Hauptmann

Sorry I don't know. I have one of these in my car and it works great with Samsung Galaxy S, San Francisco, Blackberry - but I don't have access to an iPhone to try it out.

The best 'guide' would be the Skoda ElsaWin manual (discs available on Ebay) - however it would assume a good level of mechanical competence. Do you have a friend or relative who is mechanically-minded and can assist you? The fronts are pretty easy, the back are not too bad, but you do need the piston wind-back tool and the handbrake cable levers do need setting properly at the correct gap.

I think at the end of the day any warranty offered on a used car by a dealer is going to be some sort of insurance-based policy. The Skoda policy (a rebadged CCP policy, provided by GM) is good. An alternative is a company like Warranty Direct. You should be able to get 12 months on one of their premium policies for around £22/month.

When you speak to your insurers you should clarify to them that it is an EU-sourced car to UK spec - a so-called 'parallel import'. To some insurers an 'import' is a grey-import (i.e. a car designed for a non-EU market). There are a lot of Japanese 'grey imports' and these DO cost more to insure becuase parts are often not the same as UK-market cars and so repair costs can be a lot higher. A decent insurance company should not load the premium on an EU-sourced car.

Really, I would relax about it. There are vast numbers of these 'import' cars around and at 3+ years old it is unlikely to impact on future resale value. If it has a MPH speedo then it will be UK spec., I bet Skoda UK don't know what 'special requirements Malta' means - I reckon it is more to do with preparation for shipping. Every country has its own 'special requirements' code with Skoda - its probably just a flag to say where and how the car is to be shipped. Type Approval is now uniform accross the EU, apart from lights an speedos for LHD/RHD and MPH/KPH markets. Much better to have an 'import car' in good condition than a 'UK' car in poorer condition. If the car is a good one then don't worry.

To me that looks like you have a full 'UK Spec' car there. Bear in mind that, depending on date of manufacture, not all 'genuine' UK cars of this vintage came with dual climate, 18" wheels and armrest - so I don't think you have anything to worry about at all. Yours looks fully equipped. I think a lot of car supermarkets formed a relationship with Skoda dealers in Malta and simply ordered UK-spec cars through them. Same production line, same parts and same people making the cars as those that made the cars destined to come to Skoda UK. Remember that ALL cars sold in the EU (Malta is EU of course) have to meet the generic EU Type Approval requirements. The only additional UK requirements for TA relate to lighting and instrumentation (RHD headlights, at least a rear foglight on RHS and MPH speedo). I think you can relax and enjoy the car..

The Citroen EGS ('SensoDrive') was developed by Getrag, a German company.

Indeed they are. Bought this for my son at Christmas. Had it unlocked and debranded. Then he decided he wanted a Samsung Galaxy S, which does very little more than this, but costs about five times as much!!

You don't need leaf springs to get axle tramp. Its caused by the an oscillating 'grip-slip-grip-slip' of the wheel and results in the wheel bouncing due to the stored energy in the spring. My car does this too on a damp road and its made much worse by the traction control. As soon as the wheel starts to slip the TC cuts power and allows it to grip again (with a 'thud'), then as the power comes back in again the wheel starts to slip again and the TC cuts back in - and so the cycle repeats itself. The only solution is to ease back on the throttle

No. Although the parts may be similar (i.e. both will be strut mounts) they will probably not be identical.

Get yourself a new, good quality, battery (e.g. Bosch, Varta). The new battery is easy to fit. You do not need to touch any of the sensors. Just the positive and negative battery terminals. If you can't fit the battery yourself then any local garage should be able to do it for you, it doesn't require a trip to the dealers.

IIRC the specs are as per the review I linked to; i.e. 60GB HDD and 512 RAM. It comes with an XP Pro licence sticker and code on it, although I don't think I have the original XP disc. It was made in 2005. The fault (from new) is that you have to press the power button say 3 times before it will boot up properly. Not sure if this is a HDD fault or a CPU fault. The HDD is a 2.5" type. I reckon postage (standard parcels) is about £5. I'm not sure if I still have the PSU for it (its a standard laptop-type PSU with a barrel connector), so it might come without PSU if I can't find it.

Anything else is 'diminishing returns' i.e. not much improvement for the money spent. You would be far better doing some suspension mods - rear ARB and Whiteline ALK at the front. Relatively inexpensive (under £300 parts) and an increase in driving pleasure, even in day to day driving at modest speeds.

The high level brake light fault could be a wiring defect or a problem with the controller. The central locking fault is very likely a sticking or frozen actuator. Clear it and see if it comes back. The brake pedal problem sounds like air in the brake line. Bleed out the system ASAP!

SOLD Had this thing sitting around for several years! Purchased it new some years back. Works, but always had a fault whereby you have to push the power button several times before it boots up and I never got around to returning it to the supplier. Probably not used for more than 20-30 hours in total. Its old technology now, but might be of interest to someone to play about with. Review here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/the-smallest-of-them-all,review-553.html £25 + delivery or collection. NB: Sold as 'defective'.

Used but in good condition: Orange San Francisco Smartphone. Unlocked and debranded. OLED Screen. Running Android 2.1. Can be upgraded to 2.2 plus numerous other things you can do with it. Good condition - been used by my son for 2 months (he's now bought himself a Galaxy S at enormous cost!). £75 + delivery (collection also possible, if you wish).

Brand new and unopened Nokia HF-310 Bluetooth Speakerphone. Unwanted present. This item: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nokia-HF-310-Bluetooth-Speakerphone-Windscreen/dp/B002YOMDJQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1298628687&sr=8-3 £20 inc. postage.

T-Mobile 'Pulse' Android Smartphone. New, boxed and unlocked for any network. Genuinely new item (opened box and charger only to charge it up and unlock it). £50 + delivery (Collection in Person, Recorded or Special Delivery, as you wish). PS - this is the 'Pulse' and NOT the 'Pulse Mini' - which is not such a good phone.

Given that the OP has 'India' as his location he's unlikely to have a Machine Mart or Halfords locally. Best bet is to get some mid-range general socket and spanner set (which should include 16mm and 18mm) and some screwdrivers and a Torx set. Anything else should be bought as the need arises. Buying Snap-On would be a complete waste of money for a non-professional.

Yes, I have a couple of OE VW Sharan stubbies. Please PM if you want one.

Continental bought VDO-Siemens a couple of years back. The Columbus pre-dates that take-over and is Continental product.

IIRC the Columbus is made by Continental Corp, in the Czech Republic (Frenstat?).

You don't say what age/reg your car is. I am amazed how strong used car prices are at the moment. I don't know how long this strong market will keep going though. A lot of people will be getting redundancy notices over the next few months and not only will they not be in the market for a car, they'll probably be selling the one they have. What with that and the effects of inflation and higher taxes I think I'd be inclined to sell before Easter at the best price you can get.

I think the standard AM/FM masts are 5mm thread. The masts with the 6mm stud are the Hirschmann type, made for the Sat-Nav bases.

I do remember there was a (UK) member of this board had his Octavia broken into and the Columbus stolen. Can't find the post right now though. I suppose that was sold on to 'someone'. Looking at the bigger picture though, the Columbus is quite an old design now and the navigation is far from the best. I had one for a while but found I kept using my TomTom 530 and so eventually sold it. We now have another integrated satnav in my wife's Fabia II (with iGO8) but still find that we tend to use TomTom. The fact is that TomTom has so many advantages, including three-monthly map updates, which I think is a massive plus point. Also the routing and additional features and facilities that you can load onto it are so much better. I also like the ability to sit in the house and input itineraries and try different routes etc., to be very handy. Granted, it does not look as neat as an ingrated unit, but it works better, is much cheaper and is not a thief-magnet.