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We went to Nymans, near Haywards Heath, this afternoon. I was watching bees busying themselves, and took this snap, which I quite liked: Gaz

So, big changes! I have traded the Karoq SE-L 1.5Tsi DSG for a 7 month old Kia Sportage 1.6T GDI HEV GT-Line auto (6 speed torque convertor). A few others may remember tales of my new 2016 Sportage Edition which I hated and couldn't get rid fast enough, saying I will never buy another Kia... 🙄 fast forward 10 years...But we have now got a Kamiq also, as usual 1.5tsi SE L specced up with a few bits. My daughter had just bought exactly the same model Kia - I liked it- and in a moment of madness the Karoq has gone. I still prefer the understated look and equipment of the Skoda brand. I will miss storage and the clever useful bits. The Kia is full Hybrid and has most of the extras that I would normally specify. Pretty quick, strong mid range pull, about 1 inch wider (2 inch wider accounting for mirrors) and about 5inch longer. 19inch rims but 50 aspect ratio tyres and it does ride well, feels planted. Steering a little wooly compared to the Skodas but still OK. Seats are fine, I would prefer a lighter coloured headlining but thats just being picky. The Kia is 25% heavier than the Karoq but its supposed to be a little more frugal. Comparing the SE-L and mid spec Gt - Line when new there seems little difference in cost between the two cars. I may be wrong but it seems to me that Skoda may be loading the price of the Petrols to offset the cost of EV's. Insurance is more, no figures until my renewal in November. After 2 Karoqs spanning over 8 years I was recently thinking it is time for a change as the manufacturers warranty was coming to an end. Time will tell, for me the Karoq DSG is a hard act to follow. That said I have always had a slight preference for the smoothness and "creep" of the torque convertor autos. As the 1.5tsi and DSG mated well, it's the same with the Kia petrol/hybrid IMO. All very smooth. The 1.6T is slightly gruff when it kicks in, especially noticeable at low speeds but thats fine with me after 50 years of ICE. So it's not a complete goodbye as I will be a newbie on the Kamiq forum. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all. This was always a vibrant forum and I have learnt much and hopefully I have passed a bit back too!

Topic moved to 'Performance & Tuning Upgrades' section where hopefully other members with 1.2TSI engines will also be able to help/ advise.

Don't you have to tell the car that they've been replaced? Also you need to know what you're doing for a start. I wouldn't have a clue what to do, so leave things alone! If you aren't trained to do it or know what you're doing leave it alone, otherwise you could either kill yourself or someone else as it's brakes or give yourself a bigger bill.

I meant to say I run 94v on mine as I used to take a fair load as its an estate. Its not much of an increase (about 50kg per tyre but it helped when car was fully loaded especially at rear. The GT radials are I think classed as comfort tyres and I found them better on rough roads etc. Handling is still pretty good but I wouldn't fit them to a VRS. Alasdair

I've been watching his reviews for years now, and I concur; he goes the extra mile to get the salient points covered.

It’s difficult to say exactly as they were on the car when I got it. The history folder has 2 tyres fitted in June 2024 which I think were the front, but couldn’t say for sure as the rear are also Turanza T005 If they were the the fronts which I’ve just replaced, then I would have got 31.5K miles out of them. Personally, I’ve done around 23K miles on them.

Judging by previous comments factors to consider are: avoid 19 inch rims - (17 & 18 apparently give a better ride), 45 profile All Season tyres improve the ride, 4x4 multi link rear suspension gives a better ride than the 2wd torsion beam rear suspension. Whether you need DCC I don’t know - everyone has different comfort thresholds, lots of test drives required.

I have had this same issue for a couple of months. Car was in Edinburgh dealer last week and asked them to look at it before the warranty runs out next week. They kept it for whole day and then told me they need more time to look at it so needs to go back another day. Not sure if they just didn’t allocate enough time or whether they just don’t know how to fix it.

Lower spec models tend to have smaller wheels and thicker tyre sidewalls conversely higher spec models have bigger wheels and thinner. That makes them very prone to damage from even low kerbs and ride comfort is reduced. Not sure about Sportline with DCC you would have to test drive and try the settings. One thing that does improve the ride comfort on all models is cross climate tyres.

Tiny ickle toad on the terrace last night

For a while, just in case any of the new ones decide to fail.

Ahh sorry I missed that part, I thought that he is about to grease the spark plug threads 🙂

It is the coils getting greased to make removing easier.

Wouldn’t greasing the threads mess up the torque? I’ve been learned that the torque is different on lubed and dry threads.

Hi we recently bought a nearly new 2025 Skoda Enjaq 2025 85X and three weeks ago the following happened to my wife on a flat car park: I reversed into a parking space with empty spaces each side of the car. I elevated the P switch to red light position. I opened driver door and screen was on Goodbye. I got out of car and closed driver door. I opened rear right passenger door to remove a bag. Closed that door. Remembered I needed to turn off Interior Monitoring as dog was in the boot. Opened driver door and sat on seat planning to look at screen. Didn't touch the gear lever. Car started to move very slowly forward. I assume I tried to use brake pedal but too late to prevent contact with a car crossing in front. My memory of the Skoda creeping forward is of course like a slow motion nightmare as it was so completely inexplicable, so presumably my reactions were slow and especially so in a relatively unfamiliar car doing something entirely unexpected. Serious damage to our car and the vehicle passing in front of our car, Nobody hurt, HAS ANYBODY HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE ESPECIALLY IN A CAR With SIMILAR SEAT ACTIVATION SWITCH

For maximum positive improvement in comfort at minimum complication, you could go down to 6J to 7J wide x 16in wheels and use 205/60/R16 profile tyres (Octavia Scout wheel/tyre size), they will fit without suspension changes and provide big improvement in comfort, speedo will be exact. Note you need narrower and smaller diameter rims as well as narrower tyres. If you want to do more changes, as an example below is a setup for a 2016 Mk3 vRS that I own: It rides on narrow 6J x 17" black "Crystal" winter alloys (that are actually approved even for 340mm petrol vRS brakes) with 205/55/R17 all weather tyres (Michelin CrossClimate 2). Rear springs have been uprated by 2 groups to 5Q0511115AF (currently Lesjofors 4285741), and the rear shocks to Bilstein Sport B6 B6 24-229890. Note by far the easiest way to install new springs and shocks on multilink is to take out (and replace) 3 outer bottom arm bolts each side rather than mess with spring compressors. Also note front assist radar needed to be adjusted upwards by 1/2 turn. The 205/55/R17 tyre size is a Mk3 Scout tyre size. The higher springs together with slightly higher profile tyres make for about 1in higher ride height at front, and about 2in higher ride height at rear compared to stock vRS, I guess it'd be 1/2in over stock front and 1in higher back at rear when compared to Elegance. After 70k+ miles, the setup offers comfort, durability and robustness, even on very poor quality roads, it also offers somewhat increased ground clearance. Behaviour on motorway is actually better than stock, both for stability and comfort. Cornering is still good, unless you want track driving . Additional bonus is that when the car is full of luggage, it still has a good stance on autobahn which helps with air drag and fuel consumption, as well as stability at 120mph+ speeds (autobahn). This is not the first time I made similar changes, on my previous Mk1 Superb TDI V6 I had B6s all round, sport front springs, and HD rear springs and the effect was similar, drove over 200k miles in that one, significant part of it on shockingly poor roads. HTH

Another standard one from last week on way to work one morning.

Finally upgraded to the front brakes from the Polo GTI AW - Audi A1 Gba 🤘 This was something I should have done a long time ago. However, after going through three sets of brake discs, the same number of sets of pads, and putting the stock setup through some serious punishment on track, I think I finally made the right decision. The car in question is a Skoda Scala 1.0 G-TEC, which comes from the factory with 256 mm front brakes. 🔧 What was needed for the conversion as mentioned by carlston and the other guys here: • Steering knuckles from a Polo GTI AW or Audi A1 2.0 GBA Unfortunately, I couldn't find them anywhere, so I had to order them through official dealership here in Greece. • Brand-new TRW red brake calipers, together with their matching red caliper brackets. • FAG wheel hubs with bearings from an Audi A1 These are 76 mm, instead of the 72 mm units fitted to my model. • Brembo brake discs from an Audi A1. • Ferodo Racing DS2500 brake pads. • Brake dust shields / heat shields. • TRW 23.8 mm brake master cylinder The original master cylinder was 22.2 mm. The high-pressure brake lines remained unchanged. I also replaced the brake fluid with Castrol React SRF. 🏁 And now... time to test it! The installation was completed today, so I will obviously need some time to properly bed in the new discs and pads. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the car behaves with the new setup, especially on track. Considering how much abuse the stock braking system has taken, I'm hoping this will result in a significantly stronger and more consistent braking setup. 🤞

@thamestrader , get in there quick and change the "29 inch rims".

4x4 Sportlines have 45 profile tyres on 29 inch rims and multilink rear suspension (similar if not identical to Passat, Golf and others) 2wd have torsion beam axle - this is a big factor in ride comfort. Try and get a late 73 plate which will still have warranty and then purchase All-in-one plan. I m just about to do that for my Karoq 2.0 TSI 4x4 Sportline. Cost is £959, cost of 2 yrs extended warranty is £624 - thus allinone 2 services and 2 mots is £335, so that’s £168 per service and mot- 2 years roadside is also included - no brainer. Can get extra 4 years warranty, I have checked DSG, infotainment screen, dash screen and matrix headlight units are all covered if they fail.

Worth doing a word search with Google or Briskoda.

Having owned two Sportlines and driven a few others, I take the view that the two best options are: - Dynamic Chassis Control. It makes a real contribution to taming the appalling road surfaces that are so common now; - LED matrix headlights. Magical technology at its best. All headlights should be like this and one day maybe they all will be.

sold to webuyanycar. That’s it. Thank you!

Good morning Radek, although not a huge mileage, I'm not sure that attempting to raise engine output by that much would be a good idea for a long life.

IMO Think yourself lucky you have a Skoda vehicle that still has a dipstick

Beware - some of the above info is incorrect... all Mk2 Scouts and 4x4's had DPF's, even older PD140 ones, as they were fitted with the BMM 8v engine and not the 16v one without DPF fitted to other variants.

As the Fabia MK1 currently has 185/60R14, that was probably what was fitted to the car in the factory. If the spare wheel is also 185/60R14 that would also add to the evidence that the car was fitted with this tyre size in the factory. Notice in the chart below, that the 165/70R14 and 185/60R14 tyres use different rim specifications, ie. the wider tyre uses a 1" wider rim and 8mm more offset (43mm offset instead of the narrower tyre's 35mm offset). ET is the abbreviation of the German word EinpressTiefe and means offset. Increasing the offset from 35mm to 43mm moves the centre of the tyre (and the centre of the rim) 8mm further into the wheelarch. It's common for wider tyres to have more offset than narrower tyres so that the outside edge of the tyre isn't too close to the outside of the wheelarch. 14" wheel specification (Fabia MK1) 165/70R14 5Jx14 ET35 185/60R14 6Jx14 ET43

Yes, 185/60/14 is an option for all mk1s that don't have front brakes larger than 256mm.

Brake pad wear and therefore lifespan is very much a function of driving style and journey types. I personally find that garages always under estimate how long they will last; partially because they have to err on the side of safety - although this is open to looking like generating extra revenue. I usually change front pads at 72,000 miles, never had rear pads changed even after 162,000 miles in a previous car.

Currently on Sorn over winter, but will tax it for 1st April and get stuck back into it. Next job is to get the wiring done for some of the police equipment