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Happy to say my wait is finally over. Octavia SE Tech iV Estate (in basic Blue), ordered Sept 2021 has finally arrived today

Afternoon groaner ...

Scotland and back in 12hrs, something of nearly 580 miles with loads of singing along to the random stuff that came on the stereo via Bluetooth (much to co-pilot's delight). Three car convoy both ways, with myself, the other Ryan, and @lewiswal47 all in a procession... even if my maps took us a variety of new and mystical ways. Was lovely meeting @gav_is_con and @TrevorB33 and a few others. I believe I missed a few faces but saw their cars and vice/versa. If you spoke to me yesterday I do apologise if I was a bit dazed, being from Scotland I don't expect quite as much sun! I've got LOADS other photos on the digital camera, including some of, I think it was @SE20TD's Fab vRS SE. Will need to retrieve those when I can find my CF card reader. Cheers all, was lovely putting faces to names.

It's more amusing than the title suggests...

FOR THE LAST PART I went back to guy that does all the coding and installation. In cca. 2h I got back car with digital cockpit. Everything was and still is working without any problems.

Surely then no offence is being committed as the garage are not 'operating a taxi..', but driving in in relation to plying their trade of being a garage, rather than using it for hire or reward? Sounds daft to me that a garage can't do a reasonable test drive of a car they've worked on. Gaz

Just had a request to do a Customer Service survey on how Audi dealt with my recent contact about RDS-TMC. As I am sure you can imagine it was NOT a glowing response I gave them.

Guilty as charged here! 'tho it does feature a wee bit. Wasn't as much interest with mine as there was the ones on either side of me, but spoke to a lot of people who recognised the car from here and elsewhere online.

I made this error, as did my passenger. I kept getting funny looks from people at work today as I'm lobster-esque! Thought I was clever to park underneath a tree too!

Its called "indicator celebration" on my VCDS! They must employ a huge department of people to make up random terms and units which bear no resemblance to anything in the real world. Even the times & dates of the fault codes are gibberish, 06-47- 2053 at 29.63 was my last one 🥴 When I have tried looking for oil ash mass I have to look through thousands of variables, many duplicating each others description, 99% of them have no values so are probably for a different vehicle, I was very late to learn there is a search function but its of no use when they wont call a spade a spade.

It'll mostly be the door carrier seals leaking, as per the link I gave you on Wednesday last week. The water slips under the carpet in the rear footwells and soaks the sound insulation underneath.

Often just that the winder handle has got knocked and windows not fully shut.

And finally we've collected her! Had a bit of back and forth with the dealer. They kept promising delivery dates that came and went. Eventually they offered us an alternative vehicle. I assume an order that someone cancelled. It was still a brand new and unregistered vehicle (6km on the clock) and was the same spec as we ordered apart from gas oven and halogen instead of LED daytime running lights. So we jumped at it and took it. Saved a few hundred anyway as we obviously didnt't have to pay for the missing options. Another nice suprise was we got a model year 2023. So it's got nicer upholstry and a couple of other little changes. The van itself was produced in February so very new. On the way home from picking it up we stopped at a local lake with a dam (Möhnesee- the dam busters dam in case anyone is interested) in order to try everything out etc. First impressions are very positive. She also drives very nice and has plenty of oomph for getting up hills and joining the motorway etc. And the first big trip is also booked. We're driving to the UK via Dunkirk/Dover in August and driving up to York/Bridlington area and back down again. Pleasently surpised by the cost of the ferry. Return for 2 adults and a dog €286. And a 16:00 and 12:00 crossing so no silly early hours or middle of the night crossings.

Now regarding digital cockpit LCD screen. For EU market there is/was (in 2020) part number 3V0 920 790A. For Asia/China/India market is the same cockpit with part number 3VD 920 790. If you take used LCD cockpit you need to get one from the same engine as you have in your car. At that time I couldn't find any good one from 2.0 TSI 280 (there were some for 2.0 TDI 190). So I ordered NEW Asian model from Aliexpress for cca. 600 € with shipping (EU models were all at least 1.300€). In cca. 10 days I received it and everything looked OK:

SECOND STEP was upgrading MIB 2.0 to MIB 2.5. A guy that does these upgrades for a living upgraded my MIB 2.0 to MIB 2.5 with coplete memory wipe of existing unit, re-partitioning internal drive partitions and installing new 2.5 firmware. Hardware stayed the same. After this everything started to work on new screen with MIB 2.5 firmware (including Google maps via Apple car play, etc...):

I made this retrofit in 2020 on Super 2.0 TSI 280 MY 2016. FIRST STEPS are replacing screen: This was cockpit before retrofit. I had Columbus with MIB 2.: I bought Columbus screen from Superb Facelift for cca. 210 €, part number 3V0 919 606D : Bought tools for screen replacement from Amazon for cca. 15€: Replaced screen:

Temps dropped to 24⁰ at Tea time so out come the griddle and frying pans.... Any broken eggs are usually mine, so an attempt at 'art' tonight...

Get it while you can. Saudi has just announced removing a million barrels a day from their production and clearly want to see oil rising in price. That the good thing about electricity that it can be obtained from so many sources not just a bunch of mostly despotic countries. Buying diesel and petrol, and I still this to a degree too sadly, lines the pockets of some of the most evil people in the world.

Yes the units are scalable on how they want to sell them. Skoda and VW got free map updates on the built-in one whilst Seat and Audi didn't. The FeC controls what is unlocked in them in how it behaves. Like buying a TV which is 4k but only works in HD since it was cheaper to make them with all bells and whistles but selling them at different price points under software control. That the Function enablement code (FeC). That's how they get the variations between what is sold by country, model and brand. All core hardware and software. The firmware is specific but people do install the wrong brand onto their cars so you'll see people say that is Skoda software on a Seat etc. They got hold of the wrong file. The actual mib2 unit can be installed across brands, same hardware. At the end of the day people have to do their own research on what they are buying not be suckered into the sales speal or think they can upgrade after. Some can't be.

Right there is the issue. Fine when there are lines of 7 / 11 kW chargers and 'come on down'. Plenty to choose from. But the 'i am all right jack and stuff everyone else is i am parked up and no longer charging and no way going out of my way to move and let others get charged.' is a p!ss take.

Well, this ordeal is coming to an end... it seems my car has arrived in the UK. Waiting for the V5 & HMRC export clearance. Ordered in in November 2021.

From the sounds of it, driving around with the word TAXI on the vehicle would be the offense, if you're not a licenced taxi driver. You can have it in the garage for work, but you can't actually drive it out on the road even with trade plates on, unless you remove all the livery and stuff. The taxi driver forum I linked to suggested that people have been prosecuted for such an offense, though of course I cannot say whethery they're just lying to eachother or what... But certainly the OP's garage is not refusing the work - They just require the OP to be present on the test drive, which lends credence to it being some legal issue they know about.

They're very competent liars.

Well it's Android Auto or Car Play if you bought the car with the licence. VAG on MIB2 licence what you can use. Most VAG vehicles least on the Seat side were sold fully licensed for Android Auto / Car Play. Pass on Audi. Elsewhere, out of the UK, they may well be sold differently. I seem to come across German posters on boards without Android Auto / Car Play installed. In the UK dealers would sell the cars as built in maps are use less, use your phone. Might be OK if you live in a good 4G spot and people say download the maps if you don't. If you have TSR you want to use the built in system. There is a reason for integration. I wouldn't trust my smart device to have a blip whilst you are driving.

Out and about around Llangollen at the weekend.

Wanted to follow up on this: I drained all the fluid which was filthy, fired loads of brake cleaner into the haldex coupling reservoir and blew through with compressed air. Fitted a new pump + oil and crucially carried out the reset haldex pump learned values procedure on a diag machine. The issue has been fixed. I've now had 4wd working reliably for about 5000 miles. I infromed the VAG dealer that I'd fixed it for approximately £6000 less than their diagnosis and insisted they refund my diagnostic charge Thanks so much JR for your help! Just need to fix my lack of power issue now

But garages / repairers have Insurance to drive others vehicles & actually have them at or in their premises. Taxis require servicing and likely more than Private or Commercial / Business use ones. I would think a Private Hire car or Taxi owner would ask another Private Hire / Taxi owner about these sort of things. Or their insurer or local authority.

Nice to get oil ash volume and mass on the same screen, enabling conversion between the two numbers. 👍 Oil ash volume (litres) = oil ash mass (g) /431 from those two numbers.

If you charge at 20% battery you are missing out on a significant portion of your range AND the fastest part of the charge curve.. Much better to get down to 5% or thereabouts for your intermediate charges for a faster journey. I get having a good buffer in the highlands where you might be scuppered if a charger isn't working, but on the major road network it isn't needed.

A few from a local nature reserve.......

Getting towarsd the top of an 8yard skip... never buy a house with a 'wild' garden. Sure the foxes, badgers, birds, cats are all good and all. But brambles and couch grass take no prisoners. My knees, my knees... This is only day 3 of 8 planned stripping... gulp.

I adjusted the fan jets for the windscreen washers on the Kodiaq today as they've been spraying low since we got the car and the top of the screen never really cleans properly. Anyhow my moment of joy was that they are adjusted using an Allen key in recessed screw next to the jet. A bit over engineered really but it did make getting them accurately positioned was a doddle.

Exactly the same, I always use a pump, no idea why people buy it in bottles when you can fill it at the pump.

Great to meet you @gav_is_con👍🏻 some really nice cars there today, took loads of pictures - too many to put them all on but here is a selection. and I got a great raffle prize too! Heres to next near😀

I got an "Electric Parking Brake Fault" message last week, which also caused the ACC to refuse to work. Using Carista I got the fault code for the ABS section as 32833, and the internet provided the suggestion that the parking brake switch had gone faulty. Since the brake still went on with shutting the engine off and released when moving the car, it seemed like the only way it wouldn't work was from the switch. Skoda wanted £135 for a new switch assembly (includes the auto-hold and the central locking button) so I found and ordered a used one at £42 from the well-known auction site. Arrived today in excellent condition, was fitted to the disassembled centre console in minutes, and did the trick! Carista cleared the fault codes, which did not return, so I am a happy punter. Take that, Skoda, and your overpriced spares!

Acronym Soup. NAS = Network attached storage. In simple, it's like a hard drive connected to your router at home that all of your home devices can access. I store documents on mine, so I can access my files from any PC/phone/tablet at home. I can access my files from anywhere in the World also should I wish. Powerful but dangerous if not set up securely.

Awww, I miss my sprint yellow vRS Estate 😎 Nice to see - hardly ever see them. Gaz

@cheezemonkhai yep, was the first one I hoped to see on the list. However in reality going and looking; I dare not before I might of just gone for it myself... anyhow the spreadsheet buying, scoring... it lost out on the bootspace. The sister car ionic5 has the trick rear seat slide. SWMBO wasn't totally comfortable in the ev6, she was in the niro so I was disapointed on a few counts. IF the GT was an option, I might of pressed her to try more @Luckypants thanks, I did know that. I was being lazy in planning, I'd done a base up to perth on 10%, then various loops from there out ot the highlands. I pretty much always go that way now to avoid loch lomond and even the callendar roads. I'll redo. SWMBO however even missing out on the fastest, ie a compromised time... she and thus we're happy with the time spent to charge. At least on paper. We do stop alot more often now post various op's. I was even thinking, rather than the crossword or a suduko puzzle, I could go for a walk, ride, jog... try to embrace the make use of my time vs seeing it as a loss. SWMBO asked this morning, I am still wanting electric over phev. I paused for a moment, then said no lets do ev, I think it works ( just ). It's a 4 year lease. Worst case we keep my superb or it's traded in scala/fabia estate. Ideally we'd get her old focus lease, but they want silly money for it, like above WBAC/Motorway, a marked changed from 4 years back where it was peanuts compared to the market. Thanks for the input and thoughts, really, really helpful. Let's see what falls out of the testing of the next few... then it will boil down to tesla or ...

Nice touch! Now is the time to add the front spoiler from the Sportline version😁

This guy's wife has 🤣

Still warm.....the 'creatures' are staying in dark cool places...B team in play

The only alternative now is something mounted on the dashboard which built in Nav systems were designed to replace.

Less than 3 years away ...

It was definitely an error when the water pump was fitted. The fault light came on within a short drive of collecting the car. Had I lifted the bonnet I would have spotted the plugless connector as it was very obvious not hidden under the engine cover. I have to be slightly careful criticising the fitter as he was doing me a favour changing the pump without which we would be stuck with no car as no main dealer would assist. It is hard to find a garage that will jump in to help when you are not a local. He did a job which I know is a pain and he probabaly rushed the reconnection. The other technician spoke some English so we were lucky that many French can speak enough English to get by with us foreigners although they often do not admit this. We have had nothing but kind assistance from the local French during all of our stay here. The car seems to be behaving so I hope the timing is all OK. I am not taking it any further as it was a recommendation from our B&B hosts who lent us their car and towed my trailer to the house for us when my car was off the road. It would just cause embarrassment to people who had been so kind. A mistake which in the end did not cause harm I think so let it go.

FFS, I would worry more about tomorrows sunrise.