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The truth about Chinese electric cars? Chinese cars almost uninsurable Or perhaps it's Chinese cars in general. Way back around 2010, someone in my family reversed in to the passenger door of a chinese MG-F thingy whatever it was called. It was only light damage, no more than a dent. Unless it had damaged the door mechanism, the car was perfectly drivable. The repair cost was almost £8000. Aparently the dealer couldn't repair it due to lack of parts, a door skin couldn't be sourced locally so it took many months to ship from China. So in the meantime the owner of the car ran around in a hired Golf GTi. Don't you just love the insurance industry !

I know we should never trust the press but the more you read the more weird this is sounding... It's being reported he drove in to a police car at 90mph but then it's also being reported the car brought itself to a halt when the battery emptied - it was only when the car was going slow that he hit the police car that finally brought it to a halt. And then I read this belter... "Nathan said he 'froze' after the terrifying incident finally ended. He revealed a similar incident happened to him on December 23. He said: "I was driving at 3am in the morning after I finished one of my previous jobs, it happened exactly the same, I had no control of the vehicle. At the time, it did speed up to about 120mph, so it was going pretty quick. It happened some months ago, at 3am in the morning? No mention of how he was able to stop back then, no mention if he reported the incident to his dealer. Is this just poor lazy reporting perhaps innacurate reporting? It all sounds very weird. I wonder what the actual truth is.

Daily Express scare ev headline....... https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1874591/electric-car-petrol-diesel-vehicle-excise-duty-changes THEN YOU READ DEEPER.... (Seems to be based on EVs being sold which are over £40K despite us knowing that EV RRPs are falling fast as battery packs become cheaper and all the interest now is on the £16k to £40k EVs, like the base model TESLA model 3) EV owners to pay 'three times more than petrol or diesel’ under Vehicle Excise Duty update Electric car owners could be paying “three times more tax than petrol or diesel cars” when new Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) fees are introduced, according to an expert. Matthew Walters, Head of Consultancy Services and Customer Value at ALD Automotive | LeasePlan UK, warned rules changes would add over £1,000 to motorists' bills. Matthew has taken particular aim at the "expensive car supplement", an extra fee which is applied on models valued at over £40,000. With upfront costs still high for electric models, not changing the threshold means almost all EV motorists will be affected and slapped with extra charges. Speaking after the Spring Budget, Matthew opined: "Although it was inevitable that electric cars would pay vehicle excise duty (‘road tax’) eventually, the blanket approach announced in the 2022 Autumn Statement introduces unnecessary penalties compared to some petrol and diesel models. "From April 2025, VED rates will be equalised across all cars, while new registrations priced over £40,000 will also qualify for the expensive car supplement – a £410 charge, applied to the first five annual renewals.

This seems like a lot of going round in circles at this point…. why are we not physically checking voltage at the bolero and gateway, checking live data for voltage inside bolero and gateway, checking live data SoH and SoC for the battery at the gateway. The radio will be getting this warning from either seeing low voltage itself or from the gateway SoH, SoC or voltage reading. We need the live data to be able to tell…

You are obsessing over a ridiculous comment made by either an idiot or wind up merchant that it can take a period of time for long coding to be recognised by the ECU and have been doing so for 2 weeks now, its time to wise up and ask yourself does the claim make any sense whatsoever?

@lol-lol It was not an issue with the Corsa and certainly is not with the MINI getting from 90% to 100% Presumption really matters not a bit, or others experiences, if you drive the cars you just need to try and see. Different chargers, different weather / ambient temps, you get to know if the little slower is worth more than getting a move on and getting to a charger you can not get on. Better sometimes where you are than the unknown maybe 2 hours away. Then do it all again. When you are getting maybe only 1 mile per 1% you need to have it full. Well i do.

My little EV, and I presume most other EVs, charging beyond 90 % is very slow and regen systems do not work as well as below 90 % so charging, or keeping charged to 90% "only" makes sense to me. Must make more use of preconditioning when day rate lecky drops from 30p per kwh to less than 24p per kwh on the home supply.

20% of a battery not charged can actually mean it is not only 20% less range you get. So i am off to do a few hundred miles and was checking out the charger tariff changes. The increased price is not so much the issue, but the most i will probably need where the tariff went from 25 pence a kWh to 59 pence will be 25 kWh. £14.75. That will maybe get me 100 miles. Minimum charge is £2.00. Charging is £1 a minute after 40 Minutes. South Ayrshire which is free will be 37 pence a kWh from April, 25 x 37 pence £9.35. Rapid 50 kW charger, But they have a Minimum Spend of £5.00 coming in. That stuffs up if you are a more than half a charge 20 kWh way with a small battery but want to charge to full before maybe going 100 miles to your next charge. £30 penalty for staying over 60 minutes between 8am & 10pm.

Car 2015kg. Car can tow 1600kg totalling 3615 as I read it.

Finally managed to ease the two main clips holding the start-stop "gubbins" to the top of the battery (Just as Alf Ford did the other day) and glimpsed underneath. Behold, it is 59Ah 320 amps EFB (ie it is probably the factory-fitted battery), which presumably was why contrarian Alf was so adamant it was AGM. Obviously his real name is not Alf, but when you know, you know! Thanks again everyone. As someone posted on here in this topic, don't believe it until you have seen it!

My spon te be new second hand superb MY2021 iV

Thanks for all the help. I may well get the RSC804. Another thing I have just noticed: my Scala alternator (smart-ish?) always, at least in winter, charges at 14.8v, which I assume is right for the battery, if it was coded correctly. 14.8v is also the winter setting for the RSC804, and probably many others.

^^^ He is a very efficient / economical fuel / energy wise driver / car sales person. He gets quite impressive miles per kWh from many EV,s he drives / films. If just anyone driving the same cars on the same roads can get the same results without having to know how best to just how good would that be!

it will probably just be surface rust. the black "painted" parts are not painted very well, at all

That is a given. The EPA is closer to real life than WLTP. The tests are standarised across all manufacturers, those figure are still useful for comparison across brands.

I really could not see how they could even pass an IVA in the UK with the sharp edges at the front.

No, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they are destined for the UK. I think they are only in left hookers, too heavy and too wide at 2.4 metres?

Great news! I finally got the dealer to update the climatronic module from 0341 to 0531 my hardware revision is 5WA907727P. Aside from working as it should, the menu appears to be a lot more responsive and the same for animations - e.g between menus within the Clima menu.

There's some rough women round your way!

Running their cashback offer again offer.michelin.co.uk/pim4-uk Up to £100 for buying 4 Valid until the end of the year

My first thought is the cables or whatever from gearshift to box which would be mechanical so no need to necessarily wait for the interment problem to show up (or not show up) on a plug-in computer machine to save any strenuous thought being put in and cause head-hurt to the overworked mechanics and technicians that need to get on with more profitable work. A rare not to worry you about thing but as the car is new to you I personally would also want the gearbox checking for oil, oil/leaks and signs of previous repairs/parts replacement because I've heard of stories from two neighbours would used to collect and deliver s/h and lease cars to car storage places and dealers. I done this on my neighbours 4-month old first-owner car and didn't even need to even remove the plastic trays below the engine and box to some very non-factory signs of (poor quality cover-up) work and I'm not a mechanic or expert (in anything). Whatever you do don't let the seller fob you off, if the warranty is third party contact them and see where else you can take your car for warranty work to be done They' might (or might not) even let your trusted mechanic look and do the work but he might not thank you for it if he doesn't deal with the warranty company (or companies) normally as, I don't know. but would imagine some might be v e r y , v e r y s l o w p a y e r s of bills to them. Let us know how you go on and get on good luck.

👍👍👍👍

Indeed 421 miles on the 18 inch wheels, 390 miles with the 19 inch wheels. 23% more range with the long range model. £10k more expense to buy, plus all the luxury cost taxes that will come next year, so 25% more cost and blistering performance, presumably more insurance costs. Again the 18 inch wheel show a big difference in range and TESLA brilliance is showing very little penalty for the AWD system transmission losses, very low compared to an ICE 4X4 losses it would seem and the weight penalty small too. Very tough choice but think I will be going for the base model model 3 ie FLP standard range sub £40k RRP model. I expect I will get the 300 mileage range, I am quite an economical driver.

Jaguar need to contact Knight Industries for a software update https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KITT KITT's evil twin is KARR, whose name is an acronym of Knight Automated Roving Robot KARR was originally designed by Wilton Knight and built by Knight Industries for military purposes for the Department of Defense. After the completion of the vehicle, the KARR processor was installed and activated. However, a programming error caused the computer to be unstable and potentially dangerous. KARR was programmed for self-preservation, but this proved to be dangerous to the Foundation's humanitarian interests. The project was suspended and KARR was stored until a solution could be found. Once KITT was constructed, it was presumed that his prototype KARR had been deactivated and dismantled. However, the latter did not occur and KARR was placed in storage and forgotten following the death of Wilton Knight. KARR was later unwittingly reactivated by thieves

Something unimportant: Got a replacement shell from eBay for £7.99. Made the assumption it would be a case of transferring the brains over from the old to the new, but it wasn't as straightforward as I'd imagine. So most guides on the internet and Youtube etc. have steps for how to replace the battery, which is still perhaps a little more fiddly than one would expect. Standard advice appears to be to take out the emergency key blade bit, and put it back in but at an angle so you sort of wedge it side by side to loosen and free the rear cover: Then the battery is s standard CR2032 than can be flicked out with a flat screwdriver or fingers and slotted back in. This is pretty much where nothing else appears to exist that I'm aware of. So first thing that can be seen is a tiny screw in the bottom right corner, securing the bottom metal part of the fob. Unscrew that (aftermarket one is a small crosshead, and the OEM appears to be a tiny torx, I can't tell the size, one where if you have a micro spanner set for iPhone's etc. would probably has the appropriate size bit). Once you do that, it appears the bottom cover is slotted in at angle. What I did was use the emergency key and pushed it up along the groove it sits along which appeared to be enough to get it loose and free: The top cover is next. Took a while to figure it out, but with a flat head screwdriver here: Then a bit of force upwards, it'll eventually come free: There's a hook it seems on the opposite side: So the screwdriver lever attempts to lift it from the opposite side. This is made a bit more tougher because there's a sort of adhesive attached as well. Eagle eyed viewers will notice I've taken pictures from both of the fobs so they're both in different states of disassembly when I took pictures of the above. But you'll be presented with this: On the aftermarket one, the white plastic cover was able to be lifted. However I couldn't do the same with this one. After all sorts of attempts at levering (and cracking the original case as a consequence), it looks like the brains of the unit comes out as one whole piece: The keys are help in place by being sandwiched between the brains and the case, so the buttons all fell out. Did the same with the other case to remove its empty brain, as it were. Gave this a quick wipe and clean with some rubbing alcohol: Then it's pretty much a case of reverse of disassembly: I used my fingernails to remove the old Skoda sticker badge and it looks like there's enough adhesive left behind to keep it in place on the new one. Sod's law it'll fall out eventually, so I'll have to prepare to source a replacement. I also used a dab of superglue in the same place for the top cover, which is probably unwise long term, but I can't really tell what adhesive was used before, probably some PVA or contact adhesive maybe. Anyways, here's a picture of what is essentially the same as the first: Eagle eyed viewers should be able to spot the crack I introduced on the lower right of the old one. Bin fodder now. It looks like some more parts have arrived as well from Czechia (I think that's what they call themselves now), so I'll collate and take more pics this evening! Maintenance: £1344.91 (+£7.99) Upgrades: £337.06 Miscellaneous: £584.95

Then with a lot of Salt on roads and what tyres in the Sizes, How does the All Season / All Weathers affect things or full Winters or Nordic Winters.?

That was from the UK website. I was just amazed at the difference the two wheel sizes made ie 8% further. I know in a test at Castle Coomb I think it was that got my model Zoe to do 480 miles on a setp of special tyres as opposed to 430 miles on normal tyres and that is more than 10%. Over 500 kms on both WLTP methods ie Test Energy high and Test Energy low..... This gives us 318 miles and 342 miles or so. Incredible from a 58 kwH batery back but then the car is ultra slippy ie Cd=0.22 and low too ..... https://ev-database.org/car/1991/Tesla-Model-3 WLTP Ratings (TEL) Range 554 km Rated Consumption 130 Wh/km Vehicle Consumption 104 Wh/km CO2 Emissions 0 g/km Rated Fuel Equivalent 1.5 l/100km Vehicle Fuel Equivalent 1.2 l/100km WLTP Ratings (TEH) Range 513 km Rated Consumption No Data Vehicle Consumption 112 Wh/km CO2 Emissions 0 g/km Rated Fuel Equivalent No Data Vehicle Fuel Equivalent 1.3 l/100km

No, everything looked normal (although many times in the morning i have seen it rised) but when i pressed the lever did half move and next time 1/3 of the move and then stopped. The weird is that when i removed the windscreen blade and put a tie wrap to see if the axis could move compleately then it did, from left to right but after further inspection saw that the thread was in his ''last time". Could not ''carry the weight" of the windscreen blade any more so i think it's the rotor too, 2 failures in 1 damage.

From the oxidisation it actually looks like it was already fractured all the way around and it would not have taken a lot to finish it off. I had the rear wiper on my MK1 Octavia vandalised by kids, your wiper will have still been attached to the shaft, was it bent and buckled? A small consolation but it would have eventually seperated I reckon and it could have been mid journey, looks like a new unit or at least the housing is needed, always a pain on an older vehicle.

You have to run the harness through firewall, at least one cable for front camera.

I had exactly that noise for years until my water pump packed up and got replaced. Since then it's gone. Not saying it's your water pump specifically, could be something else that was played with during its replacement (Inc. Cambelt) but that's what I experienced.

Thanks @Rooted. The haldex oil change is not showing as done on @JIDs online service history so I was curious - last year I went through the JLR SDV6 crankshaft-snapping saga so I'm maybe a bit primed to try to hold manufacturers and their dealer networks to account! @J.R. I am the OP - the question I posted was about @JIDs Superb as we are friends IRL and he was not a forum member, whilst I was. In this thread I am not asking about my own Skoda Yeti (which I actually no longer own). As @JID has now joined this august establishment, I should probably bow out.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/skoda/

I do love an Alpine. Probably my favourite colour too

I did not even know the car had this. I just use the switch for the camera. Will try it tomorrow.

There's chit chat threads elsewhere. Or you can get eachother's whatsapp to chat off topic on there. https://www.speakev.com/threads/whats-more-efficient-than-regenerative-braking-police-assisted-braking.183631/post-3578551 The 12v battery might be the cause for all those electrical issues seen in the 2 runaway-EV stories. The linked post talks about his "mate" had similar problem with ZS EV, where it lit up with errors and had to stump on the brake really hard to stop. Post pointed out similar brake assist problem with Nissan Leaf should 12v battery failed. It's about time EV's get rid of the ancient lead-acid 12v battery.

Thanks a lot! It is a really good price.

Yes yes, I do know, but this time my risk appetite is equal zero, you do not know who will check the car. Maybe next year, if I still own the car, I will go fo it.

I've just started on my 2020 MK3 Octavia. Like the MK7 Golfs, they all rust in the wheel arch area. Its important to spend a day, taking out the wheel arch liners, using a jet washer to clear out the tutt....then using a waxoil or tetroseal clear coating, spray loads of protecting wax at the sils (especially near the "sponge" at the back of the wheel arch), down the sill and especially at the top of the struts (which also attract loads of road grime).

@EnterName you hit the nail on the head, if the EVs were made attractive enough by making them more fit for purpose etc and the actual running costs could be seen to be much lower to everyone, then people would migrate to them naturally. That would get the air pollution cut with more speed then all the rules and laws could ever hope to achieve and then, if they do turn out not to be the magic pill after all, politicians would not be guilty of yet another failed policy.

Nothing surprises me in terms of the costs of major line items. The manufacturers have always made huge profits on parts, but especially so on MLI. Let’s face it,18% of the original RRP of the car is ludicrous.

A mod can maybe move this to the Superb section.

Because the battery will not be overcharged using the standard alternator charging profile, in fact the start stop profile produces a higher voltage at times which if it were constant would definitely damage the battery. Pretty much all modern batteries are the sealed gallery type and wont leak even if turned upside down, being the curious child I am I have cut my way through an old one no longer fit for service and found that the electrolyte levels had not depleted. The vehicle defaults to the standard alternator charging profile whenever the start stop is disabled for any of the factors. I have changed the wording from rubbish to nonsense.

Since the start of this year (2024) I have averaged 61.1 mpg, over around 2500 miles. Car is charged on a wall box at home, and sometimes at the office to fully charged. So far according to the Hive App 164kWh put in at home at a total cost of £16.16, not sure about the office charger. I only ever fill up with Super Unleaded (BP or Shell). I try to pre condition the car before I leave in the mornings while its still plugged in when going to the office (Dartford to Northampton) around 100 miles. I dont drive to try and save fuel, but equally dont drive like a nutcase. Mostly sticking to 70 mph on cruise, although I do wonder if you can get better mpg if you drive it yourself. At weekends its all pretty local and I drive around 25 miles in EV mode, rarely does the ICE kick in over the weekends.

A second scan to see if an codes are now present might give us a clue, but see below. Always worth doing first. Please keep us posted. If all else fails I have a big hammer to do some reprogramming with. 😉 Thanks. AG Falco

1. Its hard to tell in your picture but i cant see a current monitor on the negative terminal - in which case your car needs a normal lead-acid battery and not this AGM one. 2. An AGM battery can be coded and it doesnt have to be a genuine battery - they clearly have no idea what they are doing 3. What is the timescale for them doing the job? If it is recently, reject it as not fit for purpose and not fixed the issue you paid to be fixed, if they dont play ball, give them (in writing) 14 days to refit the old parts and take the new ones back or take it to the small claims court. 4. What is the warning you talk of, do you have a photo? I assume something like "12v battery low - start engine or infotainment will switch off" 5. Have you got a more zoomed out photo of the battery, i want to see the terminals 6. If the warning is as I said in 4, then the battery needs testing, charge rate, idle voltage, resting voltage all need testing to see if its a car-wide voltage issue, or if it needs to be looked into further for a localised voltage issue such as a poor ground.

Hello Terence, welcome to the forum. I'm afraid that it's one of two things - either the 'senior mechanic' is incompetent - or he's lying. Skoda do not manufacture batteries - VAG have them supplied by whoever has the contract, it is the same for tyres. All that has to be done is to enter the battery type (AGM in this case) The AH rating (70 in this case) - and a serial number (can be made up, or simply change the last digit of the old serial number) so that the BCM knows that a new battery has been fitted.

Possibly anti stall feature on the 1.0tsi. I noticed the idle speed picks up when preparing to pull away on a 1.0tsi kamiq I hired.