Patent

My outgoing B8 Passat has a digital temperature readout in the menu with mpg, oil temp etc. It doesn't damp to 90 degrees either, perhaps this is a feature on this engine too? I'd certainly question an oil temp on arrival at work of 110 unless the office is right at the end of a motorway slip road. I had my fan unit fail and the readout showed the engine coolant at 110+ with an overheat warning. It could be your fans unit has failed? When driving the airflow through the radiator would be enough to keep it at 90. Let it idle and listen for the fans kick in when the guage gets to around 90?

The orange triangle comes on for any number of minor issues, generally door open, key not found, front assist sensor obscured, washer fluid low, low tyre pressure detected. If there's a noteworthy fault it'll illuminate a proper light

Might be your open door, lack of key in the car, or maybe the negative fuel showing on the gauge?

A new battery is only going to be about £150, not bad if the deal is good? Interestingly we tried to buy a (very) cheap runaround after lockdown 1. The dealer was helpful, however he announced the battery was goosed and I'd need to add £100 to the asking price, or bring my own battery if i wanted to test drive it. A novel approach!

Last V5C issued October 2020. Perhaps a car that was doing a steady 4.5k per year pre covid, sat all summer before being chopped in and has sat on a forecourt / auction lot since? If it's got the service history I wouldn't worry

Looking forward it. Still got a slight wait for mine. 6 month lead at the minute!

@SashaGrace is it a straight led swap in the door bins etc to get them to colour match, or is there some coding involved?

If it's windscreen damage it's likely a stonechip that's not in the driver zone? ETA: I had a rock break my windscreen and had it replaced, only for another rock to take a massive chunk out of the glass the very next week. It wasn't enough to crack it so I'm stuck with it for a while! On the sunroof there's an 18 month interval where you're meant to clean off all the old grease and reapply the same stuff again. Obviously nobody ever does that and for some reason the dealer never recommends it. You can buy the special grease and there is a DIY on the Audi Q7 forums, but I had my Pano roof replaced at 3 years after it started getting stiff and the mechanism started to make noises.

Awaiting delivery of my iV I've just discovered what the e-noise on these cars sounds like: https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/innovation/how-do-electric-cars-protect-pedestrians-listen-to-it/ I currently have a Passat GTE which is silent on electric because it pre-dates the legislation. Can anyone with an iV confirm whether it sounds as awful as that clip? And can the unit be replaced with one from an enyaq or id3 whatever? I assume these don't hum like an old diesel too?

Last V5 issued October 2017. Points to it being a dealer demonstrator or Skoda head office car with one real owner. Don't think there's anything to worry about with that. If it's been sitting a while I'd be more interested in them adding a year onto the warranty and performing the sunroof service prior to delivery

I must admit the auto handbrake is a blessing and a curse. It's extremely convenient but when I drive my partner's car I inevitably forget to put the handbrake on and have a minor heart attack when I step out and the car rolls forward onto the parking pawl

Sounds like whatever way you're parking is letting the car roll onto the parking pawl, hence the clunk. It's not an issue in itself. To test, when you park up, put the car in park and turn it off, then release the footbrake. You should hear the handbrake wind on as soon as you turn the car off. This should ensure the handbrake does the holding rather than the park pawl, unless you have the auto hold turned off?

We got ours from TransK9, similar affair but it's heavy and doesn't rattle as you drive along

@cmp1951 sounds like your rear main seal has gone. When you get it back make sure you pay attention to any suspension noises over the following few weeks. My Passat had this issue and when fixed there was some serious banging from the suspension on hard cornering. Turns out they hadn't fully tightened all the subframe bolts upon reassembly

They'll sell you a generic / duplicate service book for about £15. They're cheaper on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skoda-Service-Book-Brand-New-Dupliacte-all-models-octavia-fabia-yeti-vrs-/233899610092?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292 If you ask them nicely they might even retrospectively add the previous services to the book with their stamp

If your journeys are short it likely won't be topping up fully which is why it keeps reoccurring. Mine wasn't driven for 4 weeks in the summer and was so flat not even the boot would open. After being charged up it's been fine since. Perhaps take it on a good drive or invest in one of those smart chargers?

Most likely a dip in battery voltage after being laid up is causing an unexpected signal from the PDC ECU. How old is the car/battery? How long are your drives each week?

If you're in the market of fitting accessories maybe snoop under the bumpers of the next few customers to work out if they're the same? Or take a look at eBay parts listings? Originally I thought why would you bother, but after seeing the photo on the maxton site, it looks pretty good!

You're right the SEL doesn't have the wedge. I'd wager the maxton photo is on an L&K. I'd further wager the undersides of all bumpers are the same, the L&K and the SL+ just have a wedge that doesn't affect the mounting points of that splitter?

Second post to hopefully be more helpful. Here's a UK IV L&K and a UK sportline plus. That's surely the same bumper on both adverts and the maxton site

If the sportline is the only model with the stick-out wedge, does their website not show it fitted to a FL sportline?

It works to stop you crashing into something, not stop you a comfortable distance from the object, you would have to be pretty brave to test it to the full extent! When it's decided to brake on your behalf, if you press the throttle it seems to override braking intervention and you can carry on - I've had this on a roundabout where it thinks I'm about to crash into a car that's actually stopped in another lane. If you're already braking it will intervene with a warning if it thinks you're not slowing enough before you reach the object. I assume it would take over the braking if you didn't react

I wasn't sure how these were going to look but that's pretty nice!

I'd agree it doesn't seem as sure-footed as I'd perhaps like in certain scenarios. Take a look at the Passat GTE and Superb iV moose test results too, they aren't spectacular: The 508 hybrid does a lot better, as does the 330e (unsurprisingly). I'll follow your changes with interest, there's definitely some improvement to be had over the factory setup.

I've just done a bit of research. The iV and the 280 4x4 seem closely matched in terms of weight (closer than I expected) which would make sense that they share shocks. Fitting a 280 spring would probably bring it lower but would you risk it bottoming out constantly? And would stiffer shocks make it unpleasant to drive on rough roads (like an r56 mini on runflats)? I kinda get the desire to make the suspension less soft but it's that same softness that allows you to carry momentum on poor roads compared to "sporty" cars. When you meet a tight corner you're still in a 2 tonne FWD car that wants to push the nose wide. Would you just end up ruining the ride on every other road whilst still ending up with a car that doesn't go around bends particularly well at all?