nicknorman

I have the same issue. Not a big deal as you say. Maybe it depends on whether you are connecting wirelessly or via cable? I am connecting wirelessly.

I just traded in a 2016 L&K for a 2023 L&K. I have to say that the lane assist doesn’t seem as good as it was on the 2016 model. I did go for the Travel Assist option which is supposed to make it better at staying in the centre of the lane but I’m not really seeing it. And the force required to override it / force it applies to retain the lane seems weaker - too weak IMO. Loving the rest of the car but that bit is slightly disappointing. I’ll build up the courage to have a tinker with VCDS to see if I can improve it, but not just yet!

A few years ago there was a bit of trend of people finding transit blocks still left in the suspension after the PDI. It might be worth fully jacking the car up and checking that there are none of these blocks still on the shock absorber struts (lift the gaiter to check). The non-DCC shocks are a bit on the soft side, but should not cause the sort of issue you describe. Also worth mentioning that shocks have most of their damping on the rebound, not on the compression. Which again makes me think that they are hitting a travel stop prematurely.

Well anyway, I have now turned it off. It does also turn off coasting in Eco which is perhaps not ideal, but then I never use Eco!

It is interesting that when ACC is engaged, there is no coasting in D.

lights: yes, when the lights come on automatically it is dipped beam only. The first push on the stalk enables automatic high beam. But it will only go to high beam out of street lighting area and when going fast enough. The symbology is the high beam icon but it’s in grey when high beam is not actually on, blue when it is on. Once it is on out of town etc it stays on high beam but creates dark areas where it seems vehicles coming other way or in front. Goes back to low beam at junctions etc, then back to high beam automatically. Second push on the stalk is permanent high beam but I’m not sure why you would want to do that. The only time I have manually dipped so far, was for a pedestrian on a country road - I didn’t want to dazzle them. I guess the starting thing is because yours is diesel and doesn’t start immediately from cold. My petrol does start immediately so this is not an issue for me.

And having had a couple of long night drives now on country roads in poor weather, the LED matrix headlights are fantastic, both in terms of the full beam brightness and the fact that they stay on full beam and just blank the zones where an oncoming or in-front car is. This is probably the greatest improvement over my 2016 car.

Yes it has changed on newer cars. Definitely coasting. D7, D6 or whatever changes to D and rpm drops to idle.

I think it only started after "Facelift". Certainly my just-traded-in 2016 model only coasted in Eco.

It can certainly reduce fuel consumption under certain conditions and it certainly did on the Saab 96. But under certain conditions it doesn't because as I said, the engine is being fuelled to keep it at idle and that is only any use if the car doesn't end up going a bit too fast so you need to apply the brakes. Put simply, scenario 1 you descend a hill without freewheel, the speed is about right, no fuel used. Scenario 2 you descend same hill with freewheel, after a while the speed is a little on the high side of right so you press the brakes and return the speed to that of scenario 1. Except that in the mean time the engine has been using a bit of fuel to keep it idling. Anyway I have found the answer to my question elsewhere on the forum, it looks like the freewheel function can be disabled in vcds. So once the dust has settled on my new car and if I still don't like it, I can disable it.

It’s not a huge deal but I would prefer to be able to turn it off. Most of my driving is rural Scotland with lots of ups and downs and I am accustomed to the engine braking. What happens at the moment is that I crest a hill, reduce throttle, it starts to coast, I then press lightly on the brake to reduce speed and the clutch engages again. It would be simpler if the clutch didn’t disengage in the first place and over time it must increase wear a bit. Coasting only save fuel if you don’t want the car to slow down - in coasting mode the engine is using fuel to maintain idle, on the overrun the fuel flow is zero. Centuries ago I did have a Saab 96 v4 with a freewheel, I quite liked that but that was a different beast of a car.

One thing I have noticed with my new car (7 spd DQ381 box) is that even in Normal drive mode, the gearbox sometimes goes into coasting mode. Only happens in the higher gears and only when the throttle is gradually reduced. If you lift off quickly, the drive remains engaged. I am not too keen on this to be honest, is there a way to turn it off (other than going to Sport or Manual?)

Yup got it. Very happy. Some small but useful improvements such as rear door Kessy unlocking, rear camera washing. Not to mention the 7 speed box and the virtual cockpit. The whole car just seems to drive much nicer.

I think you have answered your own question. The manufacturer considers the drivers to be stupid, and this in the main is not an unreasonable position. Therefore the manufacture couldn’t possibly justify relying on the driver to keep their foot on the brake pedal “when stopping unexpectedly on a fast road”.

Jeez got a phone call today - my new car has arrived at the dealers already. That’s 2 weeks after build. Picking it up end of next week. I’m quite excited!

I doubt it. Most likely the brake lights are activated by a pressure sensor in the brake hydraulic circuit which directly operates the brake lights. Perhaps it is done via CANBUS rather than hard wiring, but even if so a safety analysis would preclude the ability to disable the brake lights in software.

The auto-hold function unfortunately keeps the brake lights on even with foot off the brake pedal. I'm sure this is why so many cars sit at the lights with their brake lights on! If you want to shut off the brake lights the only option is to activate the parking brake. Not sure how good an idea it is to do that routinely many times per drive, since the parking brake relies on electric motors to motor out the rear brake pads. And electric motors don't have an infinite life. Maybe just do it at night?

I do a lot of DIY but if this job needed doing on my car I'd put it into a garage. Firstly you need the correct Lamda probe spanner (with a split down the side, for the wire) then it is likely to be extremely inaccessible, and finally it is likely to be very tight / corroded/baked in place as it screws into the exhaust where it is very hot.

My new 280tsi has been built a week early apparently. I'm trying not to get too excited...! Just the delivery wait now.

I use our local independent car parts place which is massively better than euro car parts. I’ve put on Delphi and Drivetec pads and discs at various times, these being fairly low budget offerings but perfectly adequate and much better than the rubbish fitted at the factory. Car now at 100k miles and new one coming soon, so it will be back to OEM rubbish <sad face>.

i'm guessing but yes I'm sure someone or something knows the VIN of your new car. However that person isn't your dealer. What is needed is for the manufacturer to employ someone to act as the link between the factory information and the dealer. That costs money, which is why such a person probably doesn't exist! I know it is annoying that, whilst the information exists, you can't get hold of it. Unfortunately that is life!

it’s generally not too bad. The brake pipe was corroded at a clip - probably the clip was trapping some salty road debris. The mechanic didn’t seem too surprised about it. In the past I have always bought cars a few years old that have lived in England in their early lives. This one I bought at 9 months old was born and bred in Scotland. A lot of my driving is on A939 which seems to spend 1/2 the year with grit and salt on it!

Took it to a tiny one man band garage in Tamworth today. He said “really busy, I won’t be able to look at it today”. I said “we don’t need to drive back until Friday.., “ he said “OK leave it with me and I’ll try to fit it in.” Fair enough. But 17:30 I get a call “All done, ready for collection”. The damage being £130 which was not too bad under the circumstances. Yes a solid brake pipe corroded through at rear offside. Presumably not too hidden by the fuel tank/transmission.

Yes I have heated nozzles but doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference. A degree or two below zero and the washers stop working. Heated windscreen is for a different reason - de-icing the windscreen very quickly, before the coolant has warmed up. I do have it but don’t use it much because car is garaged overnight.

DSG box so no clutch! I did have a good look around the bottom of the reservoir and the ABS unit but no sign of a leak. However there is slight sign of leak at rear rh suspension area (inboard of the actual brake callipers/ flexi pipe) so I’m pretty sure the leak is there.