DerekU

Spare wheels for Fabia Mk 4 models were discussed here in 2023 and 2024. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/513673-2023-fabia-color-spare-wheel-16inch/ https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/522682-spare-wheel-and-central-tool-holder/ The emergency spare-wheel 'kit' currently offered as a Skoda option on all Fabia Mk 4 models that have wheels with 16", 17" or 18" diameter is shown below The £155 price would apply when the complete kit is part of a car's original order and is an alternative to (and not in addition to) the inflater+puncture-sealant. As I said in the 2024 forum discussion, I subsequently obtained the spare-wheel kit for my Fabia (that has 16"-diameter alloy wheels) from the Skoda dealership I bought my car from and the cost, in my case, was £200. Prices currently quoted online for the complete kit (wheel/jack/tools/polystyrene holder etc.) seem to be around £300, but the Skoda dealer you are getting your car from might charge you less (maybe!) if you ask nicely. The Skoda Part numbers are 6VA601011A for the wheel+tyre and 6VA093860 for the tool-kit with all the bits.

A GOOGLE-search on problems nextbase 422 could be useful - poor quality/failure of the internal battery is a common complaint. This link to the results of a BRISKODA forum-wide search may also be worth wading through. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/search/?&q="nextbase" "dashcam"&quick=1&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

Copied from a 2024 Autocar review of the Hyundai i20 ...The gearbox’s ‘intelligence’ stems from the electronic clutch: the pedal has no physical connection to the clutch mechanism. Instead, a sensor sends signals to an actuator which does the work. The benefit being that the car can declutch and switch off the engine while coasting, without any input from the driver... The complete review is here. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/hyundai/i20 I can't say I noticed any difference in 'feel' compared to a conventional hydraulically-operated clutch and - as the idea of coasting with the motor stopped dis not appeal to me (and coasting only happened if the car was in ECO mode, which I never chose to use) - I don't know whether coasting actually worked on my i20. (i20 owners referred to the coasting feature as "sailing". As this word did not appear in the i20 Owner's Manual, I asked why they used it, and was told that - when an i20 was coasting - a little yacht symbol displayed on the instrument-cluster.)

Regarding MHEV (Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle) cars, this article may be of interest. https://motorway.co.uk/sell-my-car/guides/what-are-the-disadvantages-of-a-mild-hybrid-car#hybrid When Hyundai began to market the MHEV i20 model in the UK in 2021, it soon became apparent that the car needed to be driven very regularly for a substantial distance to ensure that the full potential of its mild-hybrid system could be exploited by owners. When the system refused to cooperate (in particular the 'sailing' (coasting) feature failing to work) Hyundai dealership's had a policy of just replacing the car's (tiny) starter-battery, hoping this would effect a cure. One i20 owner, who had bought the car specifically for its fuel economy/environmental claims, after a starter-battery change followed by replacement of more major parts having made no difference, lost heart, rejected the car and bought a Renault. For the 2025 Model Year Hyundai tweaked the i20's cosmetic specification (even uglier wheels!) ,chucked some extra dashboard tech in, dropped the MHEV system, but kept the price unchanged. About the only tangible advantage of the MHEV approach (IMHO) is that it can have a manual transmission, whereas - to the best of my knowledge - 'proper' hybrid cars are all automatic. Like VAGCF, I chose a Fabia because it was not a MHEV.

That YouTube video is a USA production (and (as Mikek has said) has a footnote that it has been 'enhanced'. There's another USA 2025 Fabia video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7mPiBh9OAM Neither mean that there will be further changes (in the immediate future) to current 2025-specification Fabias now being marketed in Europe.

This 2022 PISTONHEADS review should give you a reasonable flavour of a 2025 Flavia Monte Carlo model with the 1.5litre motor. https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-driven/2022-skoda-fabia-monte-carlo--ph-review/46209 The Specification information at the end of the review contains inaccuracies (the transmission should read "7-speed automatic, front-wheel drive") and - for the latest 2025 model - there will be minor changes in the rest of the data. This link should provide more up-to-date fine detail. https://www.skoda.co.uk/_doc/775d73bc-eb9d-4a50-911e-863d73b99333 The 1.5litre TSI ECO2 with ACT+ motor is referred to in this 2024 press release. https://cdn.skoda-storyboard.com/2024/02/04_Press_Kit_Skoda_Scala_Skoda_Kamiq_Media_Launch_Powertrains_05cfd9f1.pdf

The i20 was 12-months old when I obtained it, had covered only 700 miles and was an impulse buy - I had planned to purchase a brand-new Hyundai i20N, but that model was in very short supply in the UK at that time with unknown delivery dates. The plastic and fabric materials used in the i20's interior were decidedly not 'classy' and, despite jacking up the rear of the driver's seat-rails by 25mm, I still didn't care for the driving position, nor the seat itself., nor the 'feel' of the steering. As the car's 48V battery was housed in the spare-wheel well, there was no room there for even a space-saver wheel. I bought a secondhand full-size wheel/tyre, but that would not fit in the boot and I used to carry it upright behind the passenger seat. I just didn't get much pleasure driving the i20, but what convinced me to get rid of it was my wife breaking her hip and it becoming obvious that, after the hip-replacement operation, she would have great difficulty getting in and out of the i20 that had no seat-height adjustment of the passenger seat. I chose a Fabia because a) we had owned a Skoda Roomster since 2009 and been pleased with it, b) there is a Skoda dealership 10 miles from where I live, c) they had a new silver Fabia SE L DSG in their showroom and d) the seating is much more comfortable and adjustable than the i20's and the interior much less cheap-looking. I'd found driving the i20 irritating on rural roads as its 6-speed transmission was essentially a five-speed set of lower ratios with an 'overdrive' top gear. The Fabia is the first car I've actually owned with an automatic transmission and (at age-80) I'm now happy to let the DSG 'box do the gear selection for me. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with the i20 and, having traded it in for the Fabia, it sold to a new owner within a fortnight.

This recent CAR Magazine article may be of interest https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/hybrid/best-small-hybrid-cars/ Before my Fabia Mk4 DSG I owned a 2021 Hyundai i20 for about a year. This had a 6-speed manual transmission and a similar-size turbocharged motor to my Fabia's, but was classed as a MHEV (Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle). MHEVs have a small 48V lithium battery that can supplement the motor's output when accelerating and (in the Hyundai's case) allowed the motor to stop in certain circumstances while the car was in motion. The i20's 48V battery could not power the car and (at least in the UK) the system's advertised fuel saving gains were illusory. The i20's mild-hybrid system was complex and not problem-free, and has been dropped for 2025 i20 cars marketed in the UK. So, if considering buying a small MHEV, think twice...

I would have thought it was easier on a Mk4 - at least there's now no need to scrabble under the dashboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH_zEQXmfD8

A Fabia Mk4's cabin (pollen) filter is behind the passenger-side glove-box. Gaining access to the filter (of a right-hand-drive Mk4) is described (with photos) in my 26 April 2024 posting on this forum thread. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/516188-fusebox-opening-on-mk4-fabia/#comment-5847128

It's unlikely that Skoda will ever market a Fabia-size hybrid of any sort. This recent "Autocar" article https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/2025-volkswagen-id-2-will-be-even-better-concept said that VW planned to have an inexpensive Polo-size EV (called the ID2all) on sale in 2026, and I'd expect Skoda to subsequently market a version of that.

I just used the word "catastrophic" because I'm quite fond of it 😀 not because your postings gave any such impression. Prior to buying a Fabia Mk4 I owned a 2021 Hyundai i20. This had a dashboard button for rear window 'defrosting' and had heated exterior rear-view mirrors. However, although the i20 Owner's Manual covered the use of that switch, no mention was made that the switch also turned on mirror heating. It regularly caused confusion among i20 owners. Personally, I prefer the Skoda separate switches approach, though adding a heating-on tell-tale light on the mirror switch would be an improvement. No mirror heating means that, when the weather is wet, rain collecting on the mirrors will obscure vision and won't be dispersed rapidly by air passing over them. That's when mirror heating earns its keep.

To the best of my knowledge no Skoda car (historically or current) has a tell-tale light to indicate that its exterior heated rear-view mirrors are turned on. As the mirror-heaters only operate when the car's engine is running (as stated on the image provided by Stonekeeper above) its hardly catastrophic if one forgets to turn them off (which I often do). There's a longish posting about this on the Enyaq forum (though I don't know if all of the technical information is correct). https://www.enyaqforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1775

If you wanted the plastic cup-holder insert, the Part Number is 6VA8625319B9 Additionally, there is a rubber 'mat' that fits into the bottom of the insert and its Part Number is 6548633019B9

If the Skoda UK website is to be believed (!!!) all MY2025 Fabia models (cheapest to most expensive) marketed in the UK should have, as standard, a "Central console with removable cup holder and storage box". Apparently, for a while in the past, the Fabia MK4 cup-holder insert was not fitted as standard in some countries (eg. Australia) and needed to be specified as an option. Odd that your car has no front-console cup holders, but still has a removable plastic insert. I could understand getting rid of the plastic insert completely to save a little money, but keeping the insert but deleting its cup-holders would hardly be a selling point.

Not sure who sent you that link, though I provided it on 19 November 2024 when you asked about parking windscreen wipers i(in the 'service position') when snowy weather was likely. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/528129-i-cannot-remember-how-to-park-my-wipers-ready-for-the-snow/#comment-5898185 The SKODA Storyboard homepage is here https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/ and - as it has a search capability - is potentially useful for things other than windscreen wipers.

This 2019 Fabia Mk3 forum discussion may be of interest https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/467597-new-fabia-owner-clutch-concern/

This September 2024 discussion on the forum relating to Volkswagen "T-Cross" models highlighted the same 'no gear-number in D' issue that you've asked about. https://www.tcrossforums.co.uk/threads/2024-dsg-1-5-cockpit-gear-number-display.1351/ From the many online discussions about this, the present position appears to be that recently built VAG cars with the 1.5 litre EVO2 motor and DSG now show D, E, S1-S7 or M1-M7 on the Virtual Cockpit (VC) display, whereas same-model, slightly older, cars could show D1-D7, E1-E7, S1-S7 or M1-M7 on the VC. As the issue apparently is VAG-wide and affects Audi, Seat and VW brands as well as Skoda, I'm doubtful that Skoda's infoline will be in a position to provide a credible reason why things have changed and (I suspect) might well refer you to VW.(In fact, it might be worth you contacting a Volkswagen dealership yourself to see if they can provide any sort of explanation other than "That's the way it is". No longer being able to display D1-D7 or E1-E7 on the VC seems to be a VAG-wide 'limitation' and not a 'fault', so I can't see VAG dealerships putting effort into exploring the reasoning behind the change. If suitable diagnostic equipment were used to compare the software of a 2023 Monte Carlo (that shows D1-D7 or E1-E7 on the VC) with that of a 2024 Monte Carlo (that just shows D or E) it might be possible to spot differences in pre-set options or coding that might allow the earlier gear-number display to be re-enabled - but persuading a Skoda dealership to carry out that experiment would be difficult.

This German video of a 2023 Fabia Monte Carlo 1.5 TSI with DSG transmission being driven at high speed on the autobahns is perhaps more legible than the one KaroqCZ referenced and clearly shows D1-D7 appearing on the Virtual Cockpit (VC) display as well as S1-S7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBJ7rD2N1WE Conversely, this German video of a 2024 Fabia Monte Carlo 1.5 TSI with DSG transmission and VC being driven on country roads clearly shows just D being displayed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uc03_vu2Pg It may be concluded then that displaying D rather than D1-D7 is a feature of Fabia Monte Carlo 1.5 TSI DSG models from 2024-onwards and not unique to KaroqCZ's vehicle.

As 2024 Fabia Mk 4 models with DSG but without the Virtual Cockpit (VC) show D1-D7 on the dashboard display and it's evident know that Fabia Mk 4 Monte Carlo models with the same specification as KaroqCZ's car used to show D1-D7 on the VC, there's no logical explanation as to why his car's VC just shows D. The idea that deliberately showing just D is to to reduce driver-distraction is basically flawed. If that were the case, wouldn't Skoda choose to just show S and M rather than S1-S7 and M1-M7, or remove gear-related distraction completely by showing no gear-number? Like KaroqCZ's dealership, I can't see any credible reason for deliberately replacing the D1-D7 readout with just D (but keeping S1-S7 and M1-M7) and, when this strange omission has been discussed on this and other VW Group forums in the past, no credible explanation has ever been forthcoming. It will be interesting to learn what the Skoda infoline's response will be...

Having looked at videos of left-hand-drive Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo cars that have the 1.5 TSI motor and the Virtual Cockpit (VC) being driven, it is evident that 2023 models could display D1-D7 DSG gear-selections on the VC. As your car is a 2024 model, it looks like only D being displayed on the VC is a quite recent change (as you've said). Suggest you ask a Skoda dealership about this just in case it is peculiar to your car and whether the dealership can check/modify the software so that D1-D7 are shown.

KaroqCZ This 2021 BRISKODA forum discussion related to Octavia Mk 4 models that had a Virtual Cockpit (VC) instrument-cluster displaying the same 'no-gear-number in D mode' that you highlighted in your initial posting. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/489629-gear-selection-display-on-virtual-cockpit/ One posting in the discussion said when you select Sport mode the indicator changes to S and it shows the selected gear e.g. S2, S3, ... Also when you shift gears manually M2, M3, ... but not in normal mode The Fabia Mk 4 was first marketed in 2021. Since then, it's likely that the majority of Fabia Mk 4s sold that had a DSG would have had a 'conventional' instrument-cluster (not a VC) and - as I said earlier - my 2024 Fabia DSG's conventional instrument-cluster DOES display D1-D7. I'm guessing that all Fabia Mk 4s with a DSG + VC combination (or possibly just every Mk 4 with the 1.5litre motor, DSG and VC) that have been sold since 2021 have never displayed D1-D7, but you are the first owner to draw attention to this. If you carry out a GOOGLE-search using gear selection display on virtual cockpit you'll find a fair amount of moaning about this omission. This link discussed using the OBDeleven tool to hack an Audi's software, but does not appear to have been successful. https://forum.obdeleven.com/thread/15293/gear-number I can appreciate that it would be considered important for a driver to know exactly which gear a DSG transmission is in when the car is in Sport (S) or Manual (M) mode. When in Normal (D) mode, the driver will have chosen to pass gear-shift control to the DSG, so the D 'gear number' should matter less. Conversely, as a geeky driver, I'm fond of seeing which D1-D7 gear-number the DSG has selected and when it does this. If my car's instrument-cluster only displayed S1-S7, M1-M7 and D, but not D1-D7, I wouldn't be concerned enough to want to change that. And if my Fabia had the higher performance 1.5 motor with DSG and a VC, but only a D gear indicator, I'd still feel the same, particularly if a change demanded 'hacking' the software. But I'd definitely still wonder why, if S1-S7 and M1-M7 could display on the VC, D1-D7 did not.

Complaints about the lack of a 'gear-number' showing on a Virtual Cockpit (VC) when in normal "D" mode with a DSG transmission go back at least 7 years where some other Volkswagen Group brands are concerned, and there is online discussion about enabling the capability by using a tool like OBDeleven. The issue seems to be confined to the VC as my Fabia's non-VC instrument-cluster displays the gear-number in D, S and M modes.

My Fabia's Owner's Manual includes a section headed "Automatic activation of lights" and this feature's functionality is described as shown below My understanding is that (if a Fabia Mk 4 has this feature) it is brought into play by moving the lighting switch to its AUTO position and moving the windscreen wipers switch to its INT position. (I've not experimented...) Skoda belongs to the Volkswagen Group that - where cars are concerned - includes the Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Cupra, Lamborghini, Bentley and Porsche brands. Skoda tends to be at the back of the queue where development and innovation are concerned, which may or may not be a bad thing. What it does mean though is that if difficult-to-use controls or glitchy electronics appear in Volkswagen-branded models, these will eventually get ported to Skoda cars. So there's no point blaming Skoda - it's Volkswagen that is the culprit.

This link may be of interest https://club.autodoc.co.uk/review/parts/pollen-filter I don't know how the placements in the list were arrived at (based on the number of sales?) and the quality reviews are hardly scientific. (When a product is advertised as 'OE quality', my immediate reaction is to ask "Says who?")