J.R.

Thanks for that, the further explanation was double dutch I'm afraid as my interest lies with a cars ability to get from A to B reliably and efficiently. If the device is portable what do you do with it outside of the car?

Could somebody please explain what PID is supposed to stand for? I realise it is an acronym for the upended tea tray that bespoils every modern car dashboard and whose purpose is to distract the driver from his number 1 responsability. I am guessing the D is for Display, the I might be for Information but the P? - Personal? - Sounds BS enough to be plausible

The petrol has already done the flushing, I use 50% parafin 50% cheap engine oil for flushing barn find engines or for my own vehicles I will drain half the sump oil & refill with parafin.

Caveat Emptor. You are experiencing exactly what I would expect, exactly what I have encountered and resolved when driving my own repaired vehicles, its a price I am willing to pay for having a bargain vehicle. I have no idea about the value of Superbs but €12K for a 7 year old Cat C repair vehicle sounds a lot of money, I read that they are worth 40% less than a straight vehicle, no idea if that is true as I don't buy them to sell on, my Yeti of the same age cost £3200 2 years ago with moderate mileage and cost £800 to repair, at the time its value on WBAC as a straight vehicle was not much more than it had cost me in total but compared to prices in France it was a bargain. I know second hand values have risen since the confinement but £12K sounds an awfull lot for a vehicle declared as a Cat C rebuild.

Yes.

You got what you paid for if it was advertised as being a Cat C salvage that had been put back on the road.

€45 if paid on time.

I have driven through the centre of Paris & Lille scores of times, I can assure you that they do not have roadblocks or stop vehicles, their aim is to reduce pollution & the system with its almost universal compliance works very well. You are allowing your imagination to run riot and are creating unnecessary stress for foreign holidaymakers.

That is very misleading, you should specify caught where, when, under what circumstances and that the price you quote is for a fine (which they wont get) that is not paid on time. Like you I live in France, I do not have a Crit Air sticker (they are not obligatory) and have no intentions of getting one, all they serve to do is make yourself an easy target if you were to drive a class 4 or 5 vehicle within certain hours in a low emissions zone like the centre of Paris or Lyon. In any case stopping traffic to check would create major gridlock. If their intention was to fine people then they would use ANPR as the emissions class of every vehicle is known to them via its immatriculation, as it is the sale of the vignettes brings in some money and the majority who fall for the con and who display them would never dare drive within the areas so they achieve their aim which is to reduce the city air pollution. A UK visitor even if they drove a class 4 or 5 vehicle within the zones during the prohibited times risks nothing, even if the amende was sent to their UK address which they are not, like speed camera notifications they are not a fine but an invitation to make a payment to prevent a "possible" (impossible is the true word) pursuit in justice

My mistake, I meant £1.60 per gallon, 16 mpg = 10p per mile.

Have you done an HPI check on the vehicle? Do you have the V5, did it have any notations like CAT C?

42 or so years ago I was tooling around in a Triumph Stag getting 16mpg and petrol costing £1.60 a litre. Its taken 4 decades to get back to 10p per mile albeit overtaken in recent months. I fell on hard times then when my workshop burnt down and I could not earn my second living, my apprentice wages barely covered my rent, so I had to make economies, a pint of beer and a packet of fags also cost £1.60 so that was when I became an ex smoker. TPF&T insurance on the Snag cost £120 and I still pay less than that now. What are the relative costs of petrol, beer and cigarettes today? I have since given up alcohol so don't know the price of beer, whenever I hear the price of tobacco I nearly fall over!

The loom wiring visible in the photos has been wrapped with adhesive insulation tape and not the non adhesive wiring loom tape or the correct fabric tape used on the OE loom, you can see one length looks much cleaner and shinier than those around it. Cut it away and you will find all the bodged joints underneath, probably just twisted together, you can see one where it enters the connector. Try and return the vehicle as those electrics will give you no end of continuing problems, if those are bodged what else is bodged, how significant was the damage, were any suspension components replaced? Check the crash beam and radiators (aircon, water and intercooler) for having been replaced with either pattern or second hand parts.

No its definitely a repair done on the cheap, those connectors have been plastic welded back together like Humpty Dumpty with a soldering iron. I'm not proud to admit that I have decades of experience in piecing together pieces of shattered plastic rather than pay a fortune for new parts on my write off rebuilds because they have all been very new vehicles & pattern parts or breakers parts just were not available, however all the vehicles have been driven to destruction by myself and not sold on. The Yeti Humpty Dumpty headlights were just to get an MOT to be legal to bring it to France where I bought new LHD units, the plastic grille slam panel looks like Frankensteins monster when you open the bonnet and the plastic (not) welding has recently cracked.

And also springs and shock absorbers, an Encyclopaedic knowledge!

Some oily bits probably resembling shrapnel have made a bid for freedom.

I must be unfeasible then as its the sort of job I have done without a second thought all of my life.

I havn't stripped any of the threads yet but I did buy a Ford, VAG & Vauxhall repair kit very cheap on Ebay which was recommended on this forum, it comes with drilling jigs set to the hole centres of the various manufacturers which will prevent or mitigate against misalignment from the drill bit snatching. The inserts are a splined Top Hat type so are pulled into place against their shoulder by the caliper bolts & will pull up square against a small misalignment, a lot easier to use than Helicoils as well and no risk of them unwinding.

I have steelies bought from a member advertised on this forum, they weigh a hell of a lot less than the alloys they replace. They came with genuine Skoda wheeltrims which look very smart and which dont get covered in brake dust like the alloys, I recently found a really nice looking set of black wheel trims for next to nothing in Noz (a shop that sells bankrupt stock, end of lines, overproduction etc) they retainers wont be as good as the Skoda ones but I hope to avoid the tywraps. If you want to feel a really heavy wheel try one of the spacesavers rated for the larger vehicles, the one I use on the Yeti weighs double that of the alloys, the rim is 5 or 6mm steel and the tyre must be thicker than one on a forklift, in fact it feels like a solid rubber tyre.

Absolutely not

Do a Valsalva manœuvre, Google for details. It's second nature to me as a diver.

Thats also why I chose them again but was dissapointed this time, whether the pad composition has changed or the Octavia had better brakes as a starting point I do not know but Camlobes description is exactly how I would describe them. Handbrake turns, I used to be the king of, rear disc brakes were never as good as drums even on a light car like a Caterham/Westfield etc, never managed one in the dry on any of my Skodas but they all held with confidence on a hill, the Yeti doesn't give that confidence.

I have come to the same conclusionas you Camlobe, on my Octavia and Yeti the Germanic sounding but Chinese pads that came bundled with the new brake discs were appalling, changing to Eco Friction on the front only transformed the Octavia and I was very very happy with them. Oon the Yeti which has the smaller 280mm front brakes I had the same experience with the shonky pads bundled with the new discs (although these were allegedly Delphi) I fitted Eco Friction front and rear and am dissapointed as they are exactly as you describe even after bedding in and some overloaded trailer towing. If you cange to another make of pad which gives you the feel, progression and confidence that is lacking please post on here.

A left hand flute HSS or carbide drill bit. I simply drift them loose with a hammer and sharp centre punch used tangentially, I used to have a small diamond pointed chisel for the job but it has either gone walkies or got lost amongst all the other usefull bits & pieces. Seconded for the impact screwdriver if they are not too messed up.

I don't even bother responding now when it appears that someone is actively looking for hoops to jump through and money to spend, never mind that they are ill advised it seems to make them happy and those who stand to benefit can rub their hands together. UK and Critair stickers spring to mind. Its important though that the wrong message is not imparted to others who may think they have no choice.