Octy09

Just been in the configurator and I’m surprised how many things in the Scala are optional - even with SE-L spec. I’ve managed to spec one up with nothing particularly glamorous and it’s come out at £26k plus, comparable to an equivalent Golf. An equivalent Mazda 3 (new shape) is also about £500 cheaper and comes with all the safety systems you could imagine as standard across the range. Curtain and knee airbags are options in the Scala - these are standard fit in even a Fiat 500! Front centre armrest that you see in all the press cars - also an option. So unfortunately it doesn’t look such great value after all.

Agreed. Having driven a DSG Golf with the electric handbrake, I’m sold on it. Makes much more sense with the DSG though - primarily it’s the auto hold functionality I found most useful, coming to a rest at traffic lights or in town traffic. I’m not an older driver but I do about 100 miles daily. It’s just one thing that makes a drive a bit more relaxing - and that’s something you can’t challenge unless you’re doing that mileage and those journeys.

Nope... not an age thing - it’s just better design isn’t it! Hope it’s easy to use...

Weirdly, I found stuttering to be particularly bad in two Fabia SE courtesy cars I’ve had recently. Doesn’t seem to be a problem on my older 2016 Monte. It could be an issue with Spotify (I am noticing that Spotify intermittently doesn’t start up in CarPlay, meaning I have to stop and unlock my phone to ‘wake it up’).

Possibly occasionally - but I tend to find that switching across to Radio using the buttons either side of the display, and then back to Smartlink, clears it. Just to check, do you have the automatic moving between DAB and FM enabled? DAB-only can result in the radio cutting out.

Thanks. Not had the sensor messaging since I posted this - and all seems to be working normally at the moment. Have had it cleaned at the same place several times before and never had a problem, which made me wonder if was all linked to the battery. Going to ring the dealership today regarding the battery as the car has been a little tentative starting since last week. Like you say, could be a weak battery.

I've had the "front assist not available" message piping up at me intermittently over the past few days. Car has recently been cleaned. Also intermittently having the icon of the cruise control with the (!) sign next to it. Not sure what has triggered these and whether they are related. Monitoring over the next few days - but the car also refused to start yesterday morning, needed jump-starting, which is making me think there's a problem with the battery. I know we've had a dip in temperature here in the North West of the UK but surely not severe enough to trigger all this?!

Yes, all reset after the fitter had put the tyres on (they'd put them on at a lower pressure - I use the ECO recommendation). Hoping it's not a sticky brake caliper - was only in for a service last week. Will reset them again this evening (outside) and see what happens on the drive home.

TPMS is doing my head in at the moment... it constantly tells me my back left tyre has lost pressure, and often it has been correct - but no obvious tyre damage having checked with several garages. I then check and reset all 4 tyres, it's fine for a little while and then it pops up again - again, usually the back left tyre. Yesterday I had two new front tyres fitted - updated all the pressures, reset them on the TPMS. Today it's thrown up an alert for all 4 tyres. From reading this thread, I'm guessing that it's likely a combination of the new tyres and the drop in temperature? If so, it's a bit frustrating that this is all it takes to throw the error up. Never can be too careful with tyres...

Just been re-familiarising myself with this thread... my Fabia TDI 105 had the recall work done last year, and a couple of weeks ago at 51,000 miles, the engine overheated as I was travelling home on the M6 and rapidly lost power. The AA diagnosed it as being water pump. Really frustrating and it had just been in for its routine service the week before. Thankfully sorted under warranty but I’ve not had a car overheat on me before... has definitely impacted on my opinion of the car. Spoken to a few other people with Polos and Octavias who’ve had similar issues.

Nice one. In my opinion the sports suspension does make a difference too - car feels stiffer and leans less in the bends than standard car (having driven several non-Monte, non-sports suspension courtesy cars). Enjoy!

I've got the 17s and Sports Suspension on my Monte. I'd say that's harsh enough without adding another inch to the alloys.

Same with the Skoda dealer for mine, they just charged for the bulbs but also said that they could only fit their bulbs, which I wasn’t going to argue with at that point. The fact that they’re so nightmarishly impossible to replace by hand - with limited space and time, is the most annoying bit.

Yep. Same with mine. Sometimes listening to the radio, sometimes with Bluetooth audio streaming, sometimes with Apple CarPlay up and running. It’s deeply irritating - especially when it’s so inconsistent. I suspect Skoda aren’t investing enough time in their tech teams for them to find such bugs. When I took mine to be “fixed” I suspect the dealer had just noticed by chance that a software update was available - not that it would cure this specific issue.

Doesn’t have to be for every fuse though. Could just be a warning to “check fuses”. Would make life easier for the end user. If warning lights are ignored then it’s the idiot driver who’s the idiot for ignoring them innit... so I’m not sure they’re actually pointless...

Yeah, that’s why I’m saying it would be a good idea if a warning light could inform that a fuse has blown.

I’ll have to jump in here. My driver’s side bulb went two weeks ago when we had all that snow. On the Monte, it’s a slightly different setup due to the projector-style headlights, as highlighted in the owner’s manual. I was struggling to sort the cover out (accessed via the wheel arch) due to RSI in my wrist. So I had no choice but to stop at my Skoda dealer on the way to work. 30 minutes later they emerged and told me that they’d had to remove the wheel in order to change the bulb as it’s so fiddly. It’s a good job I’d stopped - never heard of wheels needing to be removed in order to change a flippin bulb. Poor design.

Are you saying the fuse will freeze? My point is that this issue only occurred on my car and not the two 9 yr old cars in our household. Same screen wash. What would help is a warning light to say that a fuse has blown, like they do with headlight bulbs etc.

Hi. After getting this “fixed” at the end of Jan, the problem has returned and I’ve noticed this happening 6 times in the past 2 weeks alone. Not really sure what to do next after wasting so much time before. If its happening on your brand new Monte then I’m wondering if this “software update” really has made any difference, or if they’re just clutching at straws. it seems to mostly happen anywhere within 15 mins of the system being switched on.

I’m having an awful time with my Mk3 Fabia - washer bottle is full (with neat fluid), have tried everything I can think of so I’m thinking it could be a fuse? Will take it to my dealer tomorrow as I can’t risk not being able to see on these salty roads - especially with a 50 mile motorway commute. Don’t expect this from an 18 month old car.

I don’t think it looks as good as the current model personally. I can see why they’ve killed off the diesel but as a high-mileage driver there is now no decent option for me if I were to consider another Fabia (which I’m not). I’ve had both 1.2 and 1.0 TSIs as courtesy cars and they’re very nice engines but I’ve never been able to get decent enough fuel economy on the long motorway haul that I do - especially considering my TDI 105 only manages 57mpg on average. The best I managed out of the 1.0 was about 45mpg across 100 miles. So I’ll probably be looking elsewhere (likely not diesel anyway) for the next car. Tech improvements seem welcome but would’ve been good to see pics of the revamped interior that is mentioned in the Autocar article.

Yes, all very copycat. I looked at a Karoq recently and didn’t like it at all. I think SUVs are basically the MPVs of the mid 2000s - when everyone was jumping on the bandwagon to make one.

Hmm. Interesting. On a side note, I took mine for its software update last Saturday and the dealer then said it would take too long to install, and this was on a Saturday so they were only open until 12. Frustratingly it’s had to be booked back in again for next week, so I’ll be very annoyed if this doesn’t solve the issue - lots of wasted time. Will report back! Intermittent problems are the worst.

Hi all recently (past few months) I’ve noticed that the bolero system is randomly shutting down and rebooting as I’m driving along (entire screen goes black, even on standby when the analogue clock is showing). Doesn’t seem to be a pattern to it - happens when using media, DAB or CarPlay. It mostly comes back on a few seconds later but then requires me to turn it back on from ‘standby’ mode, if I’ve been listening to music or radio. Anyone else experienced this? My car was in for a service just last week and I asked them to look at this; frustratingly they called yesterday to say that a software update is now available. So hopefully this fixes it - anyone else had the software update carried out? Or experienced the issue?

Looking at the possibility of jumping from Apple to Google and wondered how people are getting on with the latest version of Android Auto in their Fabias? Also keen to know how reliable people find the Google voice commands to be. I’ve found that Siri has grown progressively worse over recent months. thanks