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It's almost ironic that I work in a tech-heavy industry and use a wide variety of electronic kit daily, both for work and my hobbies. I'm not so interested in being a server engineer or IT specialist, but these things do encroach on my job. But I can't really feel emotionally connected to EVs. I like the wheezy bang-bang of ICE cars :) Not sure why. I've wondered if it comes from my youth? I remember when I left home at 19 y/o to find employment 150 miles away. The car gave me freedom and Independence, something I valued tremendously and have enjoyed for many decades. On my journey through life and on tarmac, I've had some great hot hatches, sports cars and such like and this has strengthened a bond with the automobile that goes way beyond it being mere transport. It lives and breathes and talks to you as you drive it. Sometimes your car is a mad, frantic collie dog, sometimes a greyhound, sometimes a big fat Labrador (to use a weird analogy) but it responds to your commands and tells you how it feels moment by moment. Noise, vibration, power/torque curves, all feeding back to you in your joint experience, something that I find EVs simply lack. Going from A to B in silence and with great linear response, is very efficient, but sometimes less is not more and I don't want a totally subservient device on my travels, I want a partner, one with its own opinions and character. It makes life more interesting, even if it also brings many compromises. I think of it like a beautiful hand built wristwatch, It is more desirable than the undoubtedly more accurate and cheaper digital watch. As a time piece, the digital watch wins every day, to the micro second! But the craftsmanship of the beautiful hand built chronograph, is still more desirable for many people. I don't deny the many benefits of EVs and the great qualities they have, it's just at the moment they don't make sense for me and I can't emotionally connect to them in the slightest :( I'll be a petrol head to the day I die, I suspect, even if I end up with an EV eventually

Renewable generation is problematic during an autumn/winter anticyclone like we have over the UK at the moment. I've been watching National Grid: Live for the last couple of days and so far today gas has provided around 70% of UK electricity generated with renewables down less than 15%. We really need to move further and faster on both Grid battery storage and local micro nuclear if we are to stop burning gas without having grid failures.

You aren't the only one who's been wondering that!😆

Could you please open your topics in the karoq area and create a thread for each topic?

Indeed, but at £6k that is a very hefty outlay. I am very interested in a home battery but would definitely be wanting one that can provide power in a power cut as having the added resilience is something I'm keen to have but unless the rates drop substantially in the near future I'm not that keen to invest. Are there any around that can be 'uninstalled' and moved to another house once fitted?

That made me chuckle, yep, and we are having to pay more so you can continue to enjoy the low taxation and VAT on your car, ain't we petrol heads kind and considerate 😁😁

I think IT dont Work

VW did not in this case falsely claim anything. There was Internal Corrosion and issues with the sulphur. Humidity was the issue. What was false was a Global Recall excluding Europe yet Climate in parts of Europe or the UK could be just the same as New Zealand, but there there were only hundreds or vehicles needing a new MCU. Plenty articles from 2012 around, including Autocar VW,s favoured mouth piece where they said no need for a UK recall. China & Asia got 100,000 miles / 10 year warranties given. 2 years later in the UK / EU / Europe a Service / Workshop campaign. ** Never a retraction, apology or anything like. & never a mention of the failures of late 2012 to 2013,s never given a Service Campaign.

Best way to save is do what pensioners have to do in the UK switch everything off and go and sit in the library

So charge a 2kwh battery up over night and the next day save 34p £600 for the battery 3,000 days later (over 8 years) you save £400........... 13p a day if the battery did last that long

I thought that was an image of Starmer counting all the fuel duty and vat you’re giving him.

Why am I seeing this image of you, now I can't get that image out of my head, its an image worm. 🙄🤔😉

I could see me having an EV once I retire and give up on cars in general. At the moment they don't fit my needs and certainly don't align with my passions (ooh errr). I know there are many happy EV owners out there, but I won't be joining them any time soon (assuming my health and employment status don't change, of course). As I've said before, I am time poor in my job and do not want to stop whilst travelling and also charging away from home as I would have to do frequently, would make an EV cost similar to running a diesel or economical petrol car (assuming some recharging at home). So the way I see it, there is no financial advantage, it would rob me of time and I find EVs souless, even though they may be a great conveyance in general terms. I also find their design in general, to be extraordinarily bland. I would much rather a Tesla 3 looked like the original Fiat Multipla, than the way it actually does, but that's personal taste of course (I thought my M3 - G80 - was a handsome car ).

I'm on my 2nd Enyaq - as ever with Skoda they have been utterly reliable. Just jumped in the car last week and drove from Edinburgh to near Utrecht in the Netherlands. We took the ferry from Newcastle rather than driving 11 hours to the South coast, but we could have made the journey without charging. We stopped for a toliet stop after 2 and a half hours so we plugged in while we went to the loo and grabbed a coffee. On the way home from Utrecht, zero charges and we had 40% left when we got home.

After 3.5 wonderful years with my Golf R Estate, I've given up the car allowance and ordered a new Enyaq Sportline Company Car. The Golf is fantastic, but I couldn't live with the 42% deductions on the car allowance, the low-20s MPG (sometimes sub 20 in traffic) the 99 ron fuel, the £900 a year insurance cost etc etc etc. It's coming in Jan, it's Meteor Grey, I wanted Racing Blue, but my allowance just wouldn't stretch that far, otherwise standard facelift Sportline so I'm delighted it comes with Canton, heating wheel and a couple of other things I wasn't expecting. Haven't even driven one, I've sat in one in the showroom, but Skoda Cardiff didn't seem to want to talk to me despite me kicking the tyres for 20 mins. I did buy my Superb from them, but that was a good few years ago. I'm expecting a Superb like experience, but quieter, less engaging (somehow) but mostly, once I've got a home charger installed and switch tariffs I'd like to stop having to spend £300+ a month on fuel. All told, it's going to save me £500 a month, at least until they change their mind on tax rules etc.

Hi All - Just a bit of writing for you all to enjoy - I'm no writer but stay with me anyway - Mods if you wish to Move to another section feel free 😁 The Super B and That Trip to France Us Caddye’s are your traditional archetypical Irish family. No airs or graces with us, what you see is what you get. Two great kids, our lad, Jay is 10 and our daughter Alannah is 13 now. We have a fairly normal existence in fairness with bills to pay, places to go, activities for the kids, trying to just make life as stress free as possible – Every family is in the same boat up and down this country. When my beloved Mk1 Fabia vRS was involved in an unscheduled indiscretion with a Galway traffic light I was on the lookout for another car. I was trying to delay the inevitable “That car is way too small to fit the kids and associated bits in” conversation but alas that conversation was accelerated at 4:45am on a rainy morning in April 2024! My search ended with a reasonably tidy 3T 2010 Skoda Superb Mk2 Estate. Not only that she is an Elegance with tan leather, loads of toys, an absolutely massive boot, loads of space inside and going well. The car is an original Dublin registered car as well which is a rarity in this country as we always have low spec cars with the way that extras are taxed. Because of GDPR I will never find out about previous owners or where in the class structure they fall. Car absolutely fits our needs like a glove, cheap running, parts plentiful and mechanics know them better than they know their own wives. Mechanically Superb’s of this generation are fairly robust and reliable with very few foibles so I was ready for many years of loyal service. After this car came to us via a great chap Declan for very reasonable money we were all set for a new chapter in family motoring. The car really proved herself over the next few months and we had no concerns apart from one day I started her at work and she ran like a bag of weasels but then cleared – strange I thought but passed it off as a glitch. Another day she put a load of smoke out the back and Sinead my wife mentioned that the car put smoke out on her but then cleared, but again I put that down to a DPF regen. On cold mornings there was a bit of steam from the exhaust but this was attributed to the cold. Another thing that annoys me is the parking sensors – I park putting my arm around the passenger seat and looking back, a skill that has been passed down the Caddye generations as both my father and grandfather done likewise. The sensors on the left back were giving erroneous readings which again I put down to age related issues. Nothing to worry about. Little did I know that these little incidents were invariably linked. She was running really well and with this in mind Sinead asked me how I felt about driving in France as there was a great deal going for Domaine de Ormes which is only 200km from the Cherbourg ferry. Sounds good to me I said so let’s go for that All good and happy in the weeks leading to the trip, new tyres, a new timing belt, tensioner, idler rollers and waterpump were fitted up with Cian and a good check over. Alco testers, hi vizzys, headlight beam benders, IRL badge on the back, bulb kit, mini trolley jack, breaking bar with 19mm socket. A selection of hoses and a few tools. This would cover all foreseeable incidents and keep the French gendarmerie happy. Tuesday before the off and the heater wasn’t great in the car – Also with the expansion bottle cap off there was a few bubbles coming up – Ahh sure she probably didn’t just bleed right was the problem I told myself. I had an appointment in Galway but outside Abbyknockmoy things took a turn for the worse with loads of white smoke from the exhaust. I promptly called off the appointment and headed for Craughwell as this is where Dave and Sean are. These lads are VW specialists and really know the EA189 engine. Their diagnosis was “Bypass the water supply to the EGR cooler and see how it goes. Them coolers split and allow the exhaust gas and water to mix giving the appearance of a headgasket failure” Sean asked me had she ever locked up on startup and I said no but I had to replace the battery a few months ago as she refused to turn over… “I have never seen one of them engines need a headgasket in the 20 years I have worked on them” was a reassuring thing to hear Back to Ian’s and Cian put in an EGR cooler bypass but the smoke was still there – Thats probably still residual water in the exhaust I said – Sorry I wanted to believe. She was still bubbling in the expansion tank – Not as bad but still bubbling none the less. Jimmy was asking what was going on and we told him. His reply I would keep hearing at least 3 times a day for the next 8 days “Under no circumstances take that car to France” So the following Thursday I went to work with the car and no water usage and no smoke – Great I thought that’s her ready now. Friday I used the car for work again and no problem. I was now confident that all was within limits. Friday evening, I loaded the car and checked her over, put on the IRL and put on the headlight beam benders. Lifted the bonnet and checked the oil, perfect then checked the expansion bottle and to my horror it was low, so low in fact it was on the point of triggering the alarm. I tried to think of a way out, but it was too late – She was going to Dublin and Dublin is 200k away. If she uses a bottleful of coolant every 150k that will be doable ….. I have a full 5 litres of coolant in the shed and I have an empty one so I put 2.5 in one and fill the 2 with water – 10 litres is the whole system filled twice so that should do it. I pack the 2 jars in at the tailgate edge for easy access. Here we go. I am a small bit worried and try not to show it, its too late to pull out and we definitely need the Superb as Sinead’s beloved FN2 Honda just doesn’t have the boot and isn’t booked on the boat. This has to work – I’m that far in that there is no way back now. Kids are all excited and bringing this and that – I am quiet thinking the worst. Saturday 31st May 2025 I phone the Insurance to see how we are fixed if it goes south in France – I can get recovered to a local French mechanic and a few other bits. Our travel insurance will get us home but the car will have to stay “Ahh sure I’m sure nothing will happen – Don’t worry about it” said the chirpy girl at the other end. If you only knew what I know now I was thinking. I googled every car place, every recovery outfit, and every train station between Cherbourg and Domain de Ormes – Get ready, if this goes tits up then both mine and our Super B’s reputation would be irreparably damaged. Everyone is ready and I suggest that we set off early as we are all geared for the off. This has to work, and I can’t say anything. The temperature gauge and the low coolant level warning cannot be seen from the passenger side which is one small comfort. We set out and drive through Clonberne as the road to Creggs is closed. We call to Ian – Cian isn’t there and I say my bye byes and say everything is okay. Ian says “Cian is a bit worried about the car” I told him she will be sound. I am driving steady watching the gauge – 90degC all the way. We stop at Killbeggan and I disappear to check the bottle – At the level so all good. Feeling not too bad. M4, M50, Port Tunnel and traffic is heavy, Temp is perfect no warnings. We land at the ferry terminal and I am happy enough. Stage 1 of 4 complete. We go up the boat ramp of the WB Yeats and the low coolant warning comes on to which I remark that the sharp incline has put on the warning. Right 150k has now been set and that is do able. You would be taking a break at that distance anyway so its definitely within the realms of possibility that this will work Sunday 1st June 2025 After a fairly restless night I’m in a tizzy to get to the deck to get the car topped up and I hurry on to the deck and get all the bags in, bonnet pulled expansion bottle topped up and then the nervous wait – Everyone quiet. Is it a leak or the headgasket? – No coolant on the deck. Please let this work. Perfect startup and no smoke, not too bad. We roll up on a French passport control officer and the kids are giving him whatever French they have picked up and he is delighted but just as he says “Bon Voyage”, the dreaded alarm for low coolant blares again … Oh f**k this can’t be, please not here, not now, – No where to stop and check. It can’t be gone already …… Please no, not in France and not on a Sunday. On a Sunday the French rest, no exceptions. I hear Jimmy’s warning once again “Under no circumstance take that car to France” I say to myself throw caution to the wind and just push on, no petrol stations, then there are signs for lorry’s not to overtake, and you guessed it that means climbs. A Superb Estate is 1550kg and has about 500 kgs of people and luggage on board so no big lifts or putting any pressure on the car. Then the temp gauge starts to climb off the 90…. No please – I check the oil temp and its saying 114 – Not overly high – If it gets to 125 – 130 you are on thin ice. Temp gauge is at over 105 now and the low-level coolant warning is flashing… I know the EA189 is strong but can it take that sort of abuse? The road starts to level off, the temperature levels off and my stress levels off. We travel about 150k and Sinead suggests a stop off at a services Aire Vallee De La Vire – Thank God. Kids get a feed, we get a feed. The Superb gets a rest and a cool down. We sit for 45mins and Sinead announces we are only 60k to go. I say im going to check the car. The pressure in the expansion bottle is enormous and I start to fill the bottle again. Nearly 2 litres she takes. I decide to run the engine to circulate the water, which I didn’t and couldn’t do on the boat. She fires up no problem and I go under to check – Where’s the cap ?…. Please no… where will I get a cap in the middle of France on a Sunday? I look and its down by the alternator. I left it on the engine cover and then started her up. Any more I put it on the scuttle panel – A lesson learned….! We load up and head out – No warnings and temp normal. I just cruise along with a lorry at 90km in the right lane. Everyone thinks that this reduced speed is just a factor of us being in a strange land. Its all about mechanical sympathy and preservation after the heating she has endured over the previous 100 or so miles. We come off the dual carriageway just as the temperature hand starts to stir and with the reduced pace it levels again. We roll up to the campsite and check in. Special stage 2 out of 4 is now complete. Alannah remarks “Daddy the car is smoking a bit” I pass this off as a DPF regen and don’t say anymore. We have made it – Now we have a sick Superb and we are 500k from Patch – That’s quite a problem for me only as everyone else is oblivious – Lets keep it that way Monday and Tuesday 2nd and 3rd June 2025 Rest days and I post on the Briskoda.com forum but just ask if there any harm in bypassing the EGR cooler? I don’t disclose that we are in bother in France. I just don’t want to jinx the whole deal. I know there is a small independent old school garage just down the road about 8km away - Staff Auto in Saint-Benoît-des-Ondes, Should I take the car there and see what they can do? What if I say I’m just going a nosey but If I do that the mask is well and truly off, everyone will be anxious and the holiday will be ruined. An answer comes from Breezy Pete from the Briskoda forum who says its good troubleshooting to bypass the EGR and no harm to drive it but get it sorted sooner rather than later. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/532688-skoda-superb-mk2-cbbb-coolant-leakegr-advice/#comment-5951782Thinking back its now obvious the head gasket has gone or the head is cracked and there is no way that will be fixed here. The engine has got a fair heating and the head is probably warped – As long as she does not hydrolock as water will not compress and could break a connecting rod or piston – With the pressure in the system the water is leaking into one of the combustion chambers – Every cold startup will be a nerve-wracking experience from here on Wednesday 4th June 2025 We go to an open air Zoo and Castle Bourbansais, La Bourbansais, which is 23km away. It’s all rural roads and speed is slow. Car runs great no issue, No smoke, no warnings, steady temperature. Its all easy pace and the car behaves impeccably. When we get back, I check the expansion bottle – No coolant loss, Say nothing and keep saying it Thursday 5th June 2025 We intend to go to Dinan and a few places roundabout– We load up and I hit the key. The starter motor just clicks. This is the dreaded hydrolock. I keep trying and Sinead asks if the battery is down – I say maybe it is and eventually the engine turns over and fires into a rough run in a cloud of smoke – My biggest fear has now been realised – It’s the headgasket and make no mistake about it. We drive through the campsite with smoke eventually clearing – Nobody looks behind, everyone is oblivious to the situation but at this stage I’m now thinking of how we are going to get home and we aren’t going until Sunday. Some of the route is dual carriageway – I take it nice and handy but still the dreaded temperature starts to creep up again. I keep looking in the mirror for smoke but none appears. I nurse the car on the pretext that I’m being careful, The reality is one big stress and the engine will go full Chernobyl leaving us stranded. Friday 6th June 2025 We decide to go to Mont san Michele which is 30 or so km away. The heater now doesn’t work and its ****ing it down. I have to run the fan to keep the windows clear and its Baltic inside the car. Again its nice and easy pace and no hydrolock today. There is a complaint that it is really cold in the car and “We could all catch a dose” I grunt and say the heater matrix is likely blocked. Saturday 7th June 2025 Another hydrolock on first startup – Seans question earlier about the engine refusing to turn over on the starter now becomes relevant – Very relevant. We go to Dol de Bretagne for the market but again all I can think about is tomorrow and the trip to Cherbourg – We come back to the car after 2hrs and the car fires straight up – We go and refuel – We spy another LHD Superb Estate in dark blue – This one is on an 11-KE plate – I wonder what the story is there? Sunday 8th June 2025 Its D-Day and im not talking the Normandy Landings here. We will be passing by if we make it that far. I sit in the car and ask her nicely “I know you are very sick but please do your best and I promise I will get you fixed up properly and you will have your forever home with us” I check the oil for signs of water. The oil filler has a small layer of mayonnaise just under the cap. I didn’t see that. We load up the car with all our gear – Again I make the suggestion we leave early. Everyone aboard and its time. Here goes – I hit the key and The Super B fires up immediately without smoke and we take off – Sinead checks out and we are headed for Cherbourg – 209kms to go. Its overcast and cool. Perfect conditions, I think. For the first 60kms the temp needle is steady 90degC, no warnings. First climb and the needle starts to creep. The climb is steep, we are loaded to the hilt and I keep glancing down. The road levels off and the temp needle does likewise. This routine continues over the next 4 or 5 climbs. The needle doesn’t seem to be raising as high as the previous week. We stop in the same services and things aren’t as bad as the outward journey. I’m quietly confident. I check the expansion tank and again the pressure is big and the level is low enough. We have covered only 60kms at this stage. Another 110km to Cherbourg and them awful climbs to go. Next sign Cherbourg 78km, Cherbourg 46km, Cherbourg 23km – We go past the reenactment of the Normandy Landings – There are loads of people along the roads. The traffic is a bit slow which suits us just fine. We can see the coast as we come downhill into the port itself. We are early there with about 1 and a half hours in hand. As long as this car gets aboard the WB Yeats we will be home free. Every startup is faultless and we board the ferry. Stage 3 out of 4 is now complete. I am nearly celebrating. If the engine caves now then that will be grand – I will get pushed off and recovery can come and get us in Dublin Monday 9th June 2025 We awake early and have a light breakfast. I am thinking of the startup – Expansion bottle filled again – Sinead has booked us priority exit from the boat so to avoid mayhem we have to get going – Please do not hydrolock at this late stage. She fires up without incident, no smoke no rough running, passport check a chat with the customs and onto the Port Tunnel, M50 and M4. Homeward bound, Temperature steady, no alarms, Nice and calm pace. Im now getting confident that indeed we are going to make it. A stop off at Maccy D’s outside Athlone and bottle filled – She then hydrolocks again and again she eventually turns over, starts, runs rough and clouds of smoke. I don’t really care as we are very close now and the damaged engine is getting steadily worse but even if the engine goes bang now then Ian can come up with a trailer and get us – She runs rough, is suffering but eventually we struggle home – We have made it Stage 4 out of 4 complete. Tuesday 10th June 2025 We have to go to Limerick for a bed for Alannah – I am really chancing it now. We stop at Ian’s Garage. Ian, Cian and Jimmy are at the door of the garage as I pull in. I step out with the two arms aloft and with the victory fingers on both hands smiling like a cheshire cat. Jimmy is the first to speak exclaiming “I have to hand it to you – You have balls” I tell the above story and everyone says we were very very lucky to get away with such a journey We did get to Limerick and back and the following Thursday I come back from work with the car belching out clouds of steam. Sinead asked me “Is your car working okay?” I said “Well its working but its not okay” “OMG was it like that in France?” “Yes it was – Did you enjoy France and did you have any concerns about the car?” “Yes and No” “ Well all I saw of France was a temperature gauge, a low level warning light and an empty expansion bottle” – I drove the car on for a further 3 weeks to the point I had to release the built up pressure in the bottle every time I stopped the car before she eventually cried enough and the engine refused to start. The EA189 will always be remembered for its association with the VW Dieselgate scandal but no other engine would have stuck that sort of abuse for as long as it did or maybe it was the little chat I had on the morning before we took off for the homeward leg. A car is an innate object incapable of showing any emotion but I like to think that they do indeed have a heart, soul and a personality. All my workmates knew that the trip was in jeopardy as I was telling them of my troubleshooting capers the week previous – Usually you would get a “How’s the holiday going?” text but they knew that it was on a knife edge and any mention of it would have put the kybosh on the trip. I never contacted anyone either for the same reason! Thinking now about the whole trip, the well worn adage from the SAS is fitting in this story “He who dares wins”. The car could have blew up on the way to Dublin or worse still outside Cherbourg on the climbs or halfway to Mont san Michael but it didn’t but it was close. There was too much at stake to surrender. The Super B has received another full engine so she does indeed live to fight another day. She is going great – No oil/water loss and no tsunami in the expansion bottle. There was a fair few bits we got with the new to me engine. Did you know that the bare EA189 is identical no matter what engine code it has? Nor did I – The difference in engine codes is in the injectors and turbocharger only. Well I made a promise that our Superb will never see another owner if she held up her end of the bargain, which she did so it’s up to me to honour my promise!! Many a 15-year-old car gets unnecessarily scrapped when a problem like this occurs being classed as uneconomical to repair but I believe that if you have a small bit of DIY knowledge you can easily keep an older girl maintained and roadworthy giving you years of loyal service. My car has many dings and marks and is no show pony but as transport she excels. I laugh every time I see a new SUV as I am looking at €500 every month in repayments and then the car isn’t even yours for you have to stump up €20k in a balloon payment – I don’t give a toss how bad an old 2010 Superb is going but she won’t swallow a monkey of cash every month. Fact. We made it to France - Outside Domaine des Ormes Outside the Lodge Boot full with Cooler Box and the Vital Coolant in the Right side We Mad ethe Cherbourg Ferry - Now that's a relief 3 Weeks and finally she has given up - Fair play to the Brian James Trailer Sun is shining on an empty Bay Like a big Jigsaw - She has come back Dol de Bretagne

Some may find this useful so here goes. Bought a 74 plate Fabia 1.5 Monte Carlo DSG (with winter and charging packs) in Feb and have now been driving it daily for 6 months. Reason for choice, I wanted an automatic, it’s the right size and I was adamant I didn’t want a 3 cylinder 1.0L engine - it’s just a quirk I have but it ruled out several other options. Pro’s Really nice to drive. Responsive, comfortable, good visibility and excellent economy (I average 50mpg). DSG is as good as any VW I’ve driven- it really is nice. FAST when you give it a boot full! All the bells and whistles one could need although lane assist annoys the life out of me (but can always turn it off) Good build quality Excellent boot space for class or car Good insurance premium (half that of my previous BMW 225) Cons Nothing major but a few irksome elements Infotainment system is sometimes a bit irrational, goes completely dead on occasion for no reason. A/C is not particularly cold. Might be solved with a rehab but is only 9 months old!! Finally a few irritations with Skoda themselves as follows: Spare wheel as an accessory is £300 but only £155 if ordered with a new car. This is the top model but has no front sensors or reverse camera (now addressed with new colour edition). Service plans are not great IMO. I’ve found an Independant VAG specialist who is miles better in service offered and cost. After sales from Skoda dealership - this doesn’t really bother me to be fair but they did promise several follow up courtesy call etc. but I’ve not heard a peep. Conclusion - I am very happy with my Fabia, glad I bought it, have no regrets whatsoever and would happily buy the same car again if I went back in time. Hope this helps someone currently looking.

Picked up a Octavia VRS combi the other week, needed something a bit bigger than my old CRZ with a new golden retriever pup and settled on this after listening to a friend yap about how much they loved theirs. 2018 plate with 56k miles and seemingly one of the better specced ones I could find for sale at least in terms of creature comforts (why are so many just the most barebones spec?!)

Yeah, sorry! I just too happy to see the coding worked that I didn’t realize it was for another model

I think same.

They encourage it by their pricing and their margins will be even bigger perhaps on the free sessions when giving it away for free but being paid 42p for taking tge power tgen, very nice margin. Win for supplier win for users who can flexible use tge power when free. Losers are those who pay a day long flat rate for not playing the electricity market and pay the sucker All Day rate.

It is at least £1 a day on the 5 kwh from solar and nighttime loaded electricity which is free or 8.5p per kwh. Almost every day since the vernal equinox I have managed to supply all of what would have been the use of the expensive daily electricity at 28p per kwh but used a combination of nighttime and free solar and free Octopus sessions so an average of about 5p per kwh so saving around 23p per kwh or about £1.15 a day or put another way £100 a quarter. Usually get additional solar generators ie the combo device of battery, solar input circuitry and invertor for AC output, 1 kw, or 2.4 kwh in one of the devices case, at the Black Friday events. Did order one a few days ago that wad £299, 1.2 kwh with 1.5 kw ac supply and good 12v output to and could take 650w solar input to charge the batteries during the day. But they failed to supply but accidentally sent me a 100 Ah, 12.8v lithium battery in error. Have credited me for the solar generator bur not sent me a returns label, may have forgotten to do so so this would be my first decent sized battery. I happen to already have a 1 kw 12v DC to AC convertor so that may pair well. Pay back probably a couple of years but this is diminishing quarter by quarter and I have High Hopes that Next month Black Friday will have some awesome bargains judging by the high rate of fall in lithium battery prices and massive competition between Allpower, Bluetti, Ecoflow, Jackery and other big players in this market.

for Cars registered on or after 1 April 2017

It is what the Mk3 is classed as - starting from around 2015.

Škoda StoryboardHigh performance with low fuel consumption - Škoda Storyb...The 1.5 TSI evo2 engine is remarkably versatile, powering all Škoda cars built on combustion engine platforms. Compared to the previous version, this engine features a number of new technical solut...

Expensive car supplement is payable years 2-6, so the keeper pays it, not the dealer on registration.

Regulation (EU) 2015/758 lays down a general obligation for new types of vehicles of categories M1 and N1 to be equipped with 112-based eCall in-vehicle systems as of 31 March 2018. I suppose it would be possible for vehicles that were not "New types" to have been still registered without it. I would expect given the time it took to implement the regulations manufacturers would have done it on Model Year so MY2018 which usually start being built earlier the year before in 2017 would have it. But a MY2017 that had been sat around in a field or showroom unregisterd then sold in 2018 may not. As of January 1, 2026, new cars launched in Europe must be equipped with the updated Next Generation eCall (NG eCall) system, which uses 4G and 5G networks. Cars being built now will have that one.

In the last week I’ve had Bilstein B6 fitted with standard sportline springs. The thing is like a whole different car. No wallowing, no wheels thumping around on the rebound. Had polybushes on the rear of the front arms at the same time and the car is now amazing. Wife and kids haven’t noticed at all. I was actually avoiding driving it beforehand cos it annoyed me so much. Now I’m after any excuse to drive it.

Hi all, My 2017 Octavia 1.5 TSI needs front shocks, top mounts and wheel bearings both sides. My usual garage has quoted £770 incl. VAT. Does that sound reasonable to anyone who’s had similar work done? I also need two new front tyres so just checking I’ve got the order and price about right. Cheers!

Labour charges at main dealers can be around £120 an hour some even higher

remapped to 177 HP, great. i should remap my 1.5 tsi too..

An oil & Inspection service and a Pollen filter replaced should be expected. They might even say Brake Fluid is due a change now at 2 years and no longer first at 3 years. Other up-selling as well, AC service and the brakes being 80% worn, not only 20%.

A 2kwh one on Amazon is £899, it sure is going to take a time to get payback, which they claim has 3,000 times recharge cycle so the real question is, do they ever get into the realms of paying for themselves?

@lol-lol But does the saving in electricity bills pay for the purchase of the multiple small batteries? What's the payback period?

OK will do when the new kennel arrives.🤣

Economics 101. This is not a zero sum game. Suppliers offer cheap rates not out of kindness of their heart. They do it because they are buying it in cheaply or even getting paid. They are able to pass the savings on to consumers using different tariffs/schemes. As always, key is to be in a position to take advantage of that. You are then happy you are saving on bills. Supplier is happy that you can buy their cheap electricity so they can even get money for selling grid excess. Grid is happy that their excess demand is being consumed. Everyone should be happy that the average electricity price is being driven down thanks to people buying when there's low demand.

Spot on. Changes, removal of sound/harshness, should not automatically make the new tech a blasphemy to people who like the sound/harshness. The old can still be enjoyed in moderation as a hobby. No one is taking away motorsports or race tracks. Of course, there's still a small percentage of drivers current EV are not suitable. But it's slowly getting there. The new Merc CLA is said to be very fast charging and also very efficient, achieving almost ICE travel time over 1000 km. For charge pricing, Tesla vehicles or with their supercharging membership is always cheaper than driving ICE. Their peak price are all below 50p/kWh and cheapest off-peak is less than 30p/kWh. Key, as always, is to get the majority of people's miles on electricity that can be renewably generated. The power plants emission can be centrally improved, don't have to wait 10+ years for an ICE car to be scrapped.

Takes 2 seconds. Keeping a TV on standby can use significant energy so instead of plugging it in to mains in the morning plug it in to the solar generator power. It's not only about saving money for better things but not adding to the electrical load at peak times when The Grid brings online those dirty gas etc power stations so environmental as well as economic. Passing on less climate charge burden to the children, grandchildren and next generations.

It is interesting what puts people off EV. The reality for most EV users is that use of rapids is not very often, so overall running costs are low, but I can see how if you were more dependent on them it would tip the scales towards staying with petrol or diesel. I’ve been interested in cars and engines all of my life and went to work in the industry as a mechanic and have done various jobs on all types of vehicles. I’m still fascinated by them and love classic vehicles (I could happily spend hours just listening to a Gardner 6LXB engine idling !) but driving around all day today in modern traffic in an EV is just a way better experience than petrol or diesel whether manual or automatic in my opinion. That is just driving around and not including the reduced fumes and CO2 and cheaper running costs. And what is interesting is that I am the most tech-phobic Luddite in most other respects. It’s clearly a human thing like old trainspotters loving steam engines and hating diesel’s and electrics or people loving Spitfires and DC3s more than the Airbus they go on holiday in.

Blimey... Thats a bit crazy... Think I have better things to do with my time

Got nothing to do with it. I pointed out you talking here about downloads from servers which isn’t relevant to updating info to the car. The guy asked a question, we can just answer it rather than raise a point if order that’s he’s asked in the wrong topic

Only the Fridge Freezer and the TV when i use that and the laptop. Don't change plugs on router, sky, BT box and the water pump for the gas boiler as they only use a few watts where as fridge freezer and TV use quite carefully bit more. Boiling the kettle, microwave use,air fryer etc just use from the mains as their use is short in time. Fridge Freezer would use about 2 kwh in the Expensive time of day, TV about 1 kwh of expensive day time if not run off batteries. The 3 EVs are the big save and the above small by comparison. I may put 50 Kwh in to two of the EVs in a night and that is near £10 saving per day if I was on a single rate tariff of 28p per kwh instead of paying 8.5p per jwh as i do. Even if people had a near linear usage across each hour of the day I reckon they would be as well off on dual tine zone tariffs. Of course when there is free electricity sessions i will use the sockets, charge the EVs etc and that has got me about £50 credited to my Octopus account. Not too much hassle as I have 1 and 2 kwh batteries close to each high power usage device.

I would do the ABS Bleed Procedure. I have done that on ny Yeti and you only need access to both front brake bleed nipples. This resulted in a much firmer engine running brake pedal than before the ABS Bleed Procedure. So both front wheels on axel stands with wheels removed. It is an easy procedure but you need a few litres of brake fluid in a pressure bleeder. The rear wheels can be bleed normally after the ABS Bleed procedure is completed.

That seals it probably going to be the water pump. Get the cambelt done at the same time.

Hi, welcome. Sorry I know very, very little of the DSG other than I've never liked the idea back from original Aldi TT days (that VW model had loads of initial issues). Hopefully others will follow with more and better information. If you have not already done so you could look in other VWŠkoda model forums on this site about the DQ200 which might give firmer information and/.or conformation. I don't know but would guess the change from mineral to synthetic was about the make up of the oil rather than just a synthetic versus mineral oil issue. Whether the original oil make up was another VW error or the error of the oil supplier I've no idea but would think the oil supplier could blend to customer's instructions. So whatever brand is your choice for oils I would contact them to find out what their database has for which oils. I don't know which oil company was the original supplier and which oil company provide VW labelled oil bottles now (VW put a Quantum label at the moment). @Guest_ often posted information abouts DSG boxes, as in that thread you linked to. There are are YT videos of DSG boxes being serviced but sorry I don't know if they include the DQ200 or if there are any good videos on it. Good luck.

Hello and welcome to the community!

Dash Virtual cockpit. You can enable Google Maps display on the dashboard instead of the standard maps?

I've also managed to swap it out, but like @JR RS I removed the front bumper. I found getting the centre clips out first was the easiest way to do it, and then work towards to each end. The 2 end clips where particular stubborn though.

You can disabled them with an OBD tool (OBD11 on Amazon) but, as I said above, just turn the headlights manually off (as opposed to auto) and they won't activate. I turn mine off whenever I clean my windscreen, as I hate the headlight washers - I just haven't gotten around to disabling them yet. Personally, unless it is absolutely necessary, I'd try not to use any of the washers. I think you'll survive with a cloth and some spray at services. I would get some clear Gorilla tape too - you don't want the tape to break down in the sun or rain on the trip.

"When pressing brake they extreme sharp and very responsive, stops so sudden." Difficult, I know, but try to see this as one of the (few) positives of owning a Fabia 4. The brakes were probably the first thing we noticed but they won't seem an issue when you look harder at the software and electronics. If you need to slam the brakes on they won't let you down.🙂 It's easier to adapt to the car than fight a losing battle with its peculiarities.