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And yet I'm mostly blinded by modern SUVs

And about time too. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/02/uk-government-review-headlight-glare-drivers-complaints

Not so sure on that one... I find I'm more dazzled by standard fit non working matrix lights or the Teslas lights whatever they are as they are particularly bad.

It's gone live (not sure when) with a starting price of £26,775. https://cc.skoda-auto.com/gbr/en-GB/ First Edition SE Technology SE L SportLine Hatch and Estate No brochure showing yet. Available to order April 10th

Update: I have had solve this issue by replacing apple car play module in the car from service.

Yes, the fusebox on the end of the dashboard. Good, the battery light should come on and then go off as the engine starts. There's a common wiring fault, especially on the diesels where there's more vibration, that results in charging problems due to the alternator excitation wire breaking. If the battery light comes on, it's fine.

Ideally you need a puller, I'd be nervous using any shock tactics near the glass.

another toxic waste dump? an oil for food scandal? explosive neutralization of chemicals? fraud investigations? Nah nothing much ;o)

On the Greenergy front https://www.trafigura.com/news-and-insights/press-releases/2024/trafigura-to-acquire-greenergy/

Back in 2013 I spent just under 3 weeks riding a CBR1100XX in an approx 4500-5000km figure of eight between Sydney, Brisbane (inland via the Oxley on the way up,coast road on way down) & Appolo bay (again mostly inland via the Putty Rd on way down, coast road back up) I can confirm that around 99% of Aussies drtive at a snails pace. What's really annoying are the ones (and there were a lot of them) that when you get to a passing place on a single track road following a truck travelling 5-10kph below the speed limit still wont go past the speed limit to overtake!!! Not my actual route, just a rough indication for those not familiar with down under. OG plan was to go through the Snowy Mountains on the way towards Melbourne but the roads were closed due to late snow.

150ps and below was TB. 151ps+ was IRS. Im 95% sure that was the figures banded about anyway.

Yesterday I finally bought the replacement for my Elegance. I've had it since 2014 and other than a failed EGR unit just after I bought it that was replaced under the approved used warranty and a broken rear spring a few years ago it's not given me any aggro at all and has been a great car to own. I travelled down to the South Coast yesterday and put the deposit down on an Approved Used January 2022 petrol Octavia vRS hatch in Race Blue which I'll be going down to collect in a couple of weeks. So I'll be giving the Superb a final clean and tidy out ready to sell it on in the coming weeks. The old...... And the new.....

A mature driver with not many years of experience, that's me. Hi 😁 My firstcar was Fiat Panda - I was a learner, wanted a cheap car to takw me from A to B. Then I had Suzuki Alto 2014. Great, lovely car, cheap, cheerful, good looking but small and frail. I now bought Skoda Octavia 2013 to accompany my family's grovong need. 1.2 TSI in RED 🙃😭😁 buth the milage was only 71k and the price was just under £5k so I bit. Getting used to the size. It actually matters (who knew 🤷). Foumd this forum/community as I am about to install the reverse cam and there is a great thread here I am about to follow. Wish me luck (?)🍀😀

You should be able to see the switch and press it through the handbrake lever hole. The console is held in place by screws, but I can't remember where they are on the Fabia.

Spotted my first Duckling of the year earlier..... 20240402_185125~2.mp4

I have had my 1.0TSI auto for exactly two years now. As per a comment above, absolutely blown away with its performance. Previous cars 170ps and 140ps manual Yetis which technically were much more powerful but coupled with the auto box I really cannot feel any difference in performance, though I’m not a foot to floor driver. Also very impressed with quietness and smoothness.

As @AGFalco said the headlights are higher up on SUVs. Isn't that because there's far fewer SUVs in France because they have such a high purchase tax in them?

It will be a DSG ‘dry box’ auto therefore requires no servicing. As for the engine/gearbox combination I’ve read several times on here that the DSG box is better suited to the 1.0 engine, so you should be good. I don’t know why it’s better suited to the 1.0 but I’ve definitely read it here from one or two members. As for the 1.0 engine, well I was frankly blown away when I was lent one from a dealer, it honestly doesn’t feel much behind the 1.5 in terms of performance, and it is very very refined.

? https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/how-does-the-uk-number-plate-system-work/ Thanks. AG Falco

I’ve ordered a puller tool from screwfix. I’ll collect it tomorrow.

I would estimate that a significant part of the problem is people who fit LEDs into headlight units that were not designed for this type of light source - which is illegal in the UK anyway.

^ My sentiments exactly. Not as many electric cars up here in Northumberland, especially when your out in country, chargers are very few and far between, up here. They push the tourism here, but the people who come here with their EV's, and go to the tourist hotspots to find there are 1 or 2 chargers if your lucky. Most of the places in the National Park or coast haven't even got any! It will be a year or 3 before they even get them, Northumberland County Council would love to put them in, but when a whole villages power comes over 3 cables on telegraph poles from 10 or 20 miles from the nearest large substation, there is hardly enough power for the village, never mind car chargers.

Ahh we have a strange threshold in our road tax where if a car is >£40k, its considered "high value", and attracts an extra £400/year road tax for 5 years. The VRS in the UK is about £37500 out of the gate in the UK, and optioned pretty well, so with my existing options, the extra electric seat option pushes it over, so costs an extra £2000 in tax in addition to the £2400 for the seats themselves, i.e. £4400 to add the seats without removing DCC all in. Thanks - Thats good as thats what I've currently got optioned!

I bought these two for my estate Front: Bosch A102S Back: Bosch A331H

ABS fault might be the bodgy fuse in position 6.

Well, the ABS light will almost certainly throw a fault code you can read with VCDS or OBD II, and the most likely faults relate to the wheel sensors, so the brakes will work normally unless you're on a slippery surface. If it's not a wheel sensor, it could well be low voltage for the ABS control unit. The handbrake light staying on might well be the switch being adjusted too low so that the lever doesn't press on it. You may be able to see that down the side of the lever.

I cut away a piece on the inside of the flap where the “bolt” turns to engage the lock. It will never lock again. Open the flap and actuate the bolt and you’ll see it turn 90 degrees.

Just thought I'd update No need to piggyback off any fuses as the car had some empty fuse slots available. After using the multimeter i was able to determine Fuse 23 (power always on yellow wire) Fuse 64 (red wire) Dashcam now up and running 24hr parking also working Hopefully this may help someone else 🙂

Yeah, good pics, but still can't really see if there's a crack there. May be worth getting a pack of assorted fuses from Halfords, which will include a 50A one which is correct for there, and hopefully a couple of 40A ones which would suit where the two ill-fitting ones have been put. Halfords Assorted OTO Strip Fuses 30>60 Amp (FUSE133) | Halfords UK Could use a 30A one for the fans which is position 5 on your fuse board. Looks like there's only one of each value in the Halfords variety pack. On second thoughts, leave the bodged ones as they are, if there's no problem, don't fix.

@Natalie1982 When the PAS light was coming on, were you also seeing the battery light flickering, even dimly? @Breezy_Pete may well be right about the strip fuzes (but what is a heic file?) OTOH it might also be a bad power connection, or a weak alternator or battery. I'm guessing a bit here, but would advise that a good auto electrician will help; in particular they'd deep load test the alternator and battery for free conditional that they got the business if either needs replaced.

SOLD.

Try to get (and post) a nice, sharply-focussed photo of the strip fuses in the holder above the battery. Sometimes a near-invisible hairline crack in the power steering one can give such symptoms.

Gorilla is the only "super glue" I've found that sticks anything and not just my fingers but I've no idea of how it is with metal threads, thing is if it sticks well you might have to ruin the nut and possibly metal/rubber washers to get the nut off again and still might have a bit of the nut stuck to the motor threads.

Congrats on finding that FWIW my '02 TDI at 160kmiles is on the original clutch ( long may it stay that way - cross fingers )

My MK2 1.9pd estate ambient had the IRS. With the standard 16 inch wheels it was the best ride on Aussie dirt roads. Should have got a Scout with the extra ground clearance as well but out of our budget unfortunately.

Many thanks - so this (https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-and-fluids/brake-clutch-fluid/comma-dot-4-esp-brake-fluid-1l-124432.html) would be good to use ? Is there any real difference between 'budget' and 'premium' fluids (I'm guessing not as long as they comply to the same DOT4 ESP standard).

Looking at the original picture showing the lock I suspect any place that cuts keys will be able to do a replacement if you already have one. Worst case take the whole thing in including the lock to a locksmith. Good ones will be able to decode from the lock itself.

Thanks I saw that bit, it was the Tesco bit I was interested in as I think a good while back I looked before, but not too much, and couldn't see if Tesco were still involved but saw how much the Greenergy had grown. If I don't ask straight away I forget again, it's of no real importance to me just curious, while I remember. Cheers.

An old video but Scotty as straight talking as ever. My old neighbour used to tell me about having to de-carbonise old engines regularly because the oils and petrols weren't so good a long time back, and Scotty in another video on cars not having engine oil filters and "Pur-O-Lator" (pure oil later) oil filter being invented (in 1922/3, Purolator now part of Mann-Hummel, a twist to the usual take-over story). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIycEyNci1o

Last few things to finish off the weekend. One of my rear buckles has been missing a cover for ages. Got one off the parts car to fix it. And got a hold of some red seats.finally. mostly in good shape but the drivers bottom bolster was wrecked. Got a brand new seat base to do it All in easy as. Had my laptop ready to clear any airbag codes but none came up. So aside from a proper tracking it's basically done. Well, the stuff that requires a lot of downtime anyway. Driven some more and have been VERY impressed so far. The new seat bolster feels fantastic and hold you in well. The suspension is still very confidence inspiring, it holds the road very well. No weird knocks or rattles, suspension related ones anyhow. Forgot to mention I've replaced all but one exhaust mount, and that last one I suspect is causing the exhaust to rattle around too much over bumps. But other than that, great result. Had hoped to polish it and fit some more genuine goodness I've been buying up, but that'll have to wait for a minute.

Yes tyres are also about fashion and marketing so "last season's fashion" (previous models) might be at lower prices than the latest stuff but still as good as they were and possibly better than their replacements. And many of the unknown or less marketed or popular brands in one country might be very well know in another country. Seemingly less prestigious brands are owned by the more "prestige" brands and companies anyway as with a lot of purchases higher cost doesn't always mean better but can also possibly be good value depending on your wants and needs - other side less expensive and well known tyres may be great performance and value. "Dry rot" gets many of the tyres before tread wear - example those very disappointing Avon ZT7 for 26 months and 14K-miles use we might just as well bought some really grippy tyres and had a bit of fun with them. BTW the Avon Zt7 started at 6.5mm tread depth new, not all (many now? I've not looked ) start at 8mm tread depth new as many assume without checking, boy the moaning when those that didn't check before buying gave in reviews. 😄 Also BTW best tyres I've had have been Yokos, not BluEarth but my mate has some, not on a Fabia, and said how good they were (I don't which model numbers BuEarth) but he drives in a spirited enough way to find out about grip.

Update: I've changed engine and DSG thermostats and now coolant temperature quickly reaches 90 degrees and stays there.

I thought the 1.8 and 2.0 FSI engines in the Octavia have a 5th injection in the inlet manifold to avoid this issue? My previous car was a direct injection 4.2V8 with some owners complaining of power loss due to carbon buildup, but on proper investigation the power loss was due to vacuum leaks in the variable inlet flap system. So my experience is that power loss due to carbon buildup is greatly overstated.

Here you go. That's the direction it goes in, releases both clips simultaneously in 10 seconds.

Those codes are originated by the MAP sensor, however they do NOT necessarily mean the MAP sensor is faulty, they indicate that the turbo may be over boosting, possibly due to a stuck wastegate which is a mechanical fault that the computer cannot know about. Further investigation is needed, does the car enter low torque mode?

So been assembling a couple of three things over the past while for this. Suspensions been annoying me with bumps and rattles, so decided it was high time for another mid life rebuild. Ordered the Full meyle HD catalogue, and new shocks and springs. Got a VERY good deal on an ST setup, new in the box. So this time it has received: -ST Shock and Springs -Meyle Rubber Top mounts and bearings -Meyle Rear Top Mounts -Meyle HD Ball Joints -Meyle HD Track Rod Ends -Meyle HD Inner Track Rods -Meyle HD Drop Links -Meyle Shock Boots Front and Rear -Meyle Anti Roll Bar Bushes. -Febi Bilstein Rear bump stops (Sports susp) -Lemforder Bags of Bolts -TRW Steering Rack Boots -New Top mount caps (top of struts) -Mk5 Golf Rear spring rubbers. -Genuine Top Hats -Genuine Top Mounts Caps -Genuine Steering Rack Grease -Genuine bolts (where possible) -Genuine Solid Rubber Bushes -Genuine Air ducts for the Wishbones. Did Rear suspension First. Spent some time stripping away some rot and under sealing. New Springs are Similar to the old ones in appearance, Might sit a hair lower due to the Mk5 golf top rubbers. New Shocks too, top mounts and bolts. Here's how it sits after. Basically the same to be honest. It should settle after some driving so I'll post a picture later. Fitted solid rubber console bushes to some spare arms Stripped the subframe, Wire wheeled and painted all. Used Scania Chassis Grey that I found in the shed. Came on alright, hasn't really dried hard, hard to describe really. It's more like a thick coating than hard lacquer. For 160K, it's not too bad, really .

Whereas I much prefer the fabric, not cold on a winters day and not hot on a summers day. With due respect, that looks truly awful. Not only does it look baggy but the stitching doesn’t match with the seats.

https://mega.nz/folder/bupmCaqA#dGb8Y30eDZ3rx95kts3E_A

By all accounts the OEM rear discs are made of chocolate and replacements from reputable brands make a big difference. I've not heard of the front brake/front tyre thing but on my VW California I got about 16k on the front from new and again, switching brand has seen over 30k miles on the 2nd set so its not necessarily a relationship between the two thing due heavy front braking bias that I know of.

Exactly the same problem with new superb l&k. What a let down. Something so basic should work and not spoil the experience.