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If the consensus of opinion had been "Yeah, go for it!" would you actually have bought that Roomster?

I've had a search on here and not found an index of Skoda (most likely VAG) independent specialist dealers. As I move out of warranty, I'm thinking about looking outside the official Skoda dealer network for servicing. (Mainly for convenience.) It would be handy if there was an index of independent Skoda specialist on Briskoda, so we can avoid the duff ones and reward the good ones with more custom. One fairly local independent to me is http://www.autovolks.com/ Anyone used them and have some positive or negative feedback on them? Autovolks Solihull Unit 2/3 42a Stratford Road Shirley, Solihull West Midlands B90 3LS

Ah! A kindred spirit! The courtesy of me not doing things people don't like is only extended to people who haven't mistreated me.

No problem at all, but bear in mind (as I'm sure you have) you'll be resetting the timer for the next service from the time of the early service.

I must echo this. While I have occasionally wished for something a little more fuel-efficient, I've never thought "Huh! I don't really need all this power."

I'm glad you've got it sorted. However I'd be looking for a clear explanation of exactly what went wrong. This is pretty vague, and if I was a dodgy garage owner who didn't want to give you any money towards the fix, I'd tell you that there's no way you wouldn't have noticed that your car didn't have the timing set up correctly when you drove away from the garage. Presumably, something was not tightened properly after the original work, and 350 miles later, it worked loose, and the timing belt slipped (or whatever actually happened), and then the car started running badly. So to give yourself the best chance of some money back from the garage who did the original work, I suggest you try and get a precise explanation of what the original garage failed to do correctly, and how that meant the problem only arose 350 miles later and why it required you using another garage to correct the problem. (In writing would be ideal, but I realise that might be difficult.) Good luck!

Edit: A dreamer would be able to do it in their sleep! Predictive text gets me every time. (It's never "duck", Samsung.) To address your problem though, what about this one? It seems to tie up with your handle size. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000230897829.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.40694c4dTEPT93

I swapped from diesel to petrol, and I discounted the 1.5 (without driving it, which was probably a little foolish) because I didn't think it would have the lazy grunt that I was used to with my old diesel. As it is, I can happily potter around at low revs in my 2.0TSI, much the same as I did in my old diesel, though without the exceptional economy. If you can live without the low-revs power, and are happier to drive a little further up the rev range (and in a smooth 1.5 engine, that's hardly a problem, especially with a DSG) then the 1.5 seems like a good choice. I think BoxerBoy nailed it: When it comes to choosing your car, other people's opinions really are largely irrelevant. Try before you buy and buy what you like best.

Wow! Do the wheels rub/interfere with the arches at all when driving? They look really close. I'm guessing the suspension is fairly firm. Or just plain solid.

Hello, and welcome to Briskoda!

Hi Rob. If your boot handle is 90cm, that's not tiny, that's the best part of 3 feet! Seriously though, you shouldn't need to cut anything, just make sure you buy the right camera. That said, I've just measured my handle and it's 110mm wide, so 90mm does sound quite small. I guess a fellow combi-owner might be able to help. As you can see from my pic, you lose a fair bit of handle to the camera.

Unsurprisingly the chance of failure increases with time, so as the car gets older, the likelihood of silica bag failure increases. I would say, and I might be wrong, that you're just into what I would call "unlucky early failure territory". Six years and onwards seem to be more common age for the silica bag to fail, if they're going to fail. There doesn't seem to be any data on silica bag failure, and as you suggest, I'd agree that's it's actually a minority of silica bags that do fail, Even when they do, it's not always catastrophic if you catch the failure in time. (See Nik's post and split bag.) That said, there are a plethora of different silica bag designs, which suggests either there was a known problem and VAG are trying to find the optimum solution, or VAG get header tanks with silica bags from a variety of suppliers who satisfy the required specification in a different way. The fact that VAG have actually developed a better solution, in the form of G12evo, could suggest that silica bag failure is enough of a problem to warrant developing the G12evo to cure the problem. I dunno! As it is, you have had silica correctly leeching into your coolant for the life of the car so far, so pulling an estimate out of my backside, I would say you have at least 12 months' good corrosion protection with what you've got, even if you remove the silica bag. (Maybe more, but I'd feel very safe about 12 months protection.) I'd also suggest that you're running a fairly small risk of failure before the warranty runs out by leaving the bag in. Ultimately, I don't think there's a "wrong" decision to make in your situation. You do what feels right to you, and hope for the best. Framed rather crudely, you're betting your car will fail but your silica bag won't. Edit: That framing really is too crude, because even if your silica bag fails, any damage is covered under warranty. So arguably your approach is the logical choice. Hence having your warranty intact for all possible warranty failures, is more important to you than worrying about one particular failure, that would be covered by your warranty anyway. I've done the opposite, but that might well yet bite me on the backside.

It must be reassuring to have such well-informed dealers to support you.

I do this in my automatic too. When an automatic car gets rear-ended at a junction, if in drive, the car can end up shooting off out of control post-collision.

I think Cheezemonkhai is onto something here. I suggest you find some really fragrant/pungent screen-wash and give your rear screen a good hosing with the rear screen wash. Then rinse it off your bodywork with a hose, and get sniffing in your boot. You should quickly be able to confirm/dismiss the screenwash theory. Leaks via the rear lights never occurred to me, but if using a pressure washer, I can see them letting in water. In fact I'm making a mental note to not aim my pressure washer at the gaps around the lights any more. One more thought: I don't know how the rear lights are on the pre-FL Octavia 3, but on the FL hatch, the rear light has rubber at the top of the part of the rear light cluster under the boot hatch, and I've noticed that can get clogged with crud. Water goes on top and drains over the lip of the bumper, but water can go underneath that rubber. If there's more crud blocking its exit, I suppose that could cause water to gather and eventually work its way into the boot, one way or another. (See pic)

I'm sorry you've had such a bad time with your silica bag. 2014 seems to be a recurring year for silica bag problems. Did you get any support from Skoda towards the cost of sorting it out, or did they play the "What do you expect? It's an old car!" card?

There are two variables here: Spring stiffness and damping. So, question one: Are the springs stiffer on sports suspension than DCC suspension? Question two, can the dampers on DC be set to a firmer setting than the dampers on sports suspension? You might be able to get the max/min damping ratings from somewhere, I don't know. But you probably want to know the answer to both questions to be able to make your decision. Or just test drive two appropriate vehicles, which is probably a better idea.

Hello! Hope you get a good deal on your Fabia.

Looking at the reviews, any of the top 4 in this review would appeal to me. https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2020-Tyre-Reviews-All-Season-Tyre-Test.htm

I always focus on wet braking and handling. All tyres seem to perform acceptably to me in the dry, even the budget ones. Obviously the best tyres are better than the worst, but even the worst tyres (in good condition) don't give cause for concern in the dry. But in the wet, that's a whole different issue and I've previously given away a set of crappy budget tyres because they were downright dangerous in the wet. (The person I gave them to has been very happy with them, but she does drive very slowly and cautiously.) I was thinking about getting another set of Turanza's, but it seems the T005 wet performance isn't the best, so I'll probably go for whatever is good in the wet at the time of purchase. Tyre performance seems to change every year, so it's not like I can just buy a set of Conti Premium Contacts every time I buy tyres, as this year they seem to have focussed on dry performance rather than wet. (They used to be amazing in the wet.) The T001's I have on the car at the moment have been fine, though I haven't particularly asked much of them in the wet. If I was buying today, I'd be looking at Michelin Primacy 4, or something with better wet performance if I could find it.

Take the refund and run.

The attached post seems to vindicate your decision. If Gaz is correct, removing the bag voids a VW warranty, and I suspect Skoda are no more generous than VW when wriggling out of the cost of failures within the warranty period. But this may vary from dealer to dealer, and the dealer who told Gaz this may be in error. Or not. But I can't resist being playful here (and may God forgive me for planting this doubt in your head), when you remove the bag after your warranty has expired only to find it has split, what then?

These work really well. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B015AOGP1S

Maybe cost was an issue? Maybe he figured that he would replace all the coolant with G12evo when it was due for replacement? I dunno, I just took my bag out.

Hello! I like the colour, and it has the added bonus of being unusual. Will shine up amazingly when polished, too.