DavidY

+1 to the list of people who have discovered that accidental pressure on key when moving around in the house has opened all 4 of the car's windows. Luckily I went outside to do something and spotted the windows before too much damage had been done. And then I switched it off in Infotainment.

I don't know the answer, but you could certainly argue that the thing we often call a "water pump" is pumping stuff which isn't strictly speaking "water". (OK so there's a lot of water in there, but along with anti-freeze and whatever else they add nowadays.)

I suspect you haven't made it up. If I look at the Infotainment settings for the Engine Stop Start (can't remember the correct wordings), it sometimes says "air conditioning requires the engine to be running" even when aircon is set to off and the rest of climate control is in Auto. This usually happens right after a cold start and seems to last longer on colder days. Also if I turn the temperature dial all the way up to "Hi", the same message seems to appear.

Interesting. I have a May 2014 brochure and that also claims HBA was standard for Elegance trim. My 2013 Elegance has it, and I have to say it is a bit haphazard in how well it decides when to dip the lights. It was switched off in infotainment when I got it, although I'm not sure whether that was by default or because it annoyed the previous owner too much. So maybe they took it out of the Elegance spec in order to improve it?!

Elegances (circa 2013 at any rate) do have high beam assistant as standard. Looks like there's still a brochure on the Sinclair Skoda website https://www.sinclairskoda.co.uk/pdfs/brochures/brochure_octavia.pdf

I went from a MK1 Fabia Estate to a Mk3 Octavia Estate and it's noticeably less easy to park. Obviously a fair bit longer, and a little wider, which I'd expected, but it also seems to me that the steering won't turn the wheels at as big an angle, so it's more awkward getting in and out of confined spaces.

Thanks for that - my older one doesn't do that when I repeatedly press the Mode button - I have to push Mode and then select on the Touchscreen to change mode. At least, as you say, you can change without looking/ taking eyes too far off the road.

I have one of the older ones which remembers driving mode. I have a question for those whose cars which don't remember though: Can you change mode without using the Touchscreen - eg. pushing the Mode button 3(?) times to get from Normal to Individual?

You can check the age from the code on the side of the tyres. https://www.kwik-fit.com/tyres/information/tyre-age

Something sticky like a "Post-it" note? Although I like the Hoover idea too.

I have a June 2014 brochure, but it looks like it's too old for your purpose as it doesn't include the Scout spec.

If you're in the UK, you may be out of luck. As pointed out here, the Scout (& L&K) seems to be discontinued in the UK: My guess is they were going to release a 190TSI Scout, but this decision over-rode it. There is after all, a SE L 190 4x4 DSG model now, so the mechanical gubbins (or something very similar to what the Scout might have had) exists.

I imagine the the 150 car has a rather higher top speed so top gear needs to be longer/ higher ratio to hit higher speed at presumably about the same revs in both cars. And hence at low revs it's a higher speed before the engine is comfortable to hold the gear.

I think I understand them. Can you point out the flaw in what I said?

That was my point - if they're measured under different test methods it's probably why one figure for autos goes up when the other goes down.

In the downloadable spec document, the manuals are consistently worse than autos for CO2 (but better for fuel economy). But... the CO2 figures are old-style NEDC, when the mpg are WLTP and I suspect that's the difference? (Given CO2 and fuel usage are intrinsically linked if they were measured in the same cycle.) Edit: However I don't understand why they can't make DSGs better than manuals by better programming though. Also, I note there are some models (eg. SE L 4x4s) which are *only* available in DSG. If the manuals are always more economical, why no manual versions of them? Could it be that the manuals would have been thirstier so they didn't bother even selling those models?

I don't understand what you're getting at re: lack of engine braking comment for a DSG? Surely it's a clutch so stays in gear except at low speeds. (And Eco mode but even then it's easy enough to touch the brakes to put it into gear.)

There are 4x4 190 TSI petrols in the UK spec document, but they're SE L / DSG/ estates. Edit: beaten to it! L&K are from stock only though, I believe.

Link to UK pricing and spec document is here: https://az749841.vo.msecnd.net/sitesengb/alv1/730c2aa1-4671-4fb3-bd2e-efe6ecbcee8d/SKODA_OCTAVIA_Pricing_and_Spec_FEB19_v2.7ffed597646298f85b87d0d66c3b6253.pdf There are also new models called "SE Drive" and "vRS Challenge"

Agreed - sometimes adding or subtracting 1mph is really helpful depending on what other drivers nearby are doing in those zones.

I'm sure nothing could go wrong with that. That said, once cars become self-driving then if you haven't a charging point at home, your car could go and drive itself somewhere with lots of charging points to charge itself overnight, and drive back in the morning. Again, not much to go wrong there...

Lol! Well I did think there might be some practical details I admit I didn't realise they were quite that heavy per kWh/ mile of range. That said, the filling station swap thing would still be possible as there could be some machine which takes a battery from, say, the bottom of the car and lifts in a new one.

Must admit I'd thought along the lines that I'd look at electric cars when the range gets to 400 miles or similar. But you're right that the car would have to lug all that extra weight around all the time (and the car would cost significantly more in the 1st place), for a capability that didn't get used that often. Adding 33% to the range of a petrol/diesel car is as simple as making a bit more space for a bigger tank. Yes there are trade-offs- eg usable space for passengers and also in economy figures if you drive round with a full tank all the time, but it's all pretty marginal compared to the cost and problems of taking a 300 mile range EV up to a 400 mile range EV. So for long journeys, range extenders would be one good way, but my favourite idea is standardised, driver-replaceable EV batteries: Imagine being able to "fill up" by swapping your flat battery for a charged one at a "petrol station" or whatever we'll call it. That could be quicker than even filling an ICE tank. And you could leave a second battery at home plugged into your Solar PV to charge during the day, if you had it, while you were driving around using the other battery. It would also help folk who haven't got off street parking where they can plug a car in - you take the battery out, charge at home overnight, and carry the charged battery back to the car in the morning to drive off. And if I really want a 400 mile range car, then maybe I can unplug some the battery modules to save weight for most of the time, but fit the full set before a long journey. Although quick swapping of standardised battery packs at garages would mean ultimate range wouldn't be such an issue in any case. I'm sure there are one or two teeny practical details and difficulties with my scheme (actually I'm sure someone (?Renault?) thought of it already) though...

Did I call it a compromise? Renting cars is always a horrible experience (not that I've done it for years for that reason). I really dislike the need for them to check the car in minute detail when a car is checked in - which means I need to check it in minute detail when checking out so I don't pay for someone else's paint scratch. But I'm no good at that sort of paint/damage checking so no, I wouldn't sign up to any car which required me to rent even occasionally. I've no problem with drivetrains like that i3 Range Extender making it into other cars though, as it means people can drive decent long journeys without range anxiety/ wasting time, but charging overnight covers most daily journeys near home. And also incidentally go to and from destinations where you might need to be away from home over a few days with no possibility of an electric charge. Sadly though I did see somewhere that BMW have stopped making the Range Extenders - but I think that sort of hybrid will be crucial if the government wants to move people away from pure ICEs, given realistic battery range is so limited at present.

Mine has started doing this too, on a couple of cold days recently. Coolant levels fine, and the water pump was replaced only a few months ago, so (I'm hoping anyway) it's unlikely to be that. As with the OP, there are no VCDS fault codes. Sounds like I need to look at that connector...