Greenliner1

Had the same, thought the control ring was broken, but it had just been kicked round by one of the kids. Stealers wanted to charge around £160 (from memory) to fix / replace - I thought no way! After looking on YouTube it took less than 5 minutes to ease the vent out with a plastic card, rotate the ring to relocate and to refit. I think the vents are easily available and not too expensive on eBay if it is damaged beyond repair.

Wouldn’t go back to a manual now I’m on my second DSG, as others have said easy driving and smooth. If you want a bit more control you can get steering wheel paddles, but I never found it necessary. Disadvantages are that I believe they are slightly heavier, and they need an oil change every 40 (or 80) thousand miles dependent on the model with the wet clutch versions. On the other hand manual boxes will eventually be assigned to history with the rise of electric cars and the demise of the IC engine, so enjoy them while they last.

Electric boot is nice but slow as said, opening remotely can help though if you are not careful bending down with the key in your pocket you’ll open it accidentally, however it is not as slow as the one I had on a Mitsubishi Outlander which was positively glacial and operated through a control arm rather than electric struts.

36.3 mpg at the pump over 27,000 miles. I do quite a lot of motorway miles and speed does make a lot of difference, can get into the high 40’s if driven carefully, does go south if driven with a lead foot though (Andy I’m looking at you😀)!

36.3 mpg at the pump average over 27000 miles, 190 TSI 4 x 4, monitored with fuelly. As silver says, not bad for a 2 tonne flying brick.

Once many years ago drove a Discovery from Wakefield to Birmingham with diff lock on on the recommendation of the hire company after it broke and wouldn’t disengage and they wouldn’t replace it (or collect me) - it survived OK as far as I remember. Luckily the Kodiaq won’t have to work that hard for its living, muddy construction sites and open fields are the max it’ll see. Tried it down a steep gravelly / tarmac road and it did what it said on the tin. In Scotland at the moment, but not much call for off road around Birmingham!

Tried the hill decent on my SEL yesterday out of curiosity, peculiar as it keeps the same speed that you set with the throttle or brake, though nothing “to write home about”. Perhaps it’s more impressive when truly off-road and traction is sketchy, though it warns about this.

My wife’s rubber ones are wearing thin after 9 years, banana.