Penpusher

I remember a story from a while ago where a Jaguar owner took his car to the dealer after 3 years and complained that his headlights were very poor. When he returned to collect his car, they asked if he'd ever cleaned the inside of his windscreen since he bought the car, to which he replied "No". They said his lights should be OK now and all they'd done was clean the inside of his windscreen. He was looking through a "fog" that made his lights appear to be very dim. The windscreen picks up a film from the plastics and the air blowing from the vents and should be regularly cleaned. I've found that condensation and misting are much reduced if the windscreen is kept clean.

Do the vents under the front seats still blow warm air to the rear? It may be worth trying to reset the heating and ventilation flaps, though I'm not sure how to do this as I've never needed to perform this function. You should find it on the forum if you carry out a search.

I ordered a new L&K in 2012 using Skoda Finance on an interest free deal for 50% of the cost of the car and the car was also under another deal where they knocked off the VAT and we agreed to a rounded price of £24,000. They said the car would be delivered in about October/November 2012, but they suddenly called me towards the end of August to say they had received the car and it needed to be registered straight away under the terms of the deal. I said I wasn't happy at it arriving early at such short notice and I wouldn't have 50% of the purchase price available for a week or so, so it'd be September by then when I'd have a 62 registration instead of a 12 registration. The person I spoke to said they'd have to discuss it with their manager and he came back a short time later and agreed to register it in September.

Yes mine's always soft opened, whether it's opened randomly or when I've pressed the button.

Mine's done this and I've found if you give a firm push on both the top left and top right corners when closing it, the catches engage and it keeps shut. I've even managed to train SWMBO to do this as she's always sitting in front of it and you can't reach it from the driver's seat and push the two sides together when you're going along.

You're probably right. I did it from memory rather than check the car, but as an OAP of 70, the memory isn't as good as it used to be!

I've still got the original Pirelli P7s on the rear and when I had the MOT carried out a month ago, I had an advisory that they're starting to perish. There're OK for now, but if I go on any longer trips, especially if I go abroad, I'll replace them.

Mine's a 66 plate L&K (albeit a hatch) and it has a choice of 12 colours for the LED interior lighting strips and a virtual pedal for the hatch, both of which were standard. I'd assume these would have been standard on the estate too.

Updated mine to 2022 quickly and with no problems. Thanks MartiniB. All I need now is to be able to go away abroad and use them!

It's not much use to you, but the nearest to this problem that I've experienced is occasionally when I return to the car when we're out somewhere and I turn on the radio whist I'm waiting for SWMBO without turning on the ignition and the display shows the altitude in metres and the range on the map in kilometres. As it reverts to imperial as soon as I start the engine, I've never bothered to investigate this any further.

It was Sinclair Škoda Swansea. I did have a full service and MOT and the cam belt and water pump were replaced too, so it wasn't an isolated charge but was part of a bigger bill. They did say when I first took it to see where the problem was that the cost would be £120.00 for the diagnostic, but they only charged £60.00 as they said they quickly found the problem and so only charged for the time they spent on it. Maybe the other work they did was a bit quicker than expected and so they reduced the charge for the calibration etc? Having seen other comments on here about main dealers and their charges, it seems unlikely.

It works now, so that's what matters and I don't want to pay for any unnecessary work. The invoice says "Carried out radar calibration and replaced bracket". There's also a page headed "Standard suspension + level control 4 wheel total alignment" and it says at the bottom of the page "ACC was adjusted. An alignment was performed".

I've got my car back after the service yesterday and they've replaced the bracket and calibrated the front assist so it's all back as it should be. They charged £60.00 for the initial diagnostic and £36.00 for replacing the bracket and the calibration, so it cost me a lot less than I thought it would.

Mine's a 2016 car too and it often does this when I'm driving up and down the hills through the Brecon Beacons or Epynt Mountain, depending on whether I head north or south from home.

I've followed this thread with interest as my car suddenly came up with the message "front assist unavailable about 3 weeks ago and it went into the dealer yesterday for investigation. They've reported that the mounting bracket is broken and they'll replace this and calibrate it when it goes in for its service on 7 September as they don't have the bracket in stock. It's a mystery as to how it was broken as I haven't hit anything and the message appeared as I was driving north up the A470 around Merthyr Tydfil after leaving the Cyfarthfa Retail Park. There were no other vehicles nearby and there was no sound of hitting anything in the road. In the retail car park, there's a section I always chose where the spaces are a bit wider and away from the area where most other shoppers park. It's a single row and I park in forwards to make loading the boot easier. The front is facing a small grass verge and then a hedge and there was nothing near the front of the car to damage it. If it was damaged prior to this, could it have worked for a while until the unit moved sufficiently to stop working? There's no sign of any damage on the front. It's possible it could have been kicked on the front by some yob in Cyfarthfa with nothing better to do as it was keyed on the rear nearside door in that car park about 4 years ago.

You may have a better chance of making a claim for any unexpected problems after the warranty has expired if you use a Škoda agent. I made one such claim for my MkI 2.5 V6 diesel when it was 3½ years old and I was in Italy when the glowplug warning light started flashing. I visited a Škoda agent in Trieste and although they were very helpful, they couldn't fix it as it was a model they didn't sell in Italy. They explained it was a sensor for the fuel level and I'd be fine if I filled up regularly and didn't rely on the gauge as being accurate. I took it to the agent who supplied and serviced the car in the UK and Škoda agreed to pay for the parts and half the labour. When I took my car for a service last year to the Škoda agent, they gave me a sticker and explained I had breakdown cover for the UK and Europe for one year and would receive this every year I had the car serviced with them until it's 10 years old, so this is a saving as I don't need to pay a third party for this cover.

Mine comes up with a message whenever I turn on the ignition when I'm abroad. I can't remember exactly what it says as I haven't seen it for 2 years, but it's something about the swivelling headlights being inoperative when I'm in a country that drives on the right.

I've got LED headlights and, as mentioned by SurryJohn, whenever I've taken mine abroad it recognises which country I'm in and automatically adjusts the headlights as necessary. It usually takes a couple of minutes to find me after I exit the ferry as it initially thinks I'm still in Dover!

When SWMBO and I were looking at a MkIII to replace our MkII that was written off in an accident, I was keen on an estate at first. However, after we compared the estate and hatch in the showroom, we decided an estate wasn't needed and that the hatch had enough room, especially as there's only the two of us. We've bought various bulky items from the online auction site John Pye based in Port Talbot and we've managed to fit items such as dining chairs in the back. If there's a one off occasion when there's something too big for the hatch that'd fit in an estate, it's easy enough to hire a van for the day and it's cheaper than paying extra for an estate that you only need once. I can imagine that if you have a dog and/or children, especially a large dog, that an estate is more suitable. Like MartiniB, we make regular trips in the EU but in the opposite direction (well we did until Covid stopped us), going annually to Lithuania and also once to Belarus to visit SWMBO's family and friends. We've filled the boot with things we're taking for them and folded the back seats down for our suitcases that we take out when we stop overnight and put the back seats back up to make it as secure as possible and keep everything out of sight. It's the same coming home when SWMBO brings back her possessions still with her parents.

I've checked mine morning and as far as I can see there is only one. I've looked closely at it and tried to remove it, but it seems that some of the surrounding components will have to come out first, though I'm no expert on this.

I've tried to remove mine to clean it properly, but I've never succeeded as it seems to moulded into place with the surrounding trim. Maybe there is a way to get it out? I'm sure on the MkI and MkII I've had previously, I've been able to removed this on at least one of them.

I'd agree with most of this. In pre-Covid days, we'd go off for at least one long continental trip every year by car every year (to Lithuania to visit SWMBO's family and friends) and ACC and TJA assist are great on sections of heavy traffic and make driving less tiring. The only bit above I don't agree with is lane assist and I leave that on all the time. When I first tried it, I didn't think I'd like it, but now I'm used to it I like the way it gently keeps me in the right place on any road where it can operate.

It could be the plastic water pump vanes that have disintegrated and are no longer pumping the water around to cool the engine. Have you changed it? It's usually changed when you fit a new cam belt.

I've never had this message and my key is usually in my coat pocket or man bag (depending on the time of year and outside temperature), which I put on the back seat as soon as I've opened the doors.

I'd imagine it'll make a big dent in the part-ex value when you want to change it, which is fair enough if you don't mind the loss in value, but I wouldn't want to do it and I wouldn't want to buy it if it was up for sale. Is it a modification you have to notify your insurers of? If so, do they increase the premium?