thamestrader

This is a heads up to fellow Karoq owners with regard to the effect of Speed Bump impact on the Karoq suspension. I recently had new front tyres fitted to my Karoq, the wheel alignment checked and adjusted, and the printout provided recorded Front Camber, Castor and Toe and Rear Camber and Toe, all within manufacturer's specification. One week later the Karoq was driven by a 3rd party. The next day evidence came to light of the vehicle being driven over four speed bumps on a 30 mph stretch of road at speeds of 40 to 45 mph. I asked my local Skoda dealer to perform an alignment check as, having just fitted two new tyres, I wanted to be sure the wheel alignment had not been affected. The results are shown below. I was very alarmed by the camber measurements, I thought it would just be the toe that might be out. To fix the front and rear camber was 4 hours work, as the front subframe had to lowered, fitted with new bolts and then adjusted, at the rear it required the lower suspension arms to be adjusted. Front camber is adjusted by eccentric bolts which move the subframe slightly. The rear camber is again an eccentric bolt that moves the lower arm. Then the electronics required recalibration; this is the front radar, parking sensors and reversing camera, so that the emergency collision avoidance system worked correctly. I am now much more cautious about speed bumps, I won’t be going any quicker than 20mph over them in future.

The staying in high gears until almost stationary is how drivers are taught now, ad the Test required economical driving. Sometimes old school ways were better. I got picked up on a minibus assessment for not starting off in 2nd gear, which I knew the vehicle was incapable of doing even on the level empty.

With the 1.5 TSI engine it depends what model year you are looking at; it has had modifications that have attempted to address the issues, I think its fair to say that it has improved but not not been completely fixed. It is a complex engine designed around the Miller cycle rather than the traditional Otto cycle, it requires very precise tolerances and tuning to perform properly. Many owners say it runs better on Premium fuel - like Shell V-Power and it benefits from Fixed annual servicing scheme rather the extended Flexible/Variable servicing scheme. The 1.0 TSI and 2.0 TSI engines on the otherhand seem to be problem free. With regard to the DSG gearbox fitted to the 1.5 TSI there are two versions - 2WD use the DQ 200 and 4WD use the DQ 381. The DQ 200 is a dry clutch and the DQ 381 a wet clutch. The majority of issues reported for the DSG gearbox are for the DQ 200, but there are literally millions of DQ 200 DSG gearboxes in use around the world in VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda vehicles. Its a feature of Forums and Groups that the majority of posts relate to problems which skews the impression of an engine or gearbox. The DQ 200 has been around for over 15 years, with modifications and improvements, and the post 2015 DQ 200 is generally a reliable gearbox (I have a DQ 200 in our 2015 Fabia 1.2 TSI which we've had for 11 years). The DSG is a manual gearbox with a mechanically controlled clutch and gear selection mechanism, so just like the manual clutch and gearbox it can suffer if abused. The DQ 381 wet clutch is relatively new, its processor, was the bullet proof DQ 250 ( I had one of these in a VW for 11 years). I have a DQ 381 in my Karoq 2.0 TSI 4x4. There is no doubt that the 1.5 TSI is more suited to the DSG than the manual gearbox, as the DSG manages the foibles of the 1.5 TSI automatically. I would advise test driving a new 1.5 TSI manual and 1.5 TSI DSG - to set a bench mark as to how they should drive. Then when you test drive used ones you will have a standard against which to judge them. With the DSG it should creep smoothly without any throttle on tickover, change gear smoothly even under hard acceleration, pull away without jerkiness. Its your money and car at the end of the day and we all have different preferences and requirements.

The ABS sensor system can take a while to report an issue if it’s a slow puncture. I’ve had a TPMS alert, pumped the tyre up and continued driving for 5 hours until I could get the puncture fixed, without a further alert.

Apologies my Touran and Karoq work that way and I thought our Fabia was the same - I usually only drive it to get petrol as my partner she’s not very keen on that aspect of car ownership!

That’s the way those switches work, the mirrors only heat up when the rear heated screen is switched on.

Has anyone driven with the factory supplied space saver spare wheel fitted on the front? Reason I ask is a member in Fabia sub-forum discovered that the Space Saver they had did not clear the large front discs so had to be fitted on the rear so a full size wheel could replace the defective wheel/tyre on the front. I'm inclined to think that it would be safer to have a matched pair on the front and the space saver on the back. I have fitted the space saver on the front when swapping wheels front to back but never actually driven the KAroq like that.

Our Fabia has 15 inch Mato Alloy wheels and no spare. I managed to get an original matching Alloy wheel, the polystyrene moulding and tools (still wrapped) for an Audi A3 and the plastic securing fitting all from Ebay, different sellers. When I bought new tyres I had the best of the old ones put on the s[are alloy wheel. There are always wheels on Ebay. Take off an existing wheel and look for the part number cast on the inside and use that in the Ebay search.

You could try silicone polish on the surfaces of the plastic that touch - it may help.

Are Bosch wiper blades available, I always fit Bosch blades and most Karoq owners also recommend Bosch.

An approach I have used in a situation like this is to ask for a benchmark test drive in an identical spec new Karoq. Drive your car round the route first and note how it behaves. Then drive the benchmark vehicle, depending on the outcome you may be the position to argue that your cars suspension is not the same aa the benchmark vehicle and thus it needs to be rectified.

I went the EBay route with our Fabia; got a refurbed matching alloy rim, set of tools in the polystyrene moulding and the plastic nut and clamp to hold the spare wheel in the boot. All came from different sellers, tools were Audi A3 and still wrapped, nut and clamp Seat Ibiza. As always check the feedback, the alloy wheel was perfect not buckled or damaged in any way.

@nta16 no problem- that was 2020 nearly 6 years ago now. Still have the Metro of course but finished volunteering at the Foodbank at the end of March 2021 after 12 months of continuous volunteering, 5 by 8 hour days each week driving a Sprinter van delivering food parcels and collecting new supplies. Seems a long while ago now.

Oh that’s an awful situation. One thought, has the water pump siezed, as I’ve read reports of water pumps and belt tensioners failing causing damaged cam belts.

@nta16 it’s a 2015 Fabia, so it’s approx 2000 miles a year. My partner doesn’t like changing her cars. In 40 years of driving this is only her 3rd car. We still own the first car (a 1983 Metro with 36,500 on the clock, still on the road taxed and mot’d but not in regular use). I run my cars to at least 100,000 miles, usually to around 150,000 miles, regular maintenance by a good trusted garage/mechanic is, as you say, the key to reliable low cost car ownership.

@nta16 picking up on your quoting my post in August 2024. our 2021 Fabia, now approaching 21,500 miles does seem to be benefitting from only using V-Power fuel and the 70 mph MK dual carriage way grid road system giving the engine a bit of a work out. My partner also religiously follows the advice of our local independent garageman, that has serviced her cars for over 20 years, to let the engine idle for 20 seconds before switching off so that the turbo is lubricated while it spools down. I'm sure other brand premium fuel would be just as good but I get 3p litre off through the combination of the Shell App and RAC membership!

@Rbz5416 Auto corrupt is great - especially when I can't edit it! When I was looking for a demo or pre reg Sportline in April 24 I added £3000 to the advertised price for any vehicle that was over the £40K threshold, to arrive at the true cost to me over the expected 10 year ownership. In the end I bought a 6 month old 73 plate without a towbar instead of a 3 month old 24 plate with a towbar because even after paying for the Skoda towbar to be fitted it was lower cost overall. The first year VED rate at that time was £1040, but as second owner I only paid £190.

@Rbz5416 with those sort of discounts having a tested screen fitted by one of the retro fit specialists may actually work out cheaper, especially as the cost of the retro fit wouldn’t add to the list price for VED. Also buying pre reg avoids the higher first reg VED rate, as second owners in the first year only pay the Standard rate.

Thanks for the detailed info. I have a Sportline with Amundsen and now you have shown me where to look exactly the same Reset options under Instrument Cluster, and the scroll roller behaves the same as you describe. The Scroll roller action is logical as I reset the Trip every time I refuel by pressing and holding the roller. I have to now question why I bother to do that as Since Refueling provides the same data.

I occasionally get random wipes of the windscreen, which I think is usually caused by random moisture drops in the air, generally the rain sensing wipers work well. On the wiper stalk i have a toggle switch that alters the sensitivity - I've never altered it. As Rory says there have been issues reported on numerous Skoda models of 'unexpected' wiper activity. We've had it twice on our Fabia, first time they just started working and wouldn't switch off unless the ignition was turned off, second time in the off position they were working intermittently but at a totally different frequency to the actual intermittent setting, so that intermittent, slow and fast settings all worked perfectly but the Off was doing an intermittent sweep. Boith these faults I'm told requires a new wiper stalk, but both faults stopped of their own accord before thay could be analysed.

Voytek, no problem. Photo shows my 2023 Sportline dash this morning (in the pouring rain). Something I discovered, which may resolve your issue. When I started the engine and selected Since Start on the Infotainment screen it showed my last journey and it was the same info on the centre of the dash, The Since Start data was reset when I moved the car forwards a few feet, I'd never noticed this before I'd assumed it was the start of the engine rather than the turning of the wheels that caused the reset. I went through all the menu options and can't find any option to reset anu of the driving data stats. As you have a UK car I didn't bother to check the Bolero unit in the Fabia.

Hi Voytek, So I am in the UK with a UK Spec Karoq with Amundsen Infortainment Unit, your screen print from the manual says the same as my reply, however your dash display show km for distance and mph for speed - so I'm guessing you are in Europe. Do you have a Bolero Infortainemt unit. I ask because I also have a Fabia that has the Bolero Infotainment unit, the Fabia also has the same Driving Data stats. Now the Fabia Since Start automatically resets after 2hrs stopped as it should do, but I am going to check tomorrow what reset options there are for driving data on the Karoqs Amundsen unit and the Fabia's Bolero unit. I think they may be different as I have a faint memory of resetting Long Term on the Fabia when I bought it in 2016 as a 1 year old car.

Have you considered covering the mirror surface with tinted transparent sheet, similar to window tint film. I drive vans and minibuses without an interior mirror and rely on the door mirrors, as long as you have door mirrors each side there is no need for an interior mirror, you could actually cover it over and use the door mirrors.

As far as I know there is no way to reset 'Since Start' There are three driving data stats, they all include the following: Mileage, Total Time, Average Fuel Consumption. Since Start which records continuously until the car is stopped for more than 2 hours, any stop less than 2 hours is ignored. Since refueling - which as you have said resets automatically when the car is refuelled. Long term which resets when one of the registers overflows either 9999 miles or 99hours and 59 minutes, as the register is only 4 digits. There is also the trip odometer which is only reset manually and is not the Since Start mileage. Could you be looking at the Trip Odometer as this can be reset manually an cannot be reset automatically. Are you looking at the driving data on the Infotainment screen or the virtual dash - all three sets of stats can be viewed on the Infotainment screen via the CAR button.

I used this tool to as an aid to decide which All Season Tyres to purchase for our Fabia and Karoq. It allows you to choose up to 4 tyres and compares each tyres ratings in specific areas, I wanted a an All Season that suited the weather in central and southern England where we no longer get snow but we do get a lot of rain. Compare Tyres Direct Tyre Comparisons - Tyre Reviews And Ratings For my Karoq I choose the Turanza 6 over the Cross Climate because the wet ratings were better and it was cheaper than the Continental and it had a better rim protection buffer. On the Fabia Continentals were fitted because it had the better wet weather ratings, the Turanza wasn't available for the Faboia size.