thamestrader

Thank you folks for the comprehensive replies. The tyre size information and discussion is very interesting. I feel that I have identified the right model. I have to say that after a 30 minute test drive earlier this week I was very impressed with the way the combination of 2.0l petrol, 7 spd DSG, Hill Hold and Stop/Start all worked. In addition to the Touran we have a 2015 1.2 110 bhp 7 spd DSG Fabia which doesn't move away from rest anything like as smoothly as the TDI Touran, so I was very pleased to find the petrol Karoq was even smoother pulling away than the Touran and a vast improvement over the Fabia. Now comes the harder part of actually finding one and agreeing a deal.

Having run a 2.0L TDI DSG Touran since 2013, a 'pre-reg' 2024 2.0L TSI Karoq is being considered as the replacement. Having trawled through the topics in the Karoq forum theres a few things that some advice/real world experience on would be appreciated. 1. Tyres - The Touran has been on Cross Climates for the last 60K miles, and I really like them. I notice that everyone says the Bridgestones Turanza T005 gives hard ride. I've seen both 225/40 R19 and 225/45 R19 sizes mentioned - can anyone clarify does the 2.0L TSI definitely have the 225/45 R19 size? Is it the 225/40 that gives the harsher ride? 2. Lane Assist and Traffic Sign recognition - Has anyone got either or both of these features without having the Traffic Assist Package - of the Karoqs I've seen advertised none have the Traffic Assist package but some list Lane assist and some list both Lane Assist and Traffic Sign Recognition. 3. Towbar. All the Karoqs on my short list have To bar Preparation listed, none of them have towbars fitted. I have a Westfahlia Detachable swanneck towbar on my Touran. What towbars have people fitted - Skoda Electrically folding, Fixed swan neck , detachable swan neck? 4. Map updates and Traffic information. I've used Garmin Sat Navs for the last 16 years, downloading free updates 2 to 3 times a year. Real Time Traffic information is generally good. What is the situation like with the Amundsen Unit?

The scan results you have posted look like they have come from a generic scanner rather than VAG-COM or VCDS which are VAG specific. For info I've pasted part of the VCDS scan from my Touran which had an ABS Sensor failure a few weeks ago. My Touran doesn't have Front Assist or TPMS but the dashboard warning lights were on for ABS, ESC and Steering - all functions that require working ABS sensors. The above VCDS scan clearly shows the faults logged. It also shows an Auto Trans (DSG) fault - this was a side effect of the ABS sensor initially intermittently failing which upset the DSG software, and the VCDS scan for the Auto Trans points to the ABS controller as the source of the problem.

I would advise getting the vehicle scanned to identify more precisely what the root cause is. I would be tempted to suggest it may be caused by an ABS Sensor problem; ABS light is on, ESC can't function if the ABS is not working so ESC light is on, TPMS use ABS sensors to determine if the wheels rotation speed differs from other wheels - can't function if ABS is not working so TPMS light is on. Front Assist and Stop Start are reports not warnings; Stop Start is most likely low battery voltage/charge. The battery is 5 years old - our Fabia hasn't had working SS for the last 2 years - replaced the battery and hey presto SS is working again. Front assist I'm not sure but its possible that its disabled because of the ABS error message - Front Assist will apply the brakes to stop the car - without ABS this could be dangerous.

Agree with AGFalco. I obtained a matching 15" alloy wheel off Ebay, as we had no spare, the wheel, fits the well, but the polystyrene moulding that holds the tools tends to raise the boot floor carpet. Ours doesn't have a solid boot floor so its not an issue.

It may help to know your are not the only one with this problem. there are many posts on this forum about it. Even with the inspection panel removed under the wheel arch I simply could not get my hand in it was too big. I ended up getting the dealer to change the bulb for me. Good luck.

I don't think anyone has actually stated it, but the Fabia handles pretty well, front end grip on ours is very good. Its running Continentals on the front and Dunlops on the rear, both set to the higher ECO pressures. On our other car I run Michelin Cross Climates and the road holding of these in the dry is very good, in the wet or on ice/snow they are excellent, Goodyear Vector All Seasons are also very good. I would suggest its the combination of two different tyre makes of less well known make, perhaps made worse by pressure differences.

@rum4mo VWFORUM.CO.UK -

I posted this subject on the VW forum as well, to see if VWs were also affected. Interestingly I learnt that the injectors have been revised 3 times between 23 Feb 2015 and 4 Apr 2016, my car was built on Feb 12 2015. Thta does rather suggest the VAG and Skoda do know something about the problem and that its the injector that's the cause. However at £228.77 for each injector plus the labour charge...…….

Update from the independent garage - the head has sheared off one of the bolts for the injector to No. 1 cylinder, none of the other bolts were tight either. His considered opinion is that the bolts were not tightened fully and the pulsating 'hammer' action of the injectors, because the bolts are fully tightened, is enough to cause the bolt head to shear off. Luckily the remains of the bolt protruded enough to allow it to be removed. A set of new injector seals will be fitted along with new bolts.

I think our 2015 1.2 110 bhp TSI Fabia may have just suffered the same failure, fuel spraying out of the No.1 Injector. Partner's car, she drove it home complained of petrol smell, RAC towed it to local garage for investigation. Will report back when I find out what the repair was.

Ah Ha, I posted with this problem about 2 years ago and have been hoping that someone would know of a solution.

It take a bit of time to get the 'feel' of the brake pedal pressure, with practice you will find that you can come to a halt at a roundabout with just enough brake pressure to remain stationary but not enough to cause the S/S to stop the engine. I get a lot of practice as I live in the UK town with the most roundabouts (130). I tend to use Sport mode for roundabouts, not for the extra speed but because its smoother and is less inclined to change up and then down, seems to suit the 'accelerate, ease off, accelerate' throttle movement as you enter, go round and then exit. And yes I agree there is too low for S/S to deploy which is no where near as low as too low to actually turn the engine over.

Stop- Start with the DSG is much better than S/S with a manual, When you come to a halt, with your foot on the footbrake the engine cuts out, reduce the brake pedal pressure slightly the engine restarts, reduce the brake pedal pressure a bit more the DSG clutches engage, completely release brake pedal Fabia starts to move - now apply throttle. If you reduce the footbrake pressure slightly before coming to a complete stop the engine won't cut out - assuming the car considers S/S can be used whether actually gets used is controlled completely by the amount of footbrake pedal pressure. If the battery doesn't have enough charge, the engine oil/water temp is too low, the electrical demand (Air con HRW, lights etc) is too high will all prevent S/S being deployed. Battery charge is the usual one; our Fabia which does 5 to 5 short journeys a week and no long runs (>10 miles) the S/S is never deployed - as the car reports battery charge too low - it isn't as the car starts first time everytime.

Usually yes, the auto lights and auto wipers sensor is built into the mounting for the auto diming mirror. You should also have a light switch that has Auto between the Off and sidelight position.

I'm 6' 4" and no longer have a young flexible back, I drive with the seat fully lowered, not quite fully back. When you adjust the seat height the backrest is usually way out of position, I have to adjust it to be more upright. Then I have no problems but I have to remember to remove items from my rear pockets else the leg aches after a while. This seems to be a Skoda 'feature' as I get the same ache in an 06 Octavia that I drive long distance at times. It doesn't occur in the Passat or Touran seats though. My other half is much shorter so she drives with the seat fully raised and backrest corresponding tilted back.

We have a 2015 110 DSG Fabia and its a really good car. On a longish (40+ miles) run it will do 50-55 mpg at national speed limit cruising. Its not noisy and is very stable . TerFar made a comment about the stop start and the delay when pulling away. Hopefully I can add to those 1. Delay when pulling away. This all depends on how hard you are pressing on the brake pedal before moving the right foot to the accelerator - the brake pedal pressure is monitored by the gearbox ECU - pressed hard it disengages the clutch, so if a split second before you want to pull away you reduce the brake pedal pressure the clutch will engage (check the rev counter they drop slightly) so that the moment your foot comes off the brake pedal the car will start to move forward - voila no delay. Leaving a few extra feet to vehicle in front gives you some creep room to be able to nip out. 2. Stop Start - yes its annoyoing that on stort runs its doesn't think the battery is charged enough so it basically disables itself - our Fabia is used mainly on short trips so its rarely works. However when it does work many people find it adds a delay in being able to pull away quickly in busy traffic. Once again its all down to brake pedal pressure, If stop/start (S/S) switches the engine off, just reduce the brake pedal pressure slightly and it will restart and if you ease off the brake pedal pressure before coming to a halt it won't even switch the engine off. Also bear in mind that the DSG cars all have hill hold or delayed brake release to prevent roll back.

My other half asked me to check her Fabia today because she thought it was down at the rear n/s. Measuring from wheel centre to edge of wheel arch the n/s is about 15mm lower than the o/s. Tyres are all up to pressure and the same make, Coil spring looks OK too, Strangely It looks to me rather than the n/s being too low the o/s may actually be too high.

There are a few threads on here about the Fabia ride and wheel size seems to be the reason. Lower spec models (like our SE) have 15 inch wheels and a taller profile tyre, this gives a softer ride. The general consensus seems to be the 15 inch wheel with standard tyres gives the best ride. Having said that Skoda specify two quite different sets of tyre pressures and the ECO settings are much higher. We run our Fabia with ECO pressures, cause it makes a measurable improvement to mpg and the ride is perfectly fine, but that is with 15 inch wheels. If your car is brand new its not unheard of for the wooden suspension chocks to have been overlooked during PDI! and that can make the ride very firm indeed.

The grumble or noise should change when the pedal is depressed and released, Another cause of a squeaky groan is sometimes the drive belt for the alternator and other ancillaries, tends to be if the weather is damp and the belt needs adjustment.

Its worth looking at the websites of VAG OEM retro fit specialists to get an independent price.

How long do you intend to keep the Fabia for. The extended warranty will be for a fixed period, no doubt renewable, but as the car ages the cost of the warranty will cost more each year. 35 years ago I had extended warranties on my 2nd hand cars traveling 30k miles per year, never needed to claim on them, since 1996 I've not bothered and have covered 152,000 (Mitsubishi) , 162,000 (Mazda) and 80,000 (VW) in the last 3 cars. I may have been lucky but I've not had any major component fail, just regular service items. The 7spd dry DSG box is generally reliable and robust but if it goes wrong is expensive to repair, The warranty costs over 5 years that would cover DSG repairs, may well turn out to be nearly as much or more! We have a very similar car to yourself, 2015 Fabia Mk3 1.2 TSI SE with DSG box, this has covered 6k miles, this we intend to keep for at least another 10 years. I've not bought an extended warranty, preferring instead to put aside each year what the warranty premium would be. If at some point there is an expensive repair then I will have the money to pay for the repair, and if nothing goes wrong then I will have a nice little bonus. Also this way there are no awkward restrictions. In my experience the key to having a reliable car and trouble-free ownership is finding a good garage, one that doesn't do the bare minimum, that tells you that this or that should be attended to to avoid future cost or failure. For example I had a Cavalier that required new front discs after 30k miles because the callipers had seized, lubricating the calliper slides was an optional item on the annual service so was only done at customer request. I subsequently requested calliper slide lubrication at every service and over the next 110k miles never needed the front discs replacing again.

There are jacking pad points that 4 post lifts can use. See the following thread https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/409095-fabia-mk-3-trolley-jacking-points/?tab=comments#comment-4695193

What was the weather like, rain and spray have been known to cause false positives with the front assist. Also if water gets into the parking sensors they tend to malfunction until they dry out, as I discovered they don't like being power-washed!

Just wanted to say many thanks to the original posting for the explanation and photos - very helpful, made the job very straight forward. Nextbase dash cams seem to have mounts with the camera suspend below the mount, the other half wasn't comfortable with the dashcam mounted around the rear view mirror so I've mounted it up against the nearside 'A' Pillar in this position it doesn't obstruct forward vision, although the camera's view of the road is not so good. This made routing the cable quite easy, just squeeze it down between A pillar covers and dashboard edge, push it down in the gap between front of dash and windscreen.