numskull

IME, once you have it, you’ll never want to go back to a manual system again.

I really wouldn’t do that, unless you want the strip to spring off the door; it uses friction grips to hold it in place. A couple of years ago, the strip on the OS rear door was loose and rattling on ours. I got a rubber mallet and a 10cm x 3cm block of pine and, placing the 10cm length against the strip, I tapped it all along the strip. No more rattle.

Unlike other manufacturers, the VW KESSY system does not operate in that way. To open the driver or front passenger door (on early cars; on later cars one can open all doors) you need to touch the door handle and you need to do the same when you exit the car to lock it. Of course you can use the remote to open / lock the car from a distance. Obviously, you need to be standing at the rear of the car to open the tailgate with the virtual pedal.

Gave up? Didn’t like the look? Thought it looked great? Idiotic decision? Take y’pick!

Disagree. Look at what seems to be the wear on the bottom trim on the quarter light on the OS shot.

Yeah, it’s a build error. I had a white XR4i which had a colour coded NS door mirror and a black one on the OS, unmatched alloys, and no carpet in the boot. QC was top notch on that day in Genk…🙄

Might get a better responses in the Octavia forum?

I wouldn’t think they would. On the front seats, the chance that the seat runners would be in the same location, the seat width would be the same and the electrical controls would be compatible would be, well, unlikely. Putting aside the width, depth and length of the rear cushion matching the Superb, rear seat back fittings will not be the same. And they won’t match the doorcards or headlining. This could be a much better approach….

You could try this…; that worked for me.

Thanks for clarifying, MartiniB! 👍🏻

Thanks MartiniB. Can you clarify what the diagram shows? Is the black line the area under the switch assembly, or is it the gap under this, where the original cable appears? The problem I found was, the large PCB in the shrink sleeving is too thick to stay in the area where switch assembly fits - if it’s there, the switch assembly won’t slot into place - and it’s also too large to go through the hole where the original cable appears.

We drive on the “right” side of the road too, JR. 👍🏻 OK, I’ll give it another go.

This is a dumb question; you did measure it with a warm engine and let it sit on a level service for 20mins before checking? I only asked because I completely forgot and didn’t and thought it was empty! 🙄

Thanks guys. I finally got the switch unit out and plugged in the gizmo, but I could not get the switch unit back in. I tried pushing the block connector at the car end, which was now connected to the gizmo, back into the hole into which the switch unit sits, but it wasn’t having any of it so, not wishing to break anything, I gave up and removed the unit, so Martini and JR, can you tell me how you guys succeeded where I abysmally failed? 😢

What year is your 280? What was the cost of the pump and thermostat?

Nice one and we’ll done for persisting too. 👍🏻 When you say “turning itself very slightly to the left” did that mean you had to constantly apply pressure to the wheel to correct it to the right? I have an annoyance with the steering wheel, in that it’s aligned to the left and it’d have to be set “between splines” to correct it. The tracking is spot-on so I’m loathed to get it fiddled with and “tracked out”, cos as sure as eggs are eggs, they’ll fe*k it up and I’ll have shredded fronts in 1000 miles. 🙄

Cheers JR. Which tool did you use to pry and lever the switch unit out? Also, did you move the stop/start button to position 3 too? I ask as it looks like the cancellation module is connected to the centre switch?

Cheaper than a cooked engine, Colin. It cost over a grand last year to get the fluids changed all round, like you, at a well respected indy.

Bloody heck… think I’ll get the water pump changed, given its going to booger-up anyway!

It’s a mistake, end of. Get evidence and send it to those idiots at TfL. Every single car they can fine, they will; they don’t care.

Jesus, mate?? Yeah, that’s really not good for you.

Our 2016 280 has just passed 40k and my experience in terms of MPG is pretty much identical to those Colin gets. Reliability is a little better than his. The only actual failure we’ve had was a rear wheel speed sensor, which made the dash go nuts. We have it serviced at a brilliant independent. Having seen the number of failures, I’d be surprised if the water pump doesn’t go west at some point. As for performance, it’s amazing. This is a very fast and rare Q car and now I have a Racechip GTS black, which ups it to around 330bhp, performance is spectacular. With a Stage 1 remap, it would be 350+ish. In my opinion, a 280 with a FSH should be absolutely fine.

So did you just pull up on the gear lever gator to remove the cover?

Thanks MartiniB. So that doesn’t damage or mark the plastic when levering the switch unit out?