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The thing with Wireless Android Auto (for me at least) is that your phone is going to run out of juice on a longer journey if you are navigating and, say, playing music etc. so you are going to want to plug it into the USB to keep it topped up (unless you have a wireless charging mat/phone that has this feature too). This is why I have not invested the £50 on the dongle personally. - unless I'm missing something???

This is very true. Maybe the moderators could sumarise the current position as a "Final" post on the thread and then lock the thread as any comments now can really only be "off topic" in reality (and deserve to have their own threads with their own titles so as not to confuse future browsers 🙂

I personally think all this talk of the DQ200 and reliability is getting a little bit out of hand. There is the original DQ200 and the more up-to-date DQ200. Is the more up-to-date one really that fragile and "dodgy" that folk should be avoiding it in 2023? I'm not convinced that is the case so long as you avoid the 1st generation of boxes and go for one that post 2016 build (i.e. after VAG made some reliability modifications). That means that all Karoq and similar should be "okay"??

Isn't it the water pump, the pulleys and the tensioner arms that are the achilles heel(s) though? If one of those pulleys breaks or the waterpump fails can't it completely "knacker" the whole thing as the belt will snap in sympathy and the valves etc. will be mashed in turn. The belt might look fine but don't forget about those pieces as well - much more difficult to visually inspect for imminent failure?? Like your troosers - the belt might be made of a wonderful material but if the little pin in the buckle snaps then your troosers will fall down and bear your airy harse to all 🙂

Still true on the CC 2 SUV alas. It is the only negative but it's not too bad and probably not too much worse than most other new tyres with lots of meat on the treads - If I notice one I remove it on the front as I'm getting in the car. I did have to stop once when I was driving with the windows open on a nice warm day and find a stone and remove it but I never hear anything when the windows are shut (which they are 99% of the time for the climate control and pollen filter to look after things for me). Oddly - for me the noisy "grinding" brakes are more annoying when driving off for the first time on a given day. If left for a week they sound like metal on metal for the first few braking activities. I have checked them BTW and they are not faulty or badly worn (pads). The OEM factory pads seem to be a bit rubbish and as hard as nails. My discs are a bit scored (probably from said small stones) but not to any extent to warrant changing them at the moment (and certainly not an MOT fail) as I just had an MOT. It was like that from about month 6 though and that was when I was running the Turanzas.

Michelin Cross Climate 2 SUV. I have the 1.5Tsi DSG and I always pat myself on the back for paying the premium for them. They stick to the road like anything, cut out 99% of all wheel spinning and give me 1000% more confidence that the awful Turanza's they replaced. My rims are the 18's though so not sure if available in the 19's you have. I run them at 2-3psi below the recommended "normal" pressure too and it makes them nice and forgiving on the potholes. They are also wearing nice and evenly.

Has anyone else noticed a slightly annoying rattle coming from the button on the DSG gear stick on their Karoq? It is the button in the attached picture (but on my UK car the button is on the other side) . I can stop the rattle by touching the button but wondered if anyone had managed to do something to stop it (like a dab of hot glue). I can't put a wedge into it as this will impede its operation. Cheers, Paul

Too right. You are offeing an invaluable free service out of your own kindness and community spirit - no one should be trying to exploit that (if that is actually what is happening - and I apologise for my comment if that is not happening).

Would there be a possible negative as well? I would have thought that the clutch wear material will wear out quicker with constant engage / disengage. If you were to keep the car for a long time it may mean an expensive bill that would wipe out any savings to the driver??

As far as I can see (and in my own mind) it is not resolved at all. This will never ever be resolved until someone (consumer rights group / government) embarrass VAG UK / Skoda UK enough to make them change their "recommendation" which is baseless and expose it as nothing more than a money making exercise. or... the German government do someting to the mother ship to stop them allowing the worldwide subsidiaries taking the pith. That's it really. It's a con. The fact is that most owners are risk averse and find themselves caught between a rock (Skoda UK) and a hard place (buyers who see the recommendation and steer clear of a car that does not follow what they believe is the word of the "Masters" at the UK HQ of Skoda). We can all go around and around the merry-go-round at this forum and the other forums at Volkswagen, Seat and Audi until we are blue in the face but it will make not a jot of difference.

Ahhhh the thread that just keeps on giving 🙂

Thats a fair point. I agree but with the proviso that, should you be planning to keep the car for more than 3 years (say between 4 and 14) and then sell the car you will be paying for it anyway as the best part of £900 will most likely be knocked off the selling price (as it was never done and the dealers will know that is is a VAG UK recommendation) and any private buyer will know if they get any sort of inspection and/or are not naive) and they will see the VAG UK recommendation and think it is the word of the mother ship and will steer clear (if you ask for book price and won't budge because the factory says it never needs doing). I would walk away for sure and find the next seller that has done it - right or wrong morally. I would argue that it seems logical that if you plan to keep the car for 5-10 years then you may as well get it done at year 5 but only by VAG authorised garage) and have the benefit of your hard earned money and the peace of mind of the risk being reduced. That way you get the benefit of what you are paying for (providing you get it done at an authorised dealer so they can take the hit if you have it done and then 1 week later you get all sorts of errors or, God fobid, the new belt snaps because it was not fitted correctly). It is mostly the independent's that have had issues in the past from what I can see by trawling (not exclusively but mostly). The fact is that, by hook or by crook you will have to foot the bill for at least one change of cambelt in one way or 'tother unless you sell a few months before Year 4. And - I expect that if you complain to VAG head office in Germany they will tell you that each country has its own requirements and that the lack of a maintenance regime for it centrally is only the case where there is not a local country override. That is a guess......

Your car stereo was put under the influence of a curse by the man/woman at the factory who installed it. They do it for fun sometimes because the job is so boring and low paid. My sister told me that when she was a teenager (and for a summer job) she used to work in the factory that made evil knievels. Every hundred or so that went past this bloke's workstation (who sat near her) would have a rivet put right through his head, just to cheer some poor child up on Christmas day. I guess he had to get his kicks somewhere. 😆

Hi all, I have P0480T on my MIB2 at the moment. I updated via this very helpful thread some months back. Below is my old 475T image to aid ident. Is this still the latest (P0480T I Mean)? Am I correct that, even though it has WiFi and AA that Wireless AA will "never be a thing" via any FW Upgrade? Thanks in advance Paul

Except that it is a periodic requirement (recommendation) - every 5 years... so for folk who keep their cars for 9 or 10 years then it is effectively 2x £900 if they ever want to get book price in year 9 or 10.

I expect that the price will start to drop as the dealers get used to them and do more of them during 2023. At the moment I expect they are assuming the worst (and some are charging accordingly) and it will be a long job until they get used to them. As the recommendation (according to Skoda UK) is 5 years for post 2009 cars (official from their website) the first bunch of 1.5TSi ACT cars presumably have only just started to hit the 5 years mark so I expect that not to many changes have been made at any given dealership. I will be amazed if the price stays this high in say March 2024 onwards. Mine is due August 2024 and at that point I'll use the online skoda booking system to scour the dealers within a 4 hour drive and by then, hopefully, one or two will have dropped the price by a few hundred quid as they hit a reality check..... There is already over £100 difference in online quoted prices (based on VIN / Reg) between dealers 1 hour drive apart. I expect this difference will increase or they will all push down a bit. Many of us are worrying about something that is not a problem just yet 🙂 That's my take on it anyway.

Which is why they ought to come up with a better plan than a glorified elastic band!!

Trust No-one - Believe Nothing 🙂

What is annoying though is that manufacturers still use a glorified elastic band in such a "complex" machine. It beggers belief really when for just £10 more they could have fitted a lifetime chain. I know we could all ask "does this car have a rubber band or timing chain" and then walk away but - let's be honest - it's not exactly at the top of the list when looking for a shiny new car. One can only imagine what horrors are to come in 10 years for all those electric car owners relying on a few batteries to get them from A to B.

It's the only way sadly. Like all decisions we all have to make in all aspects of life. I guess we all have to look at the past track record and failure rates / statistics and make our own decision of what "might be". No right or wrong answer whatever each of us decides I guess.

Honest John's take on this:

Do you hear a lot of voices in your head Toot? That would explain a lot 😆 Only joking!

The thing is that there will be a number of folk on here (myself included) don't really have a care for the milage gaps but more the time element (as very low milage) and the "unkown" I guess is the effect of time on the rubber (perishing / freeze/thaw over the years), so, for us, I guess 4 or 5 years unless you like taking a risk. I guess at 5 years the car might be worth £8K so its the gamble of £3K+ for a new engine or £900 for the belt. It seems sensible to go for the £900 option really at Year 4. If you don't and then come to try to sell it on at Y5+ then the buyer is going to be knocking you down by 1K anyway as they will know it needs doing. I often look at old rubber bands in my drawer and also things like the rubber seals on items like food processors (that I have and only use every 5 years. You can see the cracks in the rubber and 5 year old rubber bands have a habit of just snapping when you try to use them, Not very scientific I appreciate.

They won't respond unless you report it to them for investigation and I think to do that you need to be a Which? member

Hopefully about 85 years for me. I'll be content with that.