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Thanks so much for the useful tips, every body - very much appreciated, and reassuring. I went to test drive it today with a friend who has a lot of experience driving different company cars. I bought it! It drives incredibly smooth, and is a bit of a spaceship compared to my old car. Everything seems high quality, and everything I could test work fine. All four tyres look pretty new. I questioned the cambelt and they gave me money off to have it changed at my local garage (£350, which might be less than my garage will charge, but unfortunately they wouldnt budge; if it came to any more, they said I'd be welcome to return to them and have it done there. As it would entail another 4 hour round trip though, I don't think I'll bother!) They are also shipping a replacement key hole cover to me from the driver's door handle, as it was missing. For those thinking that I've jumped in, I've actually been looking for a replacement car for months now, but nothing was showing up in my budget and vicinity, which matched the models in my list (based on boot size, leg room, euro ncap safety rating, service history, mileage.) In truth I -was- getting a bit desperate, as the air con in my old car had completely broken and required a new motor box, which wouldn't have been economical to replace at a quoted £1000. And I didn't want to risk long drives to visit family in the old car, as I didn't trust it would get us there! But yes, luckily the new Skoda has ticked all the boxes, and the 2 hour drive back in it cemented how nice it is to drive. Fingers crossed for some good years of motoring ahead in it.

I just did the update to 1941 from 1896 hopeful to fix the random reboots that somehow came back. The process from start to finish took 15min. I did notice that i was able to install an update which didn't install because backend services were not started, also the shop seems to have lost it's purpose because of that. Stuff I didn't care about. I bought all packages starting this year but didn't do anything with them, I was somehow hopeful that it would fix all the issues I had earlier. (update services OTA but 1896 is pretty old i think). I'll report back with the result about the restarts, I really hope and believe at least they are gone, *fingers crossed*

Also remember since the mk3 Octavia was built, tyre manufacturers have generally introduced new summer tyres with formulations that are more summer biased so as not to overlap with their new all season (all year) tyres. So unless you change to winter tyres November-April, go for all seasons as you will find latest summer tyres tend to have grip that falls off rapidly below +10c in wet (and we get cold rain in UK), are often skittish by +5c, and completely useless and will leave you stranded on rare days of snow. Modern summer tyres are often also poor on damp salted roads at low temperatures. Many tyre websites now allow you to choose season, so just filter on all season.

A wise check on a mk1 Fabia is to see if the battery symbol illuminates when you switch the ignition on and various warning lights self-test. It should come on and stay on until you start the engine. A very common wire breakage results in it not doing this, and charging problems that may not be obvious. I would expect your alternator to be 90 Amp rated, maximum; but that will replenish the energy used in starting the engine very rapidly. A full charge from empty will obviously take longer through idling or driving, but as long as you don't leave the car unused for lots of time all should return to normal without external chargers, as long as no wires are broken, or a parasitic drain is causing energy loss.

Hey, it's really disheartening to read dismissive, snotty posts. Change your tone or don't contribute further here, please.

This one? https://www.carcalendar.co.uk/events/jap-vs-german/

Ask varooom very nicely. But there's always the caveat that you do it at your own risk. If in the unlikely event it goes wrong then you could end up with a bricked system and large repair bill. I can do it, but my car is 4 months old and under warranty, so I'll get the dealer to do it FOC, If it goes wrong then they will have to replace it at their own cost.

90°C I would have thought. Easiest way to know would be to take it for a run on a regular day (i.e. not today!) and see where it settles.

When you do up a bolt, most of the turning force is overcoming friction, rather than directly tensioning the fastener. Angle tightening, on the other hand, gives a known amount of extra extension (and so tension) almost irrespective of how much friction there is. So a combination of a low torque setting and an additional angle gives a much more accurate tension in the fastener than just a bigger torque value.

Sorry for the late post! Just wanted to say thanks everyone for the comments and help. @sepulchraveit was the actuator - my partner replaced it with one bought online, cleared the codes and it is now sorted! So thanks all!

in answer to your question on a 2015/16 there are no access holes i have a video proving this but too large to load on here

I have done it 4 years ago on our roomster, not difficult. The replacement is similar size to jam jar lid, seemed to be a standard unit that fitted multiple small VW group cars from polo to Audi A1, from memory I ordered it from an internet motor factor, was about £8 delivered The hardest part, was I needed a very long handled screwdriver to undo very tight screws at back of glovebox as couldn't get good enough grip with a standard one as handle was bumping edge of glovebox opening.

Ive done it . Take the 1st sensor out, you need a bit of old brake pipe & shape it like a coat hanger, feed it into the turbo main body. Take a WD40 valve and small pipe and fit to a Mr Muscle aerosol, feed it into the pipe and give it 5 sec shot. You will see the foam reach the sensor hole after 5 sec. I did it when hot and left it overnight, Did it for about 10 nights and it made a difference in that after the 4th time you could not see any foam at the base of the sensor hole. Mine started going into limp at 105K it lasted till 119K when it started going into 299 code so had a new turbo then. Worth a try in that it only takes 5 minutes and you dont even need to take the engine cover of. Let us know how you get on.

I think the part number (and full sizing) are cast into the inside of the rim.

Thank you @toot, you made me question myself and the VAQ hasn’t been done 😞 I called the dealer that serviced it last and they didn’t know what I was talking about, neither did the techs that were onsite this morning! It’s already booked in for service and mot on Wednesday, so it’s added to the list for them. Hopefully as it’s low mileage and it doesn’t get much hard driving say all that it’ll be ok, but hey!

thanks so much @varooom Will let you know how i go.

There is no clutch, it's a shear plate. Completely different things.

Also @RM3 - Well FWIW the original battery in my Octy lasted at least 9 years (and possibly 12), and the replacement 9 and counting. This was with no "attention" other than driving the car and one jump start when I left the fog lights on all day, then drove 20 minutes home.

Wouldn't bother with latest summer tyres, unless you swap to winter tyres, they are simply too summer biased nowadays, since all season tyres have become common. You will find wet grip falls off rapidly below about +10c (and we get lots of cold rain in UK), by time temperature has fallen to +5c they are often skittish in wet, and on rare occasions of snow will be useless and leave you stranded. Plenty of all seasons in 225/40 R18 Look at some of the recently launched ones (probably will be available July or August), from Continental, Pirelli, Bridgestone). Tend to hear good things about Vredestein, Goodyear vector Gen3, Falken AS210 too

All seasons are available in 225/35 R19 Vredestein Quattrac Pro XL Then some mid range Maxxis AP3 Imperial all season driver There are also a few from budget brands, (but wouldn't put budget tyres on a performance car), eg Tracmax, Minerva, Berlin, Atlas, Syron, Fortuna, Linglong, Leao, Superia.

I am on 1896. No OTA’s no nothing.

IME the first action here tends to be "check torque of timing cover bolts". I've had this "issue" from 3 different makes, and it was always loose timing cover bolt(s).

Gandalf had its 90k km service today, although there is only just 77k kms on the clock. Spark plugs changed. Cabin filters changed. Brake flush. Brake pads & rotors still good (still on factory originals) All is well except they noticed "Oil leak developing from upper timingcover seals" It doesn't need to b addressed urgently, but something that will need to b done in the near future They say it's normal with this engine, especially given the age. Not cheap to fix though - will cost around the $650 mark!! I am not worried as it's not drip leaking, nor am I losing oil. I haven't spotted it thus far, but I'll keep an eye on it from now on. Quote below for the fix.....

Gandalf had its 90k km service today, although there is only just 77k kms on the clock. Spark plugs changed. Cabin filters changed. Brake flush. Brake pads & rotors still good (still on factory originals) All is well except they noticed "Oil leak developing from upper timingcover seals" It doesn't need to b addressed urgently, but something that will need to b done in the near future They say it's normal with this engine, especially given the age. I am not worried as it's not drip leaking, nor am I losing oil. I haven't spotted it thus far, but I'll keep an eye on it from now on. Quote below for the fix.....

Not a 'done' physically but I have bought discs and pads all round for my 280 from autodoc. ATE coated discs and ATE ceramic pads.

Dealership Sales Executives driving BEV Demonstrators home to a charger or no charger and back to work and plugging them in at work has been the issue for years now. Maybe not Tesla Sales People. but other manufacturers sales staff that do not have the cars for personal / family use / trips. Clueless to charging / charging networks and public charging, and even to the cars equipment and features. This applies to Service Staff as well in many instances. They do not know the products, just as has been the case with ICE vehicles for long enough, they do usually know the difference with a diesel or a petrol but as far as manuals vs auto,s / semi-auto,s not so much.

It sounds like the RAC man is waffling to be honest. A battery is simply a storage device. If it isnt maintained or used you get sulfation on the battery plates, this reduces the surface area and causes the battery to loose its holding capacity. Nothing more, nothing less. An alternator is there to recharge that battery - simply starting the car and leaving it to idle will charge a battery, modern alternators do not just rush a huge amount of current into the battery, they are made to monitor the batteries charge level and supply what is required and not much more (reducing engine load and saving on emissions). Yes you can use a battery charger on a 'deep cycle charge routine' which slowly charges the battery to break down any sulfation, but honestly - ive never had to do that in all my years of working on cars. Generally if the battery is that far gone, it wont last much longer anyway.

💯 @Felix2021 they log a lot of data. It was meant as a joke of course about applying update, as he is already booked in at dealers.

I'm guessing this is only for FL models because I have a PFL Octavia with an MIB2 Amundsen and Skoda Connect services are not an option for purchase, at least from what I can see.

Thanks, the sprirt is appreciated. And thanks for words about evaluating advice. ✌🏻

I've just done the thermostat module and water pump on my EA888 Gen 3 golf R. And if it makes you feel any better, I reckon £1k is pretty fair. It used to be independents were about £800 and dealers £1000 to £1200, but recent part cost hikes and labour creeping up, that sounds about right and independents are probably where dealers were 2 years ago.. A 75k mile, 6.5 years old car, I did the job myself, used INA thermostat module, they are the OEM, plus gaskets, union, throttle body gasket, even after market that is around £400 plus parts. I spent about 2 days on it! it's rated as a 5 or 6 hour job for a professional workshop. But not on the drive. It's not super easy job without lifts to get under car. I couldn't walk that well for a week! Nothing is inherently super complicated but access is tight everywhere and anywhere and getting underneath and back up from under the car, on the drive, is really wearing. Without the intake manifold removed you have limited view for repositioning everything as well, especially the module positioning lugs and the oil cooler union that has to be lined up and kept in position while bolting the module up to the block!!

An update . . the CrossClimates are certainly a far better ride than the OEM Bridgestones they’ve replaced. Significant Other’s not been making as many comments in the past few days so from that perspective, a result 👍

I had problems when I first got my Karoq. I found I was inadvertently touching the front of the handle (the locking bit) when I was putting my fingers on it to unlock it. tom

I finally received my VRS hybrid on Friday 16th June. Amazing car and really happy with it. Ordered in Septermber 2021 with various build dates getting knocked back. Was given a build date of August 23 before it moved forward to actually getting built in May 23. Things are moving, I'm glad I waited as got a fantastic car for a great price in today's economy.

MOT History seems mostly tyre related, with a previous advisory on brake pads. Have you spotted the outstanding finance?: Are you going on your tod, or taking anyone with you to look it over? Gaz

5Q0412545D https://www.autodoc.co.uk/borsehung/14513094 Skoda parts catalogue https://www.lllparts.co.uk/catalogs/skoda/CZ/SUP/851/4/411/411000

+1 Are those 17" Stratos Alloys? Echo what those above have said. I'm of the opinion if a car looks to have been well looked after then it probably has. You have additional legal rights buying from a business but make sure there's a good 12mth warranty with the car - you may be able to negotiate something into the deal. Defo check the service history. A full Skoda service history can mean anything. Don't let it put you off if there's only 3 Skoda dealer visits as the car may have been on a variable servicing program. Checking the Gov MOT website, the car has passed every MOT first time which again points to a car that's been cared for. There were advisories on all the tyres in 2021. Only 1 different tyre advisory at next MOT which suggests all tyres had been replaced with one since suffering slight damage. Last MOT in Feb mentioned the same offside rear being near to legal limit so worth checking this has since been replaced. I'd expect there to be one or two near new tyres on the car. There's nothing I can see that points to there being an issue with this car so why not? 👍 Yes it's worth having the cars history checked but as you're buying from a dealer who says everything is OK, then legally you're covered from any nasty surprise. As I say, if it looks well cared for, it probably is.

I would advise you to bide your time and look around. Drive a couple of Superbs to get a feel for them. The one you're looking at seems to be a decent enough car, but it's no crazy "can't afford to miss!" bargain. unless you're desperate, don't rush.

@AmberberryIndeed it should be itemised. Something like this below. & then if Serviced to Manufacturers Guidelines, Recommendation & Specifications you should be able to by a Warranty from Skoda / VW Group that is valid. PS The Cam Belt & Tensioners might well be OK, but the Warranty or a Warranty you buy from Skoda if you do next year might be a waste of time if the car Was not serviced to the Manufacturers Guidelines or Specification. But this is the discussion being held in other threads. Skoda UK are not a Manufacturer and it is them saying Cam Belts at 5 years but that is not showing for Skoda in other countries from Skoda CZ.

Be worth checking cambelt history as toot says but i would not worry too much about mot still got plenty of life on it ,and half of the time its not worth paper its printed on garages and dealers do each other favours quite alot .

Hello, I already wanted to do the update myself but I called another dealer one more time and described the problems with restarts. He said to come right away and did an update. Everything is working fine so far.

Happy Summer Solstice!

I assume your seats fold down? tap the striker down with a hammer to tighten the fit when the latch clicks over it.

"Heavy Duty" as written on every car battery sold for the last 40 years regardless of its capacity! I would be really surprised if your vehicle is overdamped on bump travel, they usually only change the rebound valving for different spring rates. The sprung mass of your vehicle is the same whether it has standard or so called "Heavy duty" suspension

Not today, but last weekend. So I scratched one of my rear alloy pretty badly two weeks ago. I could not find any color-match paint for the wheel. In the end, I decided to paint all four wheels into silver. Have to say, the silver is not what I thought at the beginning. It is too white-ish to me, not that cold/metalic-ish silver. But the final result is not bad at all.

There is an 18" space saver rim listed in the Skoda parts catalogue for the Octavia MK3. There's usually a large number being sold on ebay with this OEM part number, ie. 1K0601027AP, usually with a 125/70R18 space saver tyre. Always check the tyre size with any seller, because there's other 18" space saver tyres such as 125/60R18 and 135/80R18 that won't be correct for the Octavia MK3. 3.5Jx18 ET25.5 5/112 57.1 space saver steel rim 1K0601027AP (from Octavia MK3) 1 1K0601027AP Steel rim for space-saving emergency wheel 3.5Jx18 ET25.5 1 PR-1G9 1K0601027AP 03C rally black https://www.lllparts.co.uk/catalogs/skoda/CZ/OCT/805/6/601/601012

The Moon is stunning this evening 🌛

Thanks @sepulchrave and ok I see what you are saying! Will look at that!

Thanks for the help! Was one wire dead that goes into fuse box in engine bay