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Unless you're going to fit a big brake kit, the 16" full-size spare is probably the best option, IMO.

Allow me to reframe the issue for you. Skoda: We bet you £204 your car won't break down in the next 12 months. You: Yeah? What's the deal? Skoda: You give us £204, then if your car has a failure in the next 12 months, you give us another £100 and we fix the problem for FREE! Bear in mind that this covers some really expensive repairs, like gearbox failure, engine failure, etc. You: What happens if my car doesn't have a failure in the next 12 months? Skoda: We win the bet, and keep your £204. You: Does this cover any failure of the car? Skoda: "Oh hell no! We have quite a few exemptions for wear and tear and whatever, also we have to agree that your failure satisfies the conditions of our bet. Between you and me, we've left QUITE a bit of wriggle-room for us to get out of losing the bet. Whoops, said the quiet bit out loud there. You: So the deal is: I bet you £204 my car WILL fail in the next 12 months, and if I win the bet, I have to pay you an extra £100 AND convince you that you should fix my car for free? Skoda: That's the deal! Take it or leave it, but it's a limited time offer. Tick-tick, tick-tock! You: Let me think about it. <---- You are here.

Take it to a trusted independent and get them to inspect the cambelt and advise accordingly. The "If in doubt, change it." approach is costly, but does offer reassurance.

Hello Paul! You've had some very interesting cars. All the cars I've ever owner have been deliberately uninteresting, but then I've been consciously conservative in my choice of car as I lacked off-road parking for many years and didn't want my car nicked. And after nearly 6 decades in the West Midlands, I haven't had one nicked, which is not bad going.

Yes, that's true. My favourite colour is silver. They always look clean from a distance!

That's good to know. 👍 I was just looking out for Markie to make sure he didn't buy a tyre that didn't fit.

Hi there! Lovely shine you've got on your Superb. Nothing like a black car to really show a good polish off. Sadly, I have a white car.

I think of all the issues that one might have with EVs, the risk of them catching fire should be low on the list. If you are concerned about rechargeable batteries catching fire, you might consider how many cheap rechargeable devices you have knocking about at home. How sure are you that one of those isn't suddenly going to let go in the middle of the night and start a house fire you might find difficult to extinguish? I'm warming to the idea of an EV. I could live without the EV evangelism, but I understand the urge to share a positive experience and the frustration towards nay-sayers. Maybe EV fires will become a problem, but right now, I think it's too early to regard them as a recognisable threat.

I know you've measured it, but do make sure the tyre will fit without intruding into your boot space? The wheel and tyre will be a bit bigger than the 16" "full size" so do check before you buy a spare wheel that doesn't fit. You can try this easily enough, by simply removing one of your existing wheels and trying it for size. Also where will you keep the other stuff that goes with it? The polystyrene insert has slots for wheel lock key, jack, some little L-shaped widget, the bolt cap remover tool, the bolt-wrench, the towing eye and probably something else that I can't remember. (Oh in my case, also a couple of wheel hanger pins. Very handy! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09WV5WLJ8) Without the correct insert, what is your storage solution for those items? Good luck!

Sadly not on mine, anyway. I can enable or disable the display of last trip MPG, or reset it. But no choice of which MPG is displayed as described by you, I'm sorry to say.

If you're near South Birmingham, I can recommend Autovolks. (Just off Stratford road, on the border of Hall Green and Shirley.) In my experience they can be trusted to do good work and are both helpful and knowledgeable.

When I first read your post, I assumed your clutch needed adjustment. But as it's a hydraulic clutch, I suppose the first thing to do is check the hydraulic clutch mechanism is working properly, so when you press the pedal, the clutch lifts away. After that, I'm wondering if there's a gearbox oil leak. I don't know how catastrophic thrust bearing failure would manifest itself, but it seems unlikely on such a low mileage car, though it might have been an issue from new. Those are just observations and ideas, I have no mechanical qualifications whatsoever. Personally, I'd be off to my trusted garage to check out the problem and give me a diagnosis and estimate of cost to repair.

The "full-size" spare wheel isn't as "full-size" as the name implies. The 16" wheel gives you a tyre size of 205/55 16", so likely have a different profile to your current tyres, which I assume are 225/45 17". However the 18" space-saver wheel is 125/70 18", which is more like a bike tyre IMO. I have the full-size spare wheel as I didn't fancy a space-saver, but this led me to a little regret when I thought I was carrying around additional weight that I could have saved if I'd got a space-saver. However I found out the space-saver isn't muck of a weight-saving over the "full-size" spare, so there isn't really any benefit to the space-saver unless you have a vRS and need the brake clearance of the larger rim of the space-saver. It certainly doesn't save any space in your boot, and there's little to no weight saving with it either.

Hello and welcome!

I feel your frustration with WBAC. I hope you at least got a great price for your car. 👍

Who rattled your cage, Poundshop Lee? 😋

Hello and welcome, PJ!

Not to mention garden bonfires, which can cause quite unpleasant local pollution.

Hello there and welcome! Sounds like you have a fun project to get your teeth into.

This is worth a watch.

My gut feeling is that the Octavia would be the better choice of the two of them, simply because any repair bills are unlikely to be catastrophic compared to the issues getting the V6 sorted, regarding cost & parts availability. The prospect of buying an 8YO 180K+ mile RS would give me the willies, unless it was very cheap, but if you want fun, the RS is the one to go for.

Firstly, here is the schedule for proper servicing. The Haldex (4x4 mech) should be serviced every 30K miles or every 3 years, whichever comes first. There's also a filter associated with the Haldex that often doesn't get changed because it's a pain to change and VAG say it doesn't need changing. I'd prefer it was changed, but I guess it's a matter of personal preference and Skoda techs might be reluctant to change it or try and charge a fortune to change it. Another thing to watch out for is the silica bag in the coolant reservoir . (For long life coolant) They can split, and if they do, it's a big bill to get the silica crystals out of your waterworks. So firstly, check you can get heat to both sides of the passenger compartment when you test drive the car. Then later, maybe think about whipping the silica bag out of the reservoir and replacing the G13 coolant with G12evo. (Don't panic if this all sounds like a big deal, it's more a precautionary thing than a big panic, but it's definitely worth checking to see if you have heat to both sides of the passenger compartment.) Good luck with your new car!

This is a ridiculous situation to be caught in, and it is hardly the fault of the @VRS245Grey, who I assume thought he was taking a belt-and-braces approach to warranty cover, only to find that instead of stacking warranties, the two warranties actually undermine each other. It's absolutely disgraceful behaviour. If I go into a shop, I don't expect to be told "We don't accept cash if you have a credit card in your wallet.". Having two warranties should give a consumer choice, in no way should it be allowed to be used as an excuse for a warranty company to weasel out of their obligation. I understand the complexities, confusion and potential fraud that might arise if someone makes multiple warranty claims for a fault. However mitigation against fraud should not render warranties ineffectual. I wonder how far this weaselly legal rot has spread? If you join the AA and RAC, might you phone the RAC up only to be told that membership of the AA invalidates your RAC cover? I think @Gazis on the money with his reference to talking to trading standards. As an additional suggestion, if you have legal cover on your car insurance (or home insurance), it might be worth checking if you can apply some legal leverage in your favour on this issue.

Hello and welcome! 👋 Do look into making sure the Haldex has been correctly serviced before you hand over any money. 👍

Hello there! 👋 The great thing about looking after your car is that you're the one to benefit from it. Congrats on racking up 100K in your Mk1.