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I had a telephone call today from Tom Moulding who is the Head Technical Co-ordinator at Bridgestone. Nice chap and he has agreed to credit the remaining tread on the tyres which have to be returned to them to be destroyed so they don't reappear in the part worn market. So, I can get any make tyres I like and the credit will come back to me in the form of cash to my bank account. Not sure what tyres to get as I do a very low mileage and live in the sunny south. Having a motorhome as well means holidays / longer distance travelling is very infrequent in the car. I may just replace like for like as I have been very happy with the tyres up until now and it would seem that all new tyres are likely to suffer with cracking due to the newer rubber mixes now being used.

Dead simple for UK cars with MPH speed restrictions is buttons. Like gear selector buttons, or like a F1 Grand Prix car for the pit lane. Instead of all the Sh!te there is on the steering wheels, or touch screens, at the finger tips a 20MPH, 30, mph, 40 MPH button to hit. Or as is coming with the New Tech and already here, GPS / Sat Nav / Speed recognition, an Automatic Max Speed in a 20, 30 or 40 mph even 50 mph when not a NSL road. You have to press the over-ride button if you need to go over the speed limit and each action is logged, just incase you cause an accident while over the posted speed.

You can count me in that group. I recently pulled in to a Blue Badge bay at Sainsbury's, only to have a bloke shaking his head at me. As I got out the car he commented that BB bays were for 'the disabled' (his words). As I got my walking stick out and hobbled off I simply said 'Yep'. He said 'Oh, sorry mate!' and his wife/partner/other gave him a clip around the ear 😁 Anyways, my car of the day has got to be my next door but one neighbour's 2007 Peugeot 307 HDi. Bought eight or so years ago at 132,000 miles, now at 229,000 miles, still on it's original clutch, doesn't miss a beat, lost 5th gear several years back, but doesn't make a song and dance about it. I've just gone to grab a photo of it and he's gone out, so I'll snap it later for posterity as he's planning to change it very soon (I've told him he's mad to and should really be aiming at 300k). Gaz

Mrs Gaz has a 2015 Polo GTI with the DQ200 seven speed dry clutch DSG, and it's been faultless in the five years we've owned it. As @Gerrycan mentions, the oil spec. issues were a long time ago, and our DQ200 would appear to be after that timeframe. Mrs Gaz previously drove manual cars, but since having a DSG now wouldn't go back to a manual. I've driven autos for 42 years and the DQ250 six speed wet clutch DSG's I've had in my previous vRS, and current GTI are as good as any i've owned or driven. In my experience, I don't get any delay when pulling away. Ours are both off like scalded cats. I think it's a case of getting used to the stop-start and auto hold and having the car ready to go - I tend to twitch the steering wheel, which fires the engine back up, when I see a gap coming up. Agree with Gerrycan that you really ought to try both before deciding. If you're not used to a DSG, then you probably should go for an extended test drive to get a bit more familiar with them. Gaz

I think more likely a journalist / editor has a random picture of a car in water.

The main (about the only) disadvantage of DSG is it costs more Its advantages are : extra gear, and is programmed to generally keep engine in sweet spot longer warranty than a clutch if you have ACC it will do more as it can respond fully without having to wait for driver to change gears less stress for driver can be driven by those with B licences (which are becoming common at tests)

Mitsubishi Colt 1995-2003? Rare left hand drive sub-aqua model being tested for refloating on the UK market.

@gregoir as you don't use your car in the average way you could just fully recharge the battery and extend its useful life just by using a a battery charger and maintainer. Plenty around for £25 or less (Lidl usually have them for about £15 this time of year). Jump start is for when things have gone too far whereas charger/maintainer can be for rescue before that or better still prevention. You want to recharge your before you get the start/stop not being available or at least when it first starts to become available then you'll get more years out the expensive EFB (and much more expensive AGM) battery. To recharge the battery just follow the instructions with the charger and in the Owner's Manual of the car. For slow discharge from lack of car use and short journeys, unless you're also use lots of the electrical items in and on the car during these short journeys, best is a slow recharge, so a 3-amp or 4-amp charger and maintainer is best, it will charge the battery from shorter and heavier discharge easily too but just take longer than a 6-amp (or 8 amp) charger and maintainer. My wife's car (2016 Fabia) does lots of very short journeys so I recently put the battery on charge just as a preventative measure as the time before I unexpectedly put the battery charger and maintainer on when for the first (and only time) the start/stop was unavailable from the expensive AGM battery (fitted a couple of years ago). If you can cancel the jump pack and get a battery charger and maintainer as needing to jump start the car doesn't always happen at a convenient time whereas you can do preventative chargers at convenient times. ETA: Using a battery charger and maintainer is a very easy and clean-hands job, it does the work whilst you're inside warm and dry doing anything a lot more interesting than farting about to keep the VW computer programs happy. Photo of my wife's Fabia being charged overnight when it was around freezing (above and below) this January. (Other makes, models suppliers and prices are available) - Ring RSC804 "4a Smart Battery Charger & Maintainer" (up to 90 Ah) (they do a 6 amp version too RSC 806, up to 110 Ah)) - https://www.ringautomotive.com/en/product/RSC804 £23.49 - a bit less from some other places - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334438759247

I have owned a skoda superb mark 2 170crdti for three years and enjoyed the car immensely. Because it had a good service history and low mileage I decided to use RRG Skoda in Bolton to service my car and I took out a two year service plan, which worked well for me, the dealership were very helpful and I was so satisfied that in August this year I signed up for another two year deal. As a pensioner on a fixed income I started to pay monthly and booked an annual service for December. Disaster struck at the end of November whilst driving on the M60 in Manchester when two cars piled into the back of mine and the insurance wrote off my car. As you would expect I got less than the cost of a replacement for my low mileage FSH, almost perfect car. I decided to buy another superb this time getting the 140 powered version, higher mileage but 2 years younger, still a mark2 but a face lift. I contacted my Skoda dealership to tell them about the change in car, cancel the pre booked service and asked them to transfer my service plan to the new car, no dice!! VW financial services who administer the plan refused to transfer the plan and also refused me a refund of my payments to date, they did say I could transfer the plan to the scrapyard the Insurers had sent my car to. So a warning to anyone before they take out such a plan, if anyone steals your car and you don't get it back or you write off your vehicle VWFS will try and steal your payments. After a great deal of fruitless complaining to VWFS I wrote a review on Trustpilot, within a week VWFS contacted me and offered a refund as a goodwill gesture. Anyone in this situation should try this approach, a victory for the little person up against a very large business

To add to this, I'm happy to go and have a look at something if it's nearer me (and you'd be travelling to pick it up).

@vindaloo firstly sorry to hear about that and also to say glad you're OK. Secondly whereabouts are you and what's your ball park figure for a replacement? Perhaps between us we could all have a bit of a search and see what's available. There's a MkI vRS SE available but that's silly money. MkII maybe? Polo/ Golf/ Leon Cupra/ Audi A3? As for the Scala, I'm eyeing one as my next car. Probably the 1.5 TSi six speed 150hp

They are not the camera. that is just the rain and light sensor. a camera is noticeable by a triangle in the top centre of the screen with a solid black border around it, roughly 2 inches in size.

Citroen c3?

Im losing the plot, sorry.

I switch lane assist off, it's only 2 button presses on the steering wheel. Certainly wouldn't make me not buy a particular car.

I can't keep up with European law but I don't think there are any plans to make is compulsory at the moment. Where it has been introduced as a standard since 2022 I believe, is NCAP safety. That's why you find most manufacturers fitting it as standard - they obviously want the full 5 star safety certificate. I admire the likes of Dacia who's new cars only revieve 1 or 2 stars. Is their safety really compromised? Their boss said why go to the expense of installing lane assist when most people just turn it off. He does have a point. I will admit that lane assist makes me a better driver. The highway code says you're supposed to let other road users aware of your intentions prior to making a manouver therefore if you indicate, steering assist is switched off. So I can see why it's there, it's just that I really hate it.

For those who haven’t read the whole thread. You must be on SW version 1788 or later already The full instructions are on page 26 supplied by @TheWanderer Read them first! Don’t just have a go to see if will work as you could brick your system But if you fulfill these criteria it is a 20 minute easy job that will make your car safe and a joy, at last

The other factor in a 20mph limit is driver attention, keeping to 30mph is pretty easy to do whilst looking out at the road but in many vehicles keeping to 20mph requires more checking of the speedo and hence less time looking out at the road. This can result in more accidents, albeit that every one is less serious and maybe some are so minor that they don't get reported? I seem to remember this was reported by the BBC about the 20mph scheme in the northern part of Portsmouth, but can't find any links to it?

I once read that recently tyres are increasingly made with rubber grown domestically in China, as opposed to previous sources of 'Indian' rubber. The snag being that its physical properties aren't as good, allegedly, due to climatic differences. I haven't since found much online to support that, but it sounded like it might have a grain of truth in it. Not that much actual natural rubber is used in car tyres, according to this it's about 15% What are tyres made from (natural rubber) - The British Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (BTMA) (btmauk.com) Odd to think that in 2023 tyres do still grow on(in) trees.

Your lucky then, most have seen increases.

When I renewed my BT broadband contract with landline I had to go "Digital Voice" (new type of hub phone instead of old school phone), no choice no problem for me but it might be for those with personal health alarm systems. I had the BT Smart Hub 2 already (and BT Youview tv box which hasn't been switched on or connected for years). - https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/learn-about-broadband/different-types-of-bt-hub I didn't know what Dect was. - https://www.gigaset.com/en_en/cms/phones/dect.htm The new package included a BT Voice phone and charger base, the phone's shape and size makes it impractical to carry around like I sometimes did with my 25+ year old BT Siemens cordless phones. And I don't think the new phone would stand being dropped on the concrete path and twice left outside overnight in the rain and being left to air dry out (no rice was used) like one of my BT Siemens cordless was. I've heard on consumer programs (BBC Radio 4) for a couple of years now about problems with switch over for people without computers and broadband but landline phones only and personal health alarm systems and certainly the last one I heard a while back BT were still having problems sorting some of the issues but gawd knows what they were playing at and what level of "engineer" they were repeatedly sending out. Having the new hub (?) phone light up did show when the broadband went down, for a matter of seconds by then the hub has to go through its process, it's not very often but I've probably never noticed before getting this phone it happening. Without broadband and mains electric connection you are without the phone unless you have a mobile phone (that's in reception and battery isn't flat) and not everyone has a mobile phone, or, hard for most to believe, wants a mobile phone. To be fair, a neighbour who read it in the Daily Mail told me about this digital switch over a number of years ago, more than two years IIRC(!?). Unless things have changed since I last heard many elderly people may have lots of issues and problems with this switch over.

While not ideal, the lower capacity battery maintainer (charger?) will still keep the battery in better condition than without - it would only affect the length of time it takes to attain a full charge - and possibly any test function your Optimate maintainer has. Re. why your using a smart charger was setting off your wife's Kia - could it have been because the alarm was sensing the hood was open while charging?

@J.R. Some of us that are disabled get sick feed up of those that assume if not in a Invalid Carriage you might not be disabled or have a disabled passenger, or have a Blue badge/ That is not Disabled bays, it is Children in cars type parking. People with children i vehicles might well need the doors wide open to get them in and out child seats and buckled in. .................... This is the Disabled Parking bays. These are not Chelsea Tractors, just an actual tractor and vehicles as you might see in a market town in a rural area.

Welcome to the forums. From my experience the 6sp. manual is absolutely fine and I see no reason to doubt its reliability. My current Octavia Mk IV has covered about 32k miles, so not a huge amount I admit. I see no reason why it should be any less reliable than my previous two Škodas, Octavia Mk2 and Superb Mk2 both of which I covered in excess of 80k miles. BTW, I know the Superb is currently in excess 105k on the original clutch. Again, not massive mileage compared to some, but hopefully gives you a feel for them. I find my Octavia MkIV estate is very economical too, returning about 57mpg overall since I've had it (based on spreadsheet calculations and brim to brim tankfuls). Others have reported (in other threads) good economy from the 1.5 TSi manual too. With the gear ratios and engine (low revs) flexibility I find that around town 30mph limits I'm usually in 4th, occasionally 5th if light on the throttle; 6th only becomes useful above 40mph, and even then 5th is potentially more economical. I can't vouch for the 1.5 TSi automatics though; the only DSG auto I have driven for any distance (~8k miles) was a MkIV estate 1.0 e-TEC mild hybrid. It was surprisingly lively with two and modest luggage on board, returning mid-50s mpg; I suspect it'd be a bit lacking for a fully loaded motorway run though, certainly compared with a vRS. The 1.5 e-TEC would be better I'm sure, and probably what I would go for now/next. There are others here with much more knowledge and experience of the DSGs so hopefully they will add comment too.

Is it me - or do parts of that battery look a little too dirty for a brand new one? E.g.. around the negative post and above the clamp-bar - that clamp bolt doesn't look like it's been moved for a while either.

Sorry to hear about your accident. Glad to hear you're okay - that's always the most important thing. Won't be too easy getting a decent Fabia vRS second hand like @gav_is_con said. Very dependent on budget and again, what you're after. Good (AKA non-chav spec) ones do pop up from time to time, may have to bide your time though.

No, I changed it on December 13th

Henry Ford built a whole plant in South America (Fordlândia) in the early 1900s but it closed in the 1930s as the rubber plantation for the tyres failed and it would have been too costly to get tyres from elsewhere (or something like that).

That doesn't matter if the Recall hasn't been done. Recall 97CU was carried out on my wife's 2015 Fabia a couple of months before the annual service in 2018 so I guess, as I can't remember, that the Dealership or VWSkoda asked my wife to take her car in for the check, I've no idea if they done anything my wife doesn't bother with such details. Consult the Kia's Owner Manual or follow what others have done. Good luck.

This problem returned intermittently until I got the software fully updated, July 2023 under warranty. I believe mine was the original 2020 version, which really was not up to the job. Now fixed.

Do the new tyre sizes moulded into the sidewalls exactly match the fronts? Do you know if your TPMS is direct or indirect type? - To explain, the indirect type operates by calculating the tyre rotational speed through the ABS system, while the direct system reads actual tyre pressures via wireless sensors fitted to the wheels.

(ETA: Warrior193 posted whilst I was still typing so I'd put some of the same but have left it in here.) For the Kia if the bonnet is alarmed and alarm set it'd go off otherwise I've used a smart charge and my 20+ year-old Optimate charger on my neighbour's Kia (with an old small battery) every couple of months or less as the car is almost a garden ornament. Check the Kia's Owner's Manual (it's not against the law to do so as some seem to believe) for battery charging. For your Optimate perhaps it is undersize and/or not left on long enough for your battery or are you sure the power socket you plug it into is permanently live and doesn't switch off with the ignition switched off. "One thing to note about this accessory, is that you will need your 12V socket to be live, even when the vehicle is turned off. So this accessory will not work if your vehicle has ignition shut off." - https://www.ctek.com/uk/news-archive/battery-charging-without-even-needing-to-lift-the-hood Have you checked to see if your car was part of the recall (well those that VW will admit to) to do with battery or battery system? - https://www.skoda-auto.com/services/recall-campaigns Perhaps the warranty replacement battery was a cheap or inappropriate for your vehicle and it's use (or perhaps not on either). Halfords seem high priced on the less expensive batteries and reasonable on the more expensive and better batteries, I'd suggest you get the best appropriate battery you can but be aware Halfolds seem to use their own system for battery numbers (e.g. the three or four digit number) so do cross-reference any battery their database throws up. Another neighbour got a Halfords battery using their database and it had a different hold down to the car and was lower capacity at higher price than the ones from elsewhere.

I've seen that discussed in this forum, especially with the additional delay caused by the engine Stop/Start system. Not something I had really considered (being one of the manual 'box drivers).

Blame Google [tm] Lens[tm] if it ID'd the wrong car. It was an attempt at a humorous response but may have missed the mark 😞

^^^ Did the company really beat Rolls Royce to building EV,s or others that have already build a Rolls Royce EV? Rolls Royce must be going to keep producing ICE vehicles between 2035 & 2040 for export to countries without a ban on Registering new ICE vehicles which there will be plenty of around the world, before they produce only EV,s by 2040. They seem very good at predicting into the future or just had to say something so they said what the article reports they say. ....................... So much water that it De-badged the car! ? What model of car is it that the Insurance Company were failing to have uplifted and a repairer deal with? The settlement figure of £19,000 has since been paid out on it.

I like the meteor grey. It's a cool non colour.

Thoughts and prayers 😆 (I'm also following this with interest as I've had to top up twice with a total of 400ml since January but I've not tried crawling around underneath yet to look).

Loads of resistors on ebay. I bought one from there that lasted the whole ten years I had the car and was still going when I sold it. One thing that does kill them is letting the cabin filter get too clogged up. Take your pick... https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3519243.m570.l1313&_nkw=skoda+fabia+heater+resistor&_sacat=0

Well-done, Lee @TMB 👍

@pab567 Can you help him?

The handbrake only uses the rear brakes so try that and if you here the noise then look at the rear. The inside disk face is normally worse for rust than the outer face. Thanks. AG Falco

Small update on this, I really did an update of the infotainment the day I asked but decided to see how much better it is for some time. And I must admit it really worth to update to 1941! The overall response of touches is very fast and system loads much quicker than before. Also I didn't notice any reboot since the day I applied update. Thanks everyone on this forum for their input 🙌

I can ease your DSG service worries. My 272 went for a 4 year extended scope service (oil change!) today. I ordered the DSG service - £400, and was pleasantly surprised to return for collection to be told that the DSG service is now 80,000 miles so £400 saved. Sunroof should just be the normal lube on the rails. I still can't see simple way to run a very thin cable down to clear the drain hole & pipe. Fingers crossed it stays clear. On the minus side, my All in One warranty doesn't cover replacing the blocked rear screen wash motor. The clue is water spraying out of the rear camera slot in the boot instead of the screen!

I keep reading about these squeaks in the Kamiq but I honestly can’t relate. My MC is literally the quietest, most solidly built car ive ever had. I’ve had 2 x Audi’s (both new) a horrendous BMW (again new) and various other brands over the years but the Kamiq is hands down better than the lot. Maybe mine is the exception 🤷🏻‍♂️

Oh look, a new topic I can post in now! Bought about three weeks ago to replace the Darkside Octi. Voted for a DSG 6 speed because I couldn't handle that clutch anymore in stop-start traffic for work! So far, I really like it.