thamestrader

I think it’s a 50/50. Whilst I agree it does mean any touch Parker will come off worse, having had someone run into the back of my car, which had a towbar fitted, which caused extensive damage. All the impact went through the towing hitch into the fixing points of the towbar. Without the towbar the impact would have been absorbed by the deformable bumper and rear crumple zones. Also with the removable hitch in place should you be unlucky enough to touch something when reversing, even a light tap with a towing hitch will do more damage than with a deformable bumper.

I used the Nextbase OBD connector hard wire kit. It’s an easier installation but some have commented that they dislike the permanent live. The Nextbase kit monitors battery level and switched off if it drops too much.

Very true.

Work out what it would cost in maintenance on your 3 year old Karoq for the next 3 years. Compare that to the cost to change figure include all the costs related to the new car including servicing, loss of interest if paying cash using savings and VED. Remember VED rates for cars over 40k in years 2 to 5 incur an extra £410 on top of the £190 per year. First year VED now is much higher. Your 2022 Karoq list price was probably under the £40k threshold. I suspect that true cost to change will be 2 or 3 times the cost of keeping your current Karoq.

I’ve read on other forums that the filter cleaning or replacement depending on version of the Haldex is just as or even more important than the oil change. After all if the filter is blocked the oil won’t circulate.

If it’s never been changed I’d get it replaced, using the recommendation that was applicable when the car was built rather than the recommendation for cars built now. I’m old school preventative maintenance, incurr a small cost and avoid a potentially huge cost. After all a new belt will last at least another 7 years and 120,000 km.

There should be more than two pages, the first page with the VIN, Model and time line graph, Specification takes at least two pages and there should be another page with the service details for a new car that would be just the PDI info. Can you get an indication of the build date - @Karoqdriver build date would appear to be Dec 2024,with the PDI in Jan 2025. The Model year says 2024 - I would have thought the Editions would be Model Year 2025 Regarding the Sat Nav - I may be in a minority of one but I like it (most of the time). Its major weakness is the entry of addresses and post codes. I enter all destinations via the Skoda App which uses Google Maps and download - quick and simple. The other minor irritation is the poor voice control - it allows you to say commands but you have no idea what the right command might, be its too difficult to try and work out what to say while concentrating on driving . Compared to Garmin which works off a pre-defined list of commands which it displays on the screen and are easy to remember. On the plus side I have the map displayed in the centre of the dash whilst driving and it will warn of delays or closures ahead even when not following a route.

Does the specification on the certificate match your car?

I think you have to have as long a test drive as possible to really assess a seat, If its a new car the seats will be stiffer than a used car and vice-versa, so thats part of the assessment. Everyones dimensions differ too so you have to rely on your own judgement. Personally I find our Fabia's seat squab to be a bit short and the back rest not high enough, but its my partners car and it suits her fine. I didn't really like the seats in the pool Octavia either, but the seats in my Karoq Sportline are fine, despite my initial reservations about the headrest which being built as part of the seat back is non adjustable. The seats in the VW Touran I had before the Karoq I would rate as perfect for me. Prior to buying the Touran in 2013 I was in the process of buying a new Golf Mk 7 2.0 TDI GT, I'd sat in it tried everything in the showroom. Arranged to bring my car in for tradein valuation and a test drive at the weekend. Test drive was an eyeopener - out on the road the seating was aweful - simply could not find a position where I was both comfortable and had adequate vision. I'm 6' 4" and due to a neck injury have to sit upright, which was achievable but the blind spots caused by the rear view mirror mounting and the top of windscreen pillars made driving in busy streets potentially dangerous. I suspect you could probably obtain Fabia seats or seats from other VAG vehicles at a breakers or one Ebay that would bolt straight into your Octavia. Might be cheaper than swapping the car.

If you have set up the Skoda App then you can download the digital certificate. This has the complete spec of the car and the service history. See example for my Karoq below. On the above page the graph line is effectively shows the 'life' of my Karoq, with the milestone dates; it was built May/June 2023, PDI was 16th August 2023 as shown on Page 2 below, 26th March 2024 Regular service. This was the service carried out by Skoda dealer I purchased the car from. Page below is the first page of the specification for my Karoq.

I second that, I’ve never had rear pads replaced before 110,000 miles, front pads normally last 60k to 70k miles.

Unfortunately modern diesels with DPF and EGR require regular long distance journeys. They are incompatible with short journeys and annual mileages less than 10,000 miles per year. Previously I had a 2.0L TDI VW Touran. My daily commute was 80 miles per day, so 400 miles per week, 20,000 miles per year. All was fine to 90,000 miles then I retired - annual mileage dropped to 3,000 with short 2-3 mile journeys. EGR valve blocked and replaced at 96,000 miles, EGR blocked and replaced again at 102,000 miles. £700 every 6000 miles ment a change to a petrol 2.0L TSI Karoq.

I check and adjust pressures mostly between October and March as the variations are more pronounced than during the summer. I feel running at low pressures causes more wear and adversely affects road holding.

Excess oil can be sucked out using a Sealey hand vacuum pump. The ideal would be to do an oil and filter change.

I’ve just read your mpg post. I think you’re right that there is an issue with electronic handbrake. You mention in the other post that a 250 mile journey seems to resolve the mpg issue. Just wondering if the combination of Electric handbrake and auto hold with many shorter journeys with frequent stops resulting in many rear brake applications if the rear brakes are slow to release that would increase wear and reduce mpg- compared to a 250 mile trip with very few rear brake applications due to auto hold.

It’s basically SE, SEL and Sportline. Then it gets mangled by adding Drive which applied to SE and Edition which applied to all of them. Easiest way is too at Skoda website as the names and versions have change over time.

Re the metric vs imperial and the door unlocking changes- that could be a user profile thing due to using different keys. I had a similar thing with TPMS setting - I had set it all for myself as primary but there is a default user too that I had to choose and set the TPMS for.

Rear pads so worn that they need replacing after 24,000 miles is unusual and before the fronts even more so. Is this a manual or auto, as you might expect a shorter pad life with an auto. Having said that my previous car (VW Touran DSG ) had done 108,000 miles when I sold it, still on the original rear pads, fronts changed at 72,000.

Yes the steering wheel is slower to heat up. Have you twigged that it has 3 heat levels. Multiple presses lower the level.

Difficult to see - the camera is a right at the top of the triangle.

No it stays on or off as set. I leave it on but for sometimes switch off so it creeps on tickover useful when parking in tight spots.

Lane Assist, check whether there is a camera mounted on the windscreen behind the rear view mirror. It’s needed for lane assist,TSR and auto dip/main beam for matrix headlamps, of which there are two types. Virtual cockpit there are 4 different selectable views and the contents of each can be configured to suit. That might resolve your concerns.

If the Karoq you test drive has Vari flex rear seats that cross member area might be different. I’ve not seen Vari flex seats though so can’t say. Also mine is 4x4 and I’ve never looked at a 2wd Karoq boot it’s possible the boot floor in a 4x4 had to be higher than a 2wd to allow for the rear diff etc.

Absolutely!

@jon15 Here are some images that hopefully will answer your questions. Firstly these are from my June 2023 build 2.0 TSI Sportline 4x4, in case that makes a difference. I removed the styrene storage which exposes this structural cross member - I don't have the carpet covering that you have because this was a factory fitted spare wheel. I also don't have the plastic trim over the seat hinge. My Karoq came with the double sided boot mat which sits on top of the main boot floor shown in these photos. The styrene storage when fitted goes over the top of the cross member, and the carpet you can see by the hingle how much it comes u[p the hinge probably about 20mm. With everything refitted and the boot floor folded back at the side, a handy way to access the underfloor storage, the white anchor loops are just visible, the raised flap resting against the seat back can be pushed flat but I leave it up to stop dirt etc getting under the seat. So length or depth of boot from threshold to back of rear seats is 34 inches, this is at the base of the backrest. This is the measurement from the top of the cubby hole side to the top of the boot floor.