Schtum

Personally, I'd much rather have more grip on the front. I'd rather be catching a bit of oversteer rather than trying to deal with terminal understeer. I didn't understand why you'd intended putting all-season tyres on the rear of a FWD car when the primary reason you mentioned was the forecast for snow. I once had great fun in a friend's Polo, fitted with winter tyres on the front and summer tyres on the rear, hanging the rear out on snow covered roundabouts. The going and stopping in poor conditions is contingent upon front wheel adhesion. Having said that, the advice is always to fit all-season or winter tyres to all four wheels. If you bin it with them fitted to only one pair of wheels, your insurance company might be reluctant to honour and claim in full.

No, I've not yet investigated the state of the reflectors. I'll do that first. Then, I'll probably try cleaning the projector lenses and fit the bulbs. If that doesn't offer a significant improvement, I'll need to think what to do about the projector reflectors. You can never have too much light out here in the countryside at night. I've got some uprated Halogen bulbs to go in as well and I had been thinking about a Lazer light bar.

I'm finding it quite hard to decide. This car, in the middle, is an XJ8 that was previously owned by the late Ronnie Corbett. It's now owned by a friend's son who uses it in his Rust2Rome old car rally company

I've just taken delivery of a pair of OSRAM Xenarc Night Breaker Laser NextGen D3S +220% Brighter bulbs today - c. £144 on eBay. However, that may not the complete answer to why the Bi-Xenons in my Yeti aren't a patch on what they were when I bought the car 4 years and 22k miles ago. Do you have Dim Low Beam from your Projector Headlights?

I've just taken delivery of a pair of OSRAM Xenarc Night Breaker Laser NextGen D3S +220% Brighter bulbs today - c. £144 on eBay. However, that may not the complete answer to why the Bi-Xenons in my Yeti aren't a patch on what they were when I bought the car 4 years and 22k miles ago. Do you have Dim Low Beam from your Projector Headlights?

Angel Tuning are mobile and will come to you. Either contact them via their website to which I posted the link above or via their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/angeltuningscotland

In a FWD only car, that should be a DQ380, wet clutch, 7 speed, I believe.

I wouldn't consider a remap at that price. It'll just be a generic flash. A map from Angel Tuning, for example, would be c £450. They'd download your original one, send it to HQ, have it optimised for your car and then that would be sent back and installed in your ECU. Tuning boxes work up to a point. I have one that I installed in a couple of previous Tiguans. However, you might want to view the Darkside Developments YouTube video where they test a number of tuning boxes. They don't live up to their claims and they don't achieve power gains in the best way.

You'll only get better fuel consumption if you don't use the extra power. A DSG remap will optimise the shift points and clamping pressure on the clutches to handle the extra torque. Is yours a 7 speed DSG?

In which case, can I recommend either Star Performance in Glenrothes who I've used for over 20 years or Fife AutoTech who are just a few doors along from them on Eastfield Industrial Estate. I see there's also SVS in Dundee but I've not experience with them.

You're welcome. Angel Tuning are mobile and will come to you. I have no financial interest in them but I like Paul and he's become a good friend. https://angeltuningscotland.co.uk

I'd be a bit concerned about the comment about torque limits of 1000 Nm being quoted. Even the DQ500 which we have in our 190 TDI Karoq, is rated to only 600 Nm. Which tuning company did you speak to to? I've used Angel Tuning Scotland to map two TDI's to date. That includes the 150 TDI in my Yeti. I'd be inclined to talk to Paul Winston at Angel. He's a hell of a nice guy and knows his stuff.

DSG needs an oil change every 40k miles. Haldex service intervals are a bit of a debate. Probably every 30k miles at least and very importantly, make sure that it's done properly, not just an oil change. Black Edition - I think that means it's a Facelift car? In which case, it's fitted with a Haldex 5. Contrary to any VAG main dealer practice, that means that the Haldex pump should be removed and the gauze strainer cleaned. Has the car had the dreaded 'Emissions Fix'? If so, get it rolled back. It's not conducive to EGR longevity. In respect of carbon contamination, it's worth putting a bottle of cleaner in 1/3 of a tank of diesel ever few months, depending on mileage. I use Cataclean DPF cleaner. You might want to give it the occasional CarbonClean treatment which is, essentially, steam cleaning the inside of the engine while it's running. Finally, I'd suggest only running it on premium diesel. HTH

Because there's more profit to be made in selling you larger wheels and tyres....🤭

It's not a move from the Yeti for us since we still have both of them. I bought the Yeti after my wife purchased the Karoq. I originally bought it to supplement my MK5 Golf GT TDI as I wanted something to tow a couple of trailers when my wife was at work. Then I sold the Golf... The Yeti is remapped, has been fitted with bigger brakes, has XDS enabled and has had the rear seats pretty much permanently consigned to the garage. I use it to pull the trailers and as a quick little van. We've had the Karoq now for just over 4 years and just over 30k miles because my wife no longer uses it for work. I'm particularly keen on it because it goes, stops and handles really well for what it is. I'm still considering having it remapped to c. 230 bhp. All of those things are true because it's a 4x4. I particularly dislike tall FWD cars. I see regular complaints of wheel spin when pulling away from owners of FWD Karoqs, particularly 1.5 TSI DSG models. I'm not surprised since they have the style of an SUV but not the functional ability. Tall cars inevitably suffer from greater rearwards weight transfer when driven briskly. This reduces front wheel traction, especially on the OEM economy spec tyres on which they're supplied from new. My son's partner bought a new FWD 1.5 TSI Audi Q3 which spent most of its time flashing its ESP light when driven anything like briskly. He eventually reined in some of that in by fitting a full set of Michelin CrossClimate 2 but it still does it to a lesser extent. If you're at all a keen driver, I'd suggest you test any FWD Karoq quite extensively before purchasing one. The other factor is that unlike the fully independent suspension on the 4x4 models, the FWD cars have the semi independent torsion beam rear suspension and don't ride so well.

Having previously had three first generation Tiguans in a row in the days when my wife was doing 15 k miles per annum for work, we tested the new generation Tiguan before we bought the Karoq. It's a bit bigger and there was more wind noise. It was also going to be much more expensive. In 2019 we couldn't get the spec we wanted to come in under £40k. We walked into the local Škoda dealership on spec, told the DP who we'd known for years that we wanted a rare 190 TDI Karoq and he said, "I've just taken delivery of a new one". I wasn't keen on a white one, even if it was specced up with leather, heated screen, flappy paddles and spare wheel but the price was right. He knocked £4k off the top even before we asked. I suspect it was a cancelled order that he thought he might have difficulty shifting. It's been great even if it is good at eating tyres and brakes when driven enthusiastically. Wheels...? It came on 18's and it's inherited the Audi Q3 17's with Dunlop D5 Winter Sport which I previously had fitted to the Tiguans for the winter.

We have both. My 2016 SE L Drive 150 TDI remapped to c. 185 manual 4x4 Yeti and my wife's 2019 SE L 190 TDI DSG 4x4 Karoq. Both are very good in their own way but the Karoq is much more modern, refined, smooth and particularly comfortable over long distances.

A bit too large, I suspect. This is the list of OEM sizes for your car. I suggest going here and comparing your existing wheel and tyre setup with any new ones. https://www.willtheyfit.com/

And the Aonach Eagach Ridge on the right.

I believe that a TD1 flag can only be detected on ODIS by techs who have the authorisation to scan for it. So, it's a bit of a lottery.

I'm not sure that anyone has ever established quite definitely that fitting a tuning box doesn't cause a TD1 code to be thrown in the ECU, have they...?

Since it's now 32 years since Mercedes introduced CAN Bus technology on the S Class, it's not exactly "modern stuff". However, in answer to your question, yes it does. Even your 11 year old Yeti is equipped with a CAN Bus system.

Frost on the Yeti's bonnet on Boxing Day.

It looks like all the 190 TDI engines have the same DFHA code. Oil recommendations include 5w-30 and 0w-30 but only 507.00. I see 508.00 being quoted as for petrol engines and the latest diesel spec is 509.00

That appears to refer to the 150 PS engine only. I'm wondering if all the 190 TDI engines are Evo ones and particularly the DFHA in our Karoq. A search for the correct oil for our car only shows oil to 507.00 spec.