rebuild, but I have been busily reacquainting myself with how much fun it is on the road.

Not exactly inspiring confidence is it?