icarusi@hotmail

I noticed a white vRS FL on a stand at a local dealers, but the lower part of the grille didn't have the outward 'splay' typical of a vRS. Is this new? I can't see an pic online of this grille so far.

Forgotten about that. I think I'll file the coating off the marked part with a diamond nail file.

When you dig it out of the snow, how do you know which is car and which is snow?

And Thursday, so Monday, Tuesday and Friday should be ok. Roads were ok today but the canals are still frozen solid locally. Strange?

My shortest route into town is mostly 30mph with many speed cameras, but my alternate route avoiding the cameras has a steep hill which I've been avoiding since the weather turned bad. First time I've been over 40mph in 2 weeks. Looking forward to the spring/summer now!

Mine seems to be ok with the rectangular 'blob' bumps, although I do slow down to 20mph, but the long plateaus and the short yellow plastic jobs I usually take slower.

Some stuff like jump leads, tow rope and inflator, I used to keep round the spare tyre on my previous car but it had a mechanical boot lock so I could get them out even with a flat battery. With electric locks and a flat battery you can only get into the boot via the back seat squab so I put those things in a folding crate together with some spares and tools which I always kept in the boot.

I got the Octy partly cos my previous car, an older Meganne had a large (wide) boot, due to it's torsion bar suspension, which none of the equivalent cars had, so I (reluctantly) went a size up with the Octy. The Octy boot is larger, if not wider than the Meganne but I'm still half-filling it with residual stuff like I used to do with the Meganne. There seems to be something about 'half-full', there's still room for 'enough' new stuff to go in, but not full enough that I need to empty some of it. How full do you keep your boot?

Years ago I had a new car wing resprayed because the underseal had oversprayed the outer edge of the wing. The respray was fine but over time that wing colour faded at a different rate to the rest of the car. Yours may not, but it is the tell-tale for s/h car buyers that the car's been involved in an accident.

Me neither. I'm usually watching the road. I didn't even notice the blades were different lengths til I removed them.

I'd be tempted to disconnect the battery if you know you won't use it for more than 4 weeks. If you use it for a decent amount every 4 weeks it should be ok or *ensuring* it gets used at least every 4 weeks. Depending on conditions there's a tendency for condensate to get into the engine and oil (unless you're in a heated and humidity controlled storage place) compared to normal running, where moisture gets driven off etc. so each use after a long idle period is a 'sort of' running in for the first part.. There'll probably be a bit more engine wear than optimum and better keeping lube changes to the shorter recommended times.

Have you tried feathering the clutch rather than using throttle (or is it an auto/dsg?)?

I don't think many of the 'German inspired' 3 box cars of this size look that good, but at least they don't look as bad as some of the 'fashion fad' 'designer' models that are the alternative. I think the FL was a definite attempt to put a 'smiley face' on it compared to the pre-FL but it's made the grille look a bit too American, who seem to like all cars to look like a cut down Mack truck. What is it with USA-ans and trucks anyway? I know the Octy is pretty retro-looking but the mechanics are up to date. The US SUV pickup trucks have V8 engines and some ICE inside Ford model-T running gear.The extended cab versions are the worse. The cab is cramped even for kids, but the space it uses reduces the flatback area to virtually useless dimensions. Virtually any other vehicle is more useful than one of those.

Spark plugs tend to loosen suddenly, compared to unscrewing most other things on a car, so watch your knuckles and anything close to your 'levering' hand, to the extent of wrapping a rag over them. Best to use the other hand to keep the socket 'on axis' with the plug (unless you have a sliding bar wrench and can use both hands levering).

It's a LH thread, anticlockwise to screw in. I had a practice while the weather was good. Good tip! AFAIK they use that trick in the Dakar too when stuck in sand

I drove a Mk1 home when it's owner was too wellied after his leaving do. Never driven one before. The gear gate seemed to be asymmetrical, long 1st and 4th (or 2nd and 3rd) and a quarter turn of 'nothing' on the wheel (I'd also had a drink or 2 too).

Do you have the correct spark plug socket and socket wrench? I'd avoid the 'all-in-one' sparkplug wrench as they tend to have too much 'give' and can also snap the top off the plug, not too bad if it's just the porcelain insulator, not good if it shears below the hex! I know, I've done both. I usually use a wooden skewer, cloth and a vacuum cleaner to get muck from around the plug, and prevent it dropping inside the cylinder. With electronic ignition, spark plugs are rarely a problem if everything else is ok. The much higher voltages and lower currents make them last longer.

The alternative is to switch off the ignition when the wipers are running, to park them at any angle you prefer, but remember to switch the wipers to 'off', otherwise when you switch the ignition on next time the wipers will also start, which may not be what you want.

Personally I use engine braking asap on downhills. Brakes, snow, ice and downhill don't mix well. If you need to use much braking you'll already be going too fast. OTOH the engine braking on a new 1.4TSI isn't much unless in 2nd or 3rd, Don't know if setting a lower idle speed would help, although it's improving with age. Like others say winter tyres will help.

Have you checked the crimps to wires from the relay socket? Always worth pulling and refitting (or even changing) any associated fuses. I had an intermittent fault which extinguished the instrument lights, banging the dash to relight, eventually traced to a slightly nudged fuse.

I've got Goodyear Eagle something or other. They don't seem to be any better/worse than my previous car. I only had one bout of slitherin and all the cars in front had problems on the same patch. It was uphill on setts at traffic lights. I couldn't get through the lights on the change, so I kept going to the leveller part of the junction any way, just used common sense and waited for a break in the traffic to complete my left turn. Up until that point I think I was doing slightly better than the other cars in the grip stakes but it may have been my driving style and trying to maintain momentum, in fact the only problems I've had have been when I've had to stop for some reason, if I can keep rolling, even slowly it's usually ok. The turbo lag is a help but I may try some 2nd gear starts if things get tricky in future.

If the handbook is to be believed all sorts of stuff happens with the rear lights under hard braking, flashing brakes and hazards depending on how severe the braking. The recommendation with ABS is the harder the better if you need to stop ASAP. Don't know if it's the case on snow/ice, I suspect not.

I don't like sunglasses for low angle sun glare. I find I can't see enough detail in the shadows, so just use the visor as far as possible. With high angle sun I don't get the same problem using sunglasses, I do play with the seat height. I prefer as low as possible so I can see under cars at the brow of a hill, but ratchet the height to minimise the visor gap when needed. It may be worth trying sports glasses with swappable lenses before deciding on a prescription pair. The graduated shades may be easier to control than a single tint.

I decided to remove the wiper blades a couple of nights ago as they were icing up and it seemed like a quick way to de-ice them. They were *very* easily removed, such that I'd always remove them now if I leave the car with them parked vertically. The only problem remaining is the arm end joints still ice up, especially the pivot pin, so I need something easily replaced to shroud them. I did accidentally find something to clear the trough. I was taking out various scrapers and dropped one on the kitchen floor. It was a long handled brush with a scraper at the end. After I'd dropped it, the scraper part broke off, just leaving the brush. Without the scraper it fits into the trough and doesn't get wedged into the narrow trough corners.

Nothing major, quite a few minor niggles some common to all current cars, ultra dark interiors for instance. Road noise is probably the worst. If I travelled a regular route on the coarse surfacing which seems to be worse for noise generating, I'd be *very* annoyed! Right now it's the wiper trough and the inordinate amount of faffing needed to clear it (having to clear it at all from leaves or snow) or lift the wipers from it.