KiNeL

Have I misunderstood? All was OK until the oil change then, despite a rattling engine, you took it on a motorway run?

Should clear in meters, mine do in under 50m or so.

Here's what I use, it's an articulated strong magnet and there is a plate stuck to the rear of the phone. Easily non permanent fix to any vent. Buy on eBay or Amazon. Sorry for the crap photo, the light was all wrong and I wasn't going to start and move the car hence my hand as a shade!

This is what the MOT manual says.

I prefer pre facelift, the look suits the car better IMO. Mine is the base model with 6sp manual gearbox which means so much less to go wrong and in 4 years very little of consequence has. Worst has been the clutch master cylinder which is a chronic weak point on virtually all VW group cars of the era which employ the same part but it's a relatively cheap and easy fix. TBH any early 1.2tsi which has made it this far is unlikely to harbour too many problems that an informed pre purchase inspection won't reveal. The biggest issue of course s going to be corrosion which can be near terminal and a failed next MOT away from an appointment with the scrappie. Fortunately the climate here in Spain means that the words 'rust' and 'corrosion' are not even in the local MOT equivalent testers vocabluary and with nothing else to go on the underside of my 2011 car could easily pass for a 4 or 5 year old!

"the male lip is a plastic lip on the rear of the scuttle panel which is just pushed into a female slot in a rubber section which is bonded onto the bottom of the windscreen? is that correct." Yes but rather than simply pulling it which can tear the lip I recommend getting a thin screwdriver or similar to get in the slot beneath the lip and prise it out. There are no other fixings. Lubricate with something like washing up liquid when replacing.

It's not unlike tw way a Ziploc bag closes but be careful, the male lip which locks into the female strip at the base of the screen can be fragile and break rendering it at worst impossible to refit or at best partially flapping in the wind. Mine were significantly badly broken when I got the car but not too bad on the eye but I sourced a pair from a breaker in perfect condition, or they were until a short time later when I had to have a new screen fitted when I seriously thought of taking them off myself to prevent damage and wished I had when I picked the car up after and found them broken again. I complained, and showed the garage the receipt I'd got when I bought them, leaving them little option but to buy me a new pair from Skoda which I then fitted myself A little lubrication in the windscreen slot when refitting will help considerably.

I fitted one in the bumper along with parking sensors and cable routing for that along the sill under the carpet was a doddle. If you go for the OEM version in the tailgate door handle you'll have to run the cable up the rear corner then thread it down into the tailgate, a job I simply didn't fancy doing. The end result is pretty much the same either way.

Can be done but not sure which of the many OBD dongles will facilitate it.

The Haynes digital manual is complete rubbish, I bought it when I first got my Yeti but immediately complained about the lack of any worthwhile or useful content and got a refund. The allowed me to retain access to it after the refund but although it has been built on it's still worthless IMO, you'll find far more info in places like this and Youtube. I don't think it comes with an OBD11, where have you got that idea from? Yes, there are lot's of things you can do and change with one and, unlike the Haynes manual, well worth purchasing.

From my own experience the battery in the 1.2 seems barely up to the job and doesn't take much to drain to the point where it won't start the car, had it happen a number of times due to nothing more than having the doors open for a while when cleaning inside. These days everything is about weight saving meaning components are designed down to the bare minimum leaving little or nothing in reserve. Fortunately I have a boost charger and a spare battery, a big bugger off a diesel car and twice the size of the Yeti's, so it's an irritation rather than a problem.

Shaker plates were common when I left UK way back in 2007, surely they are standard by now no? Congrats on the 500,000, the majority of cars seem to be done in before getting anywhere near to even half that! Re noises: I've had a light sort of 'rumble' on the RH front of my car ever since I got it, it only seems to happen on fairly sharp LH turns and when cold. I can't feel anything amiss with the drive shaft or wheel bearing. Over 4 years it hasn't got any worse plus it's passed its annual test (shaker plates standard here) each time without comment so I've learnt not to worry about it.

Here in Spain even high mileage (kM) cars can fetch strong money. E.g. https://www.milanuncios.com/skoda-de-segunda-mano/skoda-yeti-1-2-tsi-active-540104080.htm That's pretty much identical to my car but I have not much more than half the kM's so a dealer selling it would likely be asking for perhaps €1500 more.

Ho ho ho! Not tightening rubberised suspension bushes until under load bushes is schoolboy stuff, I trust you won't be using the same garage again?

Had you come here with that observation earlier you probably could have saved yourself whatever cash and effort you've already expended on what is now even more evidently an unnecessary 'upgrade'! Have you had a scan done on the car for faults?