The Plumber

The Volvo is now shod with 225/50 R17 98V Cross Climates; to early to give any meaningful review having only had them fitted this evening but they performed well for brand new tyres in the wet drive home. TP

Had work carried out on three Skoda's over the years at VAG approved body shops and none of them was up to much, particularly the one in Hull; a two year old with a paint brush could have done better. So I don't know who approves these outfits but they don't do a very good job. Anyway I hope you get it sorted. TP

The edges of the red section of the lamp unit are emphasised with a darker tint, rather than the whole unit. Think they look better than the standard lamps, particularly with certain colours like our green machine but that's obviously a personal view. TP

I believe these dark 'Monte Carlo' lamp units are the same as those fitted to our Spaceback SE, as part of the Sportpack option and also on the newer SE Sport trim. TP

Our Volvo dealer has quoted £410 fitted for a set of Cross Climates in the 225/50 R17 size, which was noticeably cheaper than the Goodyear price, albeit they were out of stock anyway. Due to go get them fitted all being well on Friday. Usually expect Michelin's to be by far the pricer tyre and maybe they will go up in time once they are a more common sight in the market. TP

Seems a lot of work to put the Monster back on the road and I'm not sure you would want to be in another accident in this particular car; a new shell would have been a safer and quicker option. TP

This is the problem of the manufactures making with fitting ever wider tyres, the wheel well then becomes to small, as deepening it could cause issues with ground clearance etc. Also most spare rims are steel these days and again most larger rims are alloy. TP

Read one or two reviews which suggest your better off with the Goodyear the further north you are, as it works better in cooler conditions, whereas the Michelin is more cabable in hot summers. Myself I'm going for the Michelin, partly down to availability but also it will probably be more suitable for possible trips into central Europe in the summer, which I hope to do again next year. TP

Just a note for those purchasing older Yeti's, in 2009 there were two different 140 TDi, a common Rail first generation CBDB, which was replaced in November by the second generation design CFHC, being supposedly slightly cleaner and more efficient and from driving both the latter engine is also a little smoother. However I'd imagine both might fall under the dodgy design cloud currently hanging over VAG. TP

Our Spaceback has the original TSI 105 which obviously I've driven extensively. Also had a short loan of a new Fabia III TSI 110 and from that brief experience I personally preferred the older unit; the newer engine didn't seem to have the same 'get up and go'. Mind the 105 had covered over 10k at the time, compared to the 110 which had done 3k. However if you've no experience of both, then I doubt you will notice any issue with performance and the 1.2 DSG set-up works well; again I used an Octy II with the TSI 105 DSG for 3 weeks and 2k miles back in 2013 and enjoyed driving it. TP

The front will be very similar but the 2wd has a torsion beam rear suspension rather than independent with the 4x4, which was a cost cutting exercise between MY10 & 11. TP

I rang the ABI some years ago and they stated both tyre and rims were included in their list and I had no issues with my insurer Admiral switching from 17" to 16" rims for winter with the first Monster. However I've decided with the V40 which has the same 225/50 R17 tyres as most UK Yeti's, to go for the new Michelin Cross Climate, rather than mess about swapping complete wheels. TP

No worries, glad its cleared up. Regards, TP

So what have you got for the tenth digit, our Spaceback has an E indicating MY14, with many component production dates covering March last year :wonder: TP

There are component production dates all over the place, particularly under the bonnet. For example our TSI motor has a bar coded label on the inter-cooler cover, which also states the time and date of production completion. other items like the lights have labels with week and year dates e.g. 11/15 (second week of March this year). TP

Goes without saying; take he gets tyres from Pirelli's F1 division TP

From memory a V rated tyre takes you safely to 149mph, so I wouldn't worry TP

The TDI 110 4x4 we had in our last classic Yeti was a very usable motor, however the one thing that let the car down slightly was the Fabia front brake system; wouldn't want to up the bhp on one without an expensive upgrade to the anchors, so go for the TSI L&K. My thoughts anyway, TP

The spare for all versions of the Rapid/Spaceback, no matter what road going wheels they have, is a 185/60 R15 tyre mounted on a 6Jx15 ET38 rim, with a bolt pattern of 5x100. You could try mytyres for example, as they do tyre and rim packages, just need to find a tool kit. TP

The Rapid/Spaceback, current Polo/Ibiza and Fabia III all use the same spare wheel and tools, only the polystyrene insert can differ. Just recently picked up a full spare wheel set-up on e-bay from a breakers for my lads Ibiza, it was originally fitted to a Polo and cost £80 including postage. Likewise the dealer wanted £170, as the car he bought was from stock with a tyre repair kit. Tyre size by the way is 185/60 R15. TP

Been fairly happy with ours, had/have one or two minor issues or oddities but it works hard, mainly going back and forth to work on the poor roads round here, running the rubber band 17" Sport Maxx tyres during the summer. Will this winter be trying Nokian WR A3 on the factory Camelot rims, having given the 15" set-up I used last winter to my lad for his new Ibiza. Mind still prefer it to the previous Octy III but neither can hold a candle to the V40. TP

One of reasons we got the V40, as I've found a number of recent Skoda's uncomfortable partly due to the fixed seat base angle chosen by the designers. Appreciate you can get electric seats but not on all models and often only as an option on top of the range trims. Whereas our V40 is the base trim, in X Country guise and even the manual cloth drivers seat has a good range of adjustments. However with the Spaceback I've been happy with the the comfort of the sport seats, despite the rather limited adjustments. TP

As posted elsewhere I dodged buying a 1.6TDI with the dealer giving a good deal on a TSI. However if I had got the oil burner, I'd most probably be steering clear of a hurried fix to pacify politicians, as the cars are running well as designed, albeit illegally. Only issue I suppose would be if the Government interfered and failed unmodified cars come the MOT. TP

Thankfully an offer on a showroom TSI steered me away from the ex demo 1.6 TDI Spaceback I had gone with the intention of buying last summer. However I feel I may have not bothered with taking part in any recall if I'd gone ahead in getting the diesel, as I cannot see any hastily conceived fix to pacify politicians, will work as well the original design, albeit an illegal one. As a side note a work colleague has just received a letter from Seat telling him his 09/09 Xeos is effected by this illegal design. TP

EGR's have plagued VAG along with other manufactures with failures. Fairly topical as these devises are designed to make the engine cleaner/more efficient. Would pursue SUK for some goodwill, although they are obviously preoccupied with the VAG-GATE fiasco, as I'm finding. TP