Aldfort

When you use ACC does a little car symbol appear in between the 2 vertical lines centre bottom of the dash?

@Ootohere - No , I'll be paying the dealer to do it every 3 years.😁

The trip info appears in classic view for sure. However the failed light warning is exactly where I would expect to see trip. It also looks like you have full ACC? That might affect what I said earlier.

@Ootohere Don't quite understand the point you are making? You seem to be speculating on how long it would take to check the cambelt? On the Evo 2 engine there is a top cover held on by two bolts and a couple of clips. Looks very removable without too much fuss.

I don't think this is odd. You don't know how the clutch was used in those 12k miles before you bought the car. The fact that the failure you had was so big leads me to think the clutch had 12k miles with a gorilla, or maybe several gorillas, stamping on the pedal. I'd personally ask for the gearbox to be checked as well.

How much is a new engine exactly? There is no such thing as "for life" this applies equally to oils and things like cambelts. The manufacturer cannot possibly test every single operating condition. I always regard" for life" to mean just past the period of any extended warrantee you might be able to get on the vehicle. In the UK that means 100,000 miles as an example. You need to understand your own use case for the vehicle and act accordingly. Long motorway drives one up with the cruise on v 4 up with a caravan on the back in the Scottish highlands. (hypothetical examples folks!) I'd far rather have the cambelt inspected annually and be told at 80,000 miles I need a new one than to plough on and have it fail at 100,001 miles. But this is just my opinion and others may see things differently.

You'll have figured out the positions so it's a case or removing the relevant trims. This is best done with a special trim tool, you may need more than one. Changing the speakers may well require removing more than the trim and you may find that some are mounted in such a way as to require a bit of disassembly. I have to warn you that there is a downside, if you are not very careful then you may introduce a rattle from the trim when you re-install it. Pay careful attention and take pictures as you go so everything goes back exactly as it came out. There is a version of the workshop manual (or at least a link to same) on this site which may be helpful. Also remember these are electrical items so you need to be certain that the connections are secure and that they don't accidentally ground out. I'm thinking deeper speakers here which may fit but may move the contacts close to a door skin or body panel.

On newer cars Trip is shown where the 3 seat symbol is. (bottom row left of centre) The three seat symbol disappears after a while to be replaced by trip. Trip is in fact not Trip but simply accumulates distance covered until you reset it. "Since Start" accumulates data from each time you start the engine unless you've stopped for less than 2 hours. In this case it resumes data collection where it left off. As to position of this data you can have Trip in it's default position or in the middle of the display if you select it. If you have it in the middle of the display it will still show up (smaller) in the default position. As I said before, the display options are limited. You can't always get the info you want where you want it. The info in the centre of each dial offers the same choice left or right. The best thing to do, via the infotainment, select view 1 and play about with what shows up inside the left dial and the right dial. Then using the steering wheel control play about with what shows up between the dials. You may or may not find a combo you are happy with. Unless the option you select via infotainment is "Auto" the data you choose in "view one" will be persistent irrespective of the way you choose to see your dashboard. Same is true for how you set up "view 2" If you select "Auto" via the infotainment then dashboard display changes depending on driving mode. You are best to make these settings with the engine running , car in park, handbrake on. The reason for this is that during the engine start period other stuff is happening (e.g. the 3 seat symbol) that disappears after a period. Note also that engaging cruise control hides the odometer display even if you have not set a cruising speed. The point is the dashboard is dynamic rather than a static display.

There is a workshop manual for this engine somewhere on this site. I am pretty sure the valve is part of the EGR system. That said if this is not putting on the check engine light then it's probably nothing to worry about. Your car will store lots of transient codes in it's fault memory.

I actually find the digital speed reading more useful than the speedo. I do agree though that some of the views are too minimalistic. It is just a case of messing about until you get the set-up that feels most comfortable.

Then your replacement speakers need to be capable of handling 20W into 8ohms. Assuming this is what you seek to do. I'd still look at damping the resonances and improving sound deadening first.

It'll make a difference to what folks might be able to recommend.

What infotainment do you have?

To state the obvious, you are never going to get perfect listening in a car. Higher spec models do come with the option for better in car sound. That is the best route to go to preserve the factory finish. Do check the car has the wiring to support this though. If you go aftermarket then make sure you find somebody who understands the impact on the whole CANBUS of making any changes. Maybe there is a bigger gain to be had from improving the soundproofing / stopping panel resonance?

Try to find a good independent specialist in your area. I don't place much faith in Main dealer service accept for work what is essential to maintain warrantee.

We seem to be descending into speculation here. I looked into both the 3G and the TMC switch off in the UK in some detail. Here are some facts pertaining to VAG products. First 3G When I spoke to VAG about 6 months ago I eventually confirmed there were no plans to allow cars that depended on it for comms to be retrofitted with anything. No modules or conversion kits planned and the cars so fitted would remain compliant with UK regulation even after 3G was switched off. So VAG abandoned owners of cars that were only 6-7 years old. The vast majority of VAG product that has an Emergency Call button is using 4G and or was built to be 4G compatible. Practically this means that for older infotainment it becomes a dumb system and there is no connected information. So you can't use Google maps and you can't get real time traffic. You may or may not be able to use Android Auto. There are some aftermarket companies that will pull out the factory fitted infotainment and replace it with something more modern. It's a bit of a lottery though as to if it will work on any specific make and model. It's not a small job so quite expensive compared to buying a Tom Tom. Second TMC This has apparently been switched off in the UK. More correctly the company providing it has stopped providing it. The basis for this may or may not have been contractual. In other European countries TMC is provided by (sponsored) government. Not so in the UK it seems. So if you take your car abroad TMC may well still work as it depends on a radio signal.

SOS works unless there is a fault. It's independent of any subscription. Breakdown works only if you are registered. AFAIK in UK. Then again all Skoda seem to come with a lot of free Skoda Connect included. (Even the amazing (sic) Traffication app which could be really good but not so much currently.) In reality 3g has ended already. TMS also shutdown in the UK already.

I didn't say the service was foolproof but it has some utility. Are you sure if you select "phone" in the infotainment you can't press buttons?

Buy a good quality battery conditioner. One that is intended to be left connected to the car and automatically look after the battery. Ideally therefore one that you can disconnect easily with a plug and socket in the charger wiring harness. One bit generally stays with the car.

The answer is it might be. You'll need to do it in the infotainment, I find it easier anyway. Go into the infotainment select something like "view one" and scroll through the options for what displays inside each dial. I found the options to be limited on mine so have reverted to classic view. I have the Overview driving data in the middle as you can scroll through it using the knob on the steering wheel quite easily. While not exactly trip you can change the overview data to "since start" which offers similar info or you can scroll to trip. Reset Trip by holding down the rotary knob.

Footwell lights white, dashboard accent light changes colour.

As a minimum have the belt inspected. Changing a belt will feel cheap compared to the alternative.

Here is a video that explains a bit what a recharge on a modern car should be all about: THIS CUSTOMER GOT FOBBED OFF WITH AN AIR CONDITIONING LEAK THREE TIMES!!!!!

Maybe worth noting that with modern AC systems you have to fully empty and refill them AFAIK. Essential to have them under vac for a period to remove all the potential water. AFAIK this has been true since there was a mandated change to the refrigerant some years back.

I love posters in this thread mentioning sad old farts they know. I have the feeling this forum is heavily populated with sad old farts. Me included!