SJN

I can fully sympathise with MarkMoran87. I bought a Skoda Superb Elegance in November 2015 and have so many issues with it. 1) When accelerating or braking, any change in the road surface creates a loud bang on the front passenger side, it can be felt under the passenger's footwell. Skoda dealer had it back 3 times and 'glued' the driveshaft into the hub. After much discussion with Skoda UK, they agreed to change the drive shafts, but not the hubs. Still unresolved. It is the sort of noise that you get if an engine mount has gone. Some skoda owners have had issues where the transport protection blocks (or whatever they are) we not removed at PDI stage. I can't believe that this is the case with mine, as it has been to 4 different Skoda dealers now, and surely one of them would have picked it up! 2) The metal window trims staring shifting, so that when you opened the front doors, it pulled the chrome trim out. Again after many calls and visits to dealers, I found that Skoda had done a modification and had to wait for them to come in to stock, as the new parts, with new numbers wer showing zero stock. 3) Passenger side electric mirror stopped working. Replaced under warranty 4) Passenger side rear boot strut failed. Replaced under warranty. 5) Regularly stalls at very low speed, e.g. manouevering, especially when cold. Not resolved 6) Vibration in centre console area behind SatNav. Skoda dealer says this is probably caused by uninsulated aircon pipes touching slightly. Unresolved, I don't know if they checked it or not. 7) Engine flat spots. Sometimes it responds very crisply when you accelerate. Other times, you depress the accelerator, and nothing happens. Until eventually, something triggers, and you increase speed way beyond what you need or expected. This is normally when accelerating from 30mph ish. 8) Low speed engine bay rattle at 1500-2500 rpm. This could be the timing belt cover as you suggest. (It sounds like what loose tappets used to in days gone by) One dealership reckoned it was the water pump. Still unresolved. In the end, in sheer desperation I found the email addresses of the MD of Skoda international, and Skoda UK. I got a reply within 24 hours from the PA of one of them, saying that they would do all they could to get to the bottom of the problem, the main one being #1 above. I pleaded with her to get it taken back to be looked at by senior people at HO, but she said I had to go through the dealer route first. I said I'd done that multiple times at multiple dealerships already, but she said it would have to be done that way. So I did. The dealer said that as another dealer had already looked at the issue before, and had done work on it, they couldn't get involved and I'd need to go back to that other dealer. This has now gone on for 2.5 years now. I shall never get another Skoda, ever. Build quality and dealer care is atrocious.