jthyssen

On a hot summer day it may be as high as 10% or more extra fuel, but I would expect it to use much less in the winter where the compressor will run less often. If you turn it off you should remember to turn in on occasionally to avoid build-up of bacteria and mould and to exercise the A/C unit (lubrication etc.) I leave it in auto all year.

I tow a 1100kg (official max weight) caravan with the 1.4 TSI 140hk DSG (albeit in an Octavia). It tows just fine, although it got a bit warm last year going uphill Kassel in Germany at 100km/h in 35C ambient temperature...

Petrol

Negotiate with your new employer to use your own car for the next 31months...

Has anyone seen mpg numbers for the facelift?

The power delivery is different in a diesel versus petrol, but the numbers are fairly similar. The difference might be that the TDI can overtake without changing gears, whereas you have to drop a gear or two in the TSI, but with the DSG you really don't notice. I am used to driving the 1.4 TSI, so when I test drove a 2.0 TDI a while ago it seemed extremely slow and slugish for me. Probably because I am not used to driving diesels. In my personal opinon the engine noise from a R4 diesel is just awful (agricultural), so I prefer a diesel to be as quiet as possible. I had a 3.0 TDI V6 in the past and while the noise was agricultural while idling it actually had a nice roar when accelerating. Obviously nothing beats a V8 or B6 petrol for sound The car economics are somewhat different in Denmark. As a company car the 1.4 TSI DSG is approximately 20£ cheaper per month than the 2.0 TDI DSG 150 (depending on the specific company car scheme), so for me was a no-brainer.

Not sure I understand. The 1.4 TSI is has better acceleration AND topspeed than the 2.0 TDI 150. In Denmark the taxation is different - here the TSI is cheaper up to 40000ish km. Edit: the 1.4 TSI is only 0.1sec slower to 100 than the vRS diesel, but obv has lower top speed.

Has anyone seen if the fuel consumption numbers are different for the facelift? (the current 1.8 TSI DSG is sooooo close to my employer's mpg cutoff for company cars....)

If you don't mind me asking: why did you leave the 3 series?

I recently test drove the V60 R-design and agree that it is a very nice car and the comfort is very good. However, there is too little legroom on the rear seat for my family. I imagine V40 is even worse, and V90 is above my pay grade

Since June 2014: 50k+ miles (82k km), no problems at all so far (except 10+ chips in the windscreen, 1 in the hood, someone's door scraped my door)

Yes, accelerating moderately (accelerator pedal approx half down) is better than accelerating sloooowly. I was taught this on a "green fleet" course by FDM (the Danish equivalent of AA) last year. Unfortunately a lot of people have misunderstood this and takes forever to reach the speed limit

I use 4 liter freezer bags. I just keep a roll in the trunk and replace the bag in the waste bin when needed. I think it is a nice feature to keep my car reasonably clean

I did a test drive of the S3 this past weekend and as far as I recall the key was quite similar to the O3. There is a few videos available on YouTube for changing the battery in the O3 key: https://youtu.be/9JprTlilChM

I have the 1.4 TSI engine - albeit in an Octavia - and it uses 1L of oil every 15000km. Judging from threads in the Octavia section this is completely normal. I assume the same will be true for the Superb. I keep 1L oil in the trunk and fill up when I get the warning (yes, I know, I should check the oil level every week... but I don't )

I do open water swimming and I have been using the Aquapac keymaster for 3 years without any problems. I also have one of these http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/06/safer-swimmer-review.html

Thanks -- good to know We did lower the speed until the air-con started working again

Yes, I have probably explored some of the limits of the 1.4 TSI. It is a company car with free private fuel across all of Europe. the published top speed at 216kph sounds about right The car does not have the same stability at those speeds as my previous Audi A6, but I guess that's what you expect. Expect 5km/L or 14mpg at that speed. I have just returned from summer holidays in northern Italy: 3000+km towing a 1200kg-ish caravan through Kassel hills and Brenner Pass (approx 1400m/4500ft above sea level) In Germany our speed was normally about 100kph (Tempo 100 approval) (expect 8km/L or 22 mpg) On the way home the climate (air-con) suffered a few times when the ambient temperature was 30-32 celcius and we were going uphill at 100kph. This brought the oil temp to 125 celsius at which point the air-con shuts off... We did the home stretch in one go (20 hours, 1500km) with my wife and I alternating behind the wheel Due to the way the car taxing works in Denmark the 1.4 TSI is a no-brainer over the 2.0 TDI for a 3 year ownership unless you do 30000+ miles per year. When my car is due to replacement next year I will almost certainly choose the 1.4 TSI DSG again, although I haven't decided in which car... Unfortunately I cannot choose the 1.8 TSI or the 2.0 TSI as the emissions are too high for my employer's company car policy (however, for some reason the A4 2.0 TSI is not )

Also note that the DSG can be put into manual mode or semi-manual mode (it reverts to automatic when it thinks you're done 'playing'), so you have the best of both worlds: automatic when you are just driving and manual when you want to have fun, prepare for a quick overtake or using engine braking on steep downhills. I'll never have a manual again

So it is theoretically possible, but no confirmed thefts yet? So the scenario would be that two thieves survey a parking lot, spot entering cars fitted with keyless entry, one thief shadow the driver and get really close (within a few ft) before they are out of range of their range extender... I am not going to bother with Faraday cages until I hear confirmed solid cases of theft in my geography

How many VAG cars have actually be stolen this way?

Aha, same problem for me (recently moved from PC to Mac)

I think the rectangles should show the road/route number. I have the same problem

My brakes will look similar if I haven't driven the car for some days and the weather has been wet. An "emergency full stop" from 80km/h will usually clear them. On one occasion the car was parked outside an airport for 7 days in the cold and wet January. I also had the pulsing and scrubbing, but a few very hard stops from 80 cleared them. The rear disks are usually the worst because the braking effect is largest on the front, so if you are too good reading the traffic and rarely use the brakes they will have to be replaced often.

Something similar has happened to me in the past when I ordered a Citroën, so when I ordered my Octavia I made the dealer take screenshots of their order entry system so I could verify that engine and all options were correct