SurreyJohn

Good result Its March now, so the original summer tyres will be fine until weather gets cold again in November, but I would put a note on your calendar to order the all seasons late Aug or early Sept (as prices always rise in Autumn). Continental all season contact is one of the best all season tyres.

If your nearest dealer wants £1000 to change belts then try another dealer as should be more like £500-600 If there are service and software updates, I would have thought they would be free, with Skoda picking up the cost. Its now March, and if it is a cold weather problem, do you really need to get it done this side of October, if you are having to pay for it. Although if you are claiming goodwill sooner claim is done the better. Skoda did offer some form of warranty extension during first lockdown when dealerships were closed, not sure if you could argue same reasoning now. However something is bit odd in that you have a euro6 diesel for only 6500 miles per year which is not normally recommended, did a Skoda salesperson mis-sell you a car which would strengthen any goodwill request.

In general the smaller the rim, and deeper tyre sidewall the softer the ride will be. The outside circumference will be virtually identical so it not like you get smaller wheels with smaller rims (but tyre width may be different). The latest cars come with Eco summer tyres (officially low rolling resistance summer tyres), these are very firm, and below about +10c are hard and grip poorly. Changing to an all season tyre, or fitting winter wheels and tyres will make ride lot more comfortable from November until March (until April if you are in North) as these are lot more compliant below about +12c EDIT : Just checked and brochure says 15 inch has low rolling resistance tyres, 16 inch has (normal summer) tyres. The 16inch is more obscure tyre size (and possibly low rolling resistance not yet made in that size). This means which is best will be different on cold day to a warm day, which rather complicates your question. Buying the 15 inch gives better/cheaper choice of all season tyre, but go for 16s if you get winter wheel set. Tyres will cost lot more in the rarer 215/45 R16 86H size

What was the weather (temperature and humidity) when the noise happened, and how many days since it had last been used, and was it parked outside. Did you put a high load on the alternator (eg turning on electric window heater, & mirror, seat heaters etc I query how many days parked, because you have a 3-4 year old car with only 20k miles, so clearly doesn’t do many miles per month. Could have got quite a bit of condensation whilst parked. If there had been condensation /damp a belt might have slipped a bit, more likely to be the auxiliary belt. But if garage now parks it in the warm or dry they are never going to replicate a damp belt slipping however long they keep it. I would get them to check the belt tension, and spray the pulleys of alternator, water pump etc with a water repellent, possibly also spray a few drops of penetrating oil on each of the shafts, just in case they are not turning completely free.

Unfortunately not, the extra material caught in the catch wedges it. It effectively gets wedged in by brute force and weight of boot lid, so only way to extract it is to remove by applying force, which might mean grabbing remaining strap with pliers or mole grips. You have been able to access boot from inside, and sometimes is possible to remove trim to gain better access, but sometimes it is easier to cut off an object one side and try and pull it out from the other side, by the sounds of it the bag strap is already broken so cutting off bit more to assist pulling it through is no further loss

In some ways, I feel for the dealer having to cope with Covid restrictions, however where they have chosen to relocate to middle of nowhere (I mean isolated on edge of town) it’s not great experience for the customer who has to hang around waiting either. Of course, the latest fixed menu servicing regime is to blame, if you have a car that has only done 1200 miles, why is a special low mileage inspection not available, parts which degrade over time ok to do, but some mileage related work clearly isn’t needed. After 12 months of Covid why is there still not a <4000 miles service option (not everyone does 10-12k miles per year which seems to be only option on those service charts). It is a also bit much to charge full rate if part of the customer comfort experience is withdrawn, more so if other parts included in the price like washing the car are also withdrawn.

This brochure, has a number of different wheel options for Octavia mk4 (see page 7), don’t see Trinity though https://www.skoda-auto.de/_doc/e604bebd-dd65-4dc5-a90b-7f3aa39c3cc2

Your plan is £17 x 24 months = £408 It doesn’t cover everything apparently, so why bother Remember in general, plans are usually to make someone extra profit, at your expense, but are dressed up to get you to think they are worth buying. They are not there to be charitable to you. Why not just set up a £17 monthly bank transfer to a deposit account, then pay servicing out of that instead, and if you don’t want any unexpected bills make the transfer £20-25 so bit of spare in there to cover unplanned extra. Logically, you could add another £13 per month to cover annual car tax, could also add more to cover insurance premium. Then just pay as required using the car fund account you created.

You do seem to lose a few things in Ireland, I just compared the Irish style spec to UKs equivalent spec (SEL), so maybe forget what I said as some options like variable boot floor might be more practical https://www.skoda.co.uk/_doc/08dde6bc-3689-47b7-a965-d3d059ee90c7

Not sure where you are located, but if you can pick two options will depend on where you are. Is the 150 the 1.5tsi or a diesel Virtual dash is nice gimmick, but if you have had many cars with normal speedometer, what you have never had you won’t miss If you drive in a city, with heavy traffic, you will curse returning to a manual gearbox (and not sure why it is about 3 times normal price, unless you need to change spec to get it). Unless having a class A driving license is a condition of employment, since the Equality Act (disability Act) not normally able to insist on excluding anyone with an Auto only license. ACC useful on motorways and main roads, not worth it if you drive mainly on country roads Kessy comes in 2 forms, the basic one isn’t that helpful compared to a remote key Heated screen can be useful if your home doesn’t have decent garage, and you park it outside in frosty weather Rear Camera is helpful if park in tight spaces, but pointless if you have in and out drive (so rarely reverse) and big parking spaces at work

Could be either : Faulty switch Wiring connector fallen off or broken Broken or damaged wire to switch If not getting the switch lighting up then suggests it is not getting power so would be wiring or connector, rather than faulty switch

The Sportline nowadays has 225/40 R19 low rolling resistance (rough translation : hard and firm) tyres The SEL gets 215/50 R18 tyres (which have deeper sidewalls) It’s all good looks and nice if you only drive on well maintained roads, but in many parts of UK roads have holes, so not that practical. The SE and SE Drive both get 17 inch wheels, and in some European countries lower spec models get 16 inch wheels. In my opinion having biggest rim of 4 sizes is always going to cause problems with potholes as have so much less tyre sidewall to absorb the bumps. In Germany (which has higher speed limits than UK) the Karoq Sportline has factory option of 16 or 17 or 18 inch alloys (or 16 inch steel) with winter tyres. So can still have Sportline looks and equipment, but don’t have to have 19 inch wheels.

It is a older design summer tyre The Assymetric 5 is out (but still have to have older 3 in the obscure size Skoda have picked) I have the same 215/45 R18 on my Arona and tyre choice has improved. When I first looked could only get Vredestein Quatrac 5 and Maxxis AP2 as all seasons (now replaced by Quatrac Pro and Maxxis AP3). Others are now available including excellent Continental all season contact. Availability was also poor, and price very high (if you could actually find anyone with stock) when I wanted to get some (lesson learnt, don’t try and buy Oct-Dec). I ended up buying a set of Borbet Y rims with Goodyear Ultragrip 9+ tyres in size 205/60 R16 92H. These fit perfectly and use same bolts. The set of 4 (rims+tyres) was lot less than the near £650 the all seasons were at the time Obviously no longer have the cold weather wheel spin, and have had no problems driving up hills when it snowed recently

Yes, there is a rationing system. It is there to stop some dealers placing big orders and blocking other dealers from getting cars. I think the system has a max allocation of factory orders per model, each month, (the number depends on size of dealer and historic sales volumes). Once that is reached the factory might not accept the order, but hold it instead whilst it allocates to other dealers around Europe. Of course a dealer would know if they have exceeded their allocation, but won’t know if others have not filled theirs (and if enough are under will be spare build slots at factory which order can be reallocated into)

I am very surprised that a 2017 car came with Bridgestone ER300 tyres, I thought they had been replaced few years earlier. Maybe they continued in some countries

Either something has changed, or the salesman did a lousy job at looking up estimated lead times, if she/he estimated 3-4 months, but factory was indicating 26 weeks (6 months) Perhaps ask the Dealer Principal to forward the lead time (which I think someone in past said is a weekly email) covering period when you placed your order. It will either show delivery was 3-4 months (but has since slipped), or salesperson told you porky pies re timescale (in which case ask for some compensation, price cut or something decent added on, and suggest if they want to recover it from salesman’s bonus, that’s between them and salesman

Alternatively buy a couple of heavy duty L shape 30cm shelf brackets and mount a shelf just below the rack so tyres partly resting on it. (high enough to part support tyres, but not so high as to lift them so can roll over the bars). Another alternative (probably easier) is to fix netting over the bars to make a U shaped sling cradle, which will support over much bigger area to avoid flat spots. I think the type you need is called barrier fencing (as normally used as barrier around holes)

If car is approaching 3 years, it is sensible to get any warranty work done, or minor niggles looked at Remember to get the MOT done before it and warranty expires (MOT will give you full year from expiry date, not from test date, provided it is done during last month of validity) Check the tyres, if tread depths are different front and back, consider getting them swapped around (usually about £20, or free if wheels off for something else like brake pads). If you don’t own a tyre tread gauge, then do rough check using rim of 2p coin, or a two colour £1coin to compare tyres Ask what pressure is in spare wheel, it forces garage to ensure it is pumped up and usable

Very sensible to add the 5 year warranty, get it confirmed in writing as it can’t be added later. Not sure what tyre or wheel insurance is, or what it costs, or what it excludes. But if it excludes you bumping a kerb etc might not be worth it. Regarding tyres, I think latest models are delivered with low rolling resistance (Eco) summer tyres. These are good in warm and hot weather (and at WLTP test temperature of +23c), but very poor grip below about +10c. Not a Karoq problem but common to virtually all new cars now. Consider asking for tyres to be swapped to premium all seasons at delivery, or set of winter wheels and tyres being added at minimal cost.

Taken from latest Skoda Storyboard, 43 simply clever features including 12 new ones New Simply Clever features in the FABIA • Folding backrest of the front passenger seat • Two smartphone storage pockets on the front seatbacks • Multifunction storage pocket • USB-C socket on the rear-view mirror • Foldaway, flexible storage compartment in the boot • Front-operated reading light in the rear • Card and pen holder in the storage compartment in front of the gearstick • Two hooks in the boot for the retaining eyelets of the top tether system • Removable cup holder • Card and coin holder in the lid of the glove compartment • Storage compartment on the tunnel in front of the rear seats with a cup holder • Removable sun visor for the panoramic roof • Boot loading protection Article also includes short video taken in Zell am See, Austria https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/fabia/the-new-fabia-whats-hiding-beneath-the-camouflage/

In the past have seen someone put the jack on a heavy thick old wooden board to raise the height, think it must have come from a piece of old furniture as it had aged varnished look, and was probably decades old.

The service warning is earlier of date since last done, or mileage since last done. It is possibly a year since last service, or 2 years since new, depending on service regime that was chosen on delivery

I don’t want to state the obvious, but if the wires were broken, did anything short out and the fuses blow, and fuses need replacing now damaged wiring fixed It seems to be a general problem with older roomsters that wiring looms are quite weak and brittle and the flexible sections at door & tailgate prone to early demise

According to the Auto Express article a 1.5tsi 148 will be available (DSG only) I am guessing it will be limited to top (or 2 highest) spec though https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/skoda/fabia/108591/fourth-generation-skoda-fabia-specs-confirmed

The 10% biofuel needs to come from plants that are grown We don't really grow suitable crops in UK And if we give fields over to it, then presumably less fields available for UK grown foods, so we pay more for fresh vegatables instead