zeddicus

Hi @seamaster, lovely looking car. Just want to check on behalf of a friend - is that a typo on the mileage? I think it should be 65,100 maybe rather than 16,500? Just checking the MOT history and you were 64,800 in Oct 22. Worth clarifying as my friend is looking for <30k miles. Thanks Z

Thanks guys. A little update... I have an old power devil pressure washer and I thought I would give it a run out last weekend with the kids as I found an old, old 'valet pack' with some GardX products in it from a car from several years ago! Had fun, and really like using the wash mitts which I hadn't used before. But, the pressure washer gave up the ghost half way through! No great loss as its 15 years old and barely been used, but it does mean the budget was blown! Just picked up a Karcher K5 on special offer - £248! Also, have been very impressed with EZ Car Care's customer service. I ended up buying 2 packs from them - the cleaning pack for £30 and the Snow Foam pack with lance for £36. I'd ordered them before the Power Devil blew up, so had ordered a Lavor lance which is compatible. Emailed them over the weekend to see how I could get a Karcher one, and they rang on Tuesday saying they'll send out the Karcher attachment by 24hr courier (so I get it in plenty of time for the weekend) with no additional charge! Great customer service!! Going to try out the whole kit for a proper clean this weekend so will keep you update!

Thanks both, and glad to know the Twindoor is still going strong @Hunty278 Some great suggestions there. Most importantly, I need to check what brand my pressure washer is so I get the right snow foam lance!

Hi All, I've been using my local car washes for the last few years (ease, busy etc etc!) but my kids (7 & 9) have said they'd like to help me clean our cars. Far be it from me to discourage slave labour such eagerness! To that end, I'm looking for some tips as to what I should buy to clean the cars. I've got a long reach garden hose and a pressure washer, and a gravel driveway which allows for good soak away. I'd like to spend no more than around £50 on products to cover inside and out as, if it does end up being a passing fad, then it only takes 5 washes to recoup the cost of the local car wash! Also, it needs to be relatively quick and easy. My days of spending hours and hours waxing and finishing a car are long behind me! I'm not looking for perfection, just a decent job to keep each of our two cars looking good. I'm figuring I'll need to get a bucket with a grit catcher and I quite like the idea of a snow foam lance. What would you folks recommend given those criteria? Especially keen to hear from @Hunty278 as I seem to remember he's a great detailer and he bought my old twindoor! Thanks Z

Its not a bad train journey from your neck of the woods, @sharkrider, I used to do Home-Penrith-Home in a day with 6 hours of meetings whilst there

Must admit, I only looked at the 2 year deal as that was the headline one. £2.400 down (inc VAT) and around £192 per month based on 8k miles. Adding in the admin fee and the deposit still keeps the cost to <£7k over 2 years, which is not a bad deal for the VRS. I'm paying just under £8k over 2 years for an A5 with the lower powered version of that engine (190bhp) and the cheapest deal I've seen for an Octavia (the 1.0tsi deal last year) worked out to £4k over 2 years. All based on 8k miles pa. I do sometimes find that paying the excess mileage is cheaper than upgrading the mileage in the deal. That was certainly the case with the Golf GTI I was after which was only 6ppm excess so was cheaper to stick with the published 5k pa deal and pay an extra £360 at the end, than go with an 8k pa deal. Interestingly, on a like for like, the Golf was just over £8k over 2 years and that was a very good deal. Getting the same engine and running gear in a bigger car for over £1k less over 2 years seems like a pretty decent deal...

https://centralukvehicleleasing.co.uk/lease-skoda-octavia-hatchback-2-0-tsi-245-vrs-5dr_SKOC20V255HPTM~~4.htm/ Hi all, Just seen the above on Central UK Vehicle Leasing - I am in no way affiliated with them, I just like surfing leasing sites and I happen to have ordered through them in the past! Looks like a really competitive deal and I wish it'd been available earlier as I would have been all over it! As it is, I have an Audi A5 SB due to be collected next week (also through this lease broker). Thought I'd post it up here in case any of you are on the cusp of getting a VRS and were interested in leasing. Looks like they are in stock too, so no WLTP complications (like there have been on the Golf GTI 245)

Near Pontypridd, South Wales, according to his profile...

Remind the family you've done that before bleary-eyed kids put their Ready Brek in the microwave in the morning (other porridge-esque sludgy cereals are available)

Yeah, I'd agree with that. My long journey's when I used it were pretty much between 60-80mph on the motorway so could leave it in 6th. I just liked playing with the gadget and driving without using my feet - tapping the speed up and down and playing with the distance - I could get a decent games console for less than £305 to replicate the experience, I suppose

Ah sorry, saw ACC and read DCC @WiggosSideburns I thought the same, but I had a Golf GTD a few years back that had ACC as standard (was a manual). As someone who has NEVER used cruise before (didn't really like it!), I used it surprisingly a lot, esp when commuting along the M4 to Cardiff. Raised my indicated MPG by around 4-5 on a run. We do an annual trip over to France and I'm sure the ACC would come in handy given the long stretches there too, esp with quieter roads. However, you're probably right that its not worth it...

Thanks - tbh didn't think it was really worth it at £1k, so good to know its not in a manual.

Not by choice @WiggosSideburns but by lack of choice. The L&K trim has everything we want/need, but the only manual gearbox option is the 150bhp diesel. I've love the 2.0tsi, but my wife will be driving the car 90% of the time and she wants a manual gearbox (I've tried over several years to convince her otherwise, especially in the last 4-5 years where its rare to pick up a well spec'd new SUV without a manual box, but to no avail). Of course you're right. But if you're driving a car day in day out, mainly for ferrying kids about (so its got to be big enough for them), and high riding (so it has to be an SUV or MPV - my wife's got used to that and doesn't want to go back to a lower car), but you'd like to enjoy a bit more of a spirited drive (when the kids have been dropped to wherever they need to go ) then your choices are rather limited, and you WILL want a car that's a bit more fun to drive. Yes I know its all relative, and an SUV will never compare to, for example, the Golf GTi I've got on order, but some are more fun than others. That's why we went with the CX-5 4 years ago (having come from a CX-7 2.3t petrol before that) because it is more fun to drive on the rare opportunities you get than, say, a Kia Sorrento (which was out other option 4 years ago). In every car class there are those that are more fun to drive than others. That's what my wife likes, so who am I to argue (especially when I agree with her!) The question is how much of a difference is the fun factor in a Kodiaq to a CX-5, as if its not too far apart, we'd trade that loss for the extra space and practicality. Its all about compromises...

No, its not for me! However, my wife's Mazda CX-5 lease is coming to an end in a few months time and the shortlist (at the moment) is another Mazda CX-5 (GT Sport Nav 2.2 (184) diesel manual) or a Skoda Kodiaq (2.0tdi 150 L&K manual). We love the CX-5, but its only failing is space. There's just so much more space in the back of a Kodiaq than the CX-5, bigger boot and the flexibility of an extra 2 seats now that the parents are getting a bit older! And all that for not too much more of a footprint - c14cm longer and 2cm wider. The biggie for me will be the engine. Unfortunately, my wife is not keen at all on an auto gearbox. So, the 190bhp engine is off limits. We also want to get the top spec as we'll be spending a lot of time in the car so included extras like electric leather, panoramic sunroof, area view etc are well worth it. We've been fans of PCH for some time now, and on a fully maintained PCH basis the L&K is around £15/month more expensive than the Mazda (£389/month vs £374/month on a 12+47 profile at 8k miles per annum). However, I always check out Carwow for PCP deals before taking a PCH - just in case there's a silly offer on - and lo and behold there is a very good offer on the Kodiaq L&K. The same model that's being quoted at £389/month can be had for £345/month on PCP over 48 months with a £4.5k deposit customer deposit (roughly the same as the initial payment on the PCH). Being a Skoda PCP, it includes 2 free services, so the main difference between the PCP option and the fully maintained PCH option is roadside assistance (which I *think* you only get for 1 year when buying the car?), 2 more services (I'll probably add in the 2 year service pack after 2 years if we plan to keep the car for longer than the PCP period), and tyres (probably 1 set, but will probably get some winter tyres & wheels if needs be). Also, I can always extend the warranty for an extra year if I need to to cover the full 4 years. So it looks like the L&K could end up even being cheaper than the CX-5 GT Sport Nav. The Mazda has a few things you have to spend extra for on the Skoda - traffic sign recognition (maybe handy - £90), heated steering wheel (maybe handy (!) - £155), Adaptive cruise (possibly handy, but only on long trips so not too often - £305) and I would spec the Virtual Cockpit as I really like it! But the Kodiaq comes with a full panoramic sunroof which is a definite plus as the Mazda only gets a standard one and the kids love looking out! So, spec is roughly the same, price (monthly) is roughly the same, esp if we go PCP (Mazda PCP is quite a bit more expensive than equivalent PCH), Mazda has a more powerful engine and is definitely sportier to drive. My question (eventually!) is, have others of you faced the same choice, and what were your pros and cons? Anyone moved from a CX-5 to a Kodiaq, and what're your experiences? Especially how does the 150bhp diesel pull compared to the 184bhp diesel in the Mazda? We will head out for test drives of both cars (busman's holiday in the Mazda as its the same engine and a very similar chassis!), but a manual diesel demonstrator is like hen's teeth! So any advice/experiences gratefully received!

I think I sparked this conversation in the first place, so just to remind what I was asking and what I was told by Mercedes Benz. I’m about to take another 2 year lease. My Merc is on a 2 year PCP and I’d taken out a service plan to pay for 2 services during my ownership. I asked Mercedes Benz finance if I needed to do the second service if it was due a few days before I returned the car. They said no, they have a 30 day grace period. i then questioned if it was worth paying £300 for two services on my new golf lease, rather than just £179 for one service. Looks like getting one service is the cheaper option that is still acceptable to the leasing company. I plan on servicing it once, not twice. In terms of the next owner, chances are the car will be bought at auction by a dealer, or even just put back into the manufacturer network as it’s 2 years old. The dealer will then likely service it before selling it on to an individual, hence no need for one at the end of my lease period. Its right that in a PCH you’re trying to get a new car for the least possible money as you don’t plan to keep it, otherwise you’d buy or PCP. It’s just about playing the game right (not dishonestly, which I don’t think anyone here is disputing). My golf will be put on variable servicing but I’m planning on doing relatively low mileage. So if the car indicates it needs a service within 1 year (ragging, short hops etc) then I probably will take out the service plan as chances are it will need a second one well before the end. But if I manage to get to, say, 15 months before the first service is due, I’ll probably just pay for the service as I’d expect the second one not to be due before the end of my lease. Do mos manufacturers allow 30 days grace?