EnterName

Thanks for that @lway, I'll check out the official OBDeleven site. 👍

Hi Sasha. Which variant of the OBDEleven would you recommend? Or perhaps more importantly, is there a variant of the OBDeleven that is not worth bothering with?

Maybe look at importing an Octavia of the spec you want to Saudi? https://lifeinsaudiarabia.net/procedure-to-import-used-vehicles-in/ Without knowing what the budget for this project is, it's difficult to advise, only offer possible choices. I remember when I got my first car, a Mini 1000. I had all these great ideas about modding it to make it faster and handle amazingly, but it turned out I barely had enough money to run the thing, never mind start modifying it. 😄

I have a bit of a psychological barrier to buying an EV. Planning journeys around charge points bothers me. I might be wrong about this, but the idea of having to go somewhere I would not otherwise go, hang around for half and hour or so while my car charges, is not something I feel comfortable about buying into just now. EV costs seem to be remarkably low right now, but I would bet my pension that when EVs take off in a big way, that cost will rise in the form of some sort of "green tax" or whatever. Personally, if I manage to get 50 MPG out of my 2.0 petrol, I shall be crowing about it. I'm in awe of @BBDom's 83.3MPG.

I love those panoramic sunroof because they are really cool. The Tracy Island way they open up is oddly satisfying to watch. But the potential problems with them were a big turn-off for me. Thanks for an excellent series of posts on your experiences with yours. 👍

That is amazing! You must have a gifted right foot. 😊

As is usual, Wales was a glorious washout and I return to a heatwave in the West Midlands. 😄

This seems like one of those "If you have to ask how to do it, it probably isn't a good idea to try and do it." questions. It will be quite a project, and require a fair amount of time, and not a little expense. Best option is to sell your 1.6 and buy a replacement 2.0 car. Maybe buy a MK2 Octavia 2.0, and transfer anything special about your 1.6 to the replacement 2.0 vehicle? If you really want to upgrade your vehicle, think about buying a 2.0 Octavia with all the parts you need, (perhaps a crash damaged one) and swap the parts over to your 1.6 car. That way you'll have have all the bits you need straight away. Bear in mind you will need some lifting gear to swap the engines, as well as some specialist tools. Also remember that while you're doing this, your car won't be working, so you'll be without your 1,6 for some time, depending on how quickly you can complete the project.

I'm not sure the DKZA engine code is confirmation of a TFSI engine with the MPI. For example this claims to be a DKZ/DKZA engine for a Leon, but I can't see the FSI rail https://www.ebay.com/itm/SEAT-LEON-FR-2-0-TSI-DKZ-DKZA-COMPLETE-ENGINE-/202998017519 This is sold as an Octavia DKZA 190PS engine, but I can't see the FSI rail here due to the camera angle. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2019-SKODA-OCTAVIA-DKZA-1984cc-Petrol-4-Cylinder-Automatic-Engine/274012981724?hash=item3fcc7249dc:g:O-wAAOSwXwxdgLqC I'll just have to have a look under the bonnet of mine when I collect it later this week. It seems weird to have both the TFSI and the PPF, as I thought the PPF was needed when FSI was deleted and an engine changed to TSI-only.

Try driving a similar car with lower mileage and compare how the two cars drive. If there's no discernable difference, you're probably alright. I'd be looking for a steady and quiet idle, no difference in smoke out the back under hard acceleration between the high-miler and a lower-mileage car. As well as all the usual things you look for when buying a used car. You can find cars that run sweetly with astronomical mileages, and find utterly ragged cars at well-under 100K miles. So long as they're serviced properly and not driven by chimps, most cars will last 100K miles and still have plenty of life left in them. I was talking to a mechanic this weekend, and he said he'd had to replace a clutch on a car at 20K miles. (I actually prefer a young high-mileage car to an old low-mileage car, when buying used.)

I have used them to remap my Mondeo 2.2 TDCI. They offer a mobile remap, and were happy to come up to me and performed the remap on my drive at home. The remap was, for the 12 months I had it, excellent. A fair bit more power and slightly better economy for day to day driving. The most noticeable thing about the extra power is the ability to accelerate when at motorway speeds. Yes there's more power for overtaking on A-roads etc., but the big "Wow!" for me was how well the car pulled in top gear on the motorway. Very impressive! It's still the best thing about the remap IMO. There's some slight smoke under full acceleration, but no great black plumes of smoke belching from the rear. There were no issues with MOT smoke test. The only issue I had, was when I first had the remap, I noticed that when I took my foot off the throttle after I aborted an overtaking manoeuvre, where I previously had some pretty rapid engine-braking, I found that the engine seemed to still be getting fuelled and I had to brake to slow my car a bit, where previously just lifting off was enough to give me engine braking to do the job. It came as a bit of a surprise at the time, but I suppose I got used to it pretty quickly, as that was the only incident I can recall, and I don't notice it now. I would absolutely recommend them based on my experience, and intend to get my 2.0TSI remapped by them at some point. I think I've just about convinced the wife to get her 1.4TDCI remapped by them. I couldn't get an answer when I phoned them recently, but that may be a COVID-19/holiday thing.

I'm going to check that out, a 2K+ camera sounds like a good upgrade. It seems really good, according to Dashcamtalk, which has sample videos. https://dashcamtalk.com/a119/

There isn't enough wind and rain in my life, so I'm off to Wales for a week. Catch you later, folks!

Come on @Rustynuts, confess! What do you do with all those £10 / year subscription fees? 😋

Hello to you too. Hope you enjoy your new car.

Ouch! Thanks for the heads up on that company.

Yes indeed! I now know how big my brake disks are. I also know I haven't got heated washer jets. (Which I shall probably add) Likewise no cornering fog lights. And a UAZ (7A) gearbox, which I'm trying to work out which one that is.

Thanks for this link, it decoded everything from my VIN number. 👍 All I have to do now is try and make sense of all the information. 😄

I wouldn't say it's missing the point completely. But certainly in this instance, leasing was the most cost effective way of driving that particular vehicle for 3 years. I'm not sure that in all instances of a brand-new car purchase for a term of 3 years, leasing would be the cheapest option. There seem to be a fair few variables that could swing the deal either way in favour or against the buyer. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my perception. That said, kudos to IJWS15 because I would have most likely bought the car via cash or loan (as I have an aversion to leases), and hence ended up with a worse deal. 👍

I suppose it depends on your definition of the word "expensive". £14,000 for 3 year's motoring sounds extortionate to me, but may sound like peanuts to other people.

Just want to second this comment about the second hand market having gone bonkers recently. Some really weird pricing variations going on. There seems to be a big demand for 4-6 year old cars, but even 10 year-old car prices seem to be holding up surprisingly well. I can't make head or tail of it, TBH.

This isn't suitable for OP, but I use one of these (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075T8H9XJ/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=). Video quality is very good, and it covers the front and rear of your car. I've had mine a couple of years and it's worked well. I bought the add-on GPS unit, but it's not particularly reliable when it comes to recording vehicle speed. But as a dash camera, the DR02 D is great. This site might help you ALPERALP to choose a dashcam. 👍 https://dashcamtalk.com/

My bad, I assumed he was looking for a new-new vehicle, I didn't see him specify he was looking for a Yeti in his posts. I'll shut up now. :)

Note all new Skodas will have Petrol Particulate Filters, which are a petrol DPF. Simpler than the DPF, but a bit of an unknown quantity just now. Also known as GPF (gasoline) and OPF (Otto)