MarkyG82

I would avoid a tuning box and put the money in other places. If you country allows, maybe spend it on lowering springs or even some upgraded shocks. Being able to go round a corner faster is much more fun than accelerating harder. The you have brakes to upgrade. Maybe some braided lines and better pads.

@Barbadata Just double checking that you have actually tried other cables? Or can @pab567 confirm this is definitely a main unit issue?

Continuing what @Danoid said, do you currently have a car that can cover the lugging around duties? If so then a cheaper electric car might suit as a second tool for local jobs. We have my passat GTE (basically the same as the superb iV) and a hyundai ioniq. The ioniq gets most of the weekend local duties to save running the engine on the big car. Plus it's smaller so easier to park etc. The boot is more than big enough for a doggo or shopping.

Read the warranty details. At some point (maybe with the passat update and superb release) the warranty changed to first owner only for the battery. Absolutely mental given the habit of people to change cars after 3 years and battery having 8 years / 100k miles warranty.

I've heard good things about the TVS software. People definitely don't seem to regret it afterwards. I have have a pedal box fitted to 2 cars now and believe that solves 80% of the issues. Just makes the car more eager to be in the correct gear. Doesn't solve the sport mode issue of holding the gears but makes it more driveable.

I never understood the allegiance to a garage that sells you a car. Yes you may have had friendly chatter with the staff but beyond that..... You have bought the car but there is no reason you have to go out of you way to use them for servicing. Clearly in this case it is very local so I get that. But they often charge through the nose and also produce many stories of bad service for those elevated prices. I just don't get why you'd use them.

Based on this I am even more sure you will get on with the B6s. The gas pressure adds some stiffness but that only then matches the increased damping they offer. On stock height they really are excellent. Maybe hint down someone local to you to try a car with them fitted. I don't think you will get what you want from B4 or similar.

Just thought I'd add a little of my experience. I have been in a vrs with B4 shocks and it felt very standard. I was a passenger though so the driving feel might be improved over stock. I fully believe they are no different to stock as far as performance. Quality may be better but I can't confirm that. Koni quality is not what it should be and on that alone you are on the right track to avoid in my opinion. B6 is by far the best quality and you'd not be disappointed with them. As far as their performance. I'm now on my second car with them. They are firm, yes, but they are also compliant and supportive. With stock springs they are more comfortable and easier to drive the car due to the predictable support. Final thoughts on the comparison between the konis and B6. The B6 is firm to start with but will move through it's travel when needed. Almost like a platform shock like on mountain bikes. The koni is opposite. It starts soft and firms up on impact. I'm really not a fan of that. I recently got rid of them based on this trait. Turns out they were starting to fail anyway at around 30k miles. I'll keep an eye on the life of the B6s.

The data in Google maps is the same regardless. Just displayed differently. Waze uses the same source as it's now owned by Google but has other stuff on top like user added obstructions and traffic. The speed info is also very good as it shows the limit as well as your speed. There should be an update coming that shows upcoming limit changes too. Useful for those 60 to 30 jumps in areas you're not used to.

The Ioniq is excellent. It's the newer version of the old shape so bigger battery and water cooled too. The efficiency is spot on. In the summer it say 195 miles when unplugged and will genuinely do that if not a little more. It's my aim to get over 200 miles from a "tank" this summer. Winter less so as you'd expect but the GOM is still accurate at around 165 worst case. Comfort wise and power are perfect for a small-mid size family car. It's smooth and very responsive. A few things I dislike are the constant bings about lane departure or other road users etc., the fact you have to turn on autohold each time you start up and how hard it is to keep at 30. It will more comfortably cruise at 35 ish. But the radar cruise is very good so I just set it and let the car hold the speed.

All the VAG hybrid engines are the same 1.4 unit. It's the same 1.4 you get in the non-hybrid. It have some upgraded cylinder sleeves and a few other tweaks to reduce friction for faster power unit switching. Also helps when the unit is cold thus not fully oiled. As far as economy and mapping I think it is very similar to the stock 1.4 so equivalent to a 1.4 car with a loaded boot. I agree it would have been nice to have it in AWD variant especially given the added torque of the electric. For what it's worth my mapped GTE is excellent and responsive in full power mode with mode normal family cars not able to keep up. Though like many in this thread I use the power when needed rather than driving like the typical german car owner.

The DQ200 gearbox on that engine is definitely one to watch out for. They are serviceable if you can fine the right place to do the job. Maybe that is something to look into as a fresh set of fluids can work wonders. Did the independents let on why they didn't want the job? If it is flywheel related then that should not be a gearbox specialist job in my opinion. Unless they are unsure how to remove said gearbox. At that point I would be questioning their knowledge. Not a short journey but I've heard VAGtech in MK are good. At least they are in your end of the country and can't hurt to call them.

The superb is the same platform as second gen Passat gte. My Passat is the first gen so may be slightly different. All that being said..... I have the off peak settings in the car to finish after my departure time. It ensures the battery is topped up after preconditioning. The charging starts at the beginning of the off peak period so no weirdness with charging to meet the departure time.

The iV would do the power you need (especially with a tune) but is a heavy car for front wheel drive. It's great for lots of short trips with the odd longer one. Longer trips 2-3 times a week is not where the hybrid shines economy wise. They are very comfortable for both be in and drive though. As above, the money you spend on conversion plus what you lose in resale value would buy a lot of petrol. And you'd have lower performance. What's wrong with the TDI?

Has your subscription run out? Pretty sure the skoda setup is the same as VW where the remote access to many things is free for 3 years then costs. Your car being 2021 could well be over the 3 year mark.

I'll get some once I get clear access to my drive. Building work getting in the way right now. Minor update: Trip up to Nottingham and back in the last 24hrs was lovely and smooth. You can tell it's not standard setup. The spring stiffness still shines through especially at low speed. The cruising comfort is great though. For those who know the dips in the A34, it breezed through and even I was impressed with how well it coped. Going through there with the old setup I bottomed out on a couple of them.

Update time! Instantly felt an improvement in stability. All round more confidence inspiring. Drove it for a few days with the springs as per konis (front eibach pro, rear eibach pro with assisters). Car was very pointy and the rear although better was a bit too stiff. I took the assisters out a week ago and and the comfort is very good. The car still goes where you want with minimal body roll. It's such a shame I didn't do it this way from the get go. The car feels right. Current setup: Eibach pro from TDI 4x4 dsg Passat estate. Bilstien B6 shocks as above No assisters for now (maybe when loaded for the summer hols) 12mm front spacers 20mm rear spacers White line rear roll bar in stiff setting One comment on the konis. The rear ones rattled. I thought it was the roll bar but turned out to be the shocks! Tech showed me the state of them once off (roughly 30k miles) and they were shot. Car too heavy I guess.

The difference will be in the feet that attach to the car. If both cars use the same rail design and the distance between the feet is adjustable, you should be able to fit them to either car.

Sounds to me that you are undoing the levers too much on the T bolt. Assuming you have bikes so know how a quick release works for wheels, it's the same. Screw the lever down so most of the thread is taken up then push it down to it's flat. the cam action should take up the rest and tighten the bolt. If it's not tight, then you either need to have the lever screwed down more or there is something in the track that is allowing it to compress more without getting tight.

This was a problem on the old 1.9 and less common on the newer cars. The issue on the 1.9 was to do with the coding of the fuel pump that requires the engine to turn over at a minimum speed. If the starter is a bit worn (took very little on my car) then it requires a double turn of the key to "wake" it up. I had a new battery, all earth points checked, starter cleaned out (this helped the most). All those didn't fix the issue. The only thing I did that 100% solved it was a remap. Unintentional side effect. Ran the car 3 years with the map and never had to double crank it.

The cambelt stuff has been discussed a few times recently. The time in the UK has been dropped in line with may other markets. The mileage has also been increase though the information on this is more woolly. Two of the figures batted abut are 120k and 140k (miles). This is across the VAG group engines of both fuel type.

On my GTE there is a very short delay from starting to insert the plug into the car until it tries to lock the connector in place. If you are too slow then the lock engages but the plug handshake fails and it wont charge. A clean and swift insert of the plug is required to ensure it works. Maybe a bit of practice is required. I certainly replug sometimes to ensure it's working. This is especially true if using the fat cable we use on the EV rather than the cable I normally use.

I think there is something wrong with the coding in your car. Has the software in EVERY module been checked? I also wonder if it's related to your cold temps? But then it should be warming up a bit?

As you plan to do, definitely get the shock seated correctly. When was the brake fluid last done? Maybe worth doing and could help with the brake performance. Lower arms are actually quite easy to replace and worth doing at the same time as the shock seating, depending on cost of course. The bushes can be replaced but often it's more economical to have the whole arm replaced. Especially as it sounds like front and rear bushes are going. Maybe get the garage to clean down the suspension parts to allow you to monitor the misting?

The diesel cutoff is higher for many. The fuel costs more, the car costs more, the engine is noisy, it's more polluting. Many are discounting diesel straight away due to the pollution bit. You don't say how much power you would like. The 1.6 TDI is a full engine but can produce some very good MPG if driven right. Pretty much all the petrol engines are nice and smooth with gradually increasing power outputs. Even low trim superbs are well specced. Go find a few you like the look of and test them is probably the easiest way. Just bear in mind the dsg of 2.0 engines is different types of wet clutch and the smaller ones are dry clutch. Dry is listed as not serviceable. Wet is either 40k or 80k service depending on version. They are sensitive to needing it so make sure it's been done. Clearly manual boxes don't have the same issue.