FelisBengalensis

Very occasionally I have had the ACC ‘lose lock’ on vehicles ahead and surge ahead. It usually occurs in slow traffic and is completely random. Rain and dirt is not the cause as it does it in clear weather with a clean car just as much as any other time. I have no idea why it does it but I now never have the ACC set closer than two bars - which are speed sensitive as the faster you go, the longer the gap ahead becomes - in normal traffic and three in slow. It definitely misses stationary vehicles but when lock is lost it is always in traffic and had a lock moments before. Sometimes it gains lock again and slams on the brakes, but I have usually got there first. The system does not engender trust - which it probably shouldn’t - which makes me wonder why it’s there at all at times.

Mine came from Progress Letchworth and I have always found them very good and willing to help out. Their Bedford branch is a disaster however. Everything is too much effort (salesman just kept watching the footy on his computer) and they denied all knowledge of a case passed to them by Letchworth as Bedford is nearer, even though I know it was done.

It would indeed. Certainly not on my 2015 build anyway...... puzzled

Only the seat backs fold in mine. Nothing in the manual about lifting the seat bases at all. You sure the S3 has that facility?

With mine being a DSG I just leave it in Park with the brake off. If garaged (on the rare chance HRHs car isn’t in there) then I can chock it too, but I’m not overly concerned with the car being under warranty making it Škoda’s problem. If all else fails then you cut the cables from underneath and Škoda fit a new one. The scary bit is the price of the units. BMW ones are over £800 a pop!

I thought it uses an actuator (centre mounted) which pulls via a Bowden type cable on a small drum brake in each rear wheel rather than on the calliper. It needs electrical power only to release it. If the actuator fails then you can’t move according to the manual! I am surprised there is no emergency release as I have a loop in the boot of my BMW that disconnects the system by releasing the cables from the motor drive in the actuator unit.

As above, only the 190 uses AdBlue at present unless it’s a 4x4 150.

Sounds like the latches need adjusting or lubricating. All of mine a fairly light to pull open.

A well treated DPF should last at least 60k miles and probably up nearer 100k miles before needing replacement. On your mileage diesel makes no sense. My commute is 60 miles round trip and at present a petrol isn’t realistic without coming down to a 3-cyl, 1-litre multiturbo sewing machine.

Oh probably...... be glad it isn’t a BMW. Their auto boxes are well over £200 just for the oil.

Happy New Year from soggy East Anglia too. My ‘early adopted’ S3 will need its first gearbox oil change shortly (@40k) and a new pair of front tyres too.

The DSG box is not an automatic in the classic sense, and the two clutches won’t put up with a 3rd pull away. There is no torque converter to ease the torque in as a true auto has.

Mine has reacted incorrectly when it misread the traffic ahead, or a car leaving the road ahead, or on two occasions when a hedgehopping wood pigeon got too close!

It does, but within the limitations of the system (all the car electronics combined together). Simply by either letting the system finish its cycle before cranking, or turning the auto light function on once the engine is running should solve the problem. My S3 does it too, but only if I place heavy electrical loads on the system at the wrong moment during computer boot up. I let everything cycle first. My X6 is just the same and so is our 2005 3-series. Both have Xenon auto lights. BMWs have a nasty habit of throwing spurious warnings about suspension failure, or emergency transmission mode if you catch them at the wrong point during boot up. The fix for them is key in, turn to pos 1, pause......., crank.

It is always better to start your car with the majority of the consumables switched off. Starting draws significant current and will cause a volt drop that will upset computer modules. You don’t need your lights on at the point of starting the car. This is not unique to Škoda and is a fact of life with electronics in most if not all cars. There is nothing to be gained - and unlikely to be a fix - by switching things on before the engine is running. You can make electronics more resilient to this effect, but that adds cost and complexity and will put the car price up. It will also go against the manufacturers accountants view of the whole life costs and profits for any given model. I have had a number of BMWs and Škodas over the years with ever increasing levels of electronic control and monitoring systems and all have suffered from this in one form or another. The advice from both Dealers and Owner Forums is to start the engine and then turn things on. You should also pause between turning the ignition on and let all of the systems and warning lights fully cycle before cranking the engine. The eff3cts are more likely to be more apparent in cold weather. The advice from your Dealer to start the car and then turn things on is very sound advice and whilst you may not want to accept it, is the correct advice from an engineering stand point.

No monitors in mine....as suggested, it’s the ABS monitoring wheel rotation differences to detect pressure changes.

They were late for tea break then.......

That’s annoying! I would have expected it to be possible to at least part disable the DSC! I haven’t been out in mine yet and I have winter tyres fitted. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your viewpoint) we have a gritting station nearby so our roads have been gritted out to the main route (A1).

Škoda are not the only manufacturer doing this. BMW have been doing it for more than ten years that I know of. I haven’t seen the VAG version but BMW simply want the battery type and Ah rating (choice of AGM or conventional). You can put any battery you like in as long as it meets the performance stated. All Manufacturers use the ‘recommend you use a......’ approach as it covers them against claims. It also protects the warranty liability that they have.

If you change the battery, the car system has to be told about that via coding. The S3 appears to have intelligent charging which changes the charging cycle as the battery ages. My Dealer had to get me back in after they changed the battery but didn’t code that. It only takes a few minutes but should be done in order to preserve the battery. AGM batteries do not like going flat, and it will shorten their service life each time it happens.

Absolutely, and from other reports on here, those need Specialist (often Audi Garages) to be properly calibrated because many Škoda Dealers don’t have the equipment or knowledge. I doubt many accident repair centres would even know where to start, or understand that there might be any issue when fixing cars.

I have already had my main battery replaced with less than 30K on the clock. At least one cell shorted out. The AA came out and confirmed the battery was giving just 5V! Could be a bad batch, or a growing issue with AGM types on Start/Stop Cars. Replaced under warranty. Dealer had one in stock so I was up and running in less than 30 mins from arriving there. Beware that if it does fail, the car alarm will sound and it has its own battery. Read the manual to learn the way to get into the car if the battery fails. The only way to shut the alarm off is to get power on the car and then unlock it with the key (on KESSY equipped cars). The alarm system thinks a battery failure is an attempted theft!

Standard SIM card too.

It’s the same on most European cars with automatic tailgates. I know you can programme it to also close on BMWs - though a Dealer will not do it for “Safety Reasons”. Can VCDS change the behaviour of the switch?

Dealers have all of their franchise costs to cover, hence labour, sales, spares etc charges all being higher. Car supermarkets have none of this to cover, not even the warranty (other than under the Sale of Goods Act rules). Because of this they can simply make a few % on a car and still make a profit. Dealers need to make more and have more interest in new car sales. Some buyers will only buy through an official dealer to ensure proper coverage and support should anything go wrong. Whether this protection is truly better is debatable.