VAGCF

Could be worth asking Skoda if they will contribute to the cost via a goodwill gesture as the part hasn't lasted as long as it should have? Do you have a main dealer service history?

Unfortunately not, I'd already checked there. We do have a couple of non-Skoda ones in the boot though.

Well blow me down! I've been driving the Fabia quite a bit more just lately and continuing to enjoy it, though the ride can be a bit firm when only two up on poor roads, even though we stuck with the smallest wheels available, probably not helped by the energy efficient tyres which I assume have stiffer sidewalls? Also smaller cars tend to be more firmly sprung to be able to cope with the varying load of one to four/five people which is a greater percentage of the weight of a small car than it of a big car. The suspension in my son's Mazda 2 is also quite firm. Anyway, I digress. Couple of days ago my wife looked in the glovebox when I was driving and low and behold a Skoda umbrella! The car is coming upto 3 years old now and in mitigation we rarely use the gloveboxes in any of our cars. Maybe I had looked in the glovebox and saw the umbrella when we first got it and thought it better left in there and I'd forgotten?

Thanks for the comments, sorry for the delay in replying but we have been away for a few days. We decided to take the Fabia as it doesn't get alot of use and longer runs - I really enjoyed driving the car which as you say is my wifes. Bit disappointed that it didn’t come with an umbrella given that it was quite expensive with all the extras. I should have checked when we first got the car but hey-ho!

Does the Fabia come with an umbrella or do you have to buy one. Was giving the car a clean yesterday and noticed the storage place was empty.

Thanks Derek. Not a big deal as she uses the mirrors most of the time and the camera for checking if something is directly behind, but if you have something you want it to be working correctly. Trouble is she is envious of the 360 degree camera in my car! Whilst I've managed fine with using just the mirrors it really is useful with an SUV where the rear view is poor. Now I've had it I wouldn't want another big car/SUV without it. My other car only has rear sensors though. It's a few months before a service is due but we will mention it then.

My wife has mentioned that if she parks centrally in a parking bay using the rear camera when she gets out she finds the car is about 200mm to one side. I haven’t looked yet but I'm wondering if the camera hasn't been mounted quite right? And by coincidence her sister has just bought a new T-Cross, having had one before so used to it and the rear camera, and says the camera is putting her on the kerb when parallel parking. Anyone else experienced this or heard of this problem?

Just searched and found this on the Skoda website. As I thought the Full LED are Matrix - why didn't they just call them that! Volvo's version is Pixel but I don't have them as they dropped them for awhile.

The website is somewhat unclear! But just having another look the 130 has different LED headlights to the Monte Carlo - the 130 having LED headlamps with variable light distribution, darkened. As someone remarked elsewhere (may have been you Derek) it's not clear anywhere what the difference actually is between LED headlights and Full LED headlights? Though from what is said in the handbook and above about the 130 I think it is fairly safe to say that the Full LED are adaptive and the LED are fixed. Also the Optional Light and View Plus Package which the Monte Carlo and 130 have as standard would suggest that they have cornering foglights as well and not fixed and so the function isn't dealt with by the headlamps? But it could just be that it is badly written as is often the case. My wife has this package so I will have to have a look in the dark!

According to the website all models are stated as currently having cornering foglights apart from the 130. This has front foglights though so probably an error not mentioning with cornering function?

Main reason I changed to AGM on my motorbikes is that in some cases the paintwork on the frames or swing arms had been damaged due to a badly positioned vent pipe and if I ordered a new battery online you had to fill it with acid which I was never that happy with having to do. Some owners have also used Li-Ion batteries though you have to be wary of low temperature use. With older vehicles they don't care about battery type as volts are volts as far as they are concerned!

I've had a couple of cars including the Yeti (which had halogen fog lights/ cornering lights) and whilst they are useful for giving more illumination to objects closeby as you turn a corner as you surmise they aren't of any great benefit.

I worry about getting points driving my Volvo XC40 and my wife's Fabia 1.5 nevermind something with even more performance! I don't want anything that is a sloth to drive but over the last few years I have become increasingly frustrated driving even everyday cars as with their performance it is so easy to exceed speed limits that on many roads have been artificially reduced. My main enjoyment with my Audi TT, which is a joy to drive, it that I can put the roof down as I certainly can't get anywhere near using it's performance. I never thought I'd say this but I really can't see the point of high performance cars anymore. I often choose to drive my Volvo more quickly down many roads because it doesn't have the sports suspension and low profile tyres that the Audi has which means I'm spending more time looking out for potholes and poor surfaces.

That's my view as well. AGM batteries have been out for years and I've fitted them to my motorcycles many years ago. Many if not most modern cars require recoding if a battery is replaced (even my 11 year old Audi TT requires recoding even if the same type of battery is used) and it doesn't require any more expertise if replacing a wet battery with an AGM other than changing the codes. Anyway good to hear that you've managed to get the battery changed but sorry to hear you encountered problems again.

When I was working we had an instructor come in to teach us economical driving even though we used our own cars for work. We used the instructors car to drive as we normally do and then as instructed to which included being in gears too high I was happy with (almost lugging and little acceleration available) and going over speed bumps too fast - both of which was at odds with my mechanical sympathy. It certainly worked as I received a certificate for the difference in mpg achieved but couldn't wait to get into my own car again to go home and drive normally again! When I took my driving test (mainly manual cars at the time) you had to make an emergency stop without stalling the engine. Good job that the cars then didn't have the characteristic that modern Skodas do!