SkudMissile21

I’ve found eco mode to be a false economy on my work commute. 28 miles mostly motorway and the best I’ve ever managed in eco is about 35mpg. In normal drive I’ve done 38mpg same journey!

I’ve gone for the autoglym non acid version after reading everyone’s replies and some online reviews of the traditional acid versions. Will post back how I get on when I next clean the car and have time to tackle the wheels properly

I’ve had my Sportline 280 with the standard 19” Vega alloys since September 2020 (and still loving the look of it all), I’ve been cleaning the car with the pressure washer and two bucket two wash mitts method then finishing it off with autoglym rapid aqua wax but just been doing the wheels by hand with the grubbier wash mitt (got a new one for the upper bodywork) which has been fine until now but I’m noticing a bit of build up that’s not coming off now at the edges so wanted to get some proper alloy wheel cleaner again. Just looking at some autoglym stuff on Amazon that says it suitable for use on lacquered alloy, painted alloy & plastic wheel trims which I guess would cover the Vega alloys but wanted to check before I buy. any suggestions appreciated!

I’d agree it could do with an additional mode as drive tends to change up far too early most of the time which is annoying when I’m leaving my village as there’s a hill that it always ends up in 4th immediately even though I’m only doing about 25mph then when I give it a little more just to get up to 30 it has to drop back to 3rd, with nearly 300bhp you’d think it could ride the torque enough to deal with a minor bill without having to drop down. As for sport mode I use it for fast pull away or some overtakes but even then it is never in the right gear for me, sits in a fairly high Rev range but still drops gears when I actually put my foot down to do the overtake so begs the question what’s the point?! I do use manual sometimes but suppose I’ve got lazy so don’t always have it in the right gear for an overtake that way…

I’m glad my hatch does have the free option rear wiper (though it has stuck half way several times recently and despite multiple videos of it on my phone my local dealer won’t act unless they actually see it failed ) but I had exactly your experience with my old mk2 twindoor hatch, never even thought about it when looking until I drove away after purchase and tried to activate it! Obviously on that model it wasn’t an option due to the clever double hinged boot but I use it so frequently for rear visibility is not want to be without it and don’t feel it spoils the look as some say.

When I installed my subwoofer I tried to follow someone’s guide about removing the battery and feeding through behind there but I couldn’t get through so I gave up and went through the flap under the drivers footwell and the unused clutch blanking plate. Not ideal I know but it was all I could think of. Initially used plastic conduit for protection until I realised the temperatures it was exposed to from the turbo so it’s now in a length of high temperature silicone heat shielding hose from behind the battery right through into the footwell and tied to the existing similarly shielded cables that were already in that area. No issues since so maybe that’s an option? Got the hose from ebay, good for about 500 degrees Fahrenheit

I’ve done this mod as well, it’s useful when coming up to a lane split with traffic on the right as before it would slow me down unnecessarily. just be aware though that it will let you sail past the middle lane hoggers on a motorway if you’re in the left lane for example and while I admit there’s occasions when I do this it’s not a very good idea for obvious reasons and can be very unnerving!

Mine does this every now and then, try doing a reboot of the infotainment (hold the power button until it reboots) and also reboot the phone (usually volume up, volume down then hold the power button until the Apple logo appears). That usually fixes it for me

Yeah I love having that power available too but am mostly trying to behave lately, too many unmarked police cars and scammera vans around my area now to risk it. the first lockdown mind was a different time and I’d have been in serious trouble if I’d been caught a few times then

Mine lives in a kessy pouch in my jeans pocket and I rarely get the key not found message but it has happened a few times. The pouch has an inner (blocked signal) pocket for the key when at home and an outer one that lets the signal out, I just move the key between the pouches when I am gonna drive the car.

VCDS is certainly worth the money for the older cars (2019 down) but it seems a lot of features and options that could previously be enabled with it are being locked out requiring dealer only access tools. That said it’s still a very good piece of kit. There are cheaper options around like obd11 or Carista, the former seems quite powerful while the latter is more basic but still allows some coding if it’s in their menu system as an option to be enabled.

I don’t have 17’s on mine but looking at the spec book for the mk3’s I have saved it says 17” stratos alloys for the SE models? anything like these?

Can’t comment on that engine but my last mk2 was a 140bhp and coming from a 180bhp vRS it felt sluggish so I put a super chips bluefin remap on it via handset myself. Made a huge difference to the drivability and acceleration. Took it off when I sold it and did some gps logged runs with a Bluetooth dongle linked to an app on my phone and the 0-60 times went from 9.8 seconds to 8 seconds dead with the bluefin installed. Only a 30bhp increase but the extra 60Nm torque obviously made a huge difference. other remap brands are available obviously….

I find the ride fine on 19’s in mine. Roads are rubbish so loads of potholes to avoid but providing I do that I don’t have any complaints about the ride comfort and I came from a mk2 140se diesel superb on 17’s and a mk1 octy vrs on 17’s before that. Never had an issue with any of those car rides really.

I went for the 280 as my budget simply couldn’t stretch to a 272 at the time. £20k for a 20k miles Sportline was my upper limit but I’m very happy with it. My biggest gripe is as you mention the 6 speed box cruising speed. You are doing 2.5k rpm at 70 and obviously if you cruise at even 85 (maybe illegal but not exactly unrealistic with most traffic) you’ll be doing 3k plus and it definitely makes a difference to the fuel economy. Obviously nobody really buys a 280 for economy but it has to factor in somewhere when you are lucky to average 30mpg with 99ron fuel and that requires behaving 90% of the time and not booting it. Previously I averaged 27.5mpg on Sainsbury’s 97ron but decided to give the shell v-power a try for a while, does seem to make a difference but 10p a litre more soon cancels that out. Boot it though and the smiles per gallon trumps all else! And obviously the original 280 has quad valves exhausts so obviously that’s better….

I’ve got the PS4 on mine, was around £168 each fitted a few months back. Could’ve had the PS4s for around £10 each more a corner but didn’t think it was necessary. I’m happy with them, seem to hold the road well and aren’t noisy so providing they don’t wear out too quickly I’ll be replacing them with like again in future. As a side note I also run Michelin pilot road on my motorbike as well and they’ve always been excellent!

Orange lights on the inside of the wing mirrors is usually the blind spot indication telling you there is a vehicle on that side

Another vote for Thule Wingbars. here are the three parts I have for my 2018 hatch, no issues with the sunroof either and they use the built in holes in the top of the door frames. Thule Wingbar evo 135 Thule evo clamp Kit 5207 photos of it fitted:

Oh you need to try launch control then! It’s a complete riot, release brake with throttle planted and it takes off like a scalded cat no fuss no wheelspin just brutal acceleration that puts a huge smile on your face.

I did mine today as well after being reminded by this thread to check! 2018 Columbus, stuck it on a 128gb micro sd with adapter formatted using SDFormatter in windows 10 and put into slot 2 on the head unit. Took about an hour but all went in with no problems, I just got in the passenger side and turned on the infotainment unit to start the update then got out and locked the car leaving it to do its thing.

Pretty sure you will see a load of gearbox error codes if the engine is running for some reason. Clearing them will bring them straight back so you need to turn off completely then put ignition on but don’t start the car and scan again. They should disappear then.

If you’ve still got a rectangular shaped box above the glove box visible when you open it then that’ll be the brains of the head unit (amplifier etc) so it’s probably still the same procedure - harness adapter and pick off the speaker wiring to your amp or signal converter

Dunno about wire fix but mine has a similar issue with the drivers side rear lock sometimes not working (causes the central locking to keep trying to lock and unlock the doors while moving above 12mph, first discovered due to the door not unlocking from the remote initially and verified as a fault with VCDS). it is being replaced under warranty next week when serviced so I will report back after that but it’s mostly likely the lock rather than a wiring issue.

Are something like autosocks not suitable for that? I have two pairs for my car (unused so far and hoping to stay that way!) but pretty sure they’re supposed to be certified for use instead of chains etc. Still tricky to fit but probably easier than snow chains given the low ground clearance we have. They we’re a life saver on my last mk2 and octy mk1 prior to that when I needed them!

I’m looking at replacing my 18” space saver factory spare with a full size vega 19” alloy (due to me kerbing the front left one twice when I first got the car) and have tried it in place to check it fitted. It’s a very tight fit (and may benefit from the mod shown in the original post) but definitely possible with a small raising of the floor carpet (20mm ish) and didn’t look out of place when covered with the carpet either. from memory the plastic stud for the wheel nut that secures the spare in place appears to be a push in fit to the existing bracket in the photos above (I almost tried to remove it while drilling a tapped grounding bolt there when installing my subwoofer amp) so if you can source the stud and nut I’d say it should fit.