Doctor_Strange

Well after nearly 4 years of happy Octavia ownership (2017 1.4 TSI DSG SEL estate), we've just bought our new (to us) car. Plenty of equity in the Octy. Following in my late father's footsteps, we've gone for an Audi A4 Avant in Manhattan grey. It's a 2020 reg approved used from Derby Audi. 45k miles 35 TDI (2.0 163ps) Auto. 2 years free servicing, 2 years breakdown cover and 2 years warranty. It's the Technik spec which is 'entry level' yet has equal or more gizmos than my SEL Octy. Digital drivers display with Nav, heated seats, electric powered tailgate, LED headlights, auto dipping wing mirrors when reversing, 3 zone climate control and more besides. Very impressed with the test drive and amazing how much quieter it is despite being diesel and how good it is at soaking up the bumps. Plenty of strong pull from the engine. I went for diesel due to a large increase in commuting distance, largely cruising down A38. The Technik spec wheel size (17") meant that I can keep my Michelin Cross Climate 2 tyres and will swap them over on collection day. Need them here in the Derbyshire Dales 👍 Looking forward to collection day. 😀

Ok, so there was this guy on the Skoda Facebook owners page who has a Fabia VRS. I called him out for a wind up/troll with the comments I'm about to go into but he was deadly serious. After much arguing, I decided to block him because you can't argue with stupid. He commented on my Michelin CC2 post and said he would stick with his ZZR'S. The comments turned to snow and I stated it is a fact of how winter and all season tyres are made that make them perform better in snow and cold wet conditions than summer tyres, especially the ZZR'S semi-slick type. He duly laughed at this and said there is no data to backup my claim thay my tyres could out brake his tyres on snow. Furthermore, he has driven up many a snow covered hill on his tyres with ease and the tyres are irrelevant, it is all down to driving to the conditions. I offered dashcam footage of the Vectors driving up steep snowy roads but he said dashcam proves nothing and it is all about data, i.e. data boxes. He claimed to have data to prove the ZZR'S could drive and brake very well in snow but refused to share it unless I could provide data. Oh and YouTube videos of reviews and testing with data about braking distances are irrelevant. He could easily meet me somewhere in the snow and prove how good the ZZR'S are in snow. The delusion was so staggering, blocking was the only option. I have now learnt a harsh lesson about wasting time arguing with stupid.

That's a good point, no doubt and at one time I invested in premium full winter tyres and changed twice per year. After much consideration, I decided that the all seasons suited the mostly mild winters we get and here in England, the very few days of snow. Should be ample for my needs.

Bear with me, I'll keep the suspense a little longer as it's quite an amusing story. I had those Avon winter tyres on an A3 a few years ago and I have dashcam footage of them performing admirably but there's bound to be variations I guess from owner to owner.

This is a serious question. Imagine a good snowfall in the UK rather than a dusting, and picture a steep hill on a housing estate, covered in snow but perhaps with some signs of tyre tracks from 4x4's or those with winter tyres. You are an expert at driving to the conditions and these are the tyres you have fitted to your car. Please leave aside any sarcastic answers and I'll explain in a while, the point of this question. Read the reviews, look at the image and tell me how good these will be in snow? https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Avon/ZZR.htm

I had Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2 fitted 2 years ago (Gen 3 is out now), to my Octavia DSG. They were excellent in snow and rain but after 20k miles, the fronts were down to just over 3mm and they were an advisory on the MOT. Cracks on the edges and quite worn on the edges. The rears are fine and have 6mm left. I decided to fit Michelin Cross Climate 2 to the front and they were superb in the rain on Friday. Hoping for some snow this winter as they are supposedly the best all season on snow.

Decided to get booked in with ATS. Couldn't beat this offer anywhere else. £193 all in for 2x Michelin Cross Climate 2. 225/45/17

I asked this at a garage when my car had it's MOT and they said it wasn't doable due to the tyre pressure monitoring system.

I'm considering getting a couple of Michelin Cross Climate 2's on the front. I've had my Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2 for 20k miles now and the fronts are down to 3.7mm. Slight cracks in the rubber around the edges. Shed loads of tread left on the rear tyres of course. I was going to order in October or does anyone think 3.7mm is too soon? I live in the Derbyshire Dales and encounter country roads a lot and we have family in the Peak District.

So, the AA have been (well it was outsourced to a local partner garage) and he plugged in a code reader and there were no error codes at all. The car fired up smoothly and no warning lights. I gave him the rundown of the above paperwork, the aftermarket air filter and the remap. He said that going by recent experience of a lot of callouts they have had, his bet is the fuel filter. Apparently, with the fuel crisis, some petrol stations have let their tanks get very low before topping up and this leads to gunge and stuff to go into the fuel tank. When it causes a clog in the filter, it causes a judder at idle and the car goes into limp mode. In a lot of cases, it clears when the car is left and fired up again later. However, some have had to be worked on. Apparently, Shell have a policy of not allowing less than 2000 litres in their tanks, so they stop selling fuel at that point. He does not know the policy of other companies. He advised me to book it in at a garage for an in-depth check, so I'll ring Manders tomorrow who did my service and MOT.

Also, the AA are on their way. I decided to deploy them after the light came on briefly whilst in town. Left the car and walked home, a nice evening for it! I will take the paperwork with me.

I've managed to find the paperwork for the major service which shows the work carried out did include spark plugs. I also have the paperwork for the MOT which involved a diagnostic check at the same time. The engine warning light would come on for a few seconds at the most along with a stop/start error message. So I asked them to look into it and they cleared the error codes which did not return. At least until now potentially. The garage is a local VW specialist

Well I guess it is common sense to those that have some degree of knowledge about the more technical or mechanical side of things. During my research of which I have done lots through Google and emailing different remap firms and providing my cars details, it is something I haven't come across. In any case, the genie is out of the bottle now so just got to roll with it and see what happens.

Well this screenshot from Google plus the link below suggests this is most likely to be spark plugs. Funnily enough, when I had my car serviced in January, the guy asked if they had been done when I had the major service done the year before. I can't remember and will dig out the invoice today to see if it mentions them. He said that if not, they will be getting ready by now. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.arnoldclark.com/newsroom/2502-the-most-common-causes-of-engine-misfires.amp

Perhaps, even though it hasn't reoccurred on the 12 mile drive to my mum's today, it would be worth ringing the AA when a bit closer to home but still over a 1/4 of a mile away. They will be able to run diagnostics without me having to shell out for it and will of course be better placed to carry out repairs. I could easily tell them it did it just before I phoned because much like last night, it cleared when the engine was switched off and back on again a short time later.