Minimoke

I've had dealer fit front mudflaps on my Octy II and Octy III - its an Elegance so rear mudflaps are standard. I've found the OEM mudflaps good for keeping stone chips at a minimum and they are OK'ish (but not briliant) at keeping spray off the bodywork. But I've noticed my Octy III (estate) appears to generate a lot more wind turbulence at the rear than the old Octy II. Consequently the rear tailgate tends to get a lot dirtier than the old car as crud seems to get sucked onto the rear quarters by the turbulence. (I've just retruned home after a long trip today). But I don't think any other mudflaps would be better so stick with the OEM - at least they fit properly and do provide a measure of protection from stone chips.

Today. After I had washed the car pumping up the tyres using my good old fashioned footpump. Followed by a final pressure check using my old manual guage measuring in good old British POUNDS PER SQUARE INCH. None of this BAR rubbish. LoL

Excellent link DGW. Only problem is its doing my head in trying to follow precisely how this actually works. Old age I suppose.

....and you are relying on the advice of a salesman who has never heard of the ACT version of the engine in the VW?You have not said what mileage you do or driving conditions you expect (ie lots if miles on a motorway or stop/start around town). This will have an influence on the diesel v petrol question. I went back to petrol as my mileage dropped significantly when I retired. I also did not want a diesel with a DPF under any circumstances. I went for the 1.4 with DSG and have not regretted it (previously 2.0TDI DSG).

Bearing in mind the oil burning issues of the old 1.4Tsi TwinCharger engine I have been keeping a close eye on my 1.4Tsi oil consumption. So far (after 5000 miles) it has used virtually zero oil. However my wife's 2010 Fabia with the 1.2Tsi engine (yes I know this is the previous generation) used quite a lot of oil initially (I can't recall the precise numbers now), but then settled down. It hardly burns any now.

....and that's why I snapped up a couple of genuine OEM SD cards from ebay cheap before the rush starts!

You make a number of fair points about the Columbus v the Aumndsen. But when I bought my Octy the upgrade cost to the Columbus sat nav was £800. To my mind (and I know the Columbus fans on here wont agree) it is just is not worth it. I will stick to my old TomTom thanks.This was bought home to me this weekend. My wife and I were going to visit the NT property in Ightham Mote in Kent. As this was a relatively local trip for us I used the Amundsen instead of the TomTom. But getting close to the destination the Amundsen persistently tried to get me to drive down an interesting variety of farm tracks. I just reverted to using good old fashioned road signs. This not the first time I've had incidents like this with the Amundsen. (My maps are 100% up to date). Now I cannot blame the Amundsen over the map quality but I suspect the Columbus uses the same maps so I would get the same bad directions but at a premium price. My point is that I think all in-built sat navs are questionable value for money.

The voice control possibly does not work because the old vde subfolder does not seem to be included in this latest update - this has been covered in another thread. You can try and copy the vde subfolder ONLY (assuming you took a backup before updating) to the sd card and see if voice control then works. But its not guaranteed. Unfortunately in my experience complaining to Skoda about their awful system and update process is useless. UK Customer Services (and their dealers) unfortunately do not seem to understand anything about this. I had an update fry my OEM SD card - Skoda deny this can happen and tried to sell me a new card for £263. This was only a few months after I had bought a new car. I told them to take a hike and , after some research, managed to track down a £50 genuine card from ebay. The Amundsen Sat Nav is terrible for any number of reasons. I reverted back to my old TomTom XL. But do complain. The more the merrier.

10% + 2 is a recommendation by (I think) The Association of Chief Police Officers. It is not mandatory - some police authorities operate a zero tolerance policy. So +1 mph over the limit = a ticket in some areas. Just checked and my memory is correct its a non mandatory ACPO recommendation only. Funnily enough there is an article in the Sunday Times today about this. Average speed cameras are being introduced by stealth on some motorways. There is a new hidden Hadec3 average speed trap at Clackets on the M25. Kent police refuse to say what grace (if any) they will apply to this trap. Locals believe it might be zero. So watch out!

Apologies...the edit of my earlier post went badly wrong!

Despite what others say I think you would normally have difficulties claiming for clutch wear at 12k miles. But in your case you say that there has recently been rectification work done on bearings. Gearbox, clutch thrust bearings or what? I would major on that aspect - did the faulty bearings cause the wear in the first place or did the dealer bodge the rectification work which has now contributed to the clutch wear? In those circumstances you may have a good case and I would be inclined to push it with the dealer rather than SUK (at this stage).

Mmmm...bit OT, but second hand Porsche+intermediate shaft issue = £7K's worth of fun. Guaranteed.

+1 Manufacturers were driven to long life servicing by fleet managers wanting to minimise the cost of servicing. After 3 years the cars get moved on, and any subsequent issues are then somebody elses problem. I'm not sure it is necessarily a plot hatched by Skoda to increase their dealers service revenue - although it is an inevitable consequence. Personally I never ran on variable servicing on my old privately owned PD (when I used to do a lot of miles) to ensure that the turbo was always running on relatively fresh oil. On the PD diesel different oil was/is required for long life v fixed servicing. Can't speak from experience about the CR diesel.

I know the OP has a diesel, but petrol engines do use different oil according to the manual.

Sorry you are having a negative experience but in the interest of balance....on my 4th Skoda. No paint issues. No squeaks. No booming noise from the tailgate. No build quality issues. No DSG problems. Some minor issues but only what is to be expected over 250K odd miles.Forums tend to accentuate the negatives - its in the nature of the beast. But I think a lot of people may post their issues here as this is normally a helpful and knowledgeable community that can help with problem resolution. It doesn't mean every Skoda is falling to pieces.and that they are all "bad cars".

The Amundsen is totally different from Columbus. You MUST use the Skoda supplied SD card for an Amundsen unit.

Have you tried downloading to the desktop/laptop hdd rather than directly to the SD card? It maybe that you are experiencing download interruption/corruption rather than sizing issues.As far as I am aware there has been no change to the SD card size. A QuickFormat of the card before file transfer from the PC is also desirable.

Interesting. A folder is missing in the latest download and one member suspected this might have something to do with files used by voice input. See this thread http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/334171-direct-download-link-for-new-mib-columbus-maps-ece-v098-2015-amundsen-ece-v045-2015/page-3

Texts are read aloud from my Galaxy S4 by using the SMS+Car app in conjunction with the Amundsen unit. But not all Android devices may be compatible. Dont know about Apple.+1 for the 1.4 TSI. I now have one of those after a 2.0 TDI and prefer the TSI. But I do a lot less mileage now.

I'm not 100% sure but I think this may be "by design". The intention is to ensure that external water is not dumped inside the car if the window is opened completely. I wouldn't worry about water in the doors. Its full of water anyway - like the MK2.

Not on mine (or any other Skoda I've owned).

Every VAG car I've owned has had a problem with the lights coming on ridiculously early. My present Octy3 is the worst culprit. I never use AUTO now.

I wouldn't worry. The latest 1.4TSI found in the Octy3 shares nothing in common with the old 1.4TSI except the name. I've posted before that VAG were stupid to carry the name over especially in view of the reputation of the old unit. Although intended for US owners this article may be useful: http://blog.caranddriver.com/we-sample-the-ea211-volkswagen%E2%80%99s-next-global-four-cylinder-engine-series/

Mmm not so sure that's the right gen from Skoda. I cant see some 1.4Tsi's having lifetime belts and others not. It doesn't make sense to me. See this thread and in particular the post from the guy who actually looked this up on Erwin. http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/317272-service-schedule/

If I were you I would run the Jag into the ground if it’s a good ‘un and you are satisfied with it. I see you are located in Kent. You may therefore be familiar with Lancaster Jaguar in Sevenoaks. I was toying with the idea of a second hand X type before I bought my Octy 2 estate some years ago, and had a browse of their stock and a talk with their sales people. Lancaster appeared to be giving them away at that time, but what finally put me off (after I had done my research) was the poor reliability record of the X type. Are you sure you are being realistic about your p/ex expectations? I'm not sure any dealers really want them. If you wanted to sell the Jag then a private sale is the best way to go. This write up from AutoExpress exactly sums up the conclusion I came to: The X-Type was supposed to make Jaguar a big player, but it never sold in the volumes hoped for. The result is a car that’s now a very reasonable second-hand buy, even though it’s still good to drive and looks distinctive. However, a questionable reliability record means owners are falling out of love with the ageing Jag – so if you’re tempted, make sure you go for the latest model you can afford. Later cars are better built than the early ones and you'll still save big money over an A4 or 3 Series of similar age. Find the right X-Type and you’ll love its ride and handling balance and well stocked cabin. Plus, if you buy an estate, you’ll have great practicality as well. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/jaguar/x-type/63749/used-buyers-guide-jaguar-x-type#ixzz3MTK8CNgX