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The latter would normally be called price gouging and would be investigated in other businesses

Lovely Crescent Moon first thing, cold this afternoon though 🥶

I seriously looked at changing Mrs Moley's car to an EV in October 2023. The positives were that her annual mileage is around 4k, she didn't need a big car and the was no VED on EV's. I got quotes for installing a home charger before sitting down and doing the maths. The sensible option was the MG4 but I was unsure of it's long term viability and I really didn't want to buy a Chinese vehicle if I could help it. I would prefer to stay with Skoda, but the Enyaq is too big. She settled for the Kamiq with the 1.5 petrol engine and DSG box. The price came out about £12k less than an equivalent EV. Now the VED on EV's is going to be the same as a ICE car, so that incentive has gone. For the future I see that Skoda are planning two new EV models, a mid size and a smaller 'SUV' style. In 3 years time that might be an option, but at the moment the £12k we saved will buy us about 90,000 miles of driving.

I think the market has decided, EV sales are not going in the right direction. To impose financial penalties on car manufacturers for not selling enough EV's because the public don't want them or can't afford them is just crazy.

There should be no punitive quota system in place, IMO. Let the market decide, the market is ALWAYS right. It's damaging and as you highlight, it can be used as an excuse for the failure of a poor product. That said, not having your poor vehicles bought should be punishment enough, without throwing Government fines on top. In the real world, the wheels seem to be starting to loosen on the "Green" gravy train (it's too early to say they're coming off), so things might improve in time, though there are a lot of vested interests keen to make sure that train keeps rolling on. But in the end, reality will always foil utopian ideology, however hard it's pushed.

Finally found the time to do an engine and gearbox oil change today. Bought a set of halfords drive-on ramps, ordered a 32mm socket from amazon.. then scrambled on the day to find the gearbox sump plug 14mm allen key and a 24mm socket for the filter. So, keys needed: T25, T40 for skid pan 19mm socket for drain bolt (may need breaker bar) 13 (?) mm socket with extension for filter oil drain (not 100% sure) 32mm filter housing removal Lots of wipes/paper towels For gearbox 14mm allen key for sump plug 8mm allen key for plastic insert 13mm socket to remove battery 24mm socket and some kind of pivoting/joint extension. No need to take air box and battery tray out! Lots of wipes Vas6262 fill hose (find a service kit with it included, don't buy separate) Vcds for temperature monitoring, although if it was done with a hot engine it will be above 40°C in seconds. Also vcds to reset all battery related faults and do service interval reset. Straight away i'm now getting 50mpg just cruising on some 40mph b-roads. Gearbox no longer seems to try to stay inbetween gears when i put my foot down (could feel a bump when it finally decided). Smooth as butter. All together with head scratching and tea from neighbour it took about 3 hours. Not too bad. Dealer wants £600 for this job. Oils and filters come out to £170

You have misassembled the wire spring - it should go the other side of the ledge on the carrier bracket, as shown below. No need to ask me how I know!

Just as a little follow up on this I decided to experiment on one of my foglight surrounds. I gave it a good clean and then tried heat. For the record heat did nothing at all. I've used heat successfully on plain plastic trim on other cars but here it was ineffective. So I then tried in patches Tyre gel Plastic trim reviver Black coloured wax (turtle wax) Normal wax Polish Polish and wax They all made it look better to varying degrees, so I then washed the trim again. The trim restorer washed off immediately, no obvious signs it was even there! The tyre gel was still doing something but not much and I suspected it would be gone after another wash or 2. The polish and normal wax had done well but it looked like the polish had taken off too much colour. The black wax looked good but you could see it hadn't quite covered so many imperfections as the polish and wax. So I tried combining a light polish and the black wax which seems to have come out really well!! Now to try on the rest of the bumper! Little nervous as there are some scratches and stone chips that may cause problems but it can't look much worse...

EV's should be a personal lifestyle choice IMO at this stage of the game, especially while there are still so many problems to be resolved to enable everyone to really consider an EV as a truly viable option to having an ICE. Whatever air quality improvements we make here, and it is a proven fact that our air is far superior to most other countries, including parts of Europe, is not going to make a single iota of difference to the overall situation. It really just down to politicians playing out their ideas of looking great on the world stage while ignoring the simple facts that our people will suffer as a result of the madness that they are creating. Look at the sheer amount of real estate these hubs take up, simply because they need to space to accommodate the cars while charging, something is not required with ICE, and all that concrete etc is just adding to the flooding risk.

But it IS ideologically correct, so until reality really gets in the way, the ideology will prevail and to hell with the consequences. A good start would be to ban all MPs from using ICE vehicles, and force them to use the EVs they think we should all have to use. That might clear up a few misconceptions about the real-world issues people face when relying on EVs. It might be a good idea to give the public more EV experience opportunities, to help broaden their appeal. Mandatory EV courtesy cars, perhaps?

I thought it said on the article that they were sticking at around the motorway speed limit of 130kmh (81mph) though it said somewhere about one of the EVs reducing speed at one point to try and eke out enough miles to get to the next charger. 35mpg certainly does seem low, it's what I normally get in a worst case scenario on a trip to Germany which means car fully loaded plus a roofbox and cruising at up to 105mph where possible. With a little planning it would have been possible to reduce the cost of the ICE car substantially by utilising PFS close to but not actually on the autoroutes where the fuel price would be quite a bit less. I always use the Shell station at Aachen Brand in Germany which is literally at the end of the slip road (so no additional diversion to a 'proper' services) and where fuel is typically 40 cents a litre cheaper (and the toilets are free) than the 'proper' services at Aachener Land just a few miles on (also Shell). Obviously can't really comment on the 2.6 miles/kW/h but probably noteworthy that it seems this was measured 'brim to brim' so to speak (the trip computer said 4 miles/kWh).

@EnterName elephant in the room, Stellantis Electric Vans have very poor efficiency. Pathetic range from the 50 or 75kW batteries. They are a total PITA for many drivers that have to drive them because this is what their employers landed them with. PS. I do feel sorry for these drivers. Yesterday the ex Vauxhall factory said that Companies could not afford drivers sitting charging and not driving for 1 hour while charging. Actually the saving on fuel to companies and saving on taxes pays easily an hour of a tradesman or a driver for many companies. For those with high hourly rate employees they might not give them an EV or give them a more efficient one and with faster charging speeds. Like the Management might have as a Company Car even if they do not travel for their job.

What if there is a huge upfront R&D cost to a new technology that completely negates existing technical knowledge of legacy manufacturers. Innovation is hard, it's far easier to keep building ICE cars with tweaks to 10 year old platform than making a completely new platform. That would be more than enough incentive to actively resist the change. Case in point: people really wanted the EV1 made by GM. But they were rounded up and crushed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1#Demise As I shown in my earlier post with Luton Vauxhall plant, blaming random stuff and putting pressure on slippery politicians are all part of legacy car manufacturer's playbook. It's all about getting handouts (not free market) or getting special treatment (not free market). I guess you forgot the word "free". But there is no such thing as free market. Funny how you are quoting tiny subsidies when there is far more money being pumped into fossil fuel to prop it up. There is still record amount of money flowing into fossil fuel industry. For example, according to Guardian, fossil fuel received £20 billion more than renewables between 2015 and 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/09/fossil-fuels-more-support-uk-than-renewables-since-2015 If you truly believe market is always right, then you ought to stop and define what is the market. The energy market is certainly not free from corruption and backroom dealings. Fossil fuel only works because of support they receive from governments that are not widely publicised. I guess what you are saying is a market that is being manipulated in favour of your view is always right? Because legacy ICE and oil industry certainly still have large amount of leverage over the many of world's governments.

As you've discovered it's a matt grey paint finish with the paint code L7DL The front bumper is white plastic and the side trims are black plastic, both painted in the above matt grey.

Hi there, Clutch is finaly in and car all back together. Got a bit worried at first as wasn't very good but after about 20 secs its spot on. Reckon it just needed settling/bedding in. Clutch pedal felt ok but bled system again and got a few tiny air bubbles out. The plastic slave bleed nipple has to be opened a good bit to get it to bleed. Bite point is low but I expect it will rise slightly with use. Gear changes are smooth and easy. I don't drive this car much so nothing really to compare it with but it seems good. Managed to sort the brakes at the same time. When I was under car looking up I noticed the hose from the servo was split at every joint. Not long enough to cut and reuse. Taped up just now and will try and source some replacements. Cost me £120 in parts LUK clutcch kit plus slave and some brake fluid plus £50 for a support beam so happy with that. Was quoted around £700 from a mobile mechanic but he said it could be more once he got into it. God knows what a garage would charge these days. Many thanks again for all your help and advice. Alasdair

Hey, a new version of maps have just appeared and MartiniB shared a link for it. The new archive is called OI_P129_EU_202448_Offline_Update and it contains a folder named OI_P129_EU_202448_Offline_Update with 710 other files in it. As per my understanding from the guide, on the USB Stick you should paste the 710 files directly, so these 710 files should NOT be inside the OI_P129_EU_202448_Offline_Update folder in the USB Stick.

You're asking in the wrong place, this thread is for Octavia Mk4 owners.

After looking at that lot, how old is the battery?

VED on EV,s is no loss of incentive to those that will be charging at home for the use of their vehicle even if occasionally they need to public charge. That is as long as you can get your off-peak electric to charge at prices lower than 10 pence a kWh. 50 kWh at 10 pence a kWh even if only getting 150 miles from that being £5. 7 pence for 10 kWh 70 pence and 40 miles possible. It is the over 70 pence public charging a kWh so £7 for 35 - 40 miles, then chargers at 85 pence with InstaVolt. Just crazy expensive if needed more than just occasionally.

Ah, I see, thanks for clarification. Tesla trip computer never counts stuff outside of driving. 4 mi/kWh is more like it. If they were using sentry mode or doing anything that keeps the car awake, it will use energy. Even opening the door will fire up the AC. I drove in congested for very few miles but sat in the car waiting one whole morning, it used more than double what trip computer said. When there is no pressure to innovate, the products made available by the encumbent stagnates, the market can only buy what is available. Thus the market cannot be always right. Now when there are pressure from government and far east, we get this kind of shenenigan from established players: 2021 blame chip crisis: Vauxhall Motors: 100 Luton jobs to go due to chip crisis - BBC News 2023 blame Brexit: Fears for Vauxhall Luton van plant's future due to Brexit - BBC News 2024 blame EV's: Vauxhall's Luton plant to close with fears over 1,100 jobs as production moved - Mirror Online Can we really trust the root cause is their latest blame victim? This view that people don't want them is not right though. Even now, Skoda doesn't have sub £25k EV. Ford, who recently asked for handouts, are just making rebadged mid-size VW SUV's. The available models are still not across every company's full product stack, people cannot buy the EV in the size and shape they prefer or they used to buy. So it's a bit early to say the market has decided when the availble products cannot fully satisfy every segment of the market. Main dealers are also not doing their job. It is hardly a difficult bit of computer-eering to create a sales system that pushes a certain type of vehicle. Customer; 'I want that large ICE car'. Dealer; 'Sorry, sir, we have no allocation today for that vehicle, but I can put you on a list. I cannot promise when you might get an allocation. Or you can have that similar sized EV, it is available today.' Customer; 'Meh. OK, I'll take the EV, I was thinking about one, anyway, you've made the decision for me.' Dealer; 'A good decision, sir! You will be pleased with it, I am sure.' I don't believe main dealers are having this sort of conversation.

This afternoon's sunset..........

Crimp cut off and wire exposed: Copper cleaned up with vinegar and salt solution: Connector crimped on: Fuse block re-assembled: Total cost of repair, excluding knowledge and tools was around £3.

I have just renamed it and opened it with sqlite. It does indeed look like the same file format the older version so I'll try and update it via MIB

Probably because the last blast furnace shut down at the end of September.

A more in depth scan gave: 'P0234 turbo / supercharger overboost condition'. So at least ive got something to go at now. I'll start with the MAP sensor and look at the waste gate and actuator but I have no time until the weekend.

Hiya! I'm new here but thought I'd see if anyone ever had a solution or proper recall for the fuel rail bolt issue? I have a 2017 Seat Ibiza (sorry its no Skoda lol) with the EA211 CJZD 1.2TSI 110HP engine. A year and a half ago, I had the exact same issue; turned the car over, wasn't cracking properly, fuel start pouring out and then smelt like I was in a petrol station. 2 fuel rail bolts had broken (one sheared of completely, the other one loose with slight damage) and injector 1 had two broken/split seals... I can smell a small amount of fuel coming through the air con (mainly at slow speeds not motorway cruising) and I'm super paranoid it's the fuel rail bolt or injector issue again... Checking my plate online appears to show no recalls for anything has been issued (which is great) however the rail bolts must be an issue right?? Cheers!

Why do you think it is not working?

To highlight a point, you made, this video appears to back that up.

If there errors being sent from one of the ABS wheel sensors, that will raise an ABS fault. Do you have automatic idle stop (stop/start) and/or cruise control - does they operate correctly?

Thanks. That's what I believed to be true but the amount of people who swear blind that they need heating and plastic trim restorer on them and they have done it before is astonishing. I had to give it a try! I already have a tin of of the correct paint in the garage!

This would seem to suggest an update from 0863 is available

YOU'VE BEEN BUSY

Hahaha oooops! Definitely a typo!

Hi, welcome. I would have a look at the other side wheel arch liner and if it looks like it has the same fixings them remove one to see what type, length and thread the screw is. Up to you if you want exactly the same screw or one that will do the job but not exactly the same. My mind would wonder why these two screws are missing (possibly some lazy or clumsy person not putting them back in) what's behind there that was needed access to and why. You are very lucky as your first car is only 4 years old so is it a service thing or repair. Being new to the car pay attention to your car battery use and charging and recharging and the important things like brakes, steering and suspension, all three include tyres (pressures, thread, sidewall damage from kerbing and potholes), safety electrics like lights (wipers, washers, horn, blower) and windows and reflective number plates (see and be seen). When you lift the bonnet your first thought and check should be the brake fluid reservoir (the level and colour of the brake fluid, one second look normally) and not the engine oil dipstick, battery terminals being secure would be before dipstick. Good luck. If you find the part number or specification of screws let us know for future.

There is lots of the UK not in the London Region with all the chargers there supposedly. People often do what ever they need to, and many care not a jot about others. Plugging in a PHEV and leaving all day when the battery empty to full is less than 2 hours. EV drivers do the same. There really is not parking long term with a car plugged in and chargers for all. Cheap or Free Supermarket charging brought out the greedy in people. PodPoint at Tesco and 44 pence a kWh on a 7 kW AC charger had many stopping being greedy barstewards.

I got mine a few moths ago, the dealership agent informed me the virtual pedal function had been removed from the ones manufactured after 05/2024 due to the high number of complains about working unreliably and unpredictably. Also, it had some safety issues as well but they wouldn't tell me about the details. So my Mk4 is just not equipped with function accordingly. I loved it in my Mk3 tho.

Thanks, I had previously seen that menu option to enable disable application shortcuts, but took it to mean all shortcuts including the side ones, With it switched off I now have the maps full screen again (without the music controls) and all 4 Google Maps buttons displayed. It would have been nice to keep some way of seeing and controlling Spotify from the full screen maps, but it's not the end of the world as we have steering wheel buttons which I use most of the time and can change to split screen if I did want that. Much appreciated.

This might actually be more use, as it highlights peak power against RPM. (Data is originally from www.automobile-catalog.com.)

Were either of the mechanics DSG specialists? It certainly seems like the first guy was not entirely competent, and the second guy may not have solved the problem. But until you clean the area properly and monitor it for further leaking, you won't know for sure. If nothing else, you might like to leave a review of the first mechanic somewhere, noting his simian ancestry and questionable pedigree.

You'll be lucky to get them shiny! Even if they do it'll only last a couple of weeks until they dull but they should remain darker/black for longer.

This Labour Government is going to have to act over this Mandate that is in place having come about while the Tories formed a government. @EnterName are you saying that you think that there are members here earning more than employees at Stellantis Van Factories who do not care. Your making assumptions or trying to make some political point are you not? It was people who voted in the past governments that have the manufacturing in the UK where it is now. Do you have less income than an employee in a Van manufacturing factory or more? Do you think you are affluent?

These are the differences for the MK3 Octavia. Take your pick.

No. They are plastic. Rotary polisher and T Cut followed by Autoglym Super Resin Polish. Autoglym Plastic and Rubber Spay lasts 2-3 weeks if applied regularly.

Most of the Octavia (and Superb) taxis around here are a minimum 1.5l, based on 3 districts, one being Glasgow.

In AA settings you can change it to vertical again. The alert button is visible in my case

Sounds good - anti drone is always a nice touch!

Well mine has made it through Emden as in it's way to the UK..so not long now

Coils do go on these, had similar symptoms on mine but it did flag a code I think. I changed all 4 coils (I knew which one failed but I changed all 4 as a precaution) and it's been perfect since. As a side note the 1.8tsi does generally use oil, mine does and always has. It's not got any worse in 60k miles and 11 years so just be aware and ready to top up.

I'm sure this conversion has been done to death, but on the off-chance it's not been noticed, here it is. Purchased from ebay https://ebay.us/BozwJK For £28.00 I brought this bonnet gas struts conversion. It's simplicity it's self with only two bolts per side and makes a huge difference to the Access to the engine bay. Oh, and it looks really cool too. Under 1/2 hour to fit and a one person job. I hope this brings something to the table that can benefit others.

Lovely Cars, I just wonder have they made the cars kerb weight any lighter ? As a superb Sportline 150 BHP DSG TDI estate owner on a 22 plate I pondered recently over the last of the MK 3 L&K models that look a bargain , I even looked at a Kodiaq 5 seat SUV, but the boot space in my superb estate (dog crate in boot) allows me to load up the rear footwells with stuff and the back seats with the Caravan awning etc to keep the weight out of the caravan (swift CHALLENGER 580SE 1550 KG) . I thought it would be a bit too heavy for the bigger caravan but it towed like a dream to France and back and I got 34mpg towing on the way down to Dover brim to brim (not using the maxidot) and a bit less coming home but that was a lot more hill climbing coming back up North (quite literally up North and down south from where we live) I would like to see some reports from an owner of the new MK4 towing a bigger van, but thank you so much for your posts and photographs