MarkyG82

Nice. Love that colour. Wish I could have found a green wagon when I was looking. On the android auto front, you'll need a half decent cable and your phone to be updated top the latest software. You may also need it to be enabled on the car by a dealer. It should be clear on the screen if that is the case.

Fair enough. I've never done it (on the flat) and don't know many that do but there seems to be a large number out there who do.

Do manual owners put the car in gear every time they park up? I find it difficult to believe hand brake failures are that common.

Could just be a bit sticky. If you are able to get to the bits from the engine bay, can you get some squirt in there to help free it up? Can we ask why you can't just use the hand brake?

My gut feeling is that's not enough so I'd go for petrol.

What's your usual trip like? From the stories on here the more recent diesels do suffer a little with infrequent long journeys. I got rid of my 2014 2.0tdi Octavia for those reasons. My trips changed from weekly trips over 100miles. To more like every other month. Most trips are 10 miles or less. Got a plug in hybrid but a regular petrol would have done the job too.

Not convinced it would be any fault of the brakes themselves. And the fault on impact strengthens my theory of a loose connection. Check the abs sensors and cabling while swapping out the parts.

My comment re. you touching a nerve and also @J.R.'s reaction kind of suggests it's not us. I re-read my replies before sending to reign them in and keep them as polite as possible. I'll not bother in the future.

Sorry if I touched a nerve. You are obviously quite frustrated with the situation. Is there any sense in "saving up" the damage and getting it done at a later date rather than each time something happens? Should at least bring the costs down. Can you tell us what remedial action has been agreed with the hotel or others? Maybe taking the video footage to your own insurance company and getting them to chase the offender's will make the taxi firms etc pay attention? Just trying to come up with constructive solutions.

Plenty threads on here about retrofitting OEM units. Potentially cheaper than the new one you have purchased. Especially given the age of your car. If interested then give @pab567 a shout. He is a wealth of knowledge on this stuff and often can supply units.

Maybe some of those bumper pads and a half decent dash cam that records parked events. A word with the taxi firm or persons insurance co armed with the video evidence should soon sort any repeat offenders. Sounds like a particularly bad spot to park and also that we don't have to suggest looking for an alternative. My only other thought at this time is to have a cone sit on the corner of the bay right next to your car to make it clear that people need to go round it rather than through your car.

DPF would be my worry. If the car is cheap enough then maybe a replacement unit is not out of the question. If it's genuinely the spec you want etc then could be worth chucking a few quid at to get it up to standard. If not done already I'd be looking at the following: DPF Cambelt brake fluid (and a good look at other break parts) oil flush coolant flush shocks all round Granted that could be a potentially big bill for all that but should bring it up to a standard that will keep it going for quite some time.

Cant remember the exact fgures and I'm fairly certain it changes between models, but, the B8 is roughly 30mm shorter so I would say you need a drop of at least that to make them work correctly. Otherwise the springs would be preloaded too much. Short answer, go with B6 for 15mm sport height.

B8 is for lowered only. B6 is the same valving but with full length and can be lowered a small amount. I've been disappointed with the special actives and if I came into some money would happily swap for B6.

Faulty abs sensor (or associated bits). Doubt a sticky caliper would do it unless it's sticking to the point of actually slowing the wheel rotation which is unlikely. Have a quick check of disc temperature (by feel) next time you stop.

Sounds like either an engine mount is on the way out or someone has fitted a stiffer one. There was a report recently about a car that had the idle speed turned down a little. Raising it back up solved the issue.

I think 45 mins is on the limit. Especially when only doing short trips in the week. I can't remember how long the regen itself takes but I think you'd need c.45 mins of high temp driving to finish it. Maybe dropping a gear at cruise will help?

How long are the long trips? Really doesn't sound like you are doing enough to get it up to temperature for long enough. For what it's worth I had a 2.0 tdi estate for 3½ years and the light didn't come on once.

Do you have a minimum charge level set. On the Passat this brings the charge level up to that set amount as soon as it's plugged in. Maybe a recent service or update has triggered it into life.

B4 should be fine but do both sides. You mention the tested shock being quite fast (understand it's from a different car). They should be really slow. Like leaning on them should take a few seconds to fully compress if at all due to internal pressure. Sport shocks or coil overs might be different off the car. I have quite limited experience with those. What's the age of the car? 45k of town driving could be a good few years. 45k of motorway cruising could be 2 years if high miles.

The further the number from zero, the greater the offset. Most modern cars have positive offset so a higher number pushes it further under the car. Thus a lower number (towards zero offset from the center line) brings it out.

This explains it quite well.

Should be an SD slot in the glovebox unit. That's what's behind the "blanking plate", the main unit. If you take the cover off you'll be into the guts with circuit boards etc. There should be a USB in the centre console that should work for music.

Vrs will more than likely be the 55mm variant. As a general rule most cars with independent rear suspension have the larger shocks up front. That's a very general rule.

Lift off oversteer combined with a slimy road is my guess.