Yogi-Bear

I'd suggest you're going to get significantly better mpg out of it than I do, unless 'France' = 'Paris'. Most of my journeys are short and around town, with the odd (still short) motorway stint. I probably average 30mpg if I'm lucky, but it's more than possible to get 40mpg or more (a bit, not much) on a nice long journey. That's a smidge less than 375 miles, so I'd say easily so. Even with my round town driving, the range when filling up is never lower than 400 miles, usually 410 or 420. If I've done a longer journey, the range can say anything up to about 460 miles when filled back up.

How are you switching into manual? If you slide the gear selector over to the left, it should stay in manual until you slide the gear selector back to the normal position. If you have the flappy paddles and are only using them… then yes, it will go back to auto after a period of time after the last input from the paddles.

I don’t think I disputed that at any point. But when did it become a crime to ask for further explanation? There are plenty of recommendations that end up being parroted over time and either no one ends up knowing why, or the original advice was from a biased source. Advice given in good faith isn’t always the best advice (and I’m in no way saying that’s the case here, before someone jumps down my throat).

You could use a little of your own advice there, but let’s gloss over your continued propensity for personal abuse and move on. Thank you for the detailed explanation. I now understand the point you are trying to make, although I would suggest that simply saying ‘oversteer bad’ as you did in your first attempt wasn’t actually as helpful as you evidently thought it was… and neither was getting annoyed when someone asked you to elaborate. And yes, the photo of your colleague’s tyre along with a description of his profession was irrelevant. You provided absolutely no context to the photo or why you had posted it - if you had, then it might not have been quite so irrelevant. Telling us what happened to the tyre or to your colleague would have been a start. I still don’t think (yes, just my opinion, but I’m allowed one) Average Joe is going to get bitten in the arse because of this. Idiot Boy is still going to be going too fast round the bend for anything to stop him hitting the tree. Old Lady is still going to reverse into that parked car or lamppost. BMW/Audi/Mercedes Man might benefit when he’s driving like a loon, but he’ll find a way to have an accident anyway. Perhaps the problem is there just aren’t enough Average Joe’s around anymore who try to drive safely and not put their vehicles into a situation where understeer or oversteer are ever going to be a problem. Of course, there’s always going to be that patch of black ice that screws everything up no matter how new the tyres are on either axle - been there, survived that. If I’m wrong and die in an oversteer induced fireball next week, then please feel free to say you told me so. And call me stupid.

Indeed. It hasn't risen since implementation, and given the purpose of road tax, there is absolutely no logical reason to base any aspect of it on vehicle value anyway. But... as you say, no point fretting - them's the rules.

Irrelevant. If you have to resort to semi-disguised personal insults, any other point you make is going to get lost in the noise. And yet no-one has adequately explained why it's a good call. On a RWD vehicle, even stupid ol' me can see why it's a good call. But on a FWD vehicle, it really doesn't make much sense - to me at least, and judging by the conversation, others as well. If you'd like to have another go at explaining why, on a FWD vehicle, you should have the best tyres at the back and how that's going to stop me getting into accidents, then feel free to do so. For what it's worth (probably not a lot), my thinking is that the front tyres are doing all the work - they're putting the power down on the road, and they're doing the steering. Therefore, they should have the most grip. The rear tyres are also just being pulled along. For the average Joe on the road (such as myself), why should I be concerned about stability at speed? I (usually) pootle along at 65mph on a motorway and enjoy the journey, rather than trying to get where I'm going 5 minutes quicker, and if the weather conditions dictate, I might go a bit slower but I'll definitely be paying a lot more attention and care. I don't go round corners anywhere near fast enough that oversteer is likely to ever be a problem (I used to drive a RWD BMW years ago, and it wasn't a problem then either). And my evidence for the front tyres doing all the work is that they are the ones that have worn out and need replacing, whilst the rear tyres still have plenty of tread.

It’s less likely to oversteer in a FWD vehicle anyway. Surely having the ‘best’ tyres on the axel that provides power and steering, rather than just being pulled around, is more optimal? And yes, I appreciate it’s not quite as simple as that, and adding AWD into the equation makes it even less so… but I can’t see that for the normal person, who doesn’t regularly drive at the limit of their vehicle and/or tyres, it’s going to make much of a difference.

Nope. The first year might be different, but that's all rolled into the 'on the road' price anyway. From then on, it's a flat £190/year for petrol and diesel cars these days. Plus the 'luxury tax' of £410/year from years 2-6 as the list price was > £40k.

Because...? In my mind, that just means I'm going to need another new set on the front quicker.

I think it's pretty straightforward then - either the function wasn't ordered, or it doesn't work (you have all the prerequisites). I believe the dealer should be able to look up the options fitted to the car by using the VIN (or if it's the same dealer that first ordered it, their paperwork!).

That would suggest that Trailer Assist requires Park Assist...

Probably because it wasn't ordered when the car was first bought? No idea about Down Under, but in the UK you can order tow bar only or tow bar + trailer assist (for more £, of course). I went for the former as I only use it for a bike rack. Having said that... your first photo above looks like the trailer assist function to me (never had it, so can't be 100% sure - but I don't get that view from my rear camera).

As I'm planning on swapping like-for-like, just the front pair. No point wasting money when the rears are perfectly fine.

Area View = 360 view. It's the name for it in the UK, at least.

Yeah… last time I ever buy a car with 20” wheels. 🤦‍♂️ As I don’t live in North Yorkshire, I’m veering towards straight replacements (never had an issue with ‘summer’ tyres all year round down here). MOT due next month and it would be borderline, so doing them now.

Changing all 4? Or are you leaving the rears alone? My rear pair are still in surprisingly good nick, but then I've only just cracked 20k miles.

The bear needs new front tyres... anyone care to recommend something (Conti SC5 from new)? I've made peace with the fact they're going to cost me ~£200 each, unless someone wants to tell me Accelera (whoever they are) tyres are actually very good despite being half the price of everything else.

https://www.skoda.co.uk/news/details/close-protection-skoda-develops-kodiaq-armoured-for-the-ultimate-in-occupant-security Perfect for driving through Moss Side in the 1980s/early 1990s… 😂 If they ever move on to a Kodiaq Armed with 007 style weaponry, I’ll be first in line!

At this rate, the L&K will be £50k+ and the vRS £55k+ when they land. I remember when everyone* was up in arms about the original diesel vRS pushing Skoda over the £40k mark.

https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/press-kits/the-all-new-skoda-kodiaq-press-kit/safety-and-connectivity-comprehensive-state-of-the-art-assistance-systems-debut-of-parking-via-app/

It's a feature available on the Mk2, with the appropriate option specified of course :-). Has never been something you could do with the Mk1.

Can’t comment on the diesel specifically, but my understanding is that ‘normal’ is what you get if you don’t have the drive modes. All the drive modes are controlling for you at the moment is throttle response - with a DSG it also controls when the gearbox changes up/down, and also suspension stiffness if you have Dynamic Chassis Control as well. Paddles are a bit superfluous IMHO - I have them and I very rarely use them. Your mileage may vary, of course, and I guess they could be useful as an alternative to the modes if you manually kick down a couple of gears before planting your foot down to overtake. In some respects, it might be a better combination for you if you want to replicate your experience of driving a manual ‘box than having the drive modes - even in sport you have to wait for the ‘box to react and kick down.

No, the ACC has control of the brakes, and so will control the speed of the car down a hill by applying those brakes, even if there is no other traffic around.

I hate to break it to you, but that’s how the most basic cruise control systems have always functioned - they will keep the vehicle up at the speed you set, but they have no control over the brakes. In recent* times, some manufacturers started selling ‘cruise control with braking’ (the ‘62 plate BMW 1 series I had was the first car I remember driving with this). But not all cruise control systems are equal - some still do not control the braking (such as, I think, all VAG systems). Adaptive Cruise Control is guided by the radar in the front of the car and the whole point is that it keeps distance etc. so it needs to have control over the brakes… entirely possible that VAG decided there’s no point in ‘developing’ a cruise control with braking function when customers could pay extra to have ACC. So, your cruise control is not defective, does not have a serious design defect, and is fit for purpose. It’s just not designed for, nor fit for the purpose you want. Unfortunately, sometimes we only find out there are different ‘flavours’ of these systems through situations like this (I’ve been disappointed many times when stuff hasn’t done what I thought it would), but the only thing to do is chalk it up to experience and add it to your checklist of things to make sure of when it comes round to the next purchase.

I'm no expert, not ever having had to use AdBlue - but my understanding was that it goes in a separate tank and gets mixed in as needed in the appropriate ratio... I'm not sure what you mean by "filling quantity" as I would expect the tank to have a capacity, and if that's only 13L then you're never going to get 18L in there no matter how hard you try!