Paws4Thot

17" (I think 6.5x17) would be normal on a UK vRS.

Similarly on the old Octavia 1 (A4), on which they were very useful in mucky conditions.

The nearest motorway to Norwich is the M11, and that's 60 miles as the crow flies.

Agreed, as long as you mean "real wood" (see under Aston Martin, van den Plas et al), and not "plastic wood" (see under Ford, Mercedes...).

Er, they're not supposed to dismantle the car to carry out an MoT!

I'm not aware of any such thing as a VAG coolant specification. As per @brettikivi about actual coolant specifications. And absolutely do not use tap water in a hard water area like St Albans; you'd probably be OK in a soft water area like this.

10_500+4_500 = 15_000. If you did the 10_500km in 2 months, 4_500km is an expected distance for you to cover in the next month. The warning will happen at 1 month or 1_600km before the service is due, whichever is sooner. So if you typically did, say 1_000km per month, the warning would still have appeared at this time.

Absolutely you need to change it, or start saving for a new engine. DO NOT drive the car in the interim.

"Wather"? Do you mean "water"? If so, this is pretty normal until the engine heats enough that the exhaust gases stay above 100C to beyond the exhaust exit.

Indeed, when God made time, he was sure and made plenty of it.

That is an "emergency door key" and not an ignition key. You owe them nothing since you have not damaged the key.

Ok, given what @Winston_Woof has said, I have a suspicion here. Would you describe, as completely as you can remember, the design of this key?

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This usually means that you're jerking on the belt too suddenly, so that the inertia reel locks. It's unusual to be able to reproduce the issue with 3 different people though.

Well, where there's fire there's smoke.

That's definitely a carburettor, not a fuel injection throttle body.

Yes, as long as there are independent VAG specialists in East Anglia.

Point to inspect; is there any sign of excess wear on one side of the NSF tyre? I've seen one car where the inside of the tyre was worn through to the banding, so it cost the owner for a new tyre as well as the parts and labour.

@Iansuperb @PetrolDave This sub-section of the MoT Manual (copied from Web 29 Aug 2024) seems relevant. Have a read for yourselves and see if AddBlue is mentioned.

Not "need to be done", but it would be silly not to since the parts are less than the labour for a replacement and they're out.

@Geoff_Linton - Ok modified version of my post above. You certainly need to change that wheel cylinder, and use brake cleaner on that drum and back plate. You may well need to change the other wheel cylinder too if it's leaking and clean the drum and wheel cylinder on that side. If there is any suggestion of fluid contamination on any of the brake linings, best practice is to change all 4 shoes.

@Geoff_Linton More or less as @aubrey says above, with the note that I would go to another garage because the tester was talking male bovine faeces. The components you need to change are the rear wheel cylinders. You may also need to use brake cleaner on the drums and backplates and may also need to change the brake shoes, but I can't comment further because I can't open HEIC files.

Why am I not surprised?

Taxi and private hire drivers around here are much more likely to buy Octavias or even Superbs than Scalas. This "poll" represents hundreds of drivers across 4 local authorities, including Greater Glasgow.

@Joanc As @aubrey says, with the note that I never top up brake fluid until I have fitted any new brake friction components I'm about to fit.