Biscayne

Further investigation using the OBDeleven suggests that the act of reading data has a price in terms of battery current. For this test, the vehicle was locked and just the battery current was recorded: If this is (a) accurate and (b) continuous then the average current of 1.7 Amps would probably see the battery drained within 24 hours. When the test was ended and the OBDeleven removed, it was noticeably warmer than the ambient temperature. The advertised 'quiescent' current of the device is 45 - 100 mA which seems hardly sufficient to cause it to warm so, as nta16 has observed, probably best not to leave the device plugged in when not in use. I'm on the lookout for a DC current clamp meter to get a non-invasive measurement.

Liteboy, nothing like your problems with my 23 plate 1.5 SE Manual but I have noticed the "click, buzz and whir" with the (conventional steering lock) key removed. Most puzzling is the noise that comes from somewhere below the battery. I lifted the bonnet to refill the screenwash and these sounds continued for the whole time the bonnet was open. Weird. This piqued my interest enough to get an OBDeleven to keep an eye on the battery, amongst other things. According to 'live data', the battery drain (which I would expect to be close to zero with the ignition off) can be as much as 6 amps for several minutes after the engine is stopped and 2 amps after that. This is a graph of the 'live data' logged from the OBDeleven at the end of a recent trip: For information, there is also a graph of the journey start here. Do you know anyone with one of these devices that could look at the battery drain on your car? I appreciate that this is Skoda's responsibility but from my experience very few dealer 'technicians' really understand much beyond what the training manual says. Forewarned is forearmed and all that. P.S. Some of the other 'glitches' you mentioned in your first post have also happened on my car - Random Parking Sensor activation (annoying), Collision detection with braking (scary) and no accelerator response (even more scary) but the dealer attitude is to ignore them if you can't reproduce them and to remind you that if they do a diagnostic test and don't find anything then it's £130 + VAT thank you very much.

Hi, do you know anyone with an OBDeleven? The "Advanced Live Data" has some useful information, especially 'Refrigerant Pressure', which could indicate refrigerant loss (There's a temperature/ pressure table on page 17 of the manual provided by Arkaig here) Here's a screenshot from my car, which has manual AC:

Looking at your video it appears that the flap was stuck in the open (up) position until you touched it and then it fell down (the video ends with the flap partly down) On my 23 plate 1.5 the flap is in the down position when stationary. It lifts easily to the up position and falls back when released without making any sound. (It appears to be slightly damped but I imagine that is caused by friction at the pivot points) I don't know what road speed it is designed to open at but from the size of it and the intake scoop that feeds it, I can't imagine that it would open and close quickly enough to result in noise under normal driving. Do you only hear the noise at low speed after a period of driving at a higher speed? That would be consistent with it sticking in the open position then falling back.

r0b3rt, similar experience in my 23 plate 1.5 manual with manual AC. I believe it is due to the refrigerant (R1234yf) used in the AC system. Previous cars (2xVW Bora, 1xVW Golf) used R134a and while it was never as good as R12, it would do a passable job of keeping the inside of the car comfortable. R1234yf just doesn't cut it - it will take the internal temperature down a few degrees C but as you say, in the current mini heatwave, it isn't enough to give the level of comfort that you would expect from experience of older cars. Look on the bright side - the Global Warming Potential of R1234yf is much lower than that R134a or R12 (although this is only relevent if all your refrigerant somehow leaks out) so you're doing your bit for the environment. It's also much less likely to result in that disgusting smell that most older AC systems seem to acquire after a few years use.

This sometimes happens on my 23 plate SE in fine rain, mist or spray. Always clears itself when conditions improve. Dealer confirmed that this was normal.

An update on 'Eco' mode; here is the dashboard summary following a journey from Birmingham Airport to Ross-on-Wye. The M42 had a 50mph limit for most of the distance from the airport to the M5, and there was heavy traffic round Birmingham Otherwise, speed was 60-70mph. I am quite impressed, as neither of my previous VAG diesels (1.6TDI Golf, 1.9 TDI PD Bora) managed a similar journey at better than 60mpg. The acid test would be to repeat the journey in the other modes but that will have to wait until next year's holiday. Also need to do a full tank to full tank test to determine if the display is accurate.

Thanks, I will do that tomorrow. Funny that you should mention not noticing a blow out - when I first took a scala out on a test drive the salesman neglected to mention 'lane assist'. When the steering jerked because it misread the carraigeway edge, my first thought was that I had suffered a rapid deflation. It's quite unnerving if you have never experienced it before. I forgot to turn it off the other day and having passed through temporary traffic lights on my side of the road, I set a gentle 'glide' back to the left (no waiting traffic) but the camera picked up the centreline and, thinking that it was the carraigeway edge, made a very determined effort to stop me crossing the line. I had to push against it twice before it got the message!

Hi toot, tyre pressures at handover and today are as per the settings on the inside of the filler cap for the load carried. I haven't reset the TPMS though, do I need to if it's not showing an alarm?

At an additional cost of £145, I pondered this for quite a while as it didn’t appear to offer anything other than ‘stiffer’ steering on a car with standard suspension, manual transmission and manual aircon. I am so glad that I included it. The ‘stiffer’ steering alone is worthwhile as it takes away the ‘floaty’ feeling of the standard setting, especially at low speed, but the real benefit is the ability to set ‘Drive’ to Normal, Sport or Eco. Of course, I set it to Sport to start in order to best appreciate what the car could do but after a while I experimented with a custom setting of Sport steering and Eco Drive. The effect was remarkable. I thought I was able to drive economically (except when annoyed by someone driving too close behind) but the Eco Drive mode does it far better than I can. I managed 49mpg on the weekly 22 mile round shopping trip in Sport Mode but in Eco mode this increased to 55.4mpg. The only noticeable difference was a slight reduction in torque on a long uphill section. I don’t often praise ‘software’ controls in cars (Why do programmers in Wolfsburg think they know better than me, the driver, when I should turn my headlights on?) but on this occasion they do appear to have got it right. It's a shame that it adds 3 'faff points' (the number of times I have to press the button to get to the custom setting) to the startup sequence, in addition to the other 'faff points' of 2 button presses to turn lane assist off, 1 to acknowledge the privacy settings and 1 to turn stop/start off but this seems to be something I will just have to put up with.

Hi allaction2, It may be that now that I own one I tend to notice them more (like when I owned a VW Bora) but here in the Forest of Dean area I know of 3 others. This is more than the number of Rapids (1), so I'm hoping that it's a slow burner so that I can get parts for it when needed. It was certainly difficult to get a 1.5TSI SE to test drive. Nothing in any of the adjoining counties.

Update regarding the full size spare - The spare from a VW Golf DOES NOT fit the Scala! Having removed the wheels to put a smear of copperslip around the edge of the centre bore to stop rust from 'welding' them together, I offered up the spare only to find that the lug bolt holes don't line up. It seems that the VW Golf has a 5x112 PCD and the Scala 5x100. Lucky I tried, it would have been uber embarrasing to have found out only when I needed it.

I should have RTFM! The dealer was quick to show me how to set this before I drove off but I couldn't remember the sequence of button presses until I consulted the manual just now: Maximum privacy mode All Škoda Connect services, except those required by law, are switched off. All localisation services are disabled. Vehicle position information is not shared. Information transfer via eSIM is disabled. No online updates are available. Strangely, I have to confirm my selection on the 'infotainment' screen each time I turn on the ignition.

The 'car card' generated by the online car builder (and the blurb produced by the dealer when I signed the order) says "Space-saving spare wheel". A bit of a joke really, as it saves a whole 10mm between the bottom of the boot floor and the top of the spare wheel. Not sure what use this space could be used for - a Frizbee maybe?

Thanks for your reply kodiaqsportline. I was told of the signup bonus by the salesman I originally dealt with (he has left the dealership now so I think it's OK to mention it). Reading around I also got the impression that most think it is a waste of time. Regarding the eCall system, it is (or should be) protected by legislation against tracking: "(12) Manufacturers should ensure that the 112-based cCall in-vehicle systems are not traceable and not subject to any constant tracking. For that purpose, a test procedure should be set out to verify that the 112-based eCall in-vehicle system is not available for communication with the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) before the eCall is triggered" (UK Legislation; Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/79) I will confirm to the dealer that I will not be signing up and see where it leads!

Hi, Not certain if this is the most appropriate forum but a couple of days before I was due to collect my new Scala the dealer sent me an email asking me to register for a ŠKODA ID. I read the Terms and Conditions and as far as I could determine it would give me access to a lot of stuff that was of no particular interest (I don't use a smartphone, 'Infotainment' is BBC Radio 4) , so I declined the invitation. This does not seem to have been well received by the dealer. I have been given a list of functions that will not be available to me if I don't 'sign up' and asked to sign a disclaimer acknowledging this. I have learned that ŠKODA dealers get a payment for signing up customers to ID/Connect, so maybe the disclaimer is necessary for them to get the payment, but it seems a bit heavy handed to me. I also note that a number of the 'functions' rely on knowing the location (and speed) of the vehicle so presumably, agreeing to the Ts & Cs means that I would be consenting to ŠKODA effectively tracking the vehicle. This is not something I feel comfortable with. I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has declined to register.

Hi John2022, you were fortunate to get the full sized spare. Mine came with a 195/65R15 with "50mph max" stickers on it. I guess it saved them a few cents over supplying a 205/55R16 but it would be good to have the option of a 'full speed' spare when ordering. The 195 will now sit at the back of my garage for the next 10 years, getting in the way. Bit of a waste really.

Thanks fossman. It's SE trim in Graphite Grey metallic with Extended Tailgate Glass and Hoedus Alloys. The choice of the alloys was purely practical - I'm getting too old to spend half a day each month on my knees cleaning brake dust off the inside of alloys. The tailgate glass was pure vanity - I thought it looked nice in the pictures. When justifying it to SWMBO, I suggested that it would make the car easier to find if we parked it in a car park full of Scalas. I ducked just in time.

Ordered mine on 27th February, collected from dealer 26th May. Not too bad, IMO, considering that when I inquired last year I was quoted 9 - 12 months. I added a few factory fit options which I expected would add to the build time. Very pleased with the car. As the Scala is so rare it was difficult to get answers to a lot of questions, let alone a test drive of the model I was interested in, so a couple of early observations: 1. The 1.5TSI engine makes the car a real pleasure to drive. I only got to test drive the 1.0 and although I thought it was almost good enough, it fell slightly short of the torque I was used to in my Golf MK6 1.6TDI. The 1.5TSI matches the 1.6TDI well in this respect. 2. Although the Scala has a 'space saver' (50mph max) spare tyre, the well in the boot floor is actually deep enough for a full size 205/55x16 spare wheel (same as the standard fitment on the SE) so the spare I purchased for the outgoing Golf (to replace the supplied bicycle wheel) drops right in. Lots more observations but there is probably a better forum to post them.

Hi, I am close to placing an order for a Scala SE 1.5 manual. I'm no stranger to VAG cars (2xVW Bora TDi PD, 1xVW Golf 1.6TDi) but as Diesel is getting a bad rap these days I thought I might go back to petrol for a change, coincidentally avoiding the £9 each way charge to drive through Bristol 😞 Having learned to drive with the Fred Flintstone school of motoring, I am keen to learn how to disable some (most) of the more annoying 'driver assistance' features that spoil the driving experience. The choice of the Scala is guided by the fact that it is one of the few cars in it's class that still has a manual parking brake (essential, in my experience, for controlling the car in snow and ice). I am looking forward to learning and sharing my experiences. Biscayne