Devon Wanderer

I definitely do, but forum won't accept the url:)

Different product then? [Can't post image, but it's a spray bottle.]

The car's done about 122,000; I've only done about 500.

I thought I might actually have found a product you approve of, Chris, since you've used it yourself.

I drove my Mondy for 11 years til it fell apart. Great car, but I don't think I'll be going back to one now.

Plenty around that figure on eBay. You takes your chances there, of course, but you can buy quite a few before you get to Skoda's price! I believe there are alternative models too. But forums are like the news: informative, though you tend to hear more about the bad stuff. Columbus units are clearly prone to problems, but I wonder just what percentage of owners experience them.

My 3T0 was broken when I bought the car (10 plate), but I bought a replacement for £400 and sold the old one for £150, so it's wasn't that big a deal. (In hindsight, I think I could have spent less by getting the old one repaired, but it depends how badly bricked it is, of course. Mine just wouldn't get past the splash screen, which seems to be a common, and fixable, problem.) I'd regard it as a small annoyance in a great car.

Jinxgj is right, I’m afraid, Wayne. I gave £6,800 for mine at auction, couple of months younger than Audrey, identical spec, 1 owner, but 120k company-car miles and a busted Columbus. Even with a (trade) buyer’s premium, replacement headunit and the necessary cambelt change I was up and running for under £8,000. (I do think I got a good deal, though.) That said, I noticed when I was looking to buy a Superb that even the traders didn’t seem to agree on their worth, with big price fluctuations for apparently similar cars. Even today there are a couple of very similar (manual) Audrey types on Autotrader, one at £8,990 and one at £10,795. What’s that about?

That's encouraging. Thanks. Any recommendations for the interior glass?

I've bought some Rain-X 2 in 1 but have hesitated to use it after seeing some comments elsewhere, specifically: 1. Rear-window beading can actually reduce visibility in cars without a wiper, so must be removed by hand prior to setting off. (Not a major problem, but why create one that didn't exist before?) 2. At night, it creates blinding refraction from oncoming headlights and has smearing issues. One poster said it bonded with the glass, so was impossible to remove. (This would concern me greatly, if true; my night vision's not that great as it is.) He was going to put a rock through his screen. Has anyone here who's used Rain-X regretted doing so?

Makes you wonder why they bother with ETKA. And if they can't work that, they should be able to find their way to either skodaparts or partsbase. It's listed on both. (EEA770011)

It just struck me that 'change every 110k miles' (for my engine) covers a very broad spectrum. For example my car's previous owner was a leasing company, so it was almost certainly a company car and those 40k miles per year were almost certainly mainly cruise-controlled motorway driving. Compare that with a 3-y-o taxi doing the same mileage in an urban setting, where the additional time spent in lower gears would mean the engine had completed significantly more revolutions in travelling the same number of miles. Or ten years of 11k-a-year private mileage. Notwithstanding inspections, it's all the same, so far as the service book is concerned.

Have you put in an enquiry to the online breaker networks?

Out of interest, is it age, mileage or driving style that affects cambelts more? Mine's done 120k in 3 years, and I'm getting it changed, but was just wondering what actually wears out and why?

OK, I've RTFM now: You can switch the interior monitor and the towing protection monitoring off if there is a possibility that movements from (e.g. children or animals) inside the vehicle interior or if the vehicle must be transported (e.g. by train or ship) or towed, might trigger the alarm. So you're not wrong, but protection against forcible entry is maintained, while external triggers such as the vehicle rocking are ignored, which is the desired outcome. And it does reset on unlocking.

Glad that's come up - I've been meaning to find out what that little button does! Does it auto reset when you unlock the car? (And, if not, how can you tell whether the alarm is disabled or not?)

It's the button to the left of the gear lever with the same symbol. Just hold it down til it boings.

Kidnapped, I reckon. You're going to get a wing mirror in the post with a ransom demand any day now.

Cheers, but I think you're probably one of a kind

It's fixed, though entirely by luck and the helpful posts here rather than my good judgement. Had a poke around the back of the headlight as suggested. Nothing had come adrift, but I managed to dislodge the front cover, so took it off altogether, since I now knew how it went together. Panicked when I couldn't reattach it until I realized you could pull out the nozzle by hand. Reattached it. Took it off again and reattached it the right way up. Panicked because now not even the wipers were working. Realized that was because the bonnet was up. Closed the bonnet. Panicked because now neither headlamp washer was working. Remembered they wouldn't work unless the lights were on. Switched on lights and both are now working. I haven't had occasion to use the washers since I got the car, and it was probably standing around for a few months before then, so I'd guess it had just seized up through lack of use. In future, I think I'll give them a quick squirt each time I wash the car. (Beforehand, naturally: I can see why some people disable them!)

There are a couple of threads in the support forum about that (search "no edit button"). Browser caching issue, I believe.

Here. (Bottom right, next to MultiQuote))

That's very thoughtful of you; thanks.

Does that always happen? I do find odd behaviour sometimes when posting. For example, I'll type a reply and click 'Post' and nothing happens. (To get round that I have to go to 'More Reply Options'.) Or I'll try to quote a post and nothing happens. (To get round that I right-click the quote button and open in a new tab.) Other times, everything works as it should. I don't know whether that's the forum's fault or my browser's. Of course, that doesn't provide a solution to the greyed-out editing button :-(

You can edit for only a limited period after posting (an hour, I think).