Brenticles

FYI Got one of these and it fits well. No pressure on the spoiler (hooks directly onto the roof rails) and is v adjustable. https://hollywoodracks.com/products/f2-over-the-top-2-trunk-rack?variant=15862475718 It is a normal height back tube though, so bikes on it would cover the lights and reg plate. However with the roof bar extension piece raised up, you can easily just flip the bikes upside down in the carrier. Few ratchet straps, a spare number plate and jobs a good un... No fiddling with electrics required.

Now mulling over the idea of a custom rack built using kee klamps. Would clamp onto the very back of the roof rails, then follow the angle of the rear window down (using a couple of adjustable elbows) then have the bottom rail rest on the bumper sill... Looks like £150 in materials to build it out. My main concern would be the practicality of getting it on/off the car and the weight of the frame. (Could swap fittings to Alu for weight savings.) I'll let you guys know if I go anywhere with it, and post pictures.

I love my 280, I immediately boxed it to an alleged 350. Whether it does hit that figure is anyone's guess, but it removes what I thought was the totally smooth delivery of power of the 280 and gives you a more hairem scarem kick in sports mode. + on average the box gives you an extra mpg or two (Brushes over the fact I can only run it on 98RON or above) Done 30k miles in it now and still brings a smile to my face Glad I went for it over the more sensible 220 option.

Hi all, I need a cycle carrier for my Superb Estate. The roof rack is full when on camping holidays, so no room up top. Also the car does not have a tow bar fitted, so the normal tow bar mounted ones are not an option. Looking around at the main companies (Thule etc) none of them seem to do an official version that will fit. The closest I can see to a half decent universal rack that may fit would be the following http://www.pendle-bike.co.uk/shopping/strap-on-rack.php Otherwise my only option is to splurge £600 upwards on a tow bar and carrier. Which I would like to avoid if there is a safe strappy version. Any pointers much appreciated.

No bad reason - I just have a very good offer for a remap which I hope to take up. Obviously that work can't take place if the chip is installed. So I plan to flog the RaceChip when the remap get's done.

I may be swapping from a RaceChip to a ReMap soon. If so I will let you know the difference, if noticable. (RaceChip is currently disconnected and the drop in performance back to stock is quite noticable. Although you then reasilse how smooth stock is ) Installation of the Racechip is a doddle. You just need the front of the car up by about 10cm to easily install/uninstall, I made some ghetto ramps from Scaffolding boards to get underneath. The Ramps I had were too steep to get the car up without hitting the front mouldings. Hardest bit is routing the loom neatly, but this just requires a bit of fore-thought and 5 min of wiggling cables around.

Ahh, that must be why my 280 keeps going sideways on roundabouts

I do lots of motorway miles in the 280. I can honestly say I have never actually noticed the engine noise at any speed.

Zen like calm, and a commute so consistently busy and boring that you might as well sit behind a lorry rather than join the concertina of Audi's in the fast lane. The most exciting thing about these roads is to try and eke out more mpg My journey up to the Lakes on Friday will be a different matter though!

45.5mpg average on the commute now. This is even with a 2 mile detour to pick up a colleague. Tricks I have found so far for increased mpg. ACC set to distance of at least 3 out of 5 for normal driving. (It uses the brakes a lot less with this larger gap) ACC set to it's minimum distance if you are sat behind a lorry on the slow (50-60mph) sections of the commute. This add's about 1-2mpg (MaxiDot) over having ACC set at distance 3. Anticipation of the traffic in front, so you can disengage ACC and let Eco coast, bleeding off your speed, instead of ACC applying the brakes for you. Pulse and glide, using Eco coast, on the busy A roads. Trying here to blip up to anywhere between 30-50mph (traffic dependant), so you coast up the the back of the queued traffic in front. Generally keep a look out for any hills you can safely coast down, ie Motorway off-ramps etc. The Racechip Ultimate seems to have increased my mpg by about 2-3. This is an estimation based on Maxidot and @pump figures.

I find Eco great for normal A to B driving on pretty much all roads. The only thing I would use individual for is to set the air-con to none eco mode, whilst leaving everything else in eco. Sport is but a flick of the DSG selector away, if it is required, for anything such as a nippy overtake or quick get away from the lights. That is for my own persoanl driving style though in which I see having to use the brake as a failure of driving awareness. N.B. this is for petrol DSG though, I have not experienced Diesel DSG Eco. Anecdotally it sounds more laggy. No active dampers either.

I was in the exact same quandry. The 220 was the sensible choice, better MPG for my commute. Plenty of power (with space to chip tune if required) price wise, it was a fair lump cheaper. Convinced myseldf this was the correct option. Then I ended up buying a 280 (ex Demo) as it was pretty cheap, with loads of extra's. Not regretting it at all!

This is the correct advice in 99% of occasions. The only time I turn off the auto brake is when doing tight manouvers for parking. If you have autobrake on, you have to blip the throttle to get the car moving, which can lead to inelegantly shuddering around the car park. If you turn the autobrake off, then you just slowly release the foot brake and the car will start to creep forwards/backwards nice and smooth.

Pre-racechip ultimate Just got 42.5mpg average in a 280. That was for a 48 mile journey, most of which (40 miles) was dual carrigeway/motorway. ACC set at 62mph, as for this stretch of road is quite busy and there is not much point trying to go faster. Post-racechip ultimate Same route and speed. 44.5mpg I'll post up the real world (@ pump) figures at the weekend and see if there is much difference. FYI, pre-chip real world mpg for a weeks driving (eco and sport) for me was 35.7mpg

Does anyone have the front assist warning symbol trigger fairly often? For me it is usually at least once a journey, twisty ish A roads, or traffic at large roundabouts. It has not actually braked for me yet though, just beeped and flashed red. P.S. The first time I saw the symbol I thought it was warning me of excessive stereo volume with the roof open. Was testing out the canton at the time