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Might be unrelated, but I had a problem a bit like this on a 2001 Ibiza TDI sport and it was apparently a waste gate problem, though in my case the hose did not come off. It blew up like a balloon, the car created clouds of acrid smoke and went into limp mode. We solved the problem by getting rid of it, as we were advised the repair cost was prohibitive.

If you have the 4x4 Octavia SE-L 190 TSI, you've got a rare car. Sadly I have the much more common, but still relatively unusual 2WD version.

Wow! Tesla sales really HAVE jumped. Deservedly too, I'd say.

It will be interesting to see just how much Tesla ownership in the UK jumped up when the new government data is published in April. (Probably at the end of April). Even as recently as 2018, Teslas were pretty few and far between, but I see them a lot nowadays.

I have a pattern of buying unpopular variants of popular cars.

Hello! There's loads of useful information and knowledgeable people on here. Have fun!

DQ200 seems less of a worry than the DQ250 to me. The car looks very nice, especially with that beige interior and the price seems fair. If it drives okay and you find nothing wrong with it, so long as it hasn't been thrashed or modded, it's probably a fairly safe bet. From my perspective, the dealer's more of a concern than the gearbox. But that's probably just me.

Yeah. I checked my neighbour's 2018 Audi with 20K miles, and he had cracks too. I don't recall young tyres cracking like this a few years ago.

I've got a bit of surface rust appearing on my tailgate. It's not a big issue and looks like it's just the metal washer from the strut rusting and staining the paintwork, but even though it's oyut of sight, it bothers me. Any suggestions on how to deal with it as a permanent fix?

This is what all 4 of my OEM Bridgestone Turanza's look like after less than 3 years and under 8500 miles from new.

How's your economy now?

Might be a good idea to contact Skoda and see what they know about the car. I believe they have a full record of a car's service history if they have serviced it. Any dealer should have access to this info. (Assuming Skoda have serviced it.)

Sorry if this sounds obvious, but have you checked it's not catching on your car mat?

If I can offer some buying advice: Decide how long you intend to keep your next car before you choose it. How long you intend to keep it may have quite an impact on what you buy. Plan ahead. I'd check the price differential between diesel and petrol, as I'd suggest the price premium on used diesels is no longer a thing. Diesels seem to be increasingly being viewed as a bit of a risky purchase, with reliability and pollution charges being issues impacting people's perception of diesels. I think diesels offer pretty good value for money just now. I also have the perception that it's a bit of a seller's market when it comes to used cars at the moment, but I might be wrong on that. I spent a good while looking for the right car, but nothing perfect for me came up. I wasn't in a rush as I had a perfectly good car, I just fancied a change. For the longest time I wanted a diesel vRS with a manual gearbox, but I actually ended up buying a petrol automatic. When I choose a car, I take a lot of things into consideration, but they are personal to me, and probably not much use to other people. Running costs: Insurance, VED, fuel, reliability, servicing and parts? DPF issues put me off getting another diesel, due to my low annual mileage. Practicality: Will it fit me, my family and our luggage comfortably? Have I got children who will vomit onto my lovely Alcantara seats? Driveability: Will it be enjoyable to drive and have enough acceleration? Longevity: Will the car age well during my ownership of it? (I typically keep cars for 8-10 years or until my wife writes them off, but I intend this car to be my last, if I can look after it) Desirability: Is the car likely to draw unwanted attention from police, or criminals of various sorts. (People who want to steal bits off the car, steal the car or just vandalise it because someone else has a nice car.) Low desirability is important to me, while others prefer a "flash" car. I like flash cars too, I just can't be arsed with the aggro that comes with them. Fuel cost isn't a big issue as I do less than 5K miles a year at the moment, but that may change after retirement. I can't be doing with filling up all the time and I have to be able to run the thing on a pension when I retire, so reasonable economy and low running costs are wanted. Still looking ahead to being an old git, I figured an automatic would be useful too. I'm in my 50's now, but sadly I get older every year. Coming from a grunty diesel, I wanted a car with some grunt, whatever it was. So got the power curve for my old car, and compared that with power curves for cars I was considering, paying particular attention to the power delivery under 2500rpm. Hell! I even produced spreadsheets comparing specs & engines between models and years. Sounds very nerdy, but you'd be surprised how specs change from year to year. (As it is, I ended up with a car without a CD player because I just assumed all cars had CD players these days. ) Like I said, I probably overthought the whole thing, but I quite enjoyed myself and I ended up with a decent car that suits me well.

I faced the same dilemma as you when changing my car. Trying to justify your choice by cost is a tricky game, as there is more to ownership costs than simply MPG. But to answer your question, using the following prices:- You can argue over the 35mpg petrol and 45mpg TDi figures, but they seem a reasonable typical figure for vRS's (Perhaps the 35mpg is a bit optimistic?), but for 15K miles, an annual saving of £400 to £500 seems on the cards. With that fairly minor cost difference, I'd be inclined to ignore the fuel cost and look at other factors which might influence your buying decision. If running costs are a big issue for you, maybe a vRS isn't the right car?

I'm very pleased to hear this. I've noticed the same problem on mine.

Thanks for posting this video, 4 years later it's the gift that keeps on giving. I have a sticky door handles that stay out when I open my doors, and wasn't sure what I could lubricate and what to lubricate it with. As there's so much plastic there, it looks like silicone grease would work best.

Isn't the regen on GPF passive only?

Hi Has, same engine here. When you say the engine temperature gets up to 90C really quickly, do you mean water temp? Have you seen what the oil temp is doing? Is that also getting up to temp unusually quickly? (I've not noticed any unusual behaviour on my 2019 190 with 8K miles.)

The guy might be okay, but his account of why the EML is on sounds odd. If you have a code reader, it might be worth plugging that in and seeing what codes it throws up.

This is the stuff I used, and I found it very good. https://www.amazon.co.uk/EcoMax-Millers-Oils-Diesel-Power/dp/B002WCAISS/ref=sr_1_5

A couple of things spring to mind. Firstly, what are the figures? (By how much did it fail?) Secondly, now your DPF is on the MOT testers radar, it might get further scrutiny if tested by the same tester. Nothing wrong with going to another MOT test place. Solutions: First, put some Diesel Clean or similar into the fuel tank and give it a good run. Load up the car with people, find a hill and boot it up there. Get the revs up to give the injectors a clean. (A garage can do a more specialised injector clean, but that's more cash.) Then, with the car "as is", i.e. with a dodgy/gutted DPF, (and as a layman, bear in mind this is a "Just get the effing thing to pass at minimum cost!" fix), my cheapest quick fix to get you through the MOT would be an EGR blank and (for the purposes of the MOT) remove the air filter. Those fairly simple and cheap things should get as much clean air into the engine as possible, which, if your fail is marginal, might just reduce the smoke enough to get you through the MOT. But it's a bit of a case of grasping at straws. Even if you manage to pass the emissions, a vigilant and conscientious MOT tester will be giving your DPF a close look, now someone's already pointed it out as being suspect. Let us know how you get on. Good luck!

This seems to fit the rings.

I think modern oils, particularly synthetics, are perfectly happy at 100 C. Oils really have improved enormously over the years. Not sure about water condensation in the oil, never really thought about it, TBH.

I once searched for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy using "CBT". Oh I say!