brettikivi

My A2 disks lasted 130k km, be surprised if the barge's Superb's are still original. Might be. Would still go ATE Powerdisc + Ceramic, though, if I need to. Slightly better performance, decent longevity, good experience elsewhere.

I've done 35k kms in my 2.0TDI 4x4 110kW estate this year alone. It was on 116k at 3.5 years old. It had been serviced at Skoda and was a company car (previous owner had "Fleet" in the company name, making it pretty clear). Had an MoT fail at 3 years due to a broken front spring. Next failure is the rear passenger door lock, but aside from that I can't fault it. Now 4.5 years old, next MoT / katsastus in spring. Needs another oil change and Haldex. It's a great milemuncher, I tend to do 500 miles in a day to the office and back. Trying to buy a replacement: I would get a similar price to what I paid; looking for a lower mileage with similar kit says €7k more (25k€ vs 32k€). But they are incredibly expensive in Germany right now (even more so than here!). I got a great deal on the trade-in, so I'm not too bothered. Consumption is around 5.6l/100 under optimal conditions and the long term average is in my sig. Bear in mind I really do do 250 miles at a throw and it's relatively low speed (mostly 50-60mph limits) with minimal traffic or town work, so I figure this is pretty much as good as it's going to get without slowing down some more, increasing tyre pressures and deliberately driving for consumption. What surprised me when I looked is that there really aren't that many rock chips on the front of the car; obviously it wasn't motorways. There are some huge gouges out elsewhere but the paint is surprisingly good for a Skoda, minimal swirls and scratches. Interior scratches easier than I would like (one of the deco strips on the rear door has a black stripe somehow) and the kind-of-OK Xenon high beam has been supplemented with a Lazer Linear 18 Elite, meaning it really is a pleasure to drive at night now. What would I upgrade now? To leather / alcantara - with memory would be nice, so my offspring could drive with their own settings - and a rear camera. The audio I've handled, and aside from Android Auto needing a cable and having a different audio signature, it's pretty darned usable. The only reason I know about the prices was to find out if it makes sense to swap the car or upgrade and the answer is "probably the latter". Not bothered about more power or DSG, both of which would be likely.. the clutch isn't too heavy for my liking and there's enough power when dropping to fourth for a quick blast past slower stuff. And I can fit 15 Ikea Dundergubben moving boxes if necessary .Bret

I have a minidsp c-dsp 6x8 and use the high level inputs from the front. Rears need to be reconnected shortly to the hu outputs. Sub in the boot on 1.6kW. works very well. Fronts are Helix s62s.

Have seen a set of these on the web for reasonable money. How much effort to fit? 2018 Superb Combi, currently manual but heated seats. Thanks!

it's really rather good, I'm very happy with it. Pics to follow.

Camelbak forge does *not* fit, it's a tad too large. Base is around 69mm diameter, so something closer to 65mm is going to be necessary to fit well.

Booked it in to get the weirdly locking rear door looked at on Friday. Also should hit 150000 today. Got Android Auto working correctly as well, pretty pleased with its usability. 4C on the way down this morning as well - it's winter tyre time soon. Might see if I can get a cheap set of rims with all seasons from Germany for the shoulder seasons....

Reasonably sure my camelback forge fits. Will check.

turned the aftermarket tweeters to fully active on Sunday (so they're connected to 2 more amp channels, not via their crossover). Did some tuning last night, including time alignment and some equalization. Better, significantly better. Need to EQ the midbass some more now, but this really is a decent start. Also tried the reflection values from the new high beam light; reflections at 2.2 km is pretty good I think. It was also a joy to drive up from Mikkeli via Pieksämäki the other night - it was almost dark, the sky was a glorious grey / red combo and the light made things much nicer. Photos to follow when it's really dark!

Poor on snow? I disagree. Different to a locked, limited slip diff car? Yes. Will most people notice the difference if they're using the correct tyres for the conditions and driving on treated roads? No. Splitting the hair: the Haldex will by definition wait for some slip before diverting power. It's not a viscous coupling where there's always 5% of power going to the rear wheels, but it's more efficient as a result. It's not a synchronous system where 50-50 splits are the norm, like the Subaru, nor is it a Torsen mechanical diff which will be faster in pushing power around but also less efficient. Having written all of that, I've been driving two different systems this past winter and the differences are shades of grey. They're both a world better than the FWD, spikes or no (all cars currently run Hakka 8 spikes in different sizes). What conditions? I've been driving to the office, which is now 400kms away, and we moved house from south to north, 300kms further north. I've plastered so much snow on the rear hatch that I've had to dig my way in to the handle to open it. Plate has been unreadable many times because of snow. I've put well over 16000 kms on the Superb in some varying, sometimes absolutely atrocious conditions, down to -28C, with regular snow and ice from October through to late April; I changed to summers again beginning of May and had winters on already in mid-October. I'm not looking for the ultimate in grip: I want something that gets me from A to B rapidly and without drama. The Superb pushes those buttons really rather well. The electrical gizmos in my wife's Suzuki S-Cross mean that the Auto pushes too much power too late to the rear wheels, so it's unnervingly unpredictable. Setting to Lock and Snow mode - so power 50-50 and front / rear the same rotation rate - makes a huge difference and it's much more predictable as a result. The viscous coupling in the previous Swift was faster to react and better to a point, but in normal (even normal winter) driving, the difference is nigh-on undetectable unless you're looking for it. ESP on the Swift felt like it was reading your mind, the Superb's lets things get a little more lairy, the S-Cross and A2 systems just feel slow. The Superb does a great job of shifting some power to the rear when it's needed and ESP an even better one of limiting the excesses of slides. My personal favourites are definitely the ESP Sport mode in the Superb and ESP off / snow / lock in the S-Cross. Both are eminently controllable with a sensitive right foot. Flick, destabilize, add power, sliiiiiide, dab of oppo, and we're good. Feeling like a hero at 20km/h I will be trying to push the Superb on the ice track this winter if we get an event set up, I really want to push the limits harder. But from here, as a long term winter driver being relatively new to 4x4 in its many forms, this is a game changer for stability and I don't want to revert to FWD. There was a grand total of one time last winter when I actually felt I had to seriously slow down as the car was dancing. We'd had 10-12cm of snow at around -10C and it was essentially unploughed on the main road to Jyväskylä south of Suonenjoki. Speeds down to 60-65km/h and we were good. Further south, where the ploughs had been through, 80km/h was possible again. I'll repeat myself: Poor on snow? No. It's a stunningly good all-weather cruiser for long distances. I regularly do 250mile one-way commutes - so 800km in one day - and it's quiet, comfortable, and eminently capable, come rain, ice, snow or glom of nit.

ha, I killed my McGards a few years ago by slipping off one with the key. Then it took the local tyre place about three minutes to get it out. I expected these to be the kegel seat, so a cone, but apparently they are the ball / kugel. I would suggest you take one out and check. I didn't do either the swap to or from winter tyres on the Superb and I don't have them available to me to check either. The data I can find online implies the 28018SL is correct. . Bret

I ran an Octy 1.0 TSI for three and a half years and then a combi for another year or so. I swapped that out for the current 4x4 150TDI Superb Combi. The difference in the snow and ice I drive in for half the year is massive between FWD and 4x4. The 4x4 is a giggle when you push it, it has grip for days and it's incredibly stable; I've "only" driven it for around 12 thousand miles last winter on winter tyres and I can't really fault it. Well, I could, but I'm splitting hairs then about how quickly the power is shifted to the back and when ESP kicks in - it behaves differently to the wife's Suzuki but is more predictable. It's like a train in poor conditions and you can feel the power being pushed around easily on third-gear corners on gravel now in the summer. And when the weather is good, I'm hitting 50mpg. It's quiet and a real mile-muncher. Too big for town IMO. I have an average of less than 6l/100, around 47mpg. Would I buy another? Definitely. Very little slows it down, unless it's 10-15cm of unploughed snow at -10C with winters on. But then maybe 40-45mph, is appropriate not 50+... very happy with it. An FWD would probably get me 10-15% better consumption. However, it will struggle in the wet to get the power down, never mind in the ice and snow, and I have that starting again in less than 2 months.

drove to the office and back and on the way home it was almost dark! Reflections from the new driving light at between 800 and 1000m that's not too shabby. Pics when it's *actually* dark again, which will probably take another 3-4 weeks.

As title: when I press the brakes after driving some time in the rain, there's a distinct "moan" first time out. They then proceed to wobble nicely. They work well enough. It's sporadic. Yesterday drove home from the airport, where the car's been outside for 6 days, and the judder is definitely there from 60km/h / 40mph. I figure a good first start is to do multiple stops from 100km/h to 25 or so and scrub them clean. That should indicate whether the discs are warped or it's just crud (I do tend to do 400km at a time and don't really use the brakes much - not much traffic and few turns will do this for you). But I don't understand the moan. Any thoughts? . Bret

it's been done for front high beam driving lights on a regular basis over here.

I've been known to use fog lights for the same purpose. But I will also be adding some work lights under the bumper at some point with a switch in the centre console or via the BCM (probably the former) These are really common here on taxis: https://www.lumise.fi/tyovalot/luminalights-slim-18w-led-tyovalo/p/2020120008/

did 1600km / 1000 miles this week. it's an excellent mile-muncher. Also did a bunch of gravel driving for the first time and it's really cool to feel the power being vectored around as you accelerate out of a corner with loose fluff. Only fly in the ointment: radio reception isn't up to snuff. I think I might need to replace the antenna with something with a bit of length. It's OK in town but I'm driving the boonies... analogue, too, no DAB up here as yet.

one of mine doesn't like cold weather (as in -20C) and refuses to let the car auto-lock as a result. I haven't seen any error message for mine... does yours report something in a scan? Like "won't SAFE" o "DE-SAFE"?

replaced the front wipers yesterday. Much better. Only €30, too, for the Bosch ones. That's acceptable.

Collinite 476.

I cleaned it. Turns out the wax from the other week is really nice, pearling is superb. Of course it rained within a hour of the car being done, but hey.... the insects came off really nicely with some special stuff from the detailing place. Very impressed.

https://www.tire-size-calculator.info/ might help. Add the size of the old and new rims and it will show you graphically what's going on. I would have thought many German and French stores will ship to PT without issue or many costs. And 205s or 215s on 7J, yes. But you will lose some comfort vs 6.5J.

I've done around 20 thousand kms in my car since i bought it and I've had to refill Adblue twice now, both times with 10l and increasing range by around 8-9000kms. €30 for the last canister. Still had 3000 range left last time and it said I could add 11l. Will have to look at how clogged my DPF is. . Bret

tyres with more tread really ought to be on the rear as that's where the stability comes from. Hence also swapping them early to get the wear equalized. Can't say i do it myself specifically - we swap when the winters go on (and they're directional anyway).

took it out and filled it. Looks like the summer tyres improve things nicely; 6,0l/100 with the higher limits is pretty darned good. I'd expect 5 with the winter limits but a consistent 6 with winter tyres & limits and summer tyres & limits is something I can absolutely live with.