petrolbloke

Have you tried carrying more speed through the corners and roundabouts so you don't need to brake so much? 😉 On a more serious note, are you sure you don't have any seized sliders or calipers? Alternatively, you could slow down and chill out a bit. If you're driving so quickly on the road on a regular basis to get your brakes that hot then I think it's your driving that's the first thing that needs looking at. In case you think I'm the kind of driver that dawdles about and is a supporter of Brake and 20mph limits, think again.

I wouldn't bother at 54k miles on the clock. I'll consider doing mine at around 120-150k if I keep the car that long. On my old Octavia I changed the gearbox oil at 180k miles. It was slightly better after but there were no issues before. The car is on 254k now (I sold it at 230k). I also used to change the engine oil every 10k or 12 months (whichever came first). Unless you're doing a lot of city driving / short journeys or trackdays I really don't think it's worth changing the oil more frequently than that.

Sounds expensive for replacing 4 springs. It doesn't look right in the pics to me. It will of course sit a bit higher on new springs than on old/broken springs so don't let them fob you off if you're certain it's wrong. How to approach it? They need to put it right free of charge and with minimum inconvenience to you.

18k miles and needing a new wheel bearing? Was it front or rear? I suspect mine has a dodgy wheel bearing as the droning noise at 70 is still there after replacing all 4 tyres and having the wheel alignment done. Maybe they didn't fit them properly in the factory or used cheap parts. I would expect 10+ years and 100K+ miles out of a wheel bearing.

Never or only sometimes? Front, rear or both? Can you hear the pump for the washer fluid working? Does it have auto wipers? (mine does but I don't know if it was an option)

In that case I think you're probably out of luck Hopefully the ££ you saved buying private has offset this cost and it's otherwise a decent car.

The dealer you bought it from should be covering that, regardless of warranty status (under the Consumer Rights Act 2015). Within the first 6 months it's up to the dealer to prove the fault wasn't present at time of sale. Unless they have photos of the thermostat housing / water pump area they aren't going to be able to prove that it didn't already have a leak/crack. If you bought it on credit (finance or credit card) then the credit provider are 'jointly and severally' liable, so if the dealer try to fob you off then get onto the credit provider. You need to give the supplying dealer the opportunity to repair it first - they may resist reimbursing you if you haven't given them that opportunity first. I would postpone your booking for Thursday until you have spoken to the supplying dealer to give you the best chance of not having to pay for this yourself.

I've got a 2016 '66' reg VRS with the Amundsen headunit. One SD card is for the built in sat nav data and I've put another SD card in the other slot with a load of music on it. The battery on my car seems fine - it never struggles to start even in cold weather after not being driven for a week or more. I have got a '70mai M300' dashcam with 'UP02' hardwire kit fitted. I might try disconnecting the dashcam but sod's law says that'll be the moment something happens when I really need it. Sometimes when starting the car it resumes the last song that was playing but other times it resets to AC/DC (which is probably the first artist in the list). Now as much as I like AC/DC, I don't want to listen to it all the time and the intro to 'Hells Bells' is starting to lose its awesomeness. You could say I'm on a bit of a highway to hell ;) Has anyone else experienced similar and managed to fix it? Alternatively can anyone recommend any bands before AC/DC in the alphabet?

In road cars generally yes, but some track pads can squeal especially when cold, so pad material is a significant factor.

You can find out for yourself, the MOT testing manual is published online here: MOT inspection manual: cars and passenger vehicles - Guidance - GOV.UK

1. Yes. 2. I have heard of them getting blocked if the bag in the header tank splits. A lot of people remove the bag or buy a new header tank without the bag. 3. Not on pre-facelift. Not sure if that changed for FL cars. 4. Rear sensors I think are. Fronts I think are optional. 5. My pre-FL is white. Don't know if that changed with the FL. 6. Petrol or diesel? Have a search for "octavia mk3 buying guide" and see what you can find. A couple of things I noticed when looking at other Octavias before buying mine was a lot had worn gear knobs (and nobody wants a worn out knob) and some had faded black door trims.

That's not a vRS bumper though, they are different.

Looks original to me - the 7P0... under 'VARTA' is the part number.

SOLD

When did you buy the car? Was it from a dealer? How did you pay? Where has it been for servicing? Is it the same place as the supplying dealer or the dealer who has investigated the failure? How long was it and how many miles were covered since the last service? Has any other engine work been done since the last service? Was the failure caused by low oil pressure alone (e.g. failed pump, blocked circulation) or low oil level (e.g. leak, poor workmanship in servicing, oil excessive oil consumption issue)? (this should be answered by the first inspection after the failure) Depending on answers to the above, there might be a chance of some financial recovery/contribution, but my gut feel is that it's going to be very difficult especially as you continued to drive the car until the engine seized. If I was in this situation I'd sell the car as-is for spares/repair and buy another one - that route feels like less stress/hassle and easier recourse in case of future faults.

That's not normal. I had my old mk1 Octavia for 12.5 years and over 150k miles and it never did it. The pedal should reset to 0 when you lift your foot off completely. If it doesn't then it might be excessive friction in the pivot or a weak spring that is preventing it fully returning.

Does your car have collision avoidance / auto-braking and can it be turned off? If it still does it with it turned off then it points the finger at the gearbox.

If you get it plugged in to some sort of diagnostics you can test your hypothesis by monitoring the value for the throttle position sensor (ignition on but engine not running!).

Just spotted this bit of your OP. In my experience there's a lot of variance in MOT testers. My gf had advisories on her previous car for worn front brake discs. She doesn't drive hard, the car was on 45k and I measured the thickness of the discs with a caliper and they were only about half worn, so should have had another 30k+ miles left in them which would have been 4+ years with her mileage. In my experience disc brakes should last 60k+ miles. Hard driving, urban driving or infrequent use (allowing corrosion to build up) are the main factors that would reduce that. I'd recommend you get a caliper and measure them yourself, or at least get a garage to measure them / give a second opinion before spending a load of money for work that might not be necessary.

I wouldn't bother with drilled (perforated) discs where the car didn't come with them from the factory. Pads don't need to be the same manufacturer, but I would choose disc/pad manufacturers carefully (as with most car parts!). The pads you have linked to say they are for 288 or 312mm diameter discs but the front discs are 340mm, so they won't fit (unless you're sure it's an error in the listing). Halfords have got Pagid front discs at £64.35 each at the moment. Cheaper than the TRWs you have linked to and Pagid are a fairly well trusted brand (and supply OEMs).

And what software you want to update. There are multiple software systems in these cars that can be updated independently. If it's infotainment then there is a sticky thread in this section with details.

Average speed of 9mph - I can easily beat that on a push bike. 😆 From what you've written it sounds like your parking situation is on the street in which case an EV is probably not a great choice right now either. If that is the case then I would either stick with what you have or buy a smaller 10+ year old hatchback with a small normally aspirated petrol engine.

Bilstein should be a safe bet for suspension parts. As for covering in grease it depends where the noise is coming from and probably isn't necessary. I assume you've since had the broken drop link replaced 😆

What shocks and top mounts did you get fitted? i.e. genuine, pattern (which brand?) or whatever was cheapest on eBay? Sounds like you have two options: 1. Persevere with the garage that fitted them. There shouldn't be knocks and rattles from the suspension if the correct parts have been fitted by a competent person. Maybe you need to be more firm with them about that. 2. Take it to another garage for a second opinion

Yes that's too small. IIRC the factory space saver is 125/70/R18. I don't think a 16" wheel would fit over the front brakes either.