ChoonDoode

I very much agree. Nothing like an Italian tune up. There's nothing wrong with giving the car a blast every now and then. I'm starting to do more motorway miles now and I'm noticing the car is doing a lot of active regens. On the motorway because of the cold weather, my car doesn't get up to temperature quickly. Talking a good few miles to get up to proper water temperature and best part of 10 miles for the oil to be 70+'c. This is from finishing at well past midnight and the temperature is close to 0'c. Come the end of the journey, can't say I see the oil getting close to 90'c often. It's often lower when there's the 50mph cameras on for the roadworks. I'll have to take my VCDS to work tonight and run it all the way home, because I can't see the EGT's getting high enough quick enough Last week before I filled up, I came off the motorway a junction earlier, gave it a blast down the back B road by me and got the car well up to temperature (fans blasting and oil 100'c+) and the active regen it was attempting to do got finished.

Yeah I understand. The ol' fellas beamer has a speed limiter. Set to say 30mph and keep your foot on the accelerator and it stays at 30. But then mash the pedal to the floor and it will speed up. Our CC is a set it and release the pedal affair. I don't mind it, but when you're on the motorway, I find my right ankle aching after a while because my foot is hovering over the accelerator pedal.

The other way would be to clay the car. But that will strip off any polishes or waxes you've got on there. You'd just need to redetail your car afterwards. I find keeping my car is staying tar free most of the time because the Bilt Hamber wax does a very good job of preventing dirt clinging on enough to withstand a foam and pressure wash washing. Just out of sheer obsessiveness I wax my car once every forth wash.

I'm made up getting a mk3 and that I wasn't looking for a new car at this current time. I hate the way manufacturers are having a touchscreen for all the controls. They're fiddly to use whilst you're driving and they're a pain to have to navigate through. Physical buttons!!!! Twisty knobs!!! A lever for the recirculation!!!! The other downside of the MK4 compared to the mk3 is the vrs diesel is in DSG only. I'm yet to drive a DSG box I've gone 'oh I'm happy with that' because I don't feel like I'm in proper control. ZF boxes on BMW's at least let you have fully manual mode.

That just looks like tyre degradation to be honest. They look old and weathered. The rears may look slightly better because they won't have had the same amount of stresses put through them as the fronts.

battery related perhaps?

my PCP balloon payment on my car was £15k odd, but that was with the car being a fully specced up VRS. The buying option on lease vehicles always seems to be an extortionate amount. I know a few people in my work who had cars through Leaseplan and wanted to buy them at the end of the term got a bum deal. A couple of people bought them, but a couple just couldn't justify the mark up price. But, they don't want you to buy them at the end of the day. They want you to go and get another leased vehicle and carry on paying them a monthly amount. Hence putting such a financial obstacle in your way to discourage you from purchasing the car.

you know things are getting bad when there are snow drifts in Suffolk. As a life or death thing, yes you'd leave your car running. But if you didn't have to have the engine idling for a long period of time, I wouldn't. It can wear out parts quicker as the engine is designed to be going through the revs and having load applied to it. Things like the EGR will get clogged and the DPF won't be getting up to temperature and will be struggling to stay clear. More regens and more associated problems Best thing to do if you're in any doubts of getting stuck, is not to travel. If you get stuck, chances are the people who would be the ones to try and come and help won't be getting there any time soon. Last time it was really bad where I live was 2010 / 2011 and the amount of people who had accidents and didn't even have a spare thicker jacket was alarming.

5E0075101A appear to be the facelift rears

I've got mud flaps on my vrs estate, but I've a mk3. Not sure if there are different ones for the mk3.5

Yeah, as said above, the markings aren't there on them. I've LED fogs in my VRS for years now (configured for DRLs as well) and it's never been questioned at the time of servicing or MOT. If you do swap to LEDs a quick VCDS will be needed 👍

the problem with swapping out the standard halogens for LED bulbs is the beam spread won't be as intended because the light hitting the reflectors in the lens housing will be different to that from the halogens. The only thing I could suggest is to try adjust the headlight height with the allen key hole on both units. Only thing is it may impair normal day to day driving

that one is a pain as well. I feel it should have been a separate button and/or included with the rear screen demister I realise I've left it in that position when I'm scratching my head as to why the left mirror isn't dipping

https://www.racingline.com/dealers

To be fair when I changed my battery, I did the same as you; gloves, grease and a bit of tape covering the old positive post. Just a belt and braces approach. Only thing I did different, was I had my new battery on the bench first and threw the optimate on it before it was in the car. That was just so I knew the battery was in full health before I started swapping it.

Yeah COVID has caused loads of peoples' journeys to be infrequent and not as far, hence the AA and RAC making a killing of this and last winter. My battery is only a few years old (Bosch AGM 096) but since I've now started predominantly working from home, I've thrown my bike's optimate on every couple of weeks or so just to keep the battery fighting fit.

https://manual-directory.com/manual/2016-skoda-octavia-owners-manual/ page 293 and then 64 and apologies, I meant index

In your owners manual, look in the glossary for key.

Yeah, that's the battery. Mine was a bit finicky when replacing.

I had a bit of trouble when I changed the remote battery several months ago. I just needed the contacts cleaning and pulling out a bit so they gripped tight on the battery a bit more. As said above, check for a red light on the fob. No light = no power. A light and the car doesn't recognise it means you need to reprogram it to the car. There is a section in the owners manual which explains how to do this. No VCDS involved. I wouldn't just go and buy a fob. Be a hassle getting one and then having to get it cut.

They do have a bit more sound insulation. A mate had a 1.6tdi Mk6 golf and the engine sound was dampened down

The only thing which can grate on me a little is the ingress of road noise within the cabin. I'm quite tolerant of it coming from daily driving a tranny van for so many years, but I feel putting an extra layer at the front to shield the engine noise and a bit within the boot area would beneficial. The latter is on my to do list

Polyurethane bushes will help to reduce it, but it'll come at the cost of increased NHV

Cheers, I'll investigate those later

forgive me, I forgot to add, I'm looking for the potential option whilst using VCDS. I've used my phone to try and translate the options I've found on the adaptations on the central electrics, but nothing it jumping out to me