Former

Yes modern petrol cars may not be so good at puttering around short distances at low revs and speed do remember to read the relevant 2018 Fabia 'Owner's Manual' for what, if any, extra with driving them might be required to keep the GPF and computer program happy. Free VWSkoda pdf downloads are available from here. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models In case I forgot, do check the car's battery is in good condition and in a good state of charge and keep it that way. Even if the car starts and the lights seem bright enough the battery can still be too low for the computer systems and by the time you get the warning messages and lights it can be a bit late and all sorts of unexpected issues and warning can surface and your battery may not fully recover. Some fine they also need the occasional use of an appropriate battery charger and maintainer in addition to the car's use. At this age depending on previous owners and the car's use or lack of the battery may have already been (prematurely) changed or need changing (or charging). Don't not think a Dealership or garage will necessarily do the right think with a battery or try to short change you with any warranty. That doesn't mean all Dealerships and garages are bad, or wholly bad, or that they don't have some good employees. Do bear in mind most "servicing" done now is just about an engine oil & filter change which isn't even a proper engine service let alone whole car service so if there is any collaborating paperwork do study it carefully, put it in reverse chronological order and check it all ties up. If the annual service was only done at 18-months or later then it wasn't an annual service (or more likely engine oil and filter change) may not be the end of the world but could be a bargaining chip if all else is good with the car and you want it.

Yes milk is to be avoided as it can sometimes get into more than the upholstery, you might have been able to get it out but only time would really tell and how much. As you have probably learnt these automatics are not automatics as they were in older cars, personally I'd avoid them but very many here would not doubt totally disagree with me and have good reports about them. I think the manual gearboxes already have enough modern complexity. @toot will have the long and short about these boxes and what it is for a 2018 Fabia. He's posted whilst I'm still one-finger typing. 😄 You don't see as many owners report as much on 4 and 5-year old cars as on older cars for understandable reasons and you can't give too much trust to commercial motor trade sites and reports but you need to cross reference any information you get with other reliable sources as much as you can. Many VW owners can be very loyal to the marque so are more forgiving than the likes of me that give warts and all to the marques I've had (never had a VW but Skoda before VW took it over).

Surely it should be the mechanics at the garages you asked or took your car to that should feel stupid and not you. An experience with the motor trade to remember and learn from, no doubt along with others in the future unless you're very lucky. At least it's not an expensive fix so all's well that ends well.

Thanks, but that position was probably for lower powered speakers and an expected acceptance of lower quality sound as the market for the car when new was not generally aimed at those that wanted higher quality "ICE" (in-car entertainment) as it was called in the UK then. As with other components, items and parts in cars they can often be put in an available space rather than by full design.

Sorry I think you misunderstood me. I am old, the last radio I fitted to a car was a 1970s New Old Stock Philips mono push-buttons AM/LW on to a single 2w speaker, about 16 years ago. I got my first home "hi-fi" in 1976, a few years before commercial digital (tape) recording and it was early 80s before you could get a few (expensive) home CD payers and mid-80s before home players and discs were generally widely available. If I remember correctly the full price discs were £13.24 in 1985, I am not sure that you could get a home CD player below £100 at that time. Lower priced mass market cars did not have factory fitted CD players until about this century if I remember correctly. I think I still have some 3 and 5-pin DIN plugs and sockets cables in the shed along with if I have not given them away RCA, and full and mini jack cables and adapters from various home equipment over the decades.

Sorry I was not being serious with the question, I chose to have the same colour body and same wheels, other than perhaps Minilite style wheels I prefer steel wheels with chrome hubcaps. I also liked the swept front wings but Westfield would not put then on the SEiGHTs as they made the from too light at higher speeds. The front cycle wings were fun to see as you rightly put they turned with the front wheels. I also preferred the indicators in the swept wing and larger headlights and bowls but they would be in the way of the cycle wing guards when turning. Note the original The Prisoner's 7 is with hand signals (and fixed seat back rest. There was very little aerodynamic in the shape of the cars and windscreens, hence eye protection. The Favorit was a few years before the Mini, she did not like the driving position in the Mini and it is a bit odd, plus she really wanted the Fiat Cinquecento which she bought later that year when the new UK registration was out. I did not want to get a Fiat as they were as Fiats generally were not that well built and would have issues fairly soon and the UK Fiat Dealerships and not great even by English Dealership standards, unfortunately I was proved right about these things but luckily not too badly and her car was resprayed "lipstick red" by a local place that done a good job under warranty especially after I was asked what I had used to clean the car and reeled off a list of polishes and waxes, I could not do that now as I do not use them, or can remember a list. 😄 They are low cars so it takes an idiot and bad driving to flip them. The roll (over) bar is not just for show it does function but like "classics" there are very few safety features compared to more modern cars, seatbelts are great, the roll bar not anywhere near as effective without seatbelt. Biggest safety measure is to totally avoid getting into any problems and drive better. There was a Lotus 6 before the Lotus 7, a mate had a 6 back in the 60s, they were not worth as much then. There is a whole load of history with Caterham and Westfield and why the Westfields had to be developed on so were able to fit in different and bigger engines and the motorbike engines and Caterhams had little development. There were are lots of kit-car copies of the Lotus 7 not usually anywhere near as good as the Westfield or Caterham. Friends have had Mercs and some were real V88 AMGs (not just trim level badge) and they are not what I enjoy, AMGs at least have the right exhaust noise. We have had a few Kei cars and they are ideal for the better UK roads. It is not about the ego speed on the dial it is all about how the car feels on the road and makes you feel as the driver (or passenger). Better UK roads are 60mph or now 50 or even 40 in places so lots of power and speed is either not possible or a waste. Straight fast roads are OK for a quick cleaning blow out but to me are very boring very soon and higher speeds are potentially much bigger damage. Sorry I do not believe in excessive regard for any, well, anything, there is a Jag 220 in the club that has often taken people out at SBDRs, I have not been out in it but I believe there is a lot of noise and the radio might shoot out of of its housing on acceleration but that might be a myth(?). I was out on a mixed car run, in the Midget, with a McLaren (something, it was orange) and unfortunately I got stuck behind it at one point on a country road and like all these super and hyper cars it is too wide-arsed so had to slow or even pull over on not even that narrow country roads holding us up on gaps I could have got a standard car through easily and the Midget one and a half times. I have had this before on other runs with Fezzas (Lambo drivers are generally a different type and less cautious). The family that owned the Jag 220 also had a few other cars too and liked small quirky cars and had ones like the (3-wheel) Grinnall Scorpion, Carver One (leaning 3-wheeler with original Kei-class Diahatsu Copen engine) and had a 'grey import' Copen before my wife got her early UK Copen. Some in the club like us could barely afford a Midget and others have a fleet of vehicles but we are all just people.

Forgot my usual - you can get lots of useful info from reading and referring to the relevant 'Owner's Manual', and you need to now even for simple jobs you thought you knew how to do from decades of experience. VW can complicate putting a fresh battery into a remote, the newer the car the more complicated the simple stuff. 😄

Blimey at those prices I think I might try car recycling places (scrappies) scrappies in Norfolk always seemed to have (much) lower prices but that might all be in the past now. Good luck.

@Dazl1212 if you have the correct 'Owner's Manual' for your car it should give you (mostly?) the correct info (allowing for bad descriptions and translations and omission and errors, but apart from that 😀) as long as a Dealership or garage has played the shuffle with the books. Other thing can be perhaps your car is a pre or post build to the copy of the book I put up - or simply a different model. Tomorrow may tell - if it is the correct book you can learn a lot more from it than you may expect, with particularly later VW stuff it's best to refer to the relevant 'Owner's Manual' even for simple jobs you've for decades as things just get more complicated with time and the German car manufacturers love to show how clever they are by making things even more complicated, and sometimes failing, very, very rarely of course, and certainly nothing to do with slightly intermittent German engineer quality. 🤣 "I'll get me coat"

Have a look at "Variable loading floor in the luggage compartment" in your 'Owners Manual', whether that is what you mean, I'm not sure as my wife's Fabia is a hatchback. If you don't have a printed paper copy you can get free VWSkoda pdf versions from the VWSkoda website. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models If this doesn't cover what you want then more info is required like the build or registration year of your car or you could search this site as the subject of the rear seats not fully folding down on the Mk3 Fabia has been covered a couple of times that I've seen. For a VW Polo 2019 then try here. - https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/owners-and-services/my-car/manuals.html

You can check by looking at your 'Owner's Manual', if you don't have the printed paper version you can download some pdf (free) copies from SEAT (same as you can from Skoda). The SEAT site only shows 2011 Leon as 5D, I've no idea if this is correct for your model, or Copas generally, but here's the link anyway. -https://www.seat.co.uk/owners/your-seat/manuals-offline With the appropriate 'Owner's Manual' by reading it and referring to it you can sometimes know more about your model than many long term owners, and some at garages. Your model might be different - but the online 2011 (07/1) 5D manual, page 77, shows the engine oil pressure warning lights as just to the left of centre of the speedo (needle) (item 17). - From page 78. - Page 87 gives details of the various warnings and what they mean. -

Will there be enough air space behind those speakers and is the centre consul strong enough or braced enough for them. Do yourself a favour and do not go too loud inside the car, I had tinnitus for a while from being a home hi-fi (music not cinema, two speakers only) from years of having stereo rigs too loud for our small living room. And perhaps do (yourself and) others a favour by making sure the car's panels do not rattle with the sub or other speakers and perhaps insulate a bit in case others outside your car do not share the same taste in music as you. I of course only listened to good music. 🤣 I did recent go round someone's as they have lots of original 60s vinyl (used to be a record plugger for a big record label) and has class a and valve 20 or 25w amps and at one point I had to ask him to turn it down a bit, no wonder he's a bit deaf. At car shows I once stumbled across a section for fitted car sound systems and I was told (luckily did not hear) that for the completion they do not play music but specific test sounds - which is why I gave up on home hi-fi equipment as I was listening to the equipment and not the music. Other than the radio now and again I rarely listen to any music now, I hear the vans, BMWs and Audis when nearby or have their windows dropped. 😄 Boom, boom as my wife says, but not in a John Lee Hooker way. 😄 Good luck anyway.

I love these infills. - I know it is a work in progress and it probably only bothers an old folk like me but I hate to see wires and cables in a car, is it possible to wire in a hidden or different connect for whatever that cable is used for and hide or loose the cable. And I am curious about the two speakers(?) there doesn't, to me, appear enough room behind them for speaker magnets(?) or enclosure with the inset box tray (open area). -

As I remembered it you used a coolant additive to a more-diluted coolant mixture but I might have remembered wrong. If I remember correctly you have experimented with the engine air intake and air filter and an electronics remap or similar, different sized wheels(?) and or tyres(?) and other things I forget, taking the car away from factory standard but it is your car so you can do or not do whatever you want with it. The box for the TRW brake cylinder did not look as if a fake to me but I could well be wrong as I have never seen a genuine box for the item but it was, as far as I could ascertain, genuine TRW master cylinders that were faulty that I referred to earlier, they do not need to be fake to possibly have ****-poor rubbish rubber seals - perhaps even the fake ones might have better seals but I have not heard of fake TRW parts, they may or make not exist it is just that I have not heard of them. With the major and even smaller "classic" parts suppliers (smaller often get their parts from the major supplier anyway) in the UK you can ask how many units they have sold in say a year and how many returns they have had for that part but this is not always a particularly good measure as often if a (smaller) part is faulty they will tell their customer to keep that part and send them another free of cost. These second (or more) "free" parts sent to the customer will have been costed into the selling price of the part and allowed for in their purchase from their suppliers. They often buy very cheap so expect lower quality and returns from that. Some suppliers offer the same parts as cheap and nasty or higher quality at higher price (not always a big price increase either) but they will sell many multiplies of the lower priced cheap and nasty part than the higher quality part. I bought what was supposed to be a good quality reproduction radiator (only 6 returned in a couple of years) and it had the wrong thread for the fixings and I had to clean up the thread for the (lower quality) filler plug, then after finding the fixings in my shed to match the wrong ones on the rad I found one was out of line so was not a good line up for the bracket so I asked for a swap. The next one had the correct fixing threads and lined up (filler plug thread still needed sorting but after it was in for about 18 months the shallow solder spots on one side gave up and the top came apart at that point. Luckily it was only a top trim and the rad is removed with its cowling housing so this was just an annoyance rather than an issue, unless the cowling had to be replaced. Just one (well two really) incidence with parts quality of very, very, very many.

To be fair D.FYLAKTOS has had his car as a "lab animal" with a few things as I remember from his post. I have probably spent more in one month on my "classics" than other owners have spent in a year or ownership for some. I do not put that as a boast because often it was not expenditure I wanted and was a silly waste of money. If I never bought "classics" and stuck to Japanese cars I would be reasonably set up now and not in such modest circumstances. We have a saying here -"do as I say not as I do", I always try to put stuff so that some can learn from my very expensive experiences, unfortunately if it was not for bad luck I would have no luck with cars. Good thing I am lucky in love which is much more important and rewarding. And I have kept my teeth, looks and modesty. 😄 The Westies were plastic copies of the Lotus Seven which originally had different smaller engines (lightweight car, small engine) the Lotus 7 was well known as the Prisoner's car in the UK. -

If you trust the two readers for the car's VW program then as I remember the photo you showed it was for the Exhaust Gas Temperature Sensor but I can't remember you referring to or sorting that particular sensor or it connections or wiring, but I might be wrong and I don't want to go in circles, just wanted to post the list and leave the rest to other posters that know what I don't, which is a lot. Hope you sort it soon to your satisfaction, cheers.

If you don't trust the scan tool you used before then use a VW specific scan tool or see if there's anyone local with a VCDS or other VW suited machine to do a full report for you and perhaps delete any error codes to see which immediately return. List of VCDS Owners - https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Td73_uUUqscV3nRm5br_o89PmBU&msa=0&ll=21.259901462991746%2C83.39240985000004&z=2

AFAIK (which isn't much) Brembo quality has dipped in the past, you can't just go on a name or old brand name now (though I've no idea about Brembo). I put some Pagid discs and pads on my wife's MK3 18 months and 12k-miles ago and they've been fine since (I've no idea if Pagid do Mk1). (Pagid left Yorkshire many years back under German rule), I do wish I'd changed the slider pins rather than thoroughly cleaning and lubricating them - if you are the same it might be a cheaper resolve to try changing slider pin sets first to see if it makes any odds if it's not wobbly Brembo disc(s), you could check the discs too to see if it's a complete do over or not. I was going to get Akebono brake pads but they don't list Skoda and I didn't know or could be bothered to find out if any of the Golf listed ones fit, no Polos listed either, I just wanted to give them a try. EBC is our local family owned (still?) brake manufacturer, many seem to like them but I've never had any of their products on any of our cars, no idea if they do Fabia Mk1 or Mk3. I'm out of thoughts now and need to lie down.

In your case it could have been mainly the old rubber flexi-hoses breaking down and or more likely the TRW wheel cylinders seals. If so it proves that it does not matter if you use DoT 3, 4 or 5 if the components have ****-poor rubbish rubber seals in them they will deteriorate and quite quickly or very quickly. Not too many years back TRW master cylinders were known to be very poor out of the box or have problems quickly with little use. For my MG I used to (but no longer) have a list of parts of, or with, ****-poor rubbish rubber and a list of other parts that were to be avoided compiled from my own experience and that of repeated reliable reports from others. Some owners were clever enough to have small batches of proper quality parts made to offer around proving it could easily and economically be done if there was the demand, unfortunately generally the suppliers and end customers still want very cheapest, suppliers for profit margins and end customers being what we call "tight-fisted" (keeping a very firm grasp of any money they have). "Classic" Minis could easily use parts with ****-poor rubbish rubber as the systems and (modern made) parts used on them are often the same parts and/or from the same sources as for MGs of the time. In fact I often ordered brake parts for my MG from Mini spares suppliers as they offered exactly the same parts at lower prices, particularly DoT 3 and 4 brake fluid, or sometimes better made, or supposedly, better made, parts. Having bought spare parts for various British "classics" for over 30 years I have seen supply patterns of parts being poor or very poor or abysmal quality then perhaps improved or New Old Stock available for a while then perhaps going back to cheap and very nasty. Even parts made on the original tooling have deteriorate as the tooling ages and the obsession with many "classic" wanting the very lowest priced parts as it does not really matter to them as the vehicle is so rarely actually driven. I had a set of rubber steering rack gaiters, that are a pain to fit with the rack on the car, last less than 6 months of very light use. Another problem is some modern made parts are just wrong so either need altering to fit or will not fit at all. Then also the suppliers keep the original or updated parts number on their parts databases but stock and supply an alternative part as a substitute because in some cross-reference database that substitute is supposed to fit. Over the 30+ years because I have put hundreds of thousands of miles on my "daily" driven "classic" I have gone through many more parts than an average "classic" owner and dealt with major "classic" parts retailers and manufacturers direct (where possible) and found some that will give honest and truthful information about the parts, rather than the usual "you are the only (or first one) to have a problem with the part" or the much more annoying with one manufacture with original tooling that it must be something wrong with my car and not his product, you get to know which ones will never admit to fault. Perhaps things have improved now or will improve in the future but I would not hold my breath waiting for it.

As put previously Let us agree that you could be right and I am, or could be, wrong.

Oh, to live in a perfect and absolute world, and where age and environment have no effects, I hope it always remains so for you.

I could not find the EPA rule quoted - but I am not in America, nor are you so their rules do not apply to us. However, the USA is fantastic for getting different answers to the same question and different opinions and beliefs so if you want to go round in circles with American web info try this (it is military so may be of even more interest to you). - https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1010795.pdf I have no idea which if either, or both, might be real or fake, it is the internet after all. The DoT debate is very old as is what manufacturers want or need with what you use - "The earlier U.S. version of D0T3 would destroy the natural rubber used in early Lockheed and Girling brakes from England. Only Girling "Crimson" and Lockheed "genuine" fluids were usable, and they were hard to get in the US. The later US D0T4 specification seemed to overcome this, as did the change to synthetic rubber for the seals. CASTROL-LMA (Low Moisture Absorption) did better than most." I can from experience assure you that if the wrong type of seal is used with DoT 4 (or 3) then the seal will shred and break apart. If a manufacturer advices against something it can be for many reasons but I would not blame anyone from following the manufacturer's advice/instruction, then you may find they change their minds later, as VW sometimes do. That would only matter if the factory fitted parts are still fitted to the car, if parts have been replaced then it depends on the replacement part. With these types of issues when all things are equal most often it is by far best to do whatever you will be most comfortable with.

Sorry I've no idea of the gap you need but it used to be with NGK plugs that the end number was the preset gap, I assume but don't know that this is still the case, if so then 11 would be 1.1 mm gap. All databases have errors and omissions and I've found this includes Haynes publications sometimes. ETA: I always check the gap in case the plug has ben dropped or swapped and always buy from a reliable source to avoid cheap fakes.

Why not?

Interesting comments in that thread, some have very good experience of silicone over many decades and decades of use, others find problems quite soon. One poster dared to suggest that those with problems at altitude might be due to driving technique or driver, I could not possibly comment on this. As I put a mate's had, as far as I know, the same fill of silicone in his "classic" car for 20+ years with no issues and he is not a fool, liar or braggard. Granted rubber seals might have been better quality 20+ years ago but it was only a few years later I was experiencing ****-poor rubbish rubber products and in car parts. As with so many things if you do not agree with it, or believe, then that is fine each to their own. I used to hear similar about certain oils, that they would damage the components, rot my teeth and ruin my looks, often from people who rarely drove their "classics" whereas mine we used as dailies for work, holidays and club events and tours. I found no damage to any of the components in any of the cars in decades of use, I still have all my teeth (including a 'baby' tooth) and looks. 😄 But, as I put I've never used silicone brake fluid and I am not twisting anyone else's arm to either.