FlyingGecko

Hi DSL. Photos below. The black bodied one came out of the Karoq, it has VW Audi branding on it. The other is one of a pair I bought around three years back for my previous Octy Mk3 vRS. By luck or design they're a standard fit, I took them out of the Octy when I PX'd it for the Karoq, on the off chance it fitted. and it does. They have them on Superskoda for an arm and a leg, here - http://www.kopacek.com/Skoda/OCTAVIA-III/Octavia-III-MEGA-POWER-LED-cargo-trunk-light-KI-R BUT I've just seen a single one is listed on their Karoq section - the blue-grey in the photo is artistic shadow. They're the same item, singles or pairs. TBH I'd prefer another in the Karok rather than the rechargeable torch. http://www.kopacek.com/Skoda/KAROQ/Karoq-MEGA-POWER-LED-cargo-trunk-light-KI-R My photo shows how bright they look in daylight. The Superskoda photos show the light at night. The replacements have an additional pair of pins in the lower part of the connector - they dont'connect on the Karoq, and don't get it the way. Fitting took a minute.

Cheers Tom. Still well inside warranty period, and presumably little used, in view of your low mileage. Something for me to watch for between now and September next year (warranty expires then).

I'm with Scot5. Search any car forum and you'll find tales of perceived poor paint quality. it's all down to bad luck with stone chips. Same with tyre makes and punctures. I've run our cars on Michelins for over thirty years. My OH averages a puncture every 18 months. I do twice as much mileage and have had four puntures n the same time. Same roads, same traffic, same car parks.

The LEDs are white not red. The removable torch is very poor. I keep a couple of slim hand torches (LED) around the car, much better. I also replaced the boot light, on the opposite side to the Skoda torch, with an LED bulb. That lights up the boot properly.

How old was it?

Oh, right. I haven't been following much about the Mk 4 Octy. Serious stuff, and good luck to all with those issues. I'm with you and a huge chunk of the motoring press on the lack of physical buttons. I hate digging into on-screen menus. Fortunately my Karoq still has a proper volume button on the dash and the heating controls are all worked by a prod or two. Some of the latest "infotainment" (horrible word) screens still look like they've gaffer taped an Ipad to the top of the dash.

Are they the ones without Varioflex rear seats? A pal who PX'd his Karok said his was starting to fail to retract fully at around 30 months old. He advised me to leave it retracted for a while now and again, avoids stretching the elastic or springs or whatever. OldKarok mentioned a few posts back the "stiff fuel cap thingy". Is that where the flap is reluctant to pop open ? I've searched the forum, does anyone else have this issue?

"Except for all the usual infotainment glitches! " ajdude - what's the problem? The general (and woeful) lack of physical buttons, or something else? By the way - ASAP I'd get the tow ball out, bike rack on, plug it in, then check it all works properly. Lights, etc, but especially the disabling of the parking sensors when reversing. My old Octy 3 took two coding sessions to fix that. You don't want it to be wrong when you've loaded the bikes on for a good day out.

My SE-L was 9 months old when I got it last June, so someone else took the depreciation hit. My Octy was Black Magic Pearl. I knew this was different but didn't know it was blue until a couple of days after I collected it! As you say, it looks really good when the sun catches it. The flakes look smaller than the silver ones in the Magic Pearl too. Since I got the car I've searched a few times on Skoda, Autotrader and Parkers and only seen one other used one for sale. I expect paying nearly a grand put a lot of people off it.

Somewhat offtopic, kenfowler3966 - you and I appear to have the only two known Karoks in Crystal Black. I've just seen it's disappeared from the paint options across the range on the Skoda UK site. Only Velver Red as the exclusive coulour.

My apologies.

Bizarre indeed. PF Jones do other brands too, plus of course fixed flange bars etc. But Westfalia are the Skoda preferred make and I can't see a Skoda dealer fitting anything else. Westfalia are also at the top end of the price range and if they're fitting a cheaper and/or fixed bar then the price looks even worse. I'm only mentioning PF Jones as an example. I live a few miles from Witter Towbars, a long established amnufacturer and supplier. Even their own website offers a Westfalia one for the new Octavia. But the Tow trust website does refer to a pre-cut tow panel....

As spanner555 said - a new bumper? I've never known any towbar fitter say this. It's so easy to cut a hole in them underneath where it isn't seen for a removable towing ball. You can download the fitting instructions for a Westfalia kit - the same one fits several different cars in the VW group - and for every one it shows where to cut the rectangle. On a couple it needs a new partial underpanel, but nothing like a full bumper. I'm surprised a dealer is doing the fitting. In my long experience main dealers of most mainstream makes don't do bodywork. Franchised main dealers do mechanical work, which this doesn't come under. Whatever it is gets farmed out to specialists. How many dealers do crash repairs? Their staff just aren't trained for it. My own local and highly regarded Skoda dealer lets their premises be used for minor bodywork, but it's carried out by the likes of Chipsaway etc. Same for towbars - they use a completely independent supplier/fitter based about six miles away. Even cars like the Kamiq, which the Skoda publicity material said towbars can't be fitted afterwards unless they've had the preparation done on the production line, this isn't true - my local fitter said that's rubbish. I think your dealers are having you on. At the very least I'd query that "cost price".

HOW MUCH?? PF Jones will fit a Westfalia (Skoda recommended) detachable with all electrics and coding for well under £600. Online quote just obtained.

What are they calling "cost price"?

You're not wrong there.

I agree, there is a bit of that. As for the comments re Shell - I've kept detailed records for many years and hundreds of thousands of miles (sad, I know) and never, never, never found different brands of fuel make a difference to consumption. BP, Q8, Shell, Murco, Esso, Texaco, Asda, Sainsburys, Burmah, Total, the lot.

I sat in my car in bright daylight. The lights were clearly off. I have my light switch set to AUTO so when it gets dark I leave it to the car to turn the headlights on. (Please, no-one start a discussion here on the rights or wrongs of this - start another thread.) I then switched the sidelights then headlights on manually and the two cabin lights came on - that's when I took the photo. They're only on when the sidelights or headlights are on manually. This applies whether the ignition is on or off. The do not come on with the main interior lights when the car is unlocked. These light come on whether it's day or night. They are not connected to the DRLs.

I think there's a more obvious method of checking that. NNo offence meant!

I ran my 220 vRS sometimes on Shell V Power (99 RON) but largely on Sainsbury's Super Unleaded (97 RON). Never noticed any flat spots on Shell, nor any difference in performance between the two. But the car ran better on either of these than on any brand of the basic stuff. Only ever bothered once with Tesco 99, my nearest station is 12 miles north or 12 miles south.

Happy to help. They're on when the headlights are on, there's no separate switch. The individual interior lights, are around 25mm across, you can just see one on the left, with its switch next to it. The main interior lights controlled by the doors and manually - that's the rectangular switch. (The black curved line is the power feed for my Nextbase dashcam, that's hidden by the mirror.)

Mine's a September 2019 reg - so it's on a 69 plate. SE-L 1.5 DSG. One of just a handful in the country in Crystal Black. The faintest of blue flecks in certain light, different from the Black Magic Pearl (had that on my Octavia), but whether it's worth the extra £380 over the price for lesser metallics, that's another discussion. The first owner paid for it, not me. I've tried to attach a photo.

I was told by the police sergeant (Class 1 police driver, or whatever they're called) who got me through my IAM test they're taught that for use in close quarter high speed driving, not for general use.

They're actually in the ceiling unit, not the mirror? That's where they are in mine anyway. Just to give gentle illumination around the gear lever area AFAIK.