Phutters

. Thanks, boss. Not patronising in the slightest. Could have been, but I'm glad you made the effort to avoid it. This is precisely why I pay the closest of attention to everything you post, especially the ones with sneaky edits. .

. Well, blow me down. I didn't know that. Obviously. I think I might just get mine done this morning. I've got nothing to do for an hour and my bingo winnings from last night are burning a hole in my pocket. .

. They can't do an MOT now. The earliest it can be done is the 4th of September. .

Me neither. My 2021Karoq did. Half the fun of a new car is taking the manual into the bathroom and reading it ‘til your legs go dead.

. I realise that admitting you haven't got a clue how your car works is a bit of a tall order, but there is an instruction book you could look at without anybody else knowing. Lots of helpful pictures and everything 😘 .

. It is. Thanks very much. Smart socks too. .

. A couple of things; presumably those wheels are 8J, and do you have (or could you possibly take) an oblique photo that shows how much rim protection those tyres provide? Obviously 245s are wider than 225s, but it's difficult to tell how much wider they are until you see them on a wheel. The simplistic diagrams on tyre size comparison websites aren't much use really. .

. Very helpful extra detail for anyone else in a similar predicament waiting outside the vet's 👍 What about outside the Post Office or the pie shop? Does it work there too? .

. Minor bug fixes that don't do anything and a radio station logo for Smooth Country Classix. .

. He lives in India. Skoda India do a six year extended warranty. .

. Hello Chris It's Pete rather than Paul, but the effrontery will fade at some point. The small Torx bolts that allow you to get at the filter in a 2.0 are all accessible from the top, and nothing else needs to be removed. The bolts don't need to be removed; just loosened fully. I don't know about the smaller engine's set up because I haven't got one. You don't need to touch the engine cover at all. And after that dire warning, I don't think I'd even contemplate standing a mug of tea on it now in case it collapses. I'm rather ashamed to say that I made a large assumption is saying that it was a ten minute job. The assumption was that all blokes have access to a basic ratchet and socket set as well as a few Torx bits. I made this assumption on the same basis that I assume all blokes know how to play French cricket. .

. A new air filter (OEM, like Mann or Meyle) typically costs about fifteen quid or so on Amazon. It's a ten-minute job to replace one, or at least it is on a 2.0TSI. Pollen filters come in at less than twenty. At that price, and when it's that easy, it's daft not to do it every year. I haven't paid a garage to replace an air filter or a pollen filter on anything for yonks. It just doesn't make sense - to me, at any rate - not to do it yourself. I'm sure the air filter doesn't really need changing every year, but nowt beats a bit of inexpensive preventative maintenance. The pollen filter is only marginally more time-consuming because you need to drop the glovebox down on its hinge pins to access the filter housing, but there's nothing that needs a tool to undo. I'd possibly consider letting a garage do the filters if I had hands like a bunch of Fyffes or if I routinely spent fifty notes on expensive manicures, but otherwise I'm not going to pay someone a proportion of well over a hundred quid an hour to do such a simple job. .

. Lots of peeps may not agree with this, but I wouldn't be using WD40 as a lubricant on anything on a car. It leaves a gummy residue over time which attracts dirt, and it isn't very kind to rubber seals. It's great for getting the sparks in a damp HT system back where they should be, but that's pretty much a problem from a bygone age. In my humble opinion there are much better things to use; anything with PTFE or silicon will do the job more efficiently. .

.The failure to The failure to do automatic online mapping database updates is one of half a dozen known issues with the MIB version 0270. There was a TPI for this last August, something I didn't know until a very nice bloke in Aberdeen posted in this thread. It's the third post. I've since taken the car in to be updated - to 0276, as it happens - and last week it got its act together and my maps have gone from 21.1 to 22.1. You need to have the MIB software update. .

. Thanks It couldn't be a virtual cockpit-only thing, surely? I assume that the escalated bloke at Customer Services who has been doggedly* chasing this particular foible for five months knows what spec my car is? He's got the VIN number and its inside leg measurement, so I guess he should. *Without wishing to cast nasturtiums I'm not sure I'd have said that five months with no resolution thus far is a particularly good example of doggedness, but there you go. .

The car went in yesterday and had its MIB software updated from 0270 to 0276. I don't know whether this will improve its track record in performing the automatic mapping database updates yet, because other than driving the four miles home afterwards I haven't been anywhere. Rather disappointingly, the online destination input thing still doesn't work. I know I'm doing everything right at my end; I just can't seem to convince the car that it has a part to play in this exciting technological development. Could I ask someone whose destination input thing does work what I should be looking out for? Does the car let out a little squeak of delight? Does the dash display a jolly message with too many exclamation marks saying 'Great news!!! Your online destination has arrived!!! Will there be animated cartoon fireworks or some little clapping hands on the screen? Seriously though, whereabouts does the announcement of the successful receipt of a remote destination show up, and at what point in the MIB boot-up sequence? I've gathered that they don't always show up immediately, but even half an hour after you'd arrived where you wanted it to take you would be an improvement on what mine does, which is sweet Fanny Adams. I do accept that this is a real first-world problem, and I can quite easily manage without it, but that doesn't alter the fact that no matter how much of an electronic trinket this whizzo feature is, it should work. I must say that the dealership were almost obsessively polite and attentive in making sure that I didn't forget to attend the appointment, sending me loads and loads of emailed reminders and things that needed to be signed on screen with a three year-old's squiggly mouse-signature. And they followed up with a phone call today asking if everything was okay, so that was good. I got the now obligatory video record of the car's nether regions for my entertainment (though the accompanying commentary was drowned out by the clatter of pneumatic wheel guns at intervals), along with a helpful note that the front discs were lightly corroded (though the pads have more meat on them than the main course at a cannibals' banquet) and that I could sign on screen (with a three year-old's squiggly mouse-signature) to get them replaced for £418.00. I reckon I'll give it an Italian tune-up down the bypass instead, and stand on the anchors hard half a dozen times in quick succession from an indecent clip to get them properly hot and clean them up. Anyway, that's by the by. I really would be very grateful if someone with a similarly-equipped car to mine (2021 Karoq/MIB3 Amundsen) could tell me what I should expect to happen if the destination import thing does work. Thanks

. I put a set of these in at the back end of last year. They're pretty good, and accurately cut. I'm chuffed with the result, though putting the door pocket liners in takes a little forethought and some patience since you're applying something sticky to the inside of a three-dimensional space full of compound curves. It's not quite a case of having only one crack at it, but it's probably best to treat it that way to avoid creases or having to peel it off and reapply it. For what it's worth, I found that it was much, much easier if the backing paper was cut into smaller sections with the point of a very sharp blade (like a scalpel) before starting, being careful not to go through the felt itself, obvs... That means you can remove the backing paper a bit at a time without the whole thing getting in the way or having to tear it off as you go. I only did the four door pockets because the edges of the liners are hidden by the moulded recesses in the doors. You'll see when you get them. The exposed edges in the centre console cavity aren't quite as neat, but maybe that's nit-picking. .

. My car went in for its first routine service last December (it's a 2021 2.0TSI) and it wasn't checked for available updates although there was at least one available at the time. My MIB is on 0270, and it transpires that 0270 can cause issues with the system failing to update its mapping database automatically, among other things. I didn't know that at the time, so had no reason to ask them to check. I've got a concurrent case running with Customer Services regarding a separate problem in that the car won't receive remote destinations sent from either the app or the Connect portal, so after a bit of head scratching, the application of some rudimentary logic and the invaluable help of someone else on here whose name I forget, I made a point of asking the Customer Services geezer this question in an email: 'Am I right in thinking that software updates aren't automatically checked for (and applied, if appropriate) when the car is having a routine service unless the customer specifically mentions a problem?' This is what he said. I don't think I'm betraying any confidences in quoting this: 'In regards to your question, yes if the vehicle has been booked in only for a service then they would not check to see if there are any software updates available unless you ask them to check if there are any outstanding software updates or TPI’s available on your vehicle.' Make of that what you will. Seems that the dealership wasn't remiss in not doing an automatic check for TPIs and updates at a routine service; they just don't do it. I don't subscribe to the kind of conspiracy theories that hang in the air around these parts from time to time regarding what does or doesn't (or should or shouldn't) get done at a service, but having said that, I don't really understand why a vehicle in for service (or anything else, for that matter) couldn't be checked for TPIs and updates while the mechanics are looking up its skirt on the ramps. Or having a smoke round the back. Or playing footy with the valeting bay's car-washing sponge. I wouldn't necessarily expect any updates to be automatically applied if the customer doesn't mention a problem (it isn't a five minute job, after all) but I have a bit of difficulty understanding the logic of not pressing a few keys on a computer keyboard to at least establish whether or not there are any TPIs and updates available. Surely that is a five minute job, even for a sausage-fingered mechanic. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying horribly. I'm not a technician, and neither do I pretend to be. I'll make a point of asking at the garage next week when it's in for its MIB update. If they just say 'That's the way it is, I'm afraid', then I'll ask the Customer Services the same question. Sure as eggs there's a reason for not doing something which would seem to be so obvious. Isn't there? .

. I'm not sure these are much better than the one on the RGM website in the link above, but here you go. Dirty car, filthy day, wet noggin. .

. Yep. I got mine - a black one - from RGM, who supply Skoda. I got it direct from them because it was just under a tenner cheaper than buying it from Skoda at the time. It isn't any cheaper at the moment, sadly, but it fits properly, looks as spiffy as you like, and does exactly what it says on the tin. .

. Nope. The site probably knows where your server is and modifies the shipping destination accordingly. .

. I've had one or two of those minor changes too. The sense of disappointment when being told there's a software update available only to find that it's something which doesn't change anything remotely useful is crushing. To be honest, I'm not really fussed which software version the garage end up installing as long as everything I want to use works properly. If 0276 makes the maps update themselves and means the remote destination input thing shows up in the car, that'll do me. One part of me feels slightly sheepish when I'm whinging about this. I could always use Google maps or Waze, after all. In the overall scheme of things it isn't that big a deal. It's a minor annoyance, for sure, but I have to keep poking myself in the ribs and reminding myself that before the advent of GPS - which isn't that long ago - we all used to manage just fine. If you're paying attention to what you're doing, it's quite difficult to get properly lost in this country. And we do still have road signs. On the other hand I'm niggled by having something in my possession which doesn't do everything it's supposed to do, so I'll persevere with it. .

I'll ask for 0467. It'd be nice to get a head start on the rest of you. .

. Pah. I went to see the dealer this morning and they said they might need it for two days. I resisted the temptation to ask them why they needed to drop the engine and replace the big end shells to update the MIB software. Other than the slightly surprising estimate of how long it might take, they were more than happy to check the TPI situation and do the dirty deed. Which reminds me to ask them not to wash it with the works sponge afterwards. I'm beside myself with excitement at the prospect of using an up-to-date satnav. I'll have to think of somewhere new to go. .

That’s very helpful. Thanks 👍