Warrior193

Hi Sharon, welcome to the forum - that's hardly fair, he wouldn't let you drive his Chelsea tractor, but now wants to drive your Yeti

Also a good idea to rotate use between any keys you have.

Hi Dave, I'm afraid so! Happened to my wifes Fabia only a few weeks ago.

+1 for the gunmetal

It may seem a little conterintuitive, but with low annual mileage, servicing should be annual - the reason for this is that most of the miles will have been on short trips, with the engine only getting up to temperature towards the end of the trip.

Hi Bill, service intervals really depend on your annual mileage and the service schedule being correctly set by the dealer during your PDI before handover to you. If your annual mileage is significantly less than 10 000 miles, service interval should be on 'Fixed' annual servicing, otherwise schedule can be 'variable' - which is up to two years.

^^^^ 2nd this.

Although the difference in efficiency was pretty pronounced in the past - I believe that the latest generations of TQ boxes are now much closer. I have driven TQs pretty often with hire cars in the States and Canada - and I particularly liked the CV box on a hired Legacy (with paddles) a few years back, but I have always preferred the engine-braking of a manual when setting up for a corner - although I have noticed that this effect appears to be less noticeable in my Octavia - even with energy recuperation.

Hi Gerrycan, have you tried a test of the Aisin TQ box? I drove a Canadian version belonging to a friend in Ontario - and I quite liked it, although I'm a pretty much a die-hard shift it yourself driver.

Hi Rum, thanks for that - I will have to check, but if that is the case the muppets who carried out my last service (plus cambelt change) have replaced the wrong belt! - I requested them to replace the water pump belt at the same time as the cambelt! Another reason to not use them next time as they also didn't use the Fuchs engine oil I provided for the service.

The auxillary belt (drives coolant pump) on my MY16 2015 1.4TSI was a multi V-grooved one - not toothed.

Exactly this happened to my wife's Jazz - as she was walking up to it!

+++^^ Imagine that you have an egg under your right foot.

Tend to agree with you - although I 'chickened out' and had my belt and tensioner replaced at 6 years/21000 miles - the old belt and tensioner still looked like new. The garage who carried out this work also didn't appear to know that EA211 water pump is not driven off the cambelt! Shan't be using them again.

Hi Frank, just be aware that the silica 'tea bag' is there to extend the service life of the coolant. A good idea to at least stick to recommended coolant change intervals with bag removed.

Very lucky to get it down in one piece if transmission issues.

+ this, just seems to be wrong length - or in wrong position to fall to hand without looking.

I have found very little to dislike with my Octavia - apart from the air-pressure drumming with rear windows open.

Standard lead-acid battery.

Re-sync of either fob for the Fabia was not necessary, all ok once I got new battery fitted. Oddly, the fob battery for the Octavia failed this morning, got the car open at home - but with a warning 'replace key battery', drove to work and fob wouldn't lock vehicle! Another P$%y Duracell! Now fitting all fobs with fresh energizers.

Another Fabia3 with this odd problem - I got a panic call from my wife, she and a friend were locked-out of her car at the garden centre 6 miles away, cue quick rescue run after talking her through the emergency unlocking procedure - which just set off the alarm when she opened door! Message on matrix display 'key not found'. No indicator light showing on key fob when buttons pressed. Replaced fob battery when I got to her (fresh Duracell 2025, BB4 date, 2025) - still nothing, OK, dead fob I thought! Fortunately I had taken the spare key with me, which got her back home. Once home I tested the new battery in the non-functioning fob - 3.28 volts but still no indicator light showing when buttons pressed! then tried swapping over with the old battery from my Octavia (non kessy) fob - Fabia fob now working correctly! I can only guess that the new Duracell battery has some internal fault, even though the voltage output is ok on a DMM! I guess it's time to reorder fresh cells from another brand.

Hi Trenchman, have you had the battery tested recently? I'm guessing that the electro-assisted steering will be loading battery during this maneuver and battery voltage dropping too low - clue being the steering going 'dead'

As a suggestion, don't let the engine revs fall below approx 1100-1200 RPM when shifting into a higher gear at low speed, which will probably mean shifting up at around 2000 RPM.

Ok, something fast enougth to need cross-drilled discs.

You're not being a lot of help Amanda. What a tease!