shyVRS245

More likely to be all the times I have tried to run it over and now simply karma. It also loves laying on our front door welcome mat and specialises in taking a dump outside our back door so yes it has copied many of it's owner's personality traits.

Remarkably John he has grown up recently now he has turned 50 and is making a real effort to be a better neighbour and only last Friday he said hi and called me by my first name which is the first time that has happened in over 8 years so God touches even those that seem beyond help.

John or one of the other moderators can close it next Sunday after I post a few pictures of the replacement which won't be worrying any BMW's let alone Superb 280'S stock or otherwise. You're welcome to overtake as 95% of the traffic on the M1 has been doing for the last 10 months anyway.

But the diesel is a Feb 2020 facelift Superb with tonnes of space and is only £22,800 half the price of a Tesla or similar 300 mile EV.

Wife has been told she will be working from home for at least 12 months and the best way to kill a car battery is infrequent number of short trips hence I was forced to use it on my 54 mile commute to keep the battery healthy because during a 12 hour shift the last thing I need is a phone call to say her car won't start. I applaud you for embracing the future now which actually started back in 2011 with the launch of the Nissan Leaf.

I don't want a £30,000 EV with a range of 200 miles and the hassle of stopping for 30 minutes to charge it. Been going through a 3 year mid-life crisis which others are still going through but they haven't woken up to smell the roses yet. Driving the 150PS Karoq made me realise this is enough power on a daily basis and anymore is simply not necessary.

Thanks no not really actually driving the wife's manual Karoq with 150PS has made me realise that driving slowly can be enjoyable and improved economy is just a side effect.

Not changing to save money more like my clean licence. But finance and fuel should be £100 per month better off. TBH fed up looking at a dirty black car which only looks worse with next door's cat paw prints all over it.

Mk1 Octavia Vrs likes V-Power or Tesco Momentum if they are nearer to you. My old Sprint Yellow 53 reg went from 177 to 193bhp and 173 to 190lb/ft just using better fuel (V-power was only 98 octane back in 2003).

For those that have been bored by reading the previous 37 pages there is good news to share with the announcement that the 272 will be traded in this Saturday to Marshall's Skoda Leicester if anyone is in the market for a 360bhp 4WD Sportline Plus. It will have just under 14,300 miles on the clock has been driven extremely slowly (most of the time) and comes with a spare wheel, Blind spot monitors in the mirrors and the road tax is now £150 per year as it was £39,000 when new back in March 2019. It will be fitted with the Audi RS6 replica alloys shod with Michelin Pilot Sport tyres which are excellent on wet or dry roads and I painted the silver factory brake calipers in Skoda metallic Rallye Green. The first service is due in 3 months or 3,000 miles time but if you take out Skoda finance at the moment there is an offer that the first 2 services cost just £79. I have realised I must enjoy driving economically more than driving quickly so can't quite believe what I'm about to type but yes I'm buying a DIESEL again with the ADBLUE as well to top up. It emits just 101gm/km unlike the 161gm/km of the 272 but road tax will be the same at £150 per year. The car is direct from Skoda UK Management fleet again and is going to be ceramic coated for FREE by the dealer is in Energy Blue (the FREE colour) with the 18" Zenith alloys (another FREE choice) has less than 6,300 miles recorded and being an SEL has Black leather interior and electric tailgate plus 3 options I can see being CANTON sound system upgrade, Virtual Dash and full spare wheel (205 tyre rather than the skinny 125 type). It has the 7 speed DSG box and the 150PS engine which if I find is not enough to move the 1,500kg kerbweight a remap will take it to 185+bhp but with 360nm as standard it should make the commute very economical with a 72mpg combined figure and a possible 1,045 mile tank range (that sounds like a shy type challenge).

After a busy couple of weeks for the Karoq filled the tank yesterday and it took £43.40 or 40.60 litres to cover 399 miles at an average of 44.68mpg. Back in the Superb on Wednesday.

Not sure why Kimi and Seb are even starting races now if they are not capable of beating their team mates or even collecting 1 point for a top ten finish.

Not sure some Skoda dealers dream up their prices but if anyone is interested in a low mileage Superb Sportline Estate in Dragon Green (it's gold yellow) registered in April 2017 with 19,800 miles with the exhaust flaps, no GPF up the exhaust and the 6 speed DSG and 280 engine then be prepared to start haggling the price down from £23,990 with Lister's Coventry.

Bottas deserved that pole and important for Lewis to join him on the front row for tomorrow's race just edging out Max in 3rd. Ferrari showing improvement with 4th for Charles. Max and Lewis went slower in Q3 whereas Bottas went faster.

At least the ID3 at just over £36,000 including grant is more viable than the 400bhp Volvo XC40 EV at almost £60,000.

VW claim 260 miles yet it only managed only 211 miles.

We have had our SEL Karoq since January 2018 and the alcantara seats look, feel pure luxury and passengers often comment how well made the interior is even compared to friends more expensive Mercedes and Volvo SUV's. Noticed tonight after nearly 28,000 miles there is no visible sign of wear on any of the seats including the driver's seat. There is plenty of headroom either in the front or the back and we are 6 feet and the wife is a tall 5 feet 10 inches. The boot is a practical and generous 500 litres and even the gearchange on our manual is very nice to use certainly as good as my previous manual a Vrs Octavia. Can't say anything bad about the car and we plan to keep it at least 10 years and it looks and feels it will age well.

Jumped in the Karoq for my 2nd night shift tonight and wife had been in a hurry to get back from a home visit and had a zoom meeting with her team so asked me to unload the shopping from the boot and I noticed she managed a rally stage type average of 22.5mpg but we all know women are better drivers than us blokes because they use more fuel. Managed a 54.1mpg on the commute by comparison.

We were in heavy traffic a couple of weeks ago on the M5 in Somerset and with ACC set to 20mph in Eco mode on the DSG wife was amazed how the car kept crawling forward following the Audi and braking to a halt as it stopped with my only input to keep it in lane with the steering wheel.

If it was on the approach to Glasgow then probably because me and a mate went on a week's golfing trip around Scotland in August 1990 in his new Honda powered Rover 216GSi with a heady 120bhp.

It's official I am braver than an F1 driver as my commute tonight involved driving on the M1 in heavy spray made worse by lots of HGV with zero vision yet drivers even better than me were speeding past.........perhaps one was indeed Sir Jackie who I met in 1993 at Silverstone.

Agree if I had one in my Superb on my commute would probably average close to the combined figure of 46mpg and on a long run might even hit as much as 56mpg which is excellent for a 2.0 litre petrol turbo engine.

Thanks might be time to upgrade to a bigger and better engine now.......I won't tell anyone about the inferiority thing honest.

Bit of recent Skoda history from our purchasing thoughts. Last 3 diesels were 2013 Fabia Monte Carlo 1.6TDi with 105bhp, 2014 Superb Mk2 Elegance with 138bhp (facelift) and finally 2015 Octavia DSG Vrs TDi with 181bhp. Decided in April 2015 to go petrol with both cars before the changes to VED were announced from April 2017 as the diesels used to be either £20 or £30 per year to tax thanks to Gordon Brown. So wife had a Rapid 1.2TSi SE Sport with the Pano Roof for nearly 3 years and 28,600 reliable miles with a best of 64mpg. Then I bought myself a Mk3 Superb 1.4TSi SE manual with a few options (sat nav, canton, privacy glass) which I kept for just 16 months and 16,000 reliable miles which was economical but boring to drive (bit like a large taxi) and a best of 64mpg also. Then August 2017 went for a new Octavia Vrs245 which eventually went from stage 1 to stage 2 and averaged 40.6mpg over 29,000 reliable miles including 2 track days. January 2018 saw the Rapid replaced by the new to the UK Karoq 1.5TSi manual SEL which the wife still drives and a couple of issues have been sorted under warranty (key fobs and ECU software update) and has a best of 66mpg despite the poor aero and 148bhp and it has now reached 27,600 miles (with only 1 service so far). Last December traded in the 245 for the Superb 2019 Superb 272 Sportline Plus (which like the Karoq is only £150 per year road tax) with DSG 7 speed and 4WD which has gone from 4,901 miles to its current 14,100 miles. So in summary since April 2015 we have covered 110,000 miles in petrol cars which have averaged over 40mpg which is excellent IMHO.

Demonstrates the problem for all powerful front wheel drive hatchbacks. In Auto Express this week details on the new BMW 128ti with 2.0 litre turbo front wheel drive 261bhp and 400nm with 0-60mph in a claimed 6.1 seconds for around £33,000. Also comparison on buying a 2 year old hot hatch between 306bhp Golf R from £12,800 for a 2014 model, Honda Civic Type R from £24,900 and a Mercedes AMG A35 4MATIC from £29,000.