PetrolDave

... and can't afford to do the PDI properly in some cases.

It's not just about cost of the charger, it's also about the cost to change from an ICE to a BEV. It seems to me many members on here are in a much better financial position than millions of people in the UK who are struggling to feed themselves or pay their energy bills - so the cost of borrowing to change to a BEV is for them simply not affordable. Just because (it seems to me) many posters in this thread don't have those worries doesn't mean it's right to assume everyone is in that enviable position [/rant]

If you can't afford the upfront cost then the lower unit cost is irrelevant, and you'll keep driving an ICE.

At least we agree on something. The point I'm making is that for many people upfront costs are the problem to switch from ICE to BEV, and grants need to ofer more help if Net Zero targets are to be met.

£350 off the cost of installing both a chargepoint AND a cross-pavement charging solution will still result in a fairly large bill (£2000 - £350 = £1650). These grants don't seem to come close to the actual costs - same as the grants for installing heat pumps don't come close to the cost or replacing a gas boiler (and upgrading some radiators and fitting a hot water storage system if you have a combi boiler). The move to greener homes and vehicles is going to be slow unless and until grants come closer to matching the costs.

Not on the Octavia 3 which still has a proper manual handbrake not a complicated EPB (which can be a nightmare when replacing the rear brake pads).

Seems to me you are both agreeing that the brake lights are on with Auto Hold?

Interesting, it fitted my previous 2015 Octavia 3 estate and fits my 2016 Octavia 3 hatch?

VCDS is a diagnostic tool, not a mapping/re-programming tool. There is a decent online user manual and videos on the Ross-Tech website for VCDS.

Fuel Flap Door Release

I only use the handbrake when stopped/parked on a steep hill - as backup insurance for the park lock. The only times I use P while on a journey are when a stop is going to be a long one (so I don't have to sit on the brake pedal and annoy the car behind) or when I'm stopped on a steep hill (when I also use the handbrake as mentioned above) - a good example is when sitting on the Leap Gate road at the traffic lights at West Ashton on the A350 for those who know the area. I always move the selector swiftly from D to P, there's no need to move slowly.

I thought the 1.8 and 2.0 FSI engines in the Octavia have a 5th injection in the inlet manifold to avoid this issue? My previous car was a direct injection 4.2V8 with some owners complaining of power loss due to carbon buildup, but on proper investigation the power loss was due to vacuum leaks in the variable inlet flap system. So my experience is that power loss due to carbon buildup is greatly overstated.

Sadly that means currently a BEV is not for the many millions of people who live in cities and have to park on the road - often nowhere near their own house, so any charging point they can access will be a public one.

VCDS 23.11 won't work with generic cables, only VCDS-Lite works with generic cables. To work with VCDS you need a genuine VCDS cable (NOT a clone if you want support).

My stepson said yesterday that the insurance on his Tesla Model S is just over £1500 - he has a clean driving licence held for over 20 years and lives in rural Hampshire so it seems a ridiculous amount.

Price per kWh going down, but standing charge price going up.

This is something I've pointed out several times on here, many owners seem to think that updating the visible infotainment software updates the whole car - it does not! So quoting the infotainment software version when discussing many other problems e.g engine or ABS is irrelevant.

VAG/Skoda don't update maps for more than 5 years after the infotainment system stopped being used in production. A 2014 Scout will have a MIB1 Amundsen which was last used in production in mid 2015, hence the newest maps are 2020/2021.

Not VAG but... when I had the timing belt replaced on a Vauxhall 1.6 16V engine the dealer didn't replace the tensioner. One week later the tensioner failed causing the timing to massively change and 12 valves hit the pistons requiring a new head, 16 new valves and 4 new pistons - glad I had taken out an extended Vauxhall warranty.

Ross-Tech currently in negotiations with VW about adding SFD unlocking to VCDS.

That open circuit voltage measurement tells you nothing about the internal resistance of the battery, the only meaningful test is a load test.

How does the car's WiFi get coverage? - using the terrestrial mobile network (not satellite), so if there's no or poor mobile coverage then that's unlikely to be any better.

Off Topic warning Wasn't much help to those people in the Peak District who had no power for over 24 hours after a storm, and had to drive several miles to get mobile coverage. With new builds not having any copper feed, only fibre, there are an increasing number of people reliant on often patchy mobile coverage to make emergency calls - be tragic but interesting when the media get hold of a story about someone dying because they couldn't make a 999 call following a power cut...

Which includes the Mk3 Octavia L&K TSI.

No is the simple answer. Variable servicing interval is reduced from the maximum on driving style, not on oil condition which there is no sensor to measure.