wills

...so all still seems well after nearly 400 miles... I dipped the oil this morning before I left when it was stone cold and this was the result... I haven't had a chance to dip it hot yet as it's either been raining or dark! I will dip it tomorrow when it is warm so I can show a comparison photo... -Will

Hi everyone, Sorry, haven't had a chance to post since I got the car back as I have been busy with work - booo! :( Anyway, I got the car back yesterday (Thursday) at around 1630. When I got the car back I had a few questions lined up that I wanted to ask, these were as follows... 1 - Engine number - the same or different? - The engine number on my vehicle has remained the same. The new engine comes with a blank that is then stamped by the dealer upon installation of the new engine into the car. 2 - How should I drive it? - I was curious as to how I should treat the new engine. My original engine I treated 'normally', i.e. I just drove it as normal, if I wanted to use the full rev range I did and if I wanted to just potter along I would. However, the dealer said to me I should be "gentle" with the engine for the first 500 miles, I was not to "drive it like I stole it" and I should not "redline" it at all during this time (all their words not mine). I am following this advice and just pottering around in it - not going much past 4k RPM at all. 3 - Servicing? - I wanted to know whether I needed to bring it back in after 1,000 miles for an oil change like when I first got the vehicle. I was told this was not needed and I should come back at the next service point should I not encounter any problems. I did comment that this seemed odd as it was a new engine but got told that it was no problem. So since getting the car back I have covered roughly 100 miles and all seems well. I have been listening out for anything strange and also been keeping an eye for anything strange. Everything has been put back together to a high standard - I have gone over the engine quite closely and I can't find anything loose, no hanging cables and no missing bolts. All is working well and I have got my fingers crossed everything will stay that way. I shall be dipping the oil tomorrow at some point as part of my weekend checks I do - hopefully I can go back to this rather than every other day as I got to at one point. Hopefully this brings a close to my oil consumption issues. The dealer has been fantastic through all this and has always kept me up to date so thumbs up to Progress Skoda of Northampton! -Will

Another update - went to the dealer today as I was passing and nipped in to see how things were going... As expected - engine already swapped and to be honest, not far off being done - this was at around 1400. Tech expected to have car running that evening with test driving tomorrow... Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly! -Will

Hello everyone... Just an update - car went in today and it appears it is getting a long engine and not a short one as previously told... Here it is in all it's glory... Was surprised at quite how light it is to be honest - I asked the tech who was going to be doing the work on my vehicle some questions about the new engine and he lifted the whole thing up towards him with no difficulty at all - it seems so light! Anyway, it comes with all new sensors, injectors and even a new oil filler cap! Everything else looks like it is going to be transferred from the previous engine. Will keep everyone updated... -Will

Just come back from the garage... The car used 0.15kg (150 grams) of oil is just over 189.7 miles (just over because I didn't reset the counter the moment I left on Monday). This is OUTSIDE of SUK's tolerance and a new engine is being ordered for me. The work will commence on the 5th November. I guess I am finally happy with the result but it was a bit of a marathon getting to this point, that, plus the fact I have never owned a car that has needed a new engine within 30,000 miles! I asked what exactly a new engine meant and it would seem it means a new short engine. So existing ancillaries plus head and assorted bits will be re-used. I will be interested to see the state of the 3rd pot when it is pulled apart as I would like to know whether that spark plug really was burnt away or whether it has damaged the cylinder walls or head or anything else for that matter. Will keep this thread updated as things pan out. To everyone who is having oil problems just keep an eye on it and start recording data, as in, how often you are topping it up, how many miles between fills, any smoke coming from the exhaust under acceleration, misfiring etc. It would appear that this all really helps in getting things sorted, that along with being very persistent at the dealer! -Will

ok, got car back, got to cover 180 miles now! Cylinder 3 is the 3rd one from the right of the oil cap/timing chain end. I don't really know what to say about your situation but if you read my thread I started getting trouble with engine light, the 3rd coil pack was replaced. Then I started having trouble with Cyl 1. I had this coil pack replaced along with all plugs and this temporarily fixed the fault. If you read this entire thread you will see the history of whats been happening with my vehicle. Its got high oil usuage. The problem hasn't been truly fixed yet, its just had new plugs and two new coils which has temporarily fixed the issues of misfiring. I think I have problems with my piston rings which has caused all of the above trouble and so I am now in the process of going through SUK's troubleshooting process. The solution to my woes is an engine rebuild I believe but we shall see what happens at the end of this week when I return on Friday to have my oil usuage measured! -Will

ok, just to keep this updated - after the last message I went back to the dealer on the Monday and the tech immediately arranged for me to be booked in for today (Monday 15th). They are going to do the oil test procedure that I have read about on here. They will drain the oil and leave the plug off to make sure it fully drains, turn the engine over a couple of times to make sure they have it all out and will then refill with a specified amount that has been checked and weighed from a clean container. I then have to cover 180 miles and it will then be checked by draining it all out again, turning over twice and then measuring/weighing the amount left. Hopefully this will then reveal that my engine needs some more love and attention from Skoda! Am in an Octavia vRS today (diesel version though) and I must say, not too bad - heated seats could have a bit more oomph about them though! -Will

Just to say - when I drove into the dealers for them to re-check the oil level yesterday, I arrived and switched off the engine and the tech came out and checked it immediately, was maybe a max of 2 mins before it was checked. -Will

ok, so i went to the dealers yesterday and got my oil level checked. I had covered almost bang on 200 miles by this point. The oil was exactly where it was when it was topped up apparently - at the top of the chequered area. This is where the mechanic topped it up to and it appeared as though it had used none. He told me to keep an eye on it and see how it goes with the recommendation that if it uses more than 1 litre in 750 miles then they would need it back. Apparently, according to the tech, in cases like this it's fit modded breather pipe first and then if that doesn't work its on to major engine work/new engine. He said when he fitted the breather pipe it didn't look any different to the previous one however, he didnt know whether there were any internal differences though. I left feeling a little happier and thinking maybe, just maybe it was something as simple as this pipe - how wrong could I be?! Went out in the car this afternoon and noticed every now and again a lovely puff/haze of blue smoke behind me. By the time I had got back I had only covered about 10 miles, meaning around 20 miles covered in total since dealer checked oil. As I had seen the puffs of smoke I lifted the bonnet and checked - oil at 87*C and 3 mins after stopping - this is what I found... ...level down by a quarter in just 20 miles. I have informed the dealer and left a message for the service department to contact me on Monday - not particularly happy right now!! -Will

hmmm, the pic I've posted looks exactly lik the pics you have posted George. The part I have posted in the pic is definitely new when you look at it up close so not sure what to think, maybe there are internal differences on the pipe?? I shall ask later when I pop into Skoda for them to check things over. -Will

George - I didn't dip the oil at the dealer at all, the service manager told me it had been filled correctly according to the specs and I took her word for it. Due to the fact I picked it up late in the afternoon and I was going out with some friends in the evening I got home, parked it up and then went out. I did check it this evening. I have covered 156 miles since picking it up from the dealer. I checked the oil at an indicated 83*C on the dash. I then waited 3 mins before dipping. At the moment the oil is sitting exactly at the top of the hatched area on the dipstick. IF the car was filled as per the manual the oil should be 3/4mm higher up the stick at the top of the smooth area. I shall check with them at the dealer tomorrow. The modified breather pipe... Annoyingly I can't find my older pics of the engine otherwise I would compare a before and after pic. The pic above is what was taken tonight. Anyone got a before pic?? -Will

Got the car back yesterday evening with the modded oil breather pipe fitted. Have got to cover 250 miles and then go back for the dealer to check the oil level. I have been told I am under no circumstances to add oil UNLESS the warning light comes on and then I have to make a note of any that I add. So, covered 150 miles so far, shall see what happens when I whizz it in on Friday. -Will

Well, just had a call from the garage, SUK want them to replace an oil breather pipe before doing any further diagnosis. Im not sure this is going to make one scrap of difference but I guess its the process that has to be gone through. Part won't arrive until tomorrow though so in courtesy vehicle tonight. -Will

Well, just to keep the thread updated, car has gone in this morning and investigations are starting today. Will hopefully know something by the end of today as I have to go back that way so will keep things updated. -Will

ok everyone, here we go, latest update to this. I will try and answer everyone's replies before carrying on... I always top up the oil according to the manual. I generally let the oil temp rise to around 85ish *C and then turn off, wait a few mins and then check it. It was just below half when I did so I decided to top up with my usual 5w/40 fully synthetic Castrol Edge. Previously I have always thought my oil consumption was high at around 1 litre every 750-1000 miles but I was told it was in the normal range by the dealer so have always just kept an eye on it. I was informed that if it was using more than 1 litre in 500 miles then that would be cause for concern. I have ALWAYS had black spots over the back of the car though when doing anything more than driving round town. Obviously the problem I am now having has occurred since they had it in for the A/C repair but I don't believe the two are related, in fact, as you read on I think my higher than usual oil consumption is finally coming to a bit of a head :think: George - I did check the tech manual on the engine and I believe that the ignition coil(s) were at fault again and 'turning off' the affected cylinder. Anyway, to carry on - the RAC re-appeared on my doorstep this morning at around 1130ish. I made him aware of the situation and out came the laptop and he went straight into reading the faults. This time the faults were: Cyl 1 misfire Cyl 1 coil pack fault So he immediately went and pulled coil pack and checked for any signs of damage or funny smells. Nothing evident so he decided he would replace the coil pack and put a new set of plugs in too just to be on the safe side. As he had the first coil pack out he removed the first plug and found this... Now, this to me doesn't look great and having had cars in the past I have never seen a plug looking like this. The RAC man was not too bothered by it though and said that can be normal in these engines as they do run quite lean and can build up carbon deposits on them. The plugs for cylinder 1, 2 and 4 all looked like this... ...the plug for number 3 looked like this however... It was covered in oil and carbon and there was not much left of it! How the car still ran alright im not sure to be honest. Even more annoying is it only had a service 3500 miles ago - I assume plugs are not a normal service item, never thought to ask really! The RAC man fitted the plugs, put the new coil pack in number 1 and then wrote me out a report sheet. He reckoned on piston ring problems which from the state of the 3rd plug I tend to agree with. He left the codes in the ECU for Skoda to see too. After he left I immediately went down to Progress Skoda and have got it booked straight in. The batch of plugs I put on the desk helped my case immensely I reckon So, who knows what will happen next - I will be having a car off of a rental company apparently so they obviously think it may take some time to sort. Just hope that when they do their investigations they can find whats wrong and finally fix it! While its in there I have a good mind to insist they replace the DSG box as well as it will be all apart! Will keep the thread updated. -Will (rather worried!)

<sigh> Having recently had to deal with SUK with regards to my A/C issues this seems a typical fob off excuse! Obviously you are very sorry about the 'master techs' family issues but are they seriously suggesting there is nobody else there to rebuild the engine?! I would not give them until Monday next week. I would be on the phone every day to both SUK and the dealer being as persistent as possible. If they give the we will ring back excuse then wait an hour or so and chase them again. Unfortunately it seems the harder you stamp your feet and moan the more SUK listen. I found it helps to record all calls as well (make sure you make the person on the end aware your doing it, say you are recording the call just so you have a record of what's going on and what has been said). This is so that you can go back through and listen to them and make sure that SUK don't try and change goal posts so to say. I appreciate your situation is a little different to mine in the fact you have a courtesy vehicle but you need to make it clear to them that you didn't buy a vRS to drive around in the dealers courtesy Greenline or whatever it maybe. I would be requesting another vRS to drive in the meantime by this point in all reality. I know I may be sounding unreasonable and I know some forum members didnt agree with my complaint about the A/C problem I had but SUK got me pretty annoyed with the way they appeared to have lax customer service and the way I had to REALLY moan to get anything sorted. This plus the fact I have spent the last few hours messing around with my broken down vRS probably means you should ignore this post all together -Will

Hi everyone, me again. Just when I thought all was well with the world having got my A/C sorted out a new problem comes along, and, this time I reckon it's pretty serious so thought I would post about it, see if anyone else has similar experience? I went away early on Sunday morning to go and visit some relatives. They live in Norfolk so its around a 120 mile trip there. I left at around 6am and all seemed well with the world right up until around 60 miles into the journey I started feeling the car begin to 'miss'. Didn't really think anything of it, maybe just one of those things and on I carried. About 5 miles further down the road things took a turn for the worse. Anything more than a feather touch on the throttle was giving really bad misfires - really shaking the car with the engine warning light flashing. I decided bad things were probably happening and my engine was definitely suffering so planned to stop at the next garage which was a few mins away. I was on a dual carriageway so too dangerous to stop immediately. As I got to the garage, another round a misfiring and this time the EPC and engine warning light came on - engine now running like a bag of spanners on 3 cylinders. Turned off vehicle, got out, did a basic check over and couldn't see anything obvious, no loose connections anything like that so tried restarting the car. Car restarted fine, all lights off and seemed all ok, revved fine with no apparent trouble. Got back on the road and again, missing under anything more than light acceleration, however, this time the engine warning light came on and stayed on. I decided that as I was over half way to Norfolk I wasn't going to stop so nursed the vehicle all the way to my families house and parked it up. We had a day planned so I decided I'd give Skoda Assist a ring when I got back in. Rang assistance - no patrols available in the area at that time on a Sunday evening, they sent a contractor instead who just had a flat bed lorry and no diagnostic equipment or spare parts so decided to leave the vehicle where it was and arrange for recovery on Monday evening. Patrol came along on Monday evening, plugged in his machine and diagnosed a coil pack fault on cylinder 2. As it's a common problem item (apparently) he replaced the coil pack with a brand new genuine one he had on his van. He cleared the fault and all seemed well. He then decided to check the fluid levels as part of his call out and he discovered that the oil was right down at the bottom of the dipstick (not off it but at the bottom)! Now, I ALWAYS check my oil before any long journey and on Saturday night I had topped the oil up to just below the full mark on the dipstick. I told him this and he said there wasn't really anything else he could check. He topped up the oil back to the max and gave me the rest of the bottle in case I had problems. I set off home and everything seemed great. About 10 mins from home on the dual carriageway the car seemed to loose power - came off a roundabout and it really began to struggle to get anything past 60mph. I immediately lifted off the accelerator and tried to accelerate again but nothing. Then, suddenly, engine warning light starts flashing and EPC light comes on. Car is in some sort of restricted power mode and I've got nothing at all. I am luckily right by a garage so coast off into it. Engine running like its a cylinder down again. I turn off, restart and try going again, exact same problem but this time the car is struggling for anything past 40mph. Luckily with it being the dead of night by this point nothing was really about so I made it to the next exit and then stopped in a small side road - by this point the car was really juddering when trying to pull away. Phoned Skoda Assist again, told them the situation. Get a call back a few mins later, no patrol men in the area AGAIN grrrr. They said they would send a flat bed and get me home. Truck arrives and tries getting me to start engine - all is well with the thing again! He said to drive it home and he would follow which I did. Anything more than light throttle would give random missing/misfires though. So, the car is now sat outside awaiting a patrol man tomorrow. I think the thing i'm most worried about is the oil usage really, I am wondering whether it's something more serious than a coil pack, I really don't know though. I know it's under warranty but its beginning to naff me off a bit now - in the time ive owned it I've have had a broken DRL, flaking Skoda badges, bearing go in the A/C compressor, my rattley DSG box and now this, hmmmmm, not good! -Will

WOW! I didn't realise my post would get so many responses! I thought maybe 3 or 4 replies maximum! I will try and answer all the questions that got asked over the entire thread to start with... My vRS has just over 32,000 on it now - it's been a good car for almost the whole time with just a few niggles here and there (with the exception of the gearbox rattle but that's another story!) that the dealer has always got sorted for me. Yes I did see the damaged condenser and it did look to have been damaged by a stone - they even showed me the stone that caused it - it looked like a small pebble around 2cm across. It was completely rounded but I reckon it was just too big to fit through the front grill but I will never know as I didn't get a chance to try posting it through. When the service manager came out with the part he got the stone and sat it in the dent on the rad and it seemed to fit in but it still didn't seem right to me that a stone the size he was claiming could actually make it through the front, large, honeycomb grill. It was right at the bottom left of the part if you are looking at the vehicle head on. Like George said, it was a hit in a million - infact how it managed to pass through the grill at the point the garage reckoned it did, miss the charge air cooler (intercooler) and then hit the condenser at the very bottom corner is a small miracle! With regards to the compressor - the system had been fully checked over and it was a bad bearing within the original compressor I got told. Interestingly, the hissing, which would indicate low gas, only started a few days AFTER the car finally got diagnosed as having a fault with the compressor. However, the A/C was working right up to when I dropped the vehicle off - albeit rather noisily, hissing and rumbling all at the same time. It would seem from that, that the damage to the condenser did occur during the 3 weeks while waiting for the part. Originally when I got told the condenser would have to be replaced I was quoted something along the lines of £324. When I started moaning and got SUK involved this dropped down to £271. They were only going to charge me for the part and nothing else as the car was already in a million pieces and the full 'rad pack' has to be removed to replace the compressor and TXV. weelon - the whole reason I posted what I did was to gauge peoples opinions on what they thought I should do instead of relying on my own intuition. The analogy of a windscreen vs a rad is complete rubbish IMO. As has been said by madmonk, a windscreen is a part of the car that is designed to be fully exposed to the road. I have 2 small dents on my bonnet and numerous chips from everyday use but I have not gone running to Skoda moaning about these. I still believe that if the part is as delicate as it seems to be then why on earth is it not placed behind a metal mesh that is set back from the plastic grill?? As for the courtesy car - I do not believe it is unreasonable to ask SUK to investigate and request to keep the courtesy vehicle until the end of their investigations at the very least - surely if you had something wrong with your vehicle and you felt Skoda were at fault and you then involved SUK you would have an expectation of keeping the courtesy vehicle until the end of their investigations?? Aaaaanyway - the conclusion to the whole saga. Monday morning rolls round and I got a call on my mobile at 1030. It was the service manager at the dealer ringing to let me know my car was ready. I thanked him and let him know I would be down at around lunchtime to pick it up. I, at this point, had resigned myself to paying for the repair as I needed the car back. As lunchtime approached I got the number up for SUK along with all my notes and was quite literally just dialling when the mobile rang. It was the service manager at the dealer again. He said he had just been on the phone with SUK. He informed me that SUK, upon reading all the car's history, looking through it's service records and having a 'lengthy discussion' with himself, had decided that they were going to fully cover the cost of the replacement condenser. I just about fell off my chair at this point and was lost for words. I thanked the manager and got straight down there. I picked the car up and all was well, it had been put back together perfectly, you could not tell any work had been done and it was fully valeted for me. I again thanked the dealer and at this point I did actually offer an apology to him saying that I hope I had not caused any undue problems by keeping the courtesy vehicle. I was assured none of it had been any problem and they were just happy I was back on the road. I then got in and drove off - I gave the A/C a run through its paces and it's back to how it was - perfect! Later on during the afternoon the manager from SUK who had helped me on Friday gave me a call to check everything was satisfactory and was I happy for the case to be closed. I let her know everything was great, thanked her for her help and agreed for the case to be closed. She asked me if I had anything further that I would like to add before she did that. I said I didn't want to sound ungrateful at all but I still believed that there should be some sort of protection for the condenser if it is so vulnerable. I suggested that a simple metal mesh set back from the main plastic grill would more than suffice. She advised me that Skodas design is in common with well over 70% of all vehicles on the road and that such a change would not be likely but she would pass it on to her technical team. So, that is the end of that I guess - I don't think I expected the result I got - I believed I would get a 'good will' payment towards the cost of the condenser but not a full cost cover. Thank you everyone for the replies and opinions. I hope this thread helps someone in the future and sorry for taking a while to get round to updating everyone with the outcome. -Will

Hi everyone, Need some opinions I guess... As my profile says, I have a 2011 Skoda Fabia vRS. Recently, I have been getting a really annoying whine when the A/C was running. If I pressed the A/C button to turn it off it would all go quiet. I booked it into the dealer to be looked at - the day came round and in it went. Couldn't find anything wrong. However, it kept on doing it so I went back to the dealer and got one of the techs to sit in the car and have a listen. He finally heard it and agreed there was a fault and it would need to be booked in. A few days later it was back in and they diagnosed a faulty A/C compressor. They said they would need to order the parts. 3 weeks later the parts arrived and the car went back in to be sorted last Thursday. While it was in I got a call from the Skoda garage saying that the condensor was damaged as well and that it would also need to be replaced as all the gas had leaked out. I said ok and I then got told I would not get this replaced under warranty because a stone had damaged it. I immediately said I was not happy about this and if the part was so delicate why was it not better protected. This fell on deaf ears really and I was then advised I could make a claim on insurance for this damage if I wished. I told them to not do anything and I would ring back. I immediately contacted Skoda UK expecting some help and some reassurance from them that they would help sort this out. I initally spoke to really helpful lady who took down all the details and told me a case handler would be in contact although it may take 72 hours. I told them this was not acceptable and I needed someone to get back to me ASAP as I had one of the dealers courtesy vehicles. This was noted and I sat and waited. The phone rang and it was the case handler. She advised me she would be handling the case and it could take upto 72 hours. I said this is fine but I would need to keep the courtesy vehicle for this period until a decision is made at the very least. She said she would be working as fast as she could and would be in contact tomorrow with an update. Friday came around and the dealer rang me to say they had the part waiting to go in but couldnt proceed until they knew who was paying. As I had not heard anything I decided to ring for an update. I at first got told my case handler was on the phone and she would phone me as soon as she was done. An hour passed and I had heard nothing so I rang again - this time she was at lunch and she would ring as soon as she was back. 2 hours passed and still no call back and I rang again, this time she had stepped away from her desk and again a message to ring me as soon as she was back would be left. Another hour passed and still no call back so I rang again - she had gone on a break this time but a message would be personally left by the phone operative for her to ring me back. ANOTHER hour passed and still no call, I rang again and said I was getting pretty naffed off with the whole situation and I wanted a call back within the next 30 mins as it was getting to late afternoon and I was being told by the dealer they wanted the car back by the end of play on Friday. I was told that the lady I needed was in a meeting but I would definitely get a call back with the next 30 mins. 40 mins later the phone rang and it was my case handler. She advised me she was still waiting on some documentation and she would be passing this along to her tech team who would then make a decision but as we were still within the 72 hour window so there wasn't much she could do. I said, ok, thats fine, however I would NOT be returning the courtesy vehicle until a decision had been made as I would have zero means of transport or even getting back from Skoda without one. This immediately seemed to annoy the lady on the phone and I was told that the courtesy vehicle was not mine, that if I did not return it I would be in effect stealing it and that the dealer would most likely call the Police and that one gentlemen who had done the same got arrested by doing the same. I said that I didn't believe it was as black and white as that and I think that Skoda are being unreasonable trying to leave me without a vehicle for the weekend - especially as I have a 3 year old child that I needed to get from nursery who has pretty serious medical issues. I advised her public transport was not an option and neither was a taxi due to the equipment I needed to carry for the child. She responded that if I could have her in the car then surely a taxi would be fine. I unfortunately got a bit upset at this point about her response and had to hang up saying I would ring back! I calmed down and rang back after 15 mins and asked to speak to a manager. Bearing in mind it was roughly 1645 by this point and it was fast approaching 1800 at which time the dealer would shut. When I got back through I was told no manager was avaiable and that there was a 4 hour turn around for a manager call back, however, due to the time of day on a Friday it would now be Monday before I would be called back. I again got pretty annoyed at this point and explained the whole situation down the phone and I believe the manager must have been monitoring the call as the lady suddenly said a manager was available and she could speak to me there and then. I explained the whole situation once again, all about the A/C, all about me needing to keep a courtesy vehicle and finally the fact I was very upset about the way the case handler had, in effect, shown total disregard/compassion towards me and the child. The manager was very understanding and told me to leave it with her and she would ring me back before 1730. 1728 - the manager rang me back. She said she had spoken to the dealer and they had agreed I could keep the courtesy vehicle for the weekend. However, even though she had not had an offical decision she said I should ring the dealer and authorise the work to go ahead and pay for it as she was pretty sure that Skoda would not be willing to pay anything out towards this as it was standard wear and tear. Owing to the fact I had just about had enough of Skoda UK by this point I said ok and it was left that she would ring me back on Monday. I rang the dealer, thanked them for agreeing to let me have the car for the weekend and for them to go ahead with the work on Monday. I did not pay any money then however. SOOOO, the situation I am left in is this. I have the courtesy vehicle until the end of Monday and at the moment my local Skoda garage are going to put the new condenser in on Monday and the vehicle would be ready for collection as soon as thats done. Does anyone think I am being unreasonable going after Skoda for this?? I have had plenty of cars since I started driving in 2005, have covered over 500,000 miles in that period and in all that time I have never had a situation like this. Infact when I went outside my house and checked, several cars have a standard front plastic bumper with plastic grill but behind this is a metal mesh to stop any objects from flying in and damaging any radiator in the way mine has been broken. I feel that Skoda have a poor design here and that if the rad is THAT delicate then why on earth is it in such a prominent position and unprotected. As it stands I am going to carry on at Skoda UK from Monday and fight for this to be covered but I am really not sure I am going to get much mileage - has anyone had any similar experiences (including the unhelpful service from Skoda UK!)?? Sorry for the long post! -- -Will

You need to be careful when doing this though as you can upset the beam angle which could then dazzle other road users and fail an MOT. -Will

I can get an Out 'n' About Nipper 360 single in the back of my 2011 vRS as long as the 2 rear wheels come off which is dead easy to do. It will fit easily and luggage can then fit on top without much hassle. The Phil and Teds Explorer looks like a relative copy of the Out 'n' About so I wouldn't imagine you would have much of a problem. -Will

+1 for normal - If I brim my vRS, and I mean really brim it so that the fuel appears right up at the filler neck then I can drive for around 150 miles before the gauge starts to drop. -Will

Interesting, I had a technician in my car, did all the same stuff, drove around, let him hear the noise etc, got told it was all normal and sent on my way! Time for me to push the issue harder I reckon, I have all the same symptoms as you had with the rattling definitely noticeable when driving through streets etc. -Will

How much rattle from the gearbox?? I have banged on about this to my dealer every time I have been in with it, be it for servicing or when I get it washed or something and always get told its all normal. Are you saying you had your box replaced based on the fact it rattled on uneven surfaces?? How did you get them, the dealer, to do this?? Thanks -Will

Take away the Marlboro graphic and you pretty much look the same as an Audi A4 estate that floats around these parts - its the daily driver for someone who owns a bodyshop or similar I think but it has bright neon wheels and roof rails like that! -Will