Baxlin

A year older, but my 18 reg SE L came with front and rear sensors, satnav, folding mirrors, DAB radio, but no reversing camera. However, for around £50 all-in, including buying trim removal tools, and best part of a day’s work, the camera in the brilliant link referred to above was fitted. But it has DSG and the 1.4 TSI engine, not the 1.5. IMO, so what?

Thanks, you’d think someone who’d been working on cars, (hobby only) for 60-ish years, including installing radios, would be able to do this. But no! I did try this, and one side came out, but I must have put the other in slightly crookedly, as it didn’t work. I finally did it by sliding an even thinner feeler gauge on top of the proper tool to get it out.

And twice in the C4 highlights Jones said that Hamilton had pushed Verstappen into the wall last time out. But - it was good to have an independent-minded pundit in Alan McNeish rather than the usual two Red Bull-ists.

I was interested to see on one of the Fabia forums a thread about adding springs to the boot/tailgate lifters to make it lift by itself when ‘long click on the fob’ released. Has anyone has attempted to do this mod on the Octavia hatch with any success? My initial thought was it’s a bit heavy.

If you’re into mods, get a a kit car! The functional bonnet vent on my JZR was made from the nose cone of a Nov 5th rocket that had landed in my garden several years ago...

Damon

Hope not, he doesn’t need to be, imo.

On my Octavia, with Amundsen unit, the radio can be muted (rather than winding the volume down to zero) by pressing the steering wheel rotary knob in - assuming the Yeti has steering wheel controls, of course! This won’t affect the nav volume, and is quicker/easier, imo

I bought this via eBay. Fitted no problem, works perfectly. I have no connection with the seller. Hope this helps. (Assume your car is hatchback)

It seems Max has aspirations towards 3 WDCs then - isn’t his girlfriend Piquet’s daughter?

Re the above, I’m afraid I don’t have your apparent resolve not to risk being distracted by a film showing on the infotainment screen while driving. I believe there is a reason - safety - why car manufacturers set things up so that entertainment is only available while the vehicle is stationary. However, as requested, I will now bow out of this thread, but possibly on other matters Skoda, my first word in the thread can be revisited. Regards Malcolm

Sorry, and not wishing to be confrontational, but doesn’t this sort of clash with your first post - where you say you want your daughter to be entertained on long journeys? So it seems it will be used while you’re driving. What’s that old saying? The road to Hell is paved with good intentions?

That’s sums it up nicely IMO. 👍 (apart from the Ferrari bit 🤫)

Welcome! If it were me, I would be to buy her a portable DVD player, sit her in the rear seat, and avoid all the legal grey areas about a TV in the eyeline of the driver, let alone the potential danger of driver distraction. Edit: on re-read, that sounds a bit heavy, sorry!

Not 100% sure, as I don’t have a towbar, but I think you can just about see the bumper, so the ball should be in the picture.

I’ve had my Octavia for a few months now, and am really enjoying it, apart from the rubbish boot illumination. Two tiny dim lights, one of which only worked half the time (obviously a loose connection, easily sorted). However, in my spares box, I found a couple of 3” 12V LED strips - see pic - which just fit under the side supports for the parcel shelf. I put one each side, and the twin wires are hidden under the boot seal, and disappear behind the boot trim, to be ‘piggy-backed’ to the wiring for the original lights,which pop out easily for access. While the LEDs were originally self-adhesive, they’d been in my spares box for ages, so I used number plate adhesive pads to secure them. I was amazed at the difference, and no errors have shown up - presumably these lights are not monitored, as the one not working hadn’t shown up either.

I’m a bit late to the party, sorry, but I’ve used Megs Last Touch for years. I buy it by the US gallon via eBay, and dilute it approx 60:40 (less water).

A further comment, each time I’ve used the unit removal tools that came with the camera, I’ve had the devil’s own job to remove them, I just haven’t got the knack! So for the latest removal I used two rather pointy 40 thou feeler gauge blades - worked a treat, and slid out as easily as they went in (oooh matron!).

Mmm Spoke a bit too soon! It’s now intermittent! Over the last week or so it’s sometimes been working, other times not. I thought I’d sussed it when it worked before I closed the boot, then not afterwards, so that took me to the connection near the camera. I re-did that carefully, but still it’s intermittent. so today I’ve reinstalled it completely (except for removing the cabling through the headlining) and it worked through lots of tests. Until I came to put the car away, as I reversed it went off again, and as I selected park, the message “the ParkPilot is currently not available - OK”. Just tested it again, it worked with just the ignition on, but when I started the engine, it didn’t. I think I’m just going to live with it! The upside is that I’m getting to be a dab hand at taking the glovebox out! Malcolm

^^^ I dare say it can be looked on as an ‘old-un’ saved, but oh what a pity... Good job we don’t all like the same things! 😀 (But then I had a 1958 1000 Traveller)

That’s good! Tbh, I’d struggle to get that in my 1.4 Tsi DSG. But its used mainly for short journeys, with Eco mode very rarely used, and with aircon always on. I can’t see the sense in carrying around the aircon paraphernalia and not using it. So I’m happy with the current 45.6 long term readout, which is better than my previous car, a Volvo diesel, and way ahead of the mid 30s overall my self regen hybrid Lexus returned...

Mine has the 17” wheels - so the higher profile tyres, but still noisy. I didn’t think to insist on a particular brand when the dealer agreed to replace tyres noted as advisories on the MoT test. Potentially expensive omission...

Congrats. I’ve had my 18 reg SE L for 3 months now and love it. The 1.4 tsi is punchy enough for me, and enough bells and whistles to keep me happy. I have added a reversing camera (thanks to member Weyland’s how-to), and a dash cam. It was just under 3 years old, and showed 21k miles, with tbh not a mark on it. The previous private owner had bought it from, had it serviced, and p/ex’d it through the same dealer (Marshall’s at Newbury), and had added rear bumper protector and boot liner. Even the umbrella was present! I did foolishly buy the coating, but before the winter, I’ll be claying the car to take it off, and protecting it with my usual regime of polish and wax, which has stood me in good stead for years on previous cars. So decent ones are about...

I’ve had no problems with using a switched live for the reversing camera, after all, it’s only going to be live when in reverse and with the engine running (or at least ignition on). Also, pulling out the fuse box to access the rear seems to be an unnecessary move. One reason, I understand there’s (at least on the Octavia) an airbag connection in the vicinity, so I would prefer to disturb as little as possible, and use a piggy back fuse, plugged in the front of the fuse box. I’ve used them on several cars, for satnavs, dash cams, etc, as well as the reversing camera on my Octavia with no problems. But as my sig below says.....

Doesn’t the manual cover glove box removal? I’m pretty sure the Octavia 3 one does. (It’s a combination of brute force and jer-jiggling!) Re choice of fuse, IMO it’s more important to choose a fuse that is live when you want it to be. Search ‘piggy back fuse’ on eBay. There are 2 sizes, standard blade and mini blade fuse, make sure you get the correct one. Don’t ask how I know... You can then use any rating fuse that is switched how you want it, ie permanent live, ignition-on live, or accessory position live. This is because you add a fuse of the rating you require to ‘your’ cable. HTH