Avocet

I'm sure they could, if you asked them! It's a bit difficult on your own, unless you have axle stands, (or a second jack) because you need two wheels off the ground at once, really. Also, be careful, because some tyres are directional (they'll have an arrow moulded into the sidewall saying "rotation" and showing which way they're supposed to rotate when going forwards), which means that you can swap them front-to-rear and vice-versa, but only on the same side of the car. If you put a "left" one on the right hand side of the car, it'll be turning the wrong way.

I think SurreyJohn has covered most of it. To answer your earlier question, yes 3.1 Bar is 45 PSI: https://www.onlineconversion.com/pressure.htm I would agree with John, running them harder is probably going to be a false economy because they're likely to wear out the centre of the tyre before they wear the rest of the tread area, so you'll be throwing them away earlier, and they ain't cheap! Is yours a 4x4 version? If so, swapping the tyres round to even out the wear is even more important. We made (a pretty painful!) investment in a set of Winter tyres and I bought another set of second hand rims over a period of time on eBay, so we can swap them from one season to the other. I can certainly vouch for the improvement in cold weather grip - not just snow and ice, but even just in the wet as the temperature drops below about 3 or4 degree, I can feel an improvement in stopping and cornering ability. Supposedly, they start showing an improvement below about 7 degrees, but I can't say I've noticed it at those temperatures. We'll swap back to the "summer" ones at the end of this month. Beware, there's a lot of half-truth and misinformation about "winter" tyres. Some manufacturers sell "mud-and-snow" tyres, which are NOT the same thing! A true winter tyre will have a three-peaked mountain symbol with a snowflake in it: if they don't have that, they don't meet the legal requirements to be a winter tyre - regardless of what's written on the sidewall! Some all-season tyres can just about meet the winter tyre requirements, so they qualify for the symbol, others can't, so it's worth checking, and don't be fobbed off with any spiel about "mud & snow"! (That really only refers to the tread pattern). Lastly, don't be worried about tyres "bursting" if you run them at a higher pressure (obviously, within the limit marked on the sidewall)! under-inflated tyres are at greater risk of that. It's really only uneven wear that will be a problem.

Asbestos use was banned in brake pads over 20 years ago now. The modern, non-asbestos equivalents are much harder and more abrasive - not far off the hardness of the cast iron that the discs are made from. Add to that, the increasing weight of cars and their higher performance, and that gives discs and pads a much harder time than old cars used to. On top of that, brakes are highly safety-critical and rogue outfits know that everyone is talking about how quickly they wear out. It's a "perfect storm" for the consumer and a perfect scam for the unscrupulous!

Ours is on 19" rims (a 2014 150 horse, DSG 4x4 7 seater) and the OE space saver is a 145/85/18.

Ours had 6.4mm of material left at 28,000 miles when it was last serviced, if that helps?

Ours doesn't have the same gearbox as the OP's (It's a DQ500), but I wrote to Skoda Customer Services when our dealer was trying to persuade us it needed doing at 4 years (same situation as the OP - 2017 car but with very low miles). Their response is below: Re: ŠKODA KODIAQ – TMBMJ7NS0J******* Dear Mr ***** Thank you for your recent contact with ŠKODA Customer Services. I apologise for the delay in my response. I refer to your questions below which I have highlighted. a) which gearbox we have and; – The gearbox is a DQ500 (b) whether the DSG oil and filter change recommendation is time or mileage-based? – DSG oil and filter change is mileage based so it is required at 40,000miles I hope this information proves to be of use. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to assist you. Thank you for contacting ŠKODA UK. Kind regards **** **** Customer Relations Advisor ŠKODA UK | Selectapost 34 | Sheffield | S97 3FA Tel: 0333 0037504 [email protected] | www.skoda.co.uk | www.skoda-auto.c So that's conformation that this is mileage and not time-based.

I keep a log of true MPG (brim-to-brim) on our 2017, 150 bhp 4x DSG. Over the last year, it has averaged 41 MPG (about 43 according to its own computer). It's driven pretty gently in a rural area though, albeit with a fair few hills, but little traffic. That means a fair few runs at about 50 on single carriageways, between the trucks, which is probably a real "sweet spot" for a Bear. On motorway runs, that figure goes down - maybe 38, as the big frontal area crucifies it. Similarly, in stop-start traffic, its weight doesn't do it any favours! As Yogi says, that doesn't sound too bad. It does use a bit of oil - maybe 10,000 miles to the litre. However, with the various lockdowns, it doesn't do enough miles in a year to need topping up between services. That might change this year. No experience of re-mapping. I'm not a rabid "tree hugger", but don't like doing that on environmental grounds!

Yeah... I think removing the manual ignition advance lever from the centre of the steering wheel was when the rot really started to set in...

We want to fit a towbar, and had an ex-Skoda independent lined up to do the job, but he's now changed jobs and can no longer do it. Would anyone have any recommendations: (a) for a make of towbar and; (b) a fitter - ideally in North West Cumbria, but I appreciate that's a big ask. We'd be willing to travel to (say) Newcastle, Manchester or Liverpool - or indeed Glasgow. Ideally, I'd like something that didn't get in the field of view of the rear parking sensors. Mostly, it will only have a bike rack on it, or a small dinghy on an unbraked trailer, so I'm not too bothered that it hasn't had the cooling system mods. However, it would need the wiring and dedicated electronics. I'd happily have a go at the hardware myself, but don't have any equipment to "code" it to the car's software.

They are very heavy cars. I wonder if that might be part of the problem? Plus, I guess, if you had a binding rear brake, that won't help when it comes to wheelspin. Ours is the 4x4 and I have to say, I've never had a problem with traction on tarmac - even in the wet. Driving them fast will (because they're so heavy) give the front tyres a pretty had time, I imagine.

Very strange... Although the hill hold function uses all 4 brakes, so if you have one of them blanked-off, it should still work. Regarding the tyre wear, have you had the wheel alignment checked by someone you trust?

Wow! That's bad! I see you live on Lanzarote too? We replaced front tyres (Pirelli Scorpions) at about 24,000 miles. The rears are still original at 30,000. Is there something about the conditions n Lanzarote that makes the tyres wear faster, or have you had reasonable life out of the tyres on other cars? Rear caliper sounds odd too. When ours are on, they will lock the wheels.

Ask Skoda customer services for a copy of the car's "Certificate of Conformity". They're unique to the car and will list all the wheel and tyre combinations that were homologated for your car. (Bottom left on the image below, for our car).

Do you have an EU Certificate of Conformity with the car? You are legally entitled to a free one, if Skoda haven't issued one before (e.g. to a previous owner). It is the definitive legal document for that particular car (they are VIN-specific). Field 18.4 will tell you the maximum unbraked trailer weight that it has been type approved to tow.

I wonder if this is Skoda / VAG getting themselves prepared for the new Cybersecurity regulation?

Although for the first 100 years of the motor car's existence, we didn't seem to "need" either of them!😁

It's perhaps not surprising though, that the manufacturer will "sell" them as different features! All it costs him is a few lines of code. All the hardware is already in the car anyway. There have been a few occasions (usually a tight parking space on a slope) where I have wanted to disable Autohold and just let the car roll back(or forwards) slowly on the brakes a few inches at a time. On the uphill occasions, the hill hold becomes a right pain in the backside because you can't disable that! (At least, I don't think you can)?

Auto hold works on upslopes too! If anything, it makes hill hold completely redundant. Nothing bad happens if you get to the end of your 10 minutes, by the way. If that happens, it just puts on its electric parking brake and lets the pressure out of the hydraulic system. The car doesn't go anywhere.

Yes but two of them are pretty much the same thing, just longer duration! (And it's not Skoda - or even VW who develop these, it's usually a 2nd tier supplier like Bosch). You then get different manufacturers buying the technology and giving it their own fancy name to try and make it look like their own. Hill hold is just auto hold with a shorter duration.

It took us a couple of months to convince our dealer that there was a fault with the car. Initially, they didn't even believe the car was fitted with that function. They were utterly clueless as to how their own cars worked.

Yes, but the hill hold and the one you call autobrake are the same system, it's just that when you press the button it will hold the car for up to 10 minutes and when you don't, it holds the car for a couple of seconds.

I think we're over-complicating this! It has 2 systems - the electric parking brake and the one that uses the hydraulic brake. The latter can be enabled or disabled using the button by the gear lever. I agree that the terminology is constantly changing, and different manufacturers have their own names for the same systems, but essentially, those are the only two. The electric parking brake is a legal requirement (for those asking why it is necessary at all). The regs demand a mechanical system (i.e. not one that relies on hydraulics) that is completely independent of the hydraulic system. In an emergency, you also have to be able to stop the car using the parking brake alone. (This is done by pulling the switch and holding it). The autohold / hillhold / uphill start assist, is the one that works on the ABS system retaining the hydraulic pressure from when the footbrake was last applied. Different manufacturers have different whistles and bells on it, but it's basically the same system. I think most of them use the accelerometer in the airbag and / or ESC module to tell when the car is on a slope.

There will be ways round it, I'm sure. Simplest, would be to leave the belt buckle bolted to the car, rather than the seat - or maybe do something smart-arsed with wireless? I'm torn over the issue you describe though. I have a foot in both camps, as it were. A 1980s "toy" car and a virtually new company car. I love the lack of "nannying", the driver involvement and the simplicity of my '80s car, but like the creature comforts, fuel efficiency, safety and environmental performance of my company car! We have massive extra "nannying" in the pipeline, over the next few years though, mandated by regulation. It will be interesting to see whether the UK adopts those same regs, post-Brexit...

Seat Belt Reminders are now a legal requirement on all seats, (with a few exceptions), for cars registered from the start of September 2021. There are measures in place to allow limited numbers of vehicles manufactured before that deadline but not registered before it, to continue to be registered for another year.

Electric starter motors... that's when the rot really set in...😉