john1952

Just done a journey from Dorset to Oxford which is 90% dual carriageway. Managed to achieve 65.8 mpg. Well pleased. And no, I wasn't crawling along at 40 - 50 mph !! - Spent most of the time doing 60+ mph.

My Mk4 Fabia colour edition had exactly the same intermittent squeak noise. Took me some time to find out that it was coming from where the top of the dashboard meets the A pillar on the passenger side near to the windscreen. Just lightly placing your hand on that area stopped it. So I got a very tiny piece of rubber and wedged it in between the top of the dashboard and the windscreen next to the A pillar. You can't see it from the inside of the car because I've got a small non-slip mat on the dashboard to accommodate a car dehumidifier pad and this mat covers it. Hardly visible from the outside of the car. Nice simple cheap solution - Solved the noise problem completely.

You should have been supplied with a puller when you purchased the car. It's just a metal rod with a small hook on the end of it which hooks into the small holes on the Aero trims. If you want my advice, I'd remove the trims and don't put them back on. The Skoda guy who invented those trims has obviously never cleaned a car's wheels !! They prevent you getting at all the brake dust mess that accumulates around the rims and the sides of the spokes. I wouldn't advise taking them off every time you clean the wheels as constantly taking them off and on again will probably damage the alloys over time. If you do leave them off, you'll need to purchase wheel nut covers and the Skoda wheel centre caps - I got mine from eBay. If anyone interested I've four of these trims for sale as I don't want mine anymore.

Best place to store the spare bottle? -- your dustbin or your local recycle facility. The so called "repair kit" isn't much use. It won't repair large punctures and doesn't work if the puncture is near the side wall of the tyre. If it does work, then a lot of tyre repair garages won't repair the puncture because it's too much effort removing the stuff that's stuck to the tyre. You then end up buying a new tyre and there's a good chance that there's still a good amount of tread left on the old one. If they do agree to do a repair they'll charge you a lot extra. I bought a space saver tyre from the Wheel Shop - good value compared to what my Skoda dealer wanted to charge and it came a good quality jack, wheelbrace and toolbag. Bought the securing bolt from eBay.

I have a 72 plate Mk4 Colour edition. Just recently, when i switch on the ignition and start the car, the Infotainment screen remains completely blank and doesn't display the initial, (and annoying), "Data protection" message, followed by the clock display. The screen does eventually spring into life after a few minutes or if I press some of the menu buttons. Anyone else had this issue?

Couldn't agree more about a proper space saver spare wheel. The useless can of gunk has a short shelf life and isn't cheap to replace, so buying a spare wheel actually saves you money in the long term. I also obtained, (from another Briskoda member), a bendy piece of vinyl plastic that bends into a semi-circlar shape and clips into the slots on the side of the boot panel. This gives you a very useful storage area for standing bottles etc.. upright and prevents them sliding around in your boot. Not sure whats i'ts actually called, but it's so useful.

I have a Mk 4 Colour edition. I believe the new Mk 4 chassis/platform is the same as the VW Polo. It's a slightly bigger car than the Mk 3. Good boot size.

Can't really see what the actual problem, (if any), is ? I am I missing something ?

Infotainment screen was off and phone was still charging from the usb port

You could just turn the Front Assist off. A couple of clicks on the steering wheel "Assist Menu shorcut" buttons will do that. I always turn off the Lane Assist every time I drive - can't see the point of that feature as I'm always crossing over white lines when manoevering around town or city roads for a genuine reason.

The engine has been turned off for a least and hour - thought it would have cooled down by then ? Or does it still go through the coolant pumping process regardless of engine temparature ??

When I open my bonnet I hear a slight buzzing noise which stops after about 10 -15 seconds. Can't trace exactly whereabouts in the engine it's coming from. I'm not really bothered about it - I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for it. I'm just curious. Anyone else noticed this ??

I've Just plugged my mobile phone into one of the sockets with the ignition switched off and my mobile started charging, so I guess they are live.

Glad you are pleased with the result. I didn't realise that these trims were also fitted to the SEL model with silver wheels/trims. I've got the Colour edition which are black. You'll be able to clean your alloys so much more effectively and not have loads of brake dust accumulate in areas which are inaccessible with the trims on.

My Fabia had its first service yesterday after 12 months. Wasn't sure if the garage had reset the service interval and oil change indicators, so I did a reset of both myself. (Had to Google to find out how to do this because I've got the Virtual Cockpit as Skoda don't provide any documentation !!). Sure enough the oil change told me that next change is due after 365 days (one year), but was curious as to why the inspection service interval got set to 740 days (2 years). After doing some more Googling I now know that Skoda and VW have this "Variable Service Interval". For those of you that don't know about this I suggest you Google it as it will be quicker than me explaining it in this post. What are other Skoda owners opinions about this? I'm leaning towards sticking to a fixed 12 month service and oil change regime. My annual mileage is low - about 5000 to 6000 miles; sometimes less; mixture of urban motoring and occassional long trips.