Rory

As ours is a similar age I'd be keen to hear about what the brake pad issue is - had to get the rear pads and discs done unexpectedly on daughter's Ateca (noted at 50% at previous service) and it was horribly expensive even with 10% off but didn't have time to shop around are argue about it. I asked our village garage and they were iffy about whether their diagnostic kit could deal with the EPB. I've mentioned it elsewhere but the Ateca (late 2018 model) rides so much better than the Karoq. It is on 17" CrossClimates but the difference in the way the car feels "planted" on the road, yet is compliant over poor surfaces, feels far greater than just inch smaller wheels would suggest. We've run winter wheel and tyre sets on other cars and there's not been a noticeable difference.

I had a few random things replaced under All In on our Tiguan - broken rear light switch and the recirculating flap motor (the flap motor is a common fault but many probably don't notice - the dealer seemed completely bemused by it). Was never asked to pay a diagnostic fee and if I was I'd expect it to be covered by the warranty if a fault was found. Did you buy the car from that dealer? If so, I'd be even more annoyed to be asked to pay. As it's a safety item, I'd be gobsmacked if there's any issue getting it fixed. On a Merc I had, they fixed an airbag fault under goodwill at 5yrs old.

Did you look at the "All In" package?

Funnily enough - I asked if they had an Elroq yet that I could look at. As it happens, I got a generic email off the dealer a couple of days ago to say they'll be the first in the country to get an Elroq for a few days but it goes back the day before I'm due to go in.

It's never going to make financial sense to keep changing cars. Buy the cheapest car you can and run until it has to be scrapped. But what's the fun in that?

He may not have got £6.5K off without the p/x though. What are the current broker prices on Karoq SEL? I got a good price through Boundless (using Griffin) a couple of years ago but I would have had to collect the car from Aldershot (I'm in Chester). Bearing in mind I've had several issues on collection with new cars, I really don't fancy buying one at any great distance. I was surprised the dealer we p/x'd our Tiguan to for £11.500 put it up for £12,995. I enquired about changing the Karoq (bought at 16mths old) for a new one as we had some issues with it initially and they seemed to want £10K across it. based on what they had 2yr old ones up for. Ours is due for first MOT in a couple of weeks and I emailed the sales guy we got it off to see if we could have a chat while I'm in - I got a read receipt for the email in 10 mins but he hasn't replied, so I assume they're not that bothered about trying to sell new ones.

I changed the wipers within days of getting ours - how on earth can they be so bad! The a/c is noisy in hot weather - like there's another fan behind the dash, They changed the compressor but by the time they did it the weather had cooled down so it wasn't so noticeable but it's still there. Our Kamiq is silent and so is the Ateca (although the Ateca's compressor did fail too). I had a courtesy Karoq one time and that was noisy too. It's enough that we turn the a/c off if not needed (but run it for a bit most trips). Garage had the car for days trying to find the front suspension noise - turned out to be the strut pistons knocking on the bump stops. There's a TSB that says to grease them but it's coming back again. DSG judders a bit from rest. Car is just generally crashy and rattly. As mentioned earlier, the 18" 50% profile tyres don't help, but the Kamiq is also on 18's at 45% and that drives fine.

Did anyone take them up on their offer? It seems an odd thing to offer when people are collecting their car - what do they do, ask people to come back for a charging session? The SEAT dealer we use recommends a coolant change every 2yrs, and their booking staff get miffed if you say no.

RAC is legendary awful. We've used the AA a few times and it's worked OK - daughter called Skoda Assist (AA came) a few weeks ago after a puncture on the motorway. She was right by a junction so got off and they came, changed the wheel (I'd got a spare as an accessory) and she was only 30 mins late into work.

I don't know really. We usually buy new and keep until some reason to change - the Tiguan was an EU6 diesel and as the All In cover came to end I was bit panicky about what could go wrong. We recently bought an EV for one of our daughters - she does a lot of miles so went for Hyundai Kona mainly due to warranty and that (touch wood) Hyundai seem to have cracked EVs. However my wife (who normally takes no interest in cars whatsoever) was very taken with Volvo XC/EX40. I don't know if it's the same everywhere, but we see absolutely loads of them around us. Interestingly I'm running that daughter's 2018 SEAT Ateca at the moment. It was made in the Karoq factory and is, of course, effectively the same car as Karoq. It's a 1 litre manual and it's nudging 90K miles but it drives really nicely - it feels more planted on the road, yet is somehow more complaint on poor surfaces. It's on 17" wheels vs Karoq's 18's, but the difference in feel is more marked than that would suggest.

We got ours (wife's really) at just over a year old and it's just coming up to its first MOT. Had a number of issues with it, and just as disappointing has been the dealer, a local family owned place that everyone thinks is marvellous but they must have taken a dislike to me. Latest thing is them flatly denying the MOT is covered by the Approved Used package. I emailed the salesguy - I got a read receipt but he hasn't bothered replying. Contrast that to the late mk1 Tiguan wife had from new until 8yrs old and was looked after by a small VW dealer who were pretty marvellous. Would have had a mk2 Tiguan but wife thought it was too big!

This happened to a car we had a few yrs ago - it was pretty well only used for a decent commute and it became noticeable that whereas it used to go a week between fill-ups every Saturday it was suddenly getting a day earlier each week. I spent some time on it, and so did the dealer. Never did get to the bottom of it.

Hmm...well I did take a PCP to get the package and the deposit contribution, but then withdrew. I've withdrawn before on new VW Group cars, but the sales guy suggested it this time. He assured me the package would remain unaffected, however I see there's a note right at the foot of that page: "4. Two free MOTs (if due) available at participating Škoda Retailers. MOT certificate must be presented when paying for your MOT. Valid for Solutions Personal Contract Plan customers only." So I wonder of you have to keep the PCP going and they send you a voucher at MOT time?

Yet more hassle with our dealer - just booked car for its first MOT and I'm certain that the Approved Package it was sold with included 2 services, 2yrs warranty, 2yrs breakdown, and 2 MOTs. Dealer flatly denied the MOT was included and asked if I had any paperwork to show it was included. I recall asking for this at the time and being told not to worry about it, it's all online. Of course all that's online is the service package (and that shows 2 services unused, even though I've used one). Anyone else been through this? I know it's not a big deal, but this dealer has an almost revered reputation locally yet I've had too much hassle with both them and the car.

I've just taken over my daughter's 2018 Ateca 1.0 manual SE-L - she's had it from new and done 87,000 miles in it. Just as you say, it feels absolutely rock solid - it even absorbs poor road surfaces in a most remarkably compliant way, yet feels "planted" on the road. Compared to wife's 22, 10K mile Karoq, the difference is remarkable - her's crashes and rattles about all over the place. The Ateca is on 17" CrossClimate tyres, the Karoq on 18" Primacy's, but I can recall collecting the Ateca new when it had Bridgestone tyres (often described as being like iron rings!) and being immediately impressed with it. Can't help on fuel consumption - supposedly some VW Group cars have different throttle mapping which could explain the response, but not really the MPG. I did put super-unleaded in our Karoq once and it seemed to go a bit mental - it became altogether sharper.

We were given a similar document to the above from work - I think it was done by Loughborough University. However the only way I could get comfortable in the Mercedes C Class I had at the time was to place a rolled up towel just above the base of my back. Never had issues in any other car, and I find our Karoq fine although I've only done one long trip in it.

I have a Kona EV on order for one of our daughters - on the SpeakEV forum there are one or two Hyundai fan-boys but most people are very unhappy with both Hyundai and its dealers. I found it harder than it should have been to even the buy the Kona - even our highly regarded local dealer told me several things that were nonsence and they advertised a nearly-new car as having a leather interior (a hefty priced option) when it didn't.

Those people don't work for Volkswagen UK (all the brands come under them). They're employed by an American call centre operator, TTEC. Their entire role seems to be to fob people off.

The warranty is in addition to your statutory rights. However, things aren't cut and dried with an issue like the one you described, where it's not black and white whether it's a fault or not.

Did you buy the car from a Skoda dealer? Has it actually got the kangerooing issue?

Blimey - CrossClimate's bad in the wet? I don't think I've ever seen anyone say that before.

The wiring flexing when freezing cold can't be a good thing. I disabled auto-folding on ours, but it's parked out of the way on drive, I suppose it'd be a nuisance to remember if you want them folded in routinely.

I don;t know how much jiggery pokery was involved but we got All In on our Tiguan when it was just coming up to 6yrs old. The car had an exteneded warranty until the day before its 6th birthday which at the time I was being told couldn't be cancelled, and the car had to have an inspection to go on All In (they dropped that after a couple of years). so the dealer booked it in for All In inspection, MOT and service the day before it was 6 and did it all on the All In plan. I wasn't sure it was going to work, but they were completely laid back about it, and it worked fine (at least, as far as I was concerned). Mind you the "additional Items" bill on that service for a/c, brake fluid and haldex weren't far off as much as a service would have cost. I felt obliged to have them as they'd done them all FOC when the car was 3yrs old due to a mix-up and having to go back to get them done.

I think the tool is just that - the VW bolt cover remover. They use the same spare wheel kit across mulitple models and it sems to always have that tool. Our Ateca has similar bolt covers to Karoq and that came with the wire tool too, but didn't have the tweezers, so I just bought some off eBay.

I suppose they're "slightly worn" the moment the car drives out of the factory. When they tell you stuff like this, you do always feel like you're being softened up for a future hit.