Quickasaquickthing

I’m afraid this condensation issue might be yet another ‘characteristic’ ! This time of skodas generally rather than just the Karoq. I suspect a lot of us suffer from it at this time of year. My Karoq windscreen (and driver and passenger door windows) has started being very misted up in the mornings now. But not as bad as yours. If it’s actually running down the windscreen that’s a lot of damp and may indicate a separate issue. I carry a wet dog and a wet jacket and I can keep it clear (after the initial morning wipe down with an old towel) by running the ac which I have running all the time. My Octavia used to do it too at this time of year and I seem to remember the octavia forum used to have a ‘my windscreen is full of condensation today’ thread. A bit like the first cuckoo of spring.

Thanks Xman for a helpful and detailed explanation! Now I do understand it. ( had to read it three times though😀) Appreciate your help.

I’ve noticed that it depends on what you have selected on the display screen between the dials. If you just have the MPH in numerals for example you just get the ‘eco mode’ indication. If you have selected constant fuel usage you actually get the words ‘2 cylinder mode’ on the display. But here’s something I’m probably too thick to understand. I can be cruising along at 40 in a 40 limit in 4th gear and I get the ‘2 cylinder mode’ display.great fuel efficiency- excellent! But... the wee indicator at the top left is telling me to change from 4th to 5th and I can understand that because surely the highest possible gear is best for the car and fuel efficiency? But.... as soon as I change out of 4 th gear to 5th the ‘2 cylinder mode’ goes off, not just for a second but for quite a long while , maybe miles ‘till I’m settled in sixth. So it’s more efficient in 4th than 6 th at a constant speed cruise. Am I being stupid or is this odd?

That’s a good question Apprentice, and one I’m not able to answer properly at the moment. In every driving course I was part of as an emergency service driver I was taught to change gear according to conditions, sound, feel, terrain , not by what it said on the revcounter. Thats what ive done ever since. And to be honest , following those rules I tend to change up from first to second pretty quickly when the car is just rolling. This has served me well over 30 years. a brief google tends to support me I think, this from driving test tips( I think) . In normal driving, as you begin moving off in 1st gear, you will need to change into 2nd gear almost instantly. But this car needs to be held in first much more in my experience. Is this a ‘characteristic ‘ of the engine or an anti stall feature introduced by the upgrades? I don’t know. i seem to remember reading somewhere in this thread that someone was told by a dealer to hold it in first till at least 10 mph before changing up. Seems odd to me.

And here we go again! A few days after the service and ‘gearbox/software/whatever’ upgrade , moving off from starting is annoying again. I reverse down my drive and , oddly(?) I don’t notice any problems in reverse. Once in the road however the first couple of hundred yards have to be driven carefully as there’s a slight stutter and a reluctance to run smoothly in second gear. After a couple of hundred yards it’s fine and runs smoothly after that. I’ve also noticed that I’ve stalled this car more often in the last 12 months than I have in any manual car I’ve driven over the last thirty years. And it’s always the same - moving up into second gear from first at low revs. It’s not the scary Sudden lack of power, trying to kill you stall , that existed before the initial upgrade, but it seems to need far more revs and speed in first than ‘normal’ cars before the gear change to second is smooth. it must be connected surely? This is what I have just described when driving away when cold. It won’t allow me to change up into second without stuttering. any thoughts?

Mine was first registered 04/19. As I put in an earlier post, I had the yellow transmission light come on about a month ago. The car did not go into limp mode and the dealers said it should be ok to continue until I could get to them . Before I could get to them it went out after a few days. Whether this was connected with the kangarooing or was the gearbox fault code stored who knows? But it has come out of the workshop driving properly and smoothly again.

Well, small bit of good news. My dealers have opened for service work( with some very good social distancing and sanitising programmes) . Mine was first through the doors. The service included some ‘software reload to deal with a gearbox fault code’ . Whatever that was it seems to have cured the problem. The car drives well and no kangarooing . For now. Now to deal with the door reflector that fell off, the pull down tag on the rear seat divider that fell off ( having been used perhaps 5 times in its life) and the piece of , as yet unidentifiable piece of plastic that fell into the drivers footwell.

Yup, me too. The kangarooing is beginning to creep back and seems to be getting worse. No sign of the dreaded stall yet though. The second gear issue is back too . Sometimes when I’m deliberately crawling in second gear - car park etc, the ECU takes it upon itself to speed the car up quite rapidly. Some sort of anti stall system, I presume, but it’s quite random. And this too was meant to be fixed in the last update. The car was booked in for its first oil change / check on the very day the lockdown started and the dealership closed. I was going to get this sorted ( again) then. Ho hum! And have I told you about the transmission warning light that came on for a few days, no limp mode, and went away again. AND the ‘ automatic parking brake fault’ warning that came and went? Im struggling to like this car!

Karr3- I’m genuinely surprised that you got that reply from SkodaUK. It doesn’t fit with my experience and surely it’s just plain wrong. Skoda wouldn’t have spent so much time working on a fix if it was just a characteristic and not an issue needing correction. I read from your post that this was in an email to a dealership that somehow came to you. Have you spoken to Skoda UK personally? Maybe this email was a ‘holding the fort’ email giving dealerships a form of words to use while a fix was being developed. If you haven’t spoken directly to SkodaUK I urge you to do so. It worked for me. If you have , I am astonished that they haven’t helped.

Karr3 - As JakeB1941 says , your dealers response is utter nonsense. This is an acknowledged issue and there is a fix that , in my case ( April 2019 registered 1.5) has worked perfectly. To reiterate the advice given here - get hold of Skoda UK. If you can get hold of Paul , he was brilliant in helping me out. He will liaise with the dealership and get you sorted. Then, if you can , my advice is to change your dealership. My dealership , again I’m happy to mention them by name, Willis Autos, were puzzled when I first brought up the issues (bunny hopping and that frightening second gear faulter) as they had not heard of it before. But they did not try to fob me off with this ‘characteristic ‘ nonsense. They worked closely with Skoda UK to send me on my way as a satisfied customer. And it worked. From what I have read through this thread and others I was , perhaps , lucky to have a dealership that believed in customer service. Clearly many, many, don’t. Good luck and I hope it works out as it has for me. Both issues appear to have been completely dealt with by the fix. .

Glad to hear your news Jake, StEdmund and others. Good to know that others are finding that the second update seems finally to have sorted this long running issue. Mine has improved immensely. Like St Edmund though, I might be being picky due to the history. I do pay such close attention on startup that every beat of the normal cold engine starting has me wondering if it’s any different to a ‘normal’ car startup. I’ll get over it though. it does seem that others are still struggling though. It does seem that Skoda might have fathomed out the issue and I hope your problems get solved soon too.

Ha ! Yes , been there done that. Mine was a plastic bag drifting in the wind. Frightened the life out of me. Those brakes come on sharp. I found a menu somewhere that gave you the option of high, medium, low sensitivity. I don’t think that once set those revert to a default every start.

1. Sorry about the huge text! No idea what caused that. 2. MDVLA - Not an engineer and I may be completely wrong but I think a lot of the problem, the second gear stall and the bunny hop when cold may have a lot to do with the ECU trying to cope with the emission control.

I have this week had the second/ new update to deal with the bunny hop and sundry matters. All seems well finally. More in the software update thread.

Update. Yesterday, Tuesday, I took my April 2019 registered Karoq1.5 SE manual to the dealership for a short, pre planned ‘let’s have a look at what it’s doing now since the first update’ appointment arranged by Skoda UK with the dealership. When I got there I was told that the previous day Skoda UK had been in touch to say that the new/ second update was ready. The update was to preserve the good bits of the first update( getting rid of the second gear stall issue) and would deal with the kangarooing and the negative side effects of the first update. It was a comprehensive reset and would take about two hours. Would I like it done there and then? Yes please. All the courtesy cars were out. But the showroom manager lent me his personal daily drive to use while the fix was done. Nice touch. This morning, from cold , took off down the road without any bunny hopping. Seems to drive well and smoothly. Fantastic. I finally might now have the car I should have had on day 1. This has been a pain in the proverbial from the start. Notwithstanding the issue of these cars being despatched from the manufacturer with the customer playing roulette on whether it was a good’un or a bad’un, I have to say, hand on heart, that my experience with Skoda UK and the dealership has been overwhelming positive. Paul from Skoda UK has kept in touch and let me know the progress of the fixes and checked with me afterwards and the dealership - and I’m happy to give them a name check in the circumstances - Willis Motor Company in South Ruislip have bent over backwards to put things right for me and send me on my way a happy customer. I know others have had different experiences but that is mine. Credit where it is due. Hopefully, that’s it all sorted for good. I hope other owners with similar issues have a successful outcome.

Similar update from me as from Apprentice above. Like StEdmund and Jake, my MY19 karoq 1.5 manual had its ‘trying to kill you at junctions and roundabouts’ patch a few weeks ago and it seems to have cured that particular issue.( Although the cure has brought with it the issue of racing, or speeding up, in second gear) . It still suffers from the skippy the baby kangaroo issue from cold start but, frustratingly, it’s not everyday and it’s only for, literally, a few hundred metres. But it’s not right and shouldn’t happen. Skoda UK have told me that they are pressing the factory for the patch but it isn’t available yet and they don’t know when it will be available but hope it will be soon. I am very unhappy that Skoda allowed the dealership to sell me this car knowing, as they allegedly did, that it suffered from these problems. Perhaps I’ve been lucky but I’m actually quite happy with my dealership who have kept in touch about the matter and have been supportive, and also with Skoda Uk who have kept in touch, always returned my calls, appear sympathetic and appear to be as frustrated with the issue as we are.

Interesting. I have a similar issue. When locking the car with a long press on the remote the wing mirrors fold in but the half open window I am trying to shut actually goes down. Another long press and it goes up as it should. I have no idea why someone would design it like that. You are likely to assume it’s shut and leave it open. I’ll have to try it and see whether the position of the half open window ( ie above or below half open) makes a difference. I’ve only had it happen on the passenger door. Again, I’ll see if it happens on all doors. Not very happy with this karoq. ( see hopping and stopping thread). I think this is my last Skoda.

Interesting, Apprentice. Thanks. 👍

Interesting comments. I am now 1 month in, and a few hundred miles, from the update. My feelings mirror others on here. the revs on startup are certainly higher than previously. the second gear flat spot/ hesitation has gone. But........ even when the engine is warm, when at low speeds in second gear, for example when creeping round a carpark with dogs and kids everywhere, the revs creep up and there is a degree of ‘runaway’ where it just gets faster and faster to the point that you have to ride the clutch . I assume that this is the ecu trying to avoid the famous stall/ flat spot but it’s not great. And when I do my report to the dealer on the update I will include the fact that I expect the car will need a new clutch while I own it and I don’t intend to pay for it. The kangarooing is still there. It is only , for me, for the first couple of hundred meters. But it’s not right and shouldn’t happen. AND...... I’m not sure about this. About once a week or so the car will stall. A proper stall requiring a restart. Not the flat spot. It’s normally at low speeds or going into first. It’s not like the original problem but I can’t help feeling it’s related. I don’t think it’s me because as an experienced driver with professional driving qualifications I like to think I’m a better driver than that. Does anyone else have this issue? Im interested in a second update to deal with the hopping . If I get a follow up call from Skoda UK I’ll ask the question. Its all a bit irritating really. It’s a nice car but it was really very naughty indeed of Skoda to keep these on the forecourts without doing something about it or, apparently, informing the dealerships of the problem. I know it’s been covered in this forum. It’s all about profit. It’s early days yet but Skoda are going to have to try very hard next time round to keep me as a customer for a fourth Skoda.

I agree with driventodevon on the matter of ‘obstructive’ dealerships. While I have no doubt that some are obstructive it seems to me from my own experience and reading this thread that this issue is surprisingly little known about at dealerships. In my case the dealership (a large London dealership) were helpful and keen to put the matter right and leave me a happy customer but, initially, were talking about ‘diagnosis’ , me ‘demonstrating’ the problem , ‘referring it to Skoda Technical’ and keeping the car for a few days for tests. I genuinely think the ‘front of house’ staff knew nothing about the issue. I do find it slightly odd but perhaps they don’t need to read TPIs , or technical journals. It wasn’t until SkodaUK got involved and , I think, told them exactly what to do, that the approach instantly changed to’ bring it in we will apply the patch’. I was also also told that the patch they applied to mine on the 30th April was the first that this dealership had done. My point is that members and readers of this forum seem to be much, much, better informed about the issue than the dealers. So the dealers’ slow, methodical approach to diagnosing a customer’s problem is maybe because they are missing the information as opposed to being obstructive. PS . My patch is 10 days old and still working well. I occasionally get a heart stopping moment when moving off as it gives a bit of a hop and I think the problems back but it is over within seconds. The second gear flat spot seems to have gone for good. I hope!

VAGCF , fair comment. It should have been put right prior to delivery. However, in Skoda UKs defence, from talking to them for whatever reason ( and to be honest I don’t think they know the reason) it’s not every 1.5 engine across the VW range that is affected. If it were then a patch could be applied before delivery So a blanket patch might do more harm than good. The only way to find out if an individual engine is affected would be to drive it for a few days. You might or might not think this would be reasonable. But I take, and accept, your point.

I have good news. I have been lurking here for a while watching this thread and the engine issue thread with interest. I took delivery of a manual Karol 1.5 SE TSI on the 3rd of April. Since delivery it has been suffering from the, well described in these pages, ‘hopping’ from start up and the second gear flat spot which could manifest itself at any time whether the engine was warm or cold. The car was just impossible to drive smoothly at low speeds in first or second gear with the engine warm or cold. I felt like a learner driver again. I exchanged a few emails with my dealership with whom I have a good relationship .(They serviced the first Skoda I owned and this is the second new car I have bought from them). They quickly made an appointment for me to take the car in for diagnosis. I also phoned Skoda UK and was very quickly contacted by ‘Paul’ who was very helpful. There was no argument about ‘faults’ versus ‘characteristics ‘ . The problem was acknowledged and and a fix was offered. I am sure Paul from Skoda UK smoothed things with the dealers behind the scenes because when I took the car to the dealers yesterday (Wednesday) they were aware of the issue and I was not asked to ‘prove’ or ‘demonstrate’ the fault. No diagnosis was required. They were ready to apply the patch. I took the car in at 1100. I collected it again just after 16.00 when the rush hour here was beginning to build up giving me ample opportunity to spend time in low gear and test the fix. When I left the dealership I was naturally cautious and I told the Sales Manager that I would call him in a few days after a few miles to let him know how things were. In fact, I called him within 20 minutes. It was like driving a different car. There was no hopping in first gear, there was no second gear hesitation. I could drive the car from a standstill smoothly like a professional again. It was a pleasure to drive. This is how it should have been from new. This morning I drove a short journey from cold. For perhaps the first few seconds of the drive there was a bit of roughness but nothing like the hopping I previously experienced . I drove so as to test the patch as much as I could. I deliberately let people out of sideroads so I could change up to second at low revs! I drove round the carpark at very slow speeds trying to provoke the stall or flat spot that was inevitable before the fix. Nothing! I know it is early days but so far so good. Like Rockpoint and 33q I will wait and see how things develop and report back in a few weeks. Like them I got the 600 mile script which seems reasonable to me. I had very professional service from my dealership - they said it was the first vehicle they had applied this patch to, so perhaps it was a bit of a learning curve for them too. I personally can’t fault Skoda UK either. I was probably lucky that I had only driven the car for one month and 500 miles before the fix was available to me. I can understand the frustration of those on this board who have waited months for the fix. I hope that it works for you too in the near future.

Last post on this I promise! Apologies CFB you are right. I just found this in the manual 'In the MAXI DOT display, only the call list can be displayed and used. If the call list includes no entries, the following message appears in the MAXI DOT display No entries available.' I must have dreamed using the contact list from the maxi dot.

Whoops, should read the post properly. Mine is an Amundsen but I still think there is a setting for this somewhere.