tarzey

Of course the puddle lights are covered by the warranty. They are not light bulbs which are designed to fail and be replaced; they are a permanent component pace xenon headlights and as such they are covered by the warranty.. I had my o/s puddle light go up in smoke - literally - and it was replaced under the warranty.

The funny thing is that the car that beat it, the Jaguar XF, is one of the few cars I would consider as an alternative to my Superb. The XF was not out when I bought my Superb. I did look at an S-type but rejected it because of its bucolic styling and the total absence of a boot. The fact that it was double the price did not help either, of course.

The cam belt change for a V6 is due at 80k miles or 4 years - which ever comes first. Cost is norf of

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Car lands on church roof

The fault was confirmed as a short circuit in the puddle light. As the entire mirror assembly comes straight out of the VW parts bin I am left wondering how many other cars are affected by this fault. Distinctly unimpressed by Jewson's service department. They refused to either return the car to my home, a very easy two miles away, or even to keep the car in their premises for me. Instead they said they would leave the car on their forecourt in a so-so area of Oxford, with the keys in the glove box. In fact, when I was able to retrieve the car late last night, they had left the keys for all to see in between the front seats. I suppose that I should be grateful that they had not gone the whole hog and left the keys in the ignition, the doors open and the engine running. Anyone know what the Skoda dealer in Newbury is like?

As I said in my first posting, this was smoke - and the dealer has seen this fault before. It was accompanied by a strong acrid, smouldering smell. The dealer is ordering the parts and it should be returned to me next Tuesday, all being well. At least this is all being done under the warranty. But it does make me wonder; I don't remember self-immolation being mentioned in the specification.

This morning I found smoke belching from the driver's door mirror. According to the service department of Jewson's in Oxford, this is the second example they have seen tis year (!); both face-lifted, both the driver's side. The cause is apparently faulty wiring in the puddle light. Anyone else come across this?

This is correct. The correct procedure is to set the o/s mirror before before the n/s mirror. This is because the n/s mirror has two memory settings; one for forward gears and another for reverse, allowing the n/s mirror to be lowered to better show the n/s kerb when reversing. This positions can be memorised with the seat positions, and these settings can in turn be linked to a key fob, so remotely unlocking the car with a given key fob will automatically reset the seat and mirror positions to the values associated with the user of that key fob. In this way up to three different drivers can each have their seat and memory settings automatically reset for them when they enter the car.

Nothing to worry about. Just hold down the rocker switch in the tip of the right-hand stalk (does not matter if up or down), wait for the menu to pop up, then toggle to what you want; navigation, computer, etc., release and wait a moment. As to the Severn Bridge, the 2007/08 TMS-compatible disk successfully took me over the new crossing recently, correctly claiming that the old crossing was closed, as indeed it was at that time. It was equally efficient on the return.

This is clearly not what happened in your case as you report multiple sensors triggering the alarm, but I have stumbled across the following issue with the boot lid. Unlike most cars, using the remote fob to open the boot does not cause the lid to spring open; it merely unlatches the boot and the lid rises no more than half an inch, which is almost imperceptible - especially if the fob was pressed accidentally. Then when the alarm re-sets it finds the boot open, and goes off.

There is a roundabout I go into daily coasting (that does not mean with the drive selector in 'N'; it just means with my foot off the accelerator) and there can be a momentary hesitation in responding if hard acceleration is called for. The way of avoiding this seems to be to enter the roundabout with the gear selector in '3' (using the TIP) and the car is much quicker to respond to the command to accelerate.

They use the tweeters in the rear doors.

You will be able to tell the difference if you ever try to travel with Eurotunnel or many ferries. They will not let you on.

First, ensure that the red button by the seat is in the 'on' position. Then set the seats to your liking. Then press one of the the three black buttons and hold it down until it pings. You have now stored those settings. There are three black memory buttons to cater for up to three drivers seat settings. To restore the seat to the memory settings press the appropriate black button with the engine switched off. For safety reasons the seats will not respond to the memory command when the car is moving. In the same way it is also possible to store the door mirror settings, as well as a dipped position for the n/s mirror that is only used when reversing. First, set both door mirrors to your liking, then set the mirror selector switch to the n/s position and engage reverse. Then readjust the n/s mirror by lowering it to reveal as much of the kerb as you want to see when reversing. Then press one of the the three black buttons (presumably the same one as you used for the seat position) and hold it down until it pings. You have now stored those settings. Thereafter, the mirrors will return to the stored position with the seats and the n/s mirror will dip when reversing so long as the mirror selector switch is set to the n/s mirror. It is also possible to link a given key to any one of the three memory settings. Once that is done simply opening the door with that key's remote facility will re-set the seats and the mirrors to the memorised positions.

You can 'cash in' a Road Fund Licence to the value of the unused whole months. I do that every time I trade in a car; by the time they notice I'm long gone. That would be small consolation to you, but, to quote Tesco, 'every little helps'.

Almost sounds like the ABS kicking in. Have a look at the dashboard when it is happening; if it is the ABS a tell-tale warning light will flash.

I do not think that the Superb V6 TIP can be faulted on that score. It would be nice if it changed up a bit quicker, especially fourth to fifth, but then that is what the TIP is for.

Not sure what VAT registration has to do with it. All that proves is that they have a taxable turnover in excess of £67k. I can think of some large, VAT-registered garages that are utter cowboys and I can also think of some small, unregistered garages that are absolute gems.

V6 TIP is a dream to drive. Only slight negative is the fuel consumption; I get 36 -37 mpg on a mixture of A & B roads, but that improves markedly on motorways. The gear box is simply the best automatic I have ever driven. Admittedly, most of those are American cars which by definition are crap, not least the Lincoln Town Car I hired in Vancouver recently that had a four-speed automatic box plus overdrive!!! Simply awful. The TIP feature is great. It helps overcome the disinclination of the gearbox to change up to fifth gear at speeds below 40 mph. There can be a moments hesitation when kicking down suddenly, but a bit of thinking ahead and using the TIP easily overcomes that. It is true that the package does not do full justice to the huge torque on offer, but it is still enough to put considerable distance between you and the person behind, I once did this to get rid of an idiot in a small Peugeot (why is it always a Peugeot?) who was tailgating me on a Belgian motorway, and I watched with satisfaction has he was reduced to a spec in the rear view mirror, and when I glanced at the speedometer to see if I was doing 90 yet I found I was doing 120! People will tell you that the engine is an old design, but so what? Yes, the fuel consumption could be better, but it is smooth, torquey and matched to an excellent gear box. What more do you need?

I have just seen my first new-model 'Superb' in the flesh, so-to-speak; a silver German-plated one going through Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire. It looked quite nice, and big. Very big. A definite hint of seven-series about it.

The current service schedule calls for the 'toothed belt' V6 engines (both petrol & diesel) to be changed at 120,000 kilometres; no mention of four years, or any other number of years.

Nice section on the new Superb on the Skoda corporate web site at Skoda Auto - The new Skoda Superb - entrypage

Nah.

Ah, but not as good as my last SAAB, which had (count them) three spokes per wheel. Lazy? Me?

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