Lussac

Just an update on this as I've only just had the work carried out at the indie Hitchin Audi/VW place in Hitchin, Herts. They replaced both lower wishbone arms and both shock absorbers. He showed me the state of the wishbone arms and it really shocked me at the state of them, covered in surface rust and the bushes had disintegrated into a black oily granular rubber. He asked if the car had been left unused on a soft surface (like a field?) as he hadn't seen this level of degradation before at such a low mileage. The car hadn't been left standing, but, it had been left standing for 5 months somewhere before delivery waiting for supplies of the essential "chips" post Covid supply issues. If anyone has a 71 car that was awaiting parts before delivery I'd suggest they get the suspension checked out.

My Karoq has just had its first MOT and has had two advisory’s both for Nearside Front and Offside Front Suspension arm bushes/pins worn and a third for failing Nearside Front Shock Absorber. The car has only done 28,000 miles from new and the majority of it on motorways and French Autoroutes with very little local use so I am somewhat surprised by this, I ran my previous car, a Jaguar XF S Portfolio for over 100,000 miles and never had a single problem with these components. Are these components particularly weak on these models?

"You have been selected by Skoda (insert dealer name) to receive a substantial financial support package to upgrade your current vehicle to a brand new model from the 7th September for 5 days only". Had the text twice in the last few days. They tried the same trick a few months ago but the "substantial support package" was nothing of the sort so don't suppose this will be either.

I had a look at the current deals and it's as stated above (£750 pcp cont. + service plan and 5.9% APR). The Karoq, Kodiaq and Kamiq are 5.9% but all other models are 7.9% it seems. Certainly nowhere near enough to attract my custom.

I just posted the same elsewhere in the forum, should have looked here first, got the email this morning!! So, not so exclusive then. Had my Karoq since Nov '21 so unlikely to be changing so soon and wasn't sure what their game was as this is my first Skoda group car. My first thought was that they are unloading all the '23 spec cars in preparation for the '24 model year. To be worthwhile for me it would have to be a very, very small cost to change for a like-for-like car but that is going to be extremely unlikely. I had to wait something like 7 months from order to delivery for my current car because of the options and the chip shortage.

Yes, chatted to the other half today on the subject of rejecting the car, from my point of view I'll have to do that if they can't give me a definitive answer as to what the problem is. As it's happened twice now in two weeks on a 2 month old 1100 mile car does not fill me with confidence, even more now that they admit they don't know what the problem is. Thing is I like the car and have a few options that I had to wait for plus I've had a towbar fitted that cost £650 so it would be a difficult conversation to have. I've looked at stock cars that are for sale but none have the options that I have plus they are for sale for between £3k and £5k more than I paid. I know what you are saying about a loaner car but they reckon they don't have anything available and it would have to be a car from Enterprise, the car I had from them two weeks ago was a basic diesel Passat and was crap to drive so wasn't keen on that option. Will have to see what transpires tomorrow.

Update from dealer just now. They need more time to assess the problem, they had swapped my aircon unit (complete unit?) from a new car and it still didn't work and my unit in the new car did work so it's not the aircon unit itself but something deeper in the electronics as evidenced by the associated glitches at the point of failure e.g. different problems on the two occasions. They are now awaiting further info from Skoda as to what the problem component might be. Looks like a problem for Diagnose Dan from Youtube!! Didn't push the issue of a replacement car as I'm not planning going anywhere this week and the replacement would just sit outside the house, if I need to get to town then there's a bust stop 100m away, if this looks to be a bigger issue then I will certainly ask for a car.

Hmm, not happy today. Last evening coming from Northern parts to Hertfordshire and just past Doncaster Car Play froze and the aircon failed again and it looks like the same fault. It was a very cold drive for the last 2 hours and my feet were freezing by the time I got home as it was about 3-4 degrees c outside and had only light clothing for the trip down. After about an hour I did have a brainwave and put the seat heater on which helped a bit but not around the legs and feet. Called into the dealer but they could not give me a loner as nothing available this week or next and can't look at the car until Monday morning first thing. There must be something fundamentally wrong in the aircon that's causing the pressure sensor to fail (this one lasted just 2 weeks) and mess with the electrics - frozen satnav and car play, can't connect phone over bluetooth as it says "cannot connect 'phone" but radio works OK.

Very happy with dealer and the way they dealt with the problems.

Dealer called and said problem is a pressure sensor in the aircon shorting out and causing electrical havoc, new parts being fitted and car available this evening. Boot lid adjusted as apparently way out of adjustment and camera problems due to having to slam the boot lid to shut it, camera OK at the moment so will live with it as no calibration tool or replacement is available at the moment.

Update to the above. Car has been recovered by Skoda Assistance to dealer and now awaiting hire car. Wife got home and car would not shut down so called Skoda Assist who came out within the hour and said that he couldn't do anything other than disconnect the battery, he didn't want to do that as he wanted to preserve the current state. Happy so far with the Skoda Assist service and I've just had a call back from them confirming my details and the car is with the dealer who will be contacting me when they've assessed the car.

Not the aircon, it's the blower that's not working, there is heat from the aircon but nothing to blow it around. A new development today was that the electrics went bonkers when my wife was out dropping off our grandson, she 'phoned me up in a panic saying that the emergency flashers were on and all sorts of warning lights. Turned the car off, locked it, opened it and restarted it and all is OK... AND... there is a very faint just discernible whisper of air from the blower but not enough to demist, she's on her way back now so hope there's no more 'phone calls. She did say that when she dropped off the grandson and closed and locked the car and coming back to the car it sounded as though the fan was indeed faintly running when listening at the bonnet, that's before the car was opened so the car hadn't shut down the electrics after leaving it for an hour. Car is booked into the dealer on Thursday for investigation and to look at the non-closing boot issue and the reversing camera that is sometimes unavailable and sometimes points direct at the number plate rather than the rear view!

Took delivery of my Karoq on 10th November after a long wait. Things have been fine up to last week when the boot fails to shut properly. Today on a shopping trip to Cambridge first the rear camera stopped working with a fault and then on the way home the aircon failed and had to have the widow open to clear misted the windscreen and side windows, just my luck that the dealers aren't open until Tuesday. Can't really use the car now without the ability to demist the screen and don't want to drive around with the windows open when the temps are due to drop tomorrow. Not a good start to the new year and new car....

Dealer called Friday afternoon and my car is there. I'm away at the moment so will be picking it up Wednesday all being well. It was 8 days from UK port to dealer.

When I had my Jaguar XF I replaced my OEM Dunlop Maxx tyres with first Vredestein Ultrac and then Vredestein Sportrac which were both very good, on that car the wheels were 20" but are available in your size from either Blackcircles or Mytyres.

Still no news on my car since the "arrived at UK port" message from dealer (arrived UK on 28th apparently). My current Hyundai Tucson has been sold to Cazoo for a very good price and is being picked up from home on Tuesday so will be car-less until new one arrives. I hung on as long as I could but the expiration date on the Cazoo offer expired today and prices had dropped a bit this week so locked in the previous offer that I got last week and pulled the trigger. Apparently it takes between 7 and 21 days to get to the dealer from the port.

How long was it from arriving in the UK until collection at the dealer? Also, has anyone used Cazoo to sell their current vehicle? Dealer P/X price for my Tucson was very low, £4k below what Cazoo are offering and £3K below WBAC. Looks like I'm accepting the Cazoo offer and have asked if they can delay the collection of the Tucson for a week after I accept the quote because I will not be at home in the interim and need to get it cleaned/valeted (it's currently filthy and not been cleaned for 3 weeks as no facilities at home for car cleaning other than a bucket and long walk).

Mine is a PCP (only did it for the dealer contribution) and will be paid off in a couple of months depending on the call on our savings.

Yes, Marshall in Letchworth (walking distance for me).

Dealer hasn't mentioned anything about price increases, if he tries it on I will just walk away.

Email from dealer this morning, my car is now in the UK. Not sure whether it's Sheerness or Grimsby as both had RO-RO arrivals in the last 3 days. Sods law but I will be away from home Wednesday to Saturday next week so if arrives before then it will have to wait for me at the dealer for a change!

Don’t know, he definitely said Holland but maybe his geography is not that hot (Emden does sound sort of Dutch)!!

Well, what a surprise! Dealer just got back i touch to say that my car has left the factory and is on it's way to the port in Holland so depending on the boat situation it will be one to two weeks. I can now get the current Tucson ready for sale.

Indeed this seems very backward. In the mid1980's I did some work for Vauxhall at Luton building front-end interface to the order/production systems so that a dealer could log in and get information as to exactly what stage the vehicle build was at on the production line in real time. It really wasn't that difficult and only needed a restricted set of commands to the production systems. As an aside did you know that when a vehicle came off the line and into the holding car park ownership was acquired by GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) and it's them who dealers dealt with from then on.

Still no update on my car, still sitting in the same status and in parking lot somewhere. Dealer has no idea when the status might change. Now thinking that I might go back to the Hyundai dealer for a new Tucson as there are no delays with them and can get in a couple of weeks. Really wanted a change but I do not really want to wait until the new year and then a new model is announced before I get delivery!!