ted1888

Apologies for not replying sooner, but just wanted to thank everyone for their responses. Much appreciated. The car hunt starts very soon and the dog arrives in September. I think we could have a timing issue, though!!

Afternoon all. Been a while since I've posted. My daughter is about to change car and likes the look of the Skoda SUVs. Although I'm a long term Skoda owner, my experience is with the Fabia and Rapid, so I'm not much help with anything else. She's about to get a dog (small/medium) and will be buying a car in anticipation of this. I appreciate that she'll be going to look at and test drives cars, but that isn't the same as hearing from any Kamiq owners who are also dog owners. Is the rear boot (seats up) large enough to accommodate a small to medium dog in reasonable comfort on short to medium length journeys? Thanks for any thoughts.

A1 now service my Audi TT, my wife’s Rapid Spaceback and although they are not a Honda specialist, my daughter took her Jazz there for the first time today. We have nothing but praise for A1 and if you would like a contact name, then rather than me post on open forum, feel free to drop me a PM.

many thanks for the info. I'm going to give A1 a try for my next service/MOT,.

Many thanks for the reply. Cinderford is probably a bit too far for me to travel.

many thanks for the reply. I've found A1 Motor Service in Stonehouse. Is this the garage that services your Octavia? Having trouble finding a second garage in/around Stonehouse - would you have a name? Thanks

Many thanks for your detailed reply. Much appreciated. Will have to think about Bourton - never been there so need to check distance from gloucester etc.

Morning all. having moved recently to the Gloucester/Cheltenham area, I need to find a garage to service the Rapid Spaceback. I've used an Indy for the last few years and am looking for something similar. Will also have a word with local main dealers to check their servicing prices. Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Morning all. I have posted a similar question over in the Rapid thread but being an ex Fabia mark 1 owner and exactly the same issue on that car too - I hope fellow members will excuse the "double post". However, with so many more posts on this forum, I thought it would be worth a try to ask for help This is now our second Skoda (i.e. Rapid Spaceback) where we've suffered with the fan/blower working max or not at all. When I last looked into this with the Fabia, cause was blown rheostat. As we were selling the Fabia at the time, we didn't get it fixed, but advised the buyer of the problem. Same thing has now happened with the Rapid Spaceback which is 9 months outside warranty! I know it's the rheostat and the local garage (Indie) have said they normally replace the motor unit as well because rheostat replacement without a new motor often results in the car having to go back in again for another rheostat a few months later and this time, the motor as well. Just wondering if anyone who has been through the same thing can help out. Is it crucial to have the fan motor replaced now or is it a risk worth taking? I cannot honestly believe that this issue and the implications for a new motor are any different netween our old mark 1 Fabia and the current Spaceback. We're probably talking £150 for the rheostat and about double if we have the motor done as well. We're not penny pinching - just not wanting to throw cash away if we don't need to. many thanks

+1 for the Cross-climate reccommendation. We had a similar issue with my wife's Rapid Spaceback - one set of tyres at around 3mm, the others between 4.5-5mm. I spoke at length to our local (well known & respected) tyre centre and eventually decided to go with Michelin Cross-climates all round. We realised that we would never run separate summer and winter sets so this seemed the best compromise. It's something we've been talking about doing for years! I accept we basically trashed 2 tyres with about 5k miles wear left but for us, it was a price worth paying. Hope this helps.

Afternoon all. Long time since my last post! In fact my wife should now be writing this as she owns the Skoda following my purchase of a mark 1 TT. Better not call her Ted1888 though!! Wondering if a fellow member can help out. This is now our second Skoda where we've suffered with the fan/blower working max or not at all. When I last looked into this with the Fabia, cause was blown rheostat. As we were selling the Fabia, we didn't get it fixed, but advised the buyer of the problem. Same thing has now happened with the Rapid Spaceback which is 9 months outside warranty! I know it's the rheostat and the local garage (Indie) have said they normally replace the motor unit as well because rheostat replacement without a new motor often results in the car having to go back in again for another rheostat and this time, the motor as well. Just wondering if anyone who has been through the same thing can help out. Is it crucial to have the fan motor replaced now or is it a risk worth taking? We're probably talking £150 for the rheostat and about double if we have the motor done as well. We're not penny pinching - just not wanting to throw cash away if we don't need to. many thanks

Many thanks for all replies. Most helpful.

Evening all. Trying to spec a car for my daughter but having problems trying to determine which models have rear parking sensors as standard. Sadly, I no longer have my mark 2 brochure and not sure if rear sensors are standard on the SE models or whether you have to go to the SEL. I've looked at approved used - some SEs seem to have them, others don't, so it's either a case of the garage not listing the full spec or sensors being a FF option on the SE. Also, for those models with FF sensors, do you get the visual warning on the head unit? This is a feature on my 2013 Skoda Rapid (SWING head unit) but have no idea if it's the same with the mark 2 Fabia. Thanks for any responses.

Morning all. We still have the above unit (CD version) but not the car and in advance of selling the SYMPHONY, I wanted to ensure it still powers up (it did last time) and check no CDs left in it! I need a wired ISO plug (female pins to replicate the harness connector). I have a wiring diagram confirming 4 is ignition 12v, 7 is permanent live and pin 8 ground. My plan would be to cut the cables and attach to a 12v DC supply and test. May seem an abvious question but can anyone point me in the right direction of where I can buy this sort of plug already wired? I have trawled through the usual sites, many offering harness adapaters, but that isn't exactly what I'm looking for. The unit isn't compatible with our existing car (Skoda Rapid) and so I can't test it in there. Thanks

Ditto the above comments. We currently have a spaceback with the panoramic roof. I have to say that the blinds stay closed most of the time - laziness on my part most probably! We've never had any issue with strong sunlight in summer, nor do we recall any issue with condensation in the winter months. Overall, though, I have to say that the thing which most impresses me about the dark glass roof is how it sets off the corrida red paintwork. Now if I could only persuade myself to buy some Savio or Ray alloys, the car would look something like the one in the original brochure.

Not going to be much help here, I'm afraid. At very slow speeds & on full lock (usually when reversing off driveway), there would be a slight knock/vibration/rumble through the steering wheel. Once the car picked up any speed - no apparent issues! Reported to Skoda dealer at time of last full service and they simply said they'd had to replace the steering rack. Sorry I can't be of any more help.

Many thanks for the reply. Why didn't I think of that? I may well give it a go. Thanks again.

Although I've recently posted saying that we're contemplating changing the Rapid Sapceback for a mk 3 Fabia, it looks as though we're now staying put! Part ex values have not been what we were hoping for and at only 20k on the clock, the car is barely run in! However, around 12 months ago, we did have to have the steering rack replaced (under warranty) and the garage indicated that the cost was around £850 if we'd had to pay. Perhaps understandably, we're a little jumpy about getting caught with something similar in the future and with the car at almost 3 years old, we thought we'd look at costs of an extended warranty with Skoda. The only issue is their on-line system won't quote as as the car isn't yet out of (the 3 year) warranty! There was a forum post in Feb this year and one of the contributors mentioned they'd extended the warranty for a 4th year with Skoda at around £220. Just wondering if anyone has any more recent experience of an extended warranty on their Rapid and if so, the approx cost. Thanks

This was what was recommended to me (via the forum) and after a few applications over several months, the squeaks have lessened considerably. I didn't use that exact brand but the product name was the same.

Many thanks for this detailed explanation. Believe it or not, I didn't even know where the Bentley factory was! Looks as though I should not be too concerned about buying a D plate car (with Skoda Uk named on the V5). All we need to do now is decide between new and used. Also thanks to everyone else who has contributed to my original thread.

Thanks for the advice. Although there seem to be plenty of SE Fabias, I'm surprised just how few SELs and Colour Editions there seem to be for sale within (say) 100 miles of home.

So, a Fabia SEL on a "D" plate, aged about 9/10 months old with (say) 3000 miles on the clock is most likely to have been used for what purpose/driven by what type of person?

Many thanks for the reply. So even though the registered keeper on the V5 may say Skoda Uk, it could quite possibly (probably) be that the car has not been provided to, or been driven by, Skoda UK employees if it has a " D" registration plate ( I am in an "H" registration plate area). Thanks..

many thanks for taking the time to reply. At least I now know not to expect too much when negotiating!

Does anyone have experience of purchasing a used Skoda where the registration is not "local" to their area?. I've found an old post in the Superb forum which goes a long way to explaining how to identify registrations belonging to Skoda Head office (manangement) cars, press/test cars etc, but I am particularly interested in anything starting with a D. The DVLA web site says that D plates will be registered in Chester or Shrewsbury, but can someone please let me know the relevance of this? There was a brief mention in the old article that D plate cars are probably "lease" vehicles, but I am not sure exactly what was meant by the comment. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks