ettlz

Does anyone know what kind of plastic is used for the honeycomb grille insert in the front bumper? A kamikaze pheasant knocked mine cracking a few struts. If it's ABS then I can glue that with solvent weld or superglue, but if it's polypropylene I might as well replace it (just unclips according to Erwin).

11 months seems a bit early for those batteries to run out -- I've had keys go 6 years without a battery change. Tried getting the dealer to replace the batteries under warranty? (Otherwise it's just a coin cell -- CR-something-or-other. Open a fob and check, the instructions are in the owner's manual.)

6 speed, 1.0 TSI 110 here also. Yes, the 1-2 shift can be a bit... chatty. Likely also the gearbox mount. I find to do it nicely I have to 'pace' the shift somewhat -- pausing briefly in neutral rather than snapping directly -- and moderating the clutch action accordingly.

Just discovered this on my 1.0 TSI 110. Starting from stationary with the engine idling at 1000rpm: 1. Lift the clutch to just biting with no accelerator input. ECU lifts revs to 1100rpm. 2. As the car begins to move, blip the accelerator. ECU then holds revs at 1400rpm without need for further pedal input. I find this useful for parking, manoeuvring, etc.

Behind it is a bodywork void covered on the other side by the wheel arch liner. Water from the windscreen scuttle drains down through this void and out a hole tucked just behind the sill. Saw similar foam inserts today (with damp bits) on a VW Golf R that was only a few years old at most.

I've considered these, but anything like that mounted on the bonnet will be a paint abrasion risk. I did think about protective wrapping/film on mine, but all the stone chips I've taken so far have come at the car from oncoming traffic, on a 2 o'clock vector. They landed in regions no current protective product covers (like high on the door; one even klonked the door handle).

Reading around on the wheel arch/front wing inserts in the Mk5 Golf (and apparently in one Ibiza iteration) a number of warranty claims were coming back that this was a 'mechanical' issue (yeah, right!) so not covered under the 12-year warranty -- I think these cars were around 7 years old or so. I did see some tales go along the lines of 'they offered 75% goodwill until I made a fuss and then they paid up'. Quite how this would be a mechanical issue is beyond me; the internal coating looks like a sort of enamel-ish stuff on top of what I presume is rust inhibitor and galvanising. Not sure if foam could abrade through that, unless sand and dirt intrusions helped it somehow.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if there's ever a service campaign to replace the foam with the plastic mouldings. (I mean -- I assume the foam is the intended final state of the car, not a construction spacer or something to be replaced at the PDI. I do wonder why that demo car had foam on one side and plastic on the other.)

It's like that old joke. Why does a Skoda have a heated rear window? So you can still see that BMW disappear when it's raining.

It looks like fine open cell foam, which is probably better as even the closed cell stuff will eventually absorb water, and open cell should dry faster. (That said the blocks stuffed up over the wheel arches do look like closed cell.) My 63 Citigo had foam inserts, can't say they were a problem in the few years I had it and have not seen any issues in that area on GoUpMiis of comparable age. My 66 Fabia had plastic mouldings. The one on the nearside warped a bit and its retainer clips popped off the panel tabs. A bit of a fiddle to reset. My current 19 Fabia has foam inserts on both sides. Interestingly another one I test-drove had a moulding on the nearside, and foam on the offside. No idea why that would be.

Well I guess it's preferable to Essex Slapper Pink...

I have cheap mats screwed to the garage walls. When opening the doors to clean behind them next to a wall outside I attach a small protective sponge with masking tape.

I feel your pain. And like the high-energy stuff that flies off oncoming vehicles, there's essentially nothing you can do to prevent it.

...KABOOOM!

I think it'd probably get confused (could wind up in undefined-behaviour territory) if it sees a 5-speed gearbox when it expect a 6-speed. You never know, it might have both maps built in and select one based upon the detected box.

See the instructions in the owner's manual. In summary, for the first 1000km don't exceed more than 3/4 top engine speed. But also vary the engine speed (avoid sustained cruising) and don't lug it at low revs (in general, even after run-in).

Yes. Mine had loads of fallout contamination in the same area when first delivered. (Car came from UK stock so presumably had been stored outside near heavy plant activity.)

Fallout of particles of ferrous metal, often released by nearby industry, trains or agricultural machinery. The rain washes them down onto horizonal surfaces where they settle and get stuck in pores in the paint. Then they rust in place leaving the observed orange spots. You can get specialist chemicals (like Iron-X, other brands are available) to remove it, which I personally prefer to mechanical/abrasive approches. Wash and rinse thoroughly after use and reapply a hard wax treatment.

That does it. If I can't electrify it, are there any Fabia accessories like these? https://www.screwfix.com/p/pest-stop-professional-bird-spikes-10-pack/41902 I just think putting a sign in the rear window reading 'IF YOU LEAN ON MY CAR I'LL LEAN ON YOUR NECK' seems a bit aggressive.

If it was a lean it wasn't me, and I wasn't in the car at the time. You'd think that particular panel would be quite lean-resistant too, given owners might push down on it to close the tailgate or hold it to steady themselves. Oh well, however it came to pass, it looks like it's off to the dent remover next month. (Grumble grumble grumble, can't have nice things, etc.)

To be fair it is very shallow and difficult to see without moving around a bit. I might be able to find a better environment elsewhere for the zebra-stripes effect. It's more-or-less in the centre of the image, where there's the irregularity in the reflection of the brickwork. I'm just wondering if this sort of thing can happen spontaneously in bodywork.

...well, more of a distortion or undulation. Noticed it the other day. It's really shallow, around 3/4 of the way down from the tailgate window to the blended edge, and only really visible by distortion in the reflections. I'd say it's about 2cm across, barely perceptible to the touch. Normally I'd just growl something profane and get my local PDR specialist to work this out, but I'm really stumped as to how this one got there. Now this is quite a hard panel, so I'd expect to see evidence on the paintwork if it'd been clonked. But the paint's pristine there. Just leaning on it should not be sufficient force (and I don't permit leaning on my car anyway). And from the position I think we can rule out a horny shopping trolley. This leaves me with the following possibilities, if external influence can really be ruled out: A small manufacturing error that was always there and I only just noticed. (It's possible.) It warped in the recent heatwave. Misalignment in the tailgate stressing the panel incorrectly during normal opening/closing. Some latent stress in the sheet metal that has only just manifested, perhaps because of at least one of the above two reasons. Aliens. Any ideas?

Don't forget to check that all the lights on the panel test on first, too.

Doesn't sound any different to mine. The 3-cyls do seem to take a bit longer to spring into life from cold. (Wild guess: maybe it's deliberate given the smaller displacement in order to purge the tubes and cylinders?) Idles at 1400 rpm for first 30s or so, drops to 1000 thereafter. (Again no certain idea why -- warming the GPF, perhaps?) Startups from warm (or stop/start cycles) should be more-or-less instantaneous.

Yes, see: