Eccles

Honda are now saying change cam belts at 100,000 miles or 90k if the car was made before 1997. I guess they must be using vastly superior belts to those used by VW, NOT!

Oh and do not buy the seriously overpriced Castrol stuff, I have been getting VW 502.00 from Drivetec on ebay for years, made in UK too I believe.

My battery did almost six years and I am a low mileage user. My reliable mobile mech said it might have done more but for the wretched start/stop. So guess what? I always turn the dam thing off these days. I also take the car up to town around once a month (20 miles) to do a combined shopping and battery charging trip.

Here is an example of how to wear out brakes and tyres quickly (lots of people do). Just up the road from me at the end of a straight are a set of traffic lights. From some distance away one can see what the traffic lights are doing and take appropriate action but time after time I observe folk rushing up to the lights and braking firmly in the last 50 yards. BTW the "front assist" on my Fabia has never come on in six and a half years.

I drove for nearly 50 years without a/c and did not die. Conclusion it's another expensive gimmick which I do not need and I never use it.

£70 for a re-gas? That's very pricey, my local garage did mine for £45 and they are not the cheapest.

My car is also 2015 1.2 TSI. I can just about hear your recording but nothing that I would worry about, "nasty" noises are usually far more strident. Perhaps the radio is on but "off station" which can sometimes produce such effects.

Sounds about right to me and of course the debate about belts vs chains continues. Mine has a belt but according to my bro (recently retired service manager) belts continue to improve compared with when they first arrived with some doing 100k miles or more and are a dam sight easier to change than belts. VW recommends (not mandates) five years but mine is now in it's seventh year because I don't do the miles.

1. Don't always believe what "dealers" tell you, sad to say that there are quite a few who are dishonest as I have found in my now 50 years of motoring. 2.Fabia-format is probably right because my own dealer told me 40,000 miles not Km when I asked him a while back. 3. Whenever I move house I always get on Facebook or similar and try to find peoples' opinions of garages/mechanics in the area and don't go on just one or two opinions, you need more than that. This time I got lucky (about a year ago) and found a mobile mechanic with lots of "likes". He turned out to be quite knowledgeable and very reasonably - £35/hour. He did an inspection and oil change on both of our cars for just £78 although I did buy the oil myself because I know where to get it for a sensible price.

Hopefully someone will reply soon but you are not supposed to change spark plugs until 65,000 km so why are you messing about with them? I think you mean MFD not MDF which stands for muilti function display which is of course that black screen sitting in the middle of the dash board. There are number of "settings" on it which can be accessed and I can't go any further than that but have a look through them as It may be reasonably obvious which change needs to be made.

Hey thanks for that stevo, good bit of advice for all of us.

You guys got me all worried as I can recall the problems we all had with rust back 40 - 50 years ago. Mine is outside all the time so anyway went and had a close look at the supposed dodgy area mentioned but pleased to report at six years old it's as clean as a whistle. Maybe one or two of you have suffered from the friday afternoon syndrome.

The actual Gates kit is around £60 at present and my mobile mech (v.experienced and reliable) had a look last year and said "Fairly easy job, I'll do it for £200 ". Which means he gets £140 for himself. As it takes about three hours I believe, that sounds about right to me. £400+ has to be a rip off IMO - £400 less £60 = £340/3hours = £113 per hour which is what solicitors charge. My local independent charges £60/hour I am told.

At my age one has to laugh about all this palaver. One of the first cars I had did not have expensive folded up bits of paper, just a double fine wire mesh which would stop insects and leaves. One took it out quite easily about every three months or so, cleaned it out with a brush under a running tap and shoved it back in - a five minute job.

Canoe my friend these people are trying to seriously rip you off and you need to stay away from these thieves because that is what they are:- 1. Discs will always go slightly rusty in wet weather if you haven't used the car for a few days but the rust rubs off in seconds directly you drive out of your front gate and stop at the first junction, they are usually good for at least 30k miles unless you drive with your foot resting on the brake pedal. 2. At the first service I asked my main dealer what some of the service intervals were:- Spark plugs 40k, air filter 40k, pollen filter 20k but leave if it is still clean (personally I don't bother because I don't suffer from hay fever). Cam belt is five years not four and that is only a VW recommendation not a must do, if it still in good condition leave it for another year. I know nothing about a DSG oil change but it seems an expensive job so do your own research before having it done; I have found VW tech dept quite helpful when emailing them. Have you got an independent garage in your area with a good reputation?

Glenn, can I remind you of what a man from Skoda technical told me:- It's a "recommendation" not a "must do" because VW like to play ultra safe because of the way some people treat their cars. He also said "You should be good for seven years but I can't officially say that." Also if you look up cam belt change for a Honda it wil currently say 7 years or 75k miles and Honda are known for reliability are they not? Does this mean that Honda use a much better belt than VW do, I think not and will not be changing my belt until next year (2015 1.2 TSI)

It didn't take me long to find a suitable EFB battery for £85, free postage on ebay last year and my wonderful mobile mechanic fixed up the BMS with his electronic device (don't know what they are called) for a fiver. So yah boo sucks to main dealers and Halfords.

....and apparently they areimproving cam belts all the time. Ford now says for the B-max,C-max and Fiesta it's 150k miles ot ten years. VW UK are having a laugh with their 5 year "recommendation". My bro (recently retired service manager) reckons it will probably soon be "lifetime" as he has taken off belts which have done 80/90k miles are there is still nothing wrong with them.

The problem is that wretched stop/start system which can really cane the poor old battery in some circumstances, i.e. if you do a lot of town driving so that it that your engine is often stopping and starting. When I bought mine I had the service manager explain exactly what it was all about and from then on always turned it off with that little button marked "A" on the dashboard. Result battery lasted six years before it began to seem a bit weak. Oh and BTW get your stop/start battery on ebay rather than the likes of Halfords - mine was £85 rather than the disgusting amount Halfords ask.

Had the same happening to my 2015 Estate (EFB battery) last year during cold weather and only 3-5 mile trips and doing a 10 mile trip made it happier. Eventually got in touch with my very knowledgable mobile mechanic in early summer. "Well it's probably nearing it's end, unless you turn off the stop/start, after 5 years it's been well used" says he. On his advice got a new battery last autumn and surprise, surprise, no warnings since even in the last cold snap. I believe that VW recommend a new battery after 5 years too. I eventually found one for about £85 on ebay so don't get ripped off by Halfords or Quickfit who want about £130 I believe.

Don't understand all this at all, there has got to be something wrong somewhere and you dealer knows it but has not sufficient intergrity to do the right thing. I just changed my EFB battery at 5 years 7months and the replacement stop/start battery bought in the UK cost me £83. I do not know what £'s a dealer would want and care less because my reliable "mobile" mechanic helped me to install it for just £10. Unfortunately EU rules require all cars now to be fitted with "stop/start" because they imagine that the policy will contribute to reduced air pollution and global warming. Not true of course because most people switch it off (me included) in order to get a longer life from the battery.

Never seen it and if I did I wouldn't worry about it; a little bit of condensation is not going to have much effect on a 55 watt headlamp is it. However, why not nip into your usual MOT man and ask him straight before you get close to your MOT date?, mostof them are pretty decent in my experience.

Yes, same here but I still look in the mirrors when reversing. When I first started using the facility, I actually did a little test at home on the driveway:- I carefully and slowly reversed until the tone was continuous then stopped and got out have a look. The back of the car was still about 35 cms away from the wall which gave me a lot more confidence at my age (77) in using it to reverse in tight situations.

My move was from a 1.4 Roomster and the first thing I noticed was the extra shove from the turbo and the significant MPG improvement - 42 to 57 mpg. Wanted another Roomster really but they stopped boo hoo. Never mind, I have been v.happy with my 1.2 estate and on a long run it will do 60 mpg have to agree with rum4mo

Hmm, sounds a bit ominous. The reason I went Skoda in the first place (2010) was a perception that I would get a reliable car at a competitive price. Since then they keep on adding more bells and whistles and the price follows. I may well have to look elsewhere next time because I have no use for bells and whistles. A Sandero perhaps.