Big S

After nearly 50000 miles of fun with my silver vRS estate it's time to move on. Malcolm was named after the TV advert for Tunes - "course you can Malcolm" - because no matter the challenge he rose to it. Crossing the Pyrenees on the way home from Spain with a boot full of Rioja. Blasting round the back roads of Hampshire. Making the drive to work more fun than it should have been. Overtaking in a flash. Averaging 40mpg overall (on shell nitro of course) and never sipping more than just a little bit of oil. I took the advice from everyone on this forum and swapped the headlights for xenons which stopped night driving being scary. I also swapped to Goodyear 4Seasons winter tyres on some nice Dezent alloys for the cold weather and enjoyed less noise and a much comfier ride which compensated for slightly less grip. (I've got them still - just put them on eBay). I am missing the little chap. I hope his next owner enjoys him as much as I did.

Try brodit.co.uk. Very neat

I feel like a lightweight only driving 1000 miles in 2 days. Wife, dog and the car stuffed full, still managing 40+ mpg and running at the speed limit on cruise control for hours at a time. Really notice how much less noise the tyres make on French autoroutes

Filled up my vRS estate after 452 miles today - it still showed 70 miles range. 45.1mpg on the slightly optimistic maxidot reading. That's from a full vented tankful of shell nitro 99 driving around over Christmas. I normally get 400 between fills.

Just driven mine fully laden across France, over the Pyrenees and into Spain in 38deg. Accelerating up all the hills very well, cruise control at 81mph, aircon doing its stuff - and still 40mpg.

I've fitted ultra-HIDs 35w 4300k Canbus Pro Slim Terminator Kit which describes itself as "For cars up to 2014" and is working very nicely in my 2013 fabia, plugged into the existing wiring. I wonder how old your kit is Appletree?

I had this on my Fabia (black pack projectors) after I came back from a trip abroad and didn't reset the adjusters for the beam pattern to the correct position. I fixed it by moving the small lever to the side of the headlamp bulb properly back to where it should be. Look at the threads for adjusting the headlights for driving on the right and you'll find pictures of exactly where the lever is and how to move it.

There doesn't seem to be an option for Scandinavian countries in module 9. Uk, rest of world, Canada, us, Saudi, Mexico or Brazil. Any more ideas please? There is nothing obvious in the vcds

Thanks everyone. Mine is a vRS with LED DRLs and no foglights. (And fragile Osram night breakers which nearly compensate for the dire black pack headlights). Looks like I need to change the country code to something (any idea what?) via VCDS to get rear lights on. Shame, I am set to Australia now so that I can have the digital speedo - guess I can't have both!

Is there any way to have my DRLs switched on full brightness AND have rear lights on too? With these grey mornings I would like to have my back end lit up. The parking light brightness is too weak out on the open road, and my extra-bright headlight bulbs don't last that long.

You could also try switching up the xds to the full level using a vcds cable? Seems to help traction as well as cornering. I tried it but didn't much like the smell of frying brake pads (or was it clutch linings) so reverted to the softer setting again

There's not THAT much difference in price between steel wheels plus nice wheel covers and alloys. But make sure you get wheel nuts too that match the new wheels; they may not be the same

Had this on mine too: it has just been in for a service and they told me the plastic around the instruments wasn't fitted properly in the factory. The noise has gone! :-)

Yes, on VCDS

My vRS is on variable servicing - the car tells me it's due very soon, at 18600 miles (ie 30,000km). There should be a dealer sticker on the drivers door jamb confirming if it's on variable servicing. And it also tells you on the multi-function display when it's due. If it's on variable servicing, you need to use 504 00 spec long-life oil instead of 502 00

Yes, did it on mine

I also found a couple more (mine is a 2013 model) that I have not seen mentioned anywhere else: I linked the heated mirrors to the heated rear window, so both come on at the same time and stay on for however many minutes, 20 by default. Better than having to also move the mirror adjuster and then forgetting them. And I also set the wipers to drop to intermittent while stationary if they are switched on full. Nice What else have others found? I fixed the doors to unlock at once, make a tinny beep on locking, don't want to change the XDS change, love the digital speedo, killed the loud noise when my Bluetooth phone connects

Have a look at somewhere like mytyres.co.uk and go to the 'wheel and tyre packages' section. It shows the acceptable wheel diameter and tyre size combos

Let me guess, you haven't driven with the windows open for a while? And thanks to the sunshine, now you have?

My vRS is just fine on a long journey. Very comfortable seats, plenty of power to keep up on hills and motorways. I've happily driven it 1000 miles across Europe in just 2 days. And your sales guy clearly doesn't know his cars. As said, the spare is 195 55 R15, and that is also the recommended size for winter tyres. So 15in wheels do indeed fit. I have them on mine, with goodyear vector 4seasons on which are WAY quieter than the original conti sc2 and smoother over the potholed country lanes where i live - once i had worked out what pressures made sense.

Internet brokers are still offering prices better than the no-VAT deal - look at www.carfile.net for example

Look at carfile.net They are genuine - deal is done through a main dealer, paid on delivery Cracking prices, but mostly offered on the more expensive variants

You'll miss the vRS engine if you don't get the real thing... Just get a new set of 15" alloy wheels and tyres from mytyres which do indeed take the edge off the ride and drop the tyre noise too if you are careful with the selection. Gigaro alloys will sell on to recover most of the cost, SE/Elegance seats won't. The vRS can use 95 ron petrol too, just drops the power a bit, but still way more fun than a 105 engine when you feel like it

Look at www.carfile.net That's how I bought mine - cheaper than the local dealer 2nd hand one - and this way I got exactly the spec I wanted. Carfile were really good to deal with too, highly recommended

Hang on... VW 502 00 for fixed service interval cars, 504 00 if your car is on flexible service intervals. 502 00 is lower grade