PetrolDave

All the VAG cars I've owned since 1999 (8L S3, 8E S4, 8E A4, 8E S4, 8E RS4, 5E Octavia) have had permanent 12V sockets - which I find really useful when taking a coolbox on holiday. One of the first mods (if not the first) I'm going to do on my Toyota Aygo when the weather allows is to change the 12V socket from switched to permanent (and fit a much bigger battery!).

Many probably still will in the mistaken belief that it will speed up their charging.

Some TVs (not sure about yours) have a VGA connector on them for a direct connection from a PC?

Which in the UK isn't how they are wired on VAG cars - they're always live (but I understand that in some other countries they can be changed to ignition switched just by moving the fuse).

Well it works really well for me - before I had the solar charger the battery voltage would be down to 11.6V after a month sitting doing nothing, but with it the battery voltage was 12.6V under the same conditions. So my experience is that the solar chargers DO work despite what the person at your Skoda dealer said.

Chinese potholes are deeper???

I fitted something very similar to this on my previous Citroen C1, just wired in parallel with the existing horn so a short press just sounded the OEM horn but a longer press allowed the compressor to spool up and make a MUCH louder noise! https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-accessories/interior-car-accessories/ring-12-volt-compact-twin-air-horn-242268.html

Read further down the thread (start at page 11) and you will see that a few months ago that changed - they now add a replacement 'Park' microswitch to fix the problem.

In the Octavia III forum there's a thread on this very subject, the replacement microswitch is now an official fix so no need to go to your local garage as a Skoda dealer should do it. See https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/426096-error-service-leave-vehicle-only-when-selector-in-position-p/?tab=comments#comment-4833562

Planned and organised would be when they have a buyer, which is in the vast majority of cases for high value vehicles or newly launched vehicles in the media spotlight - neither of which categories would IMHO include a Skoda. Don't get me wrong, I love my Octavia but having come from an Audi RS4 (which received a lot of media coverage at launch and some people were even selling them at a profit for several months after launch) the difference in attention from media, public and scrotes is very noticeable.

I vaguely remember being told by one of the engine management experts I worked with at an automotive consultancy that the rev hang was an attempt to keep the cat at working temperature and was most likely to be needed on smaller engines (less gas flow) - which may explain why it's most noticeable on the 1.0 compared to the 1.2?

My first gut feel is that they should look at the oil feed/drain to the turbo bearings, if that's not allowing sufficient flow/pressure the bearings will fail prematurely.

You need to ask Skoda UK why they recommend such an early cambelt change - this has been discussed many times on here without a good technical reason being forthcoming. I had my cambelt changed last year (2015 1.4TSI). No there is no indication on the Amundsen about cambelt, just service intervals without giving any details of content.

This all reminds me of something that one of the senior engineers at the Ford Research Centre in Dunton Essex said to me a few years ago:

Two turbo failures in 7390 miles and less than 2 years - something isn't right

Was this Marshalls in Barnstaple? I've not been impressed with them and now take my Octavia to a local independent garage.

I see the same voltages with a voltmeter in the 12V socket. When driving you can tell when the battery is "fully charged" as the voltage drops from 14.6V to 13.2V.

The turbo bearings are oil lubricated so it's almost certain that changing the turbo will result in some oil loss, so they absolutely MUST check the oil level after a turbo change and topup if necessary (it probably will be).

Gears not straight cut? I believe some VAG gearboxes even have synchromesh on reverse - I could put my RS4 into reverse while still rolling without crunching?

I also use ignore for the persistent posters that annoy me, it makes the site a lot more pleasant and much less stressful.

What I don't understand is why the Prius Plug-in needs so much bigger battery capacity/size/amount of cells than the normal Prius?

If they're only moving up & down then it looks like AFS is disabled.

I thought that too until I carefully looked at the first post in this thread - there it shows three options for spare wheels, the first of which refers to the 205/60 R16 as a space-saver

Wow look at how much more expensive the Prius Plug-in battery cost is than any of the others Can anyone explain that huge difference?

No it's not a full size wheel, on the SE First Edition it's only available with 17" alloy wheels so even if it might have the same rolling circumference it won't have the same tread width and hence will not provide the same grip. Since it's not the same size as the other 3 wheels then you cannot legally drive at normal speeds when it's fitted because the grip and handling will be adversely affected (three grippy wheels and one slightly iffy wheel is a recipe for a nasty moment).