Liger1956

I would try charging the battery slowly overnight and seeing whether it will start tomorrow. If the boot was open then the boot light was probably on draining the battery. A flat battery can make the dashboard lights do funny things in these modern cars.

Make sure you play with all the controls as some e.g. the four wheel drive lever, may still be on the left hand side of the centre console and difficult to reach as it was designed as a left hand drive car (although you are probably aware of that anyway).

A couple of years ago we had a holiday in Canada. Our hire car was meant to be a Rav4 but we were upgraded to a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited (5 door). It looked the part and would go anywhere you pointed it. We took it up a steep forest track which was partially covered it mud and slush and in normal 4 wheel drive it was as planted as driving on the road. I did not push the on road handling too much as it was fitted with chunky off road tyres but the ride was good and we had no aches and pains even after a full days driving. I would add that we thought that it was a big vehicle until we parked it between 2 Ford pickups when it seemed very small.

My original wired thermostat was in the hall. The Hive thermostat is in the lounge like yours. All of the other radiators have thermostatic valves on them and I have the system balanced, it is gravity fed, so that they all appear to reach their set temperatures at about the same time that the Hive thermostat shuts off the boiler.

Pretty , and a very good choice of music.

Do you keep your car keys in your back pocket or somewhere where the unlock button can be inadvertently pressed and held down. As Colin says that would open all the windows, and also unlock the car. However the car may then lock itself again if a door is not opened within, I think, 30 seconds.

I have had a version 1 Hive setup for quite a while which controls both my heating and hot water. Like Lady Elanore I found it easy to install, I like the app and it has performed well. However I do not have any other smart devices, Echo or Google Home so I cannot comment on their integration. Overall I am very happy with it.

That is where the power for my 13pin socket comes from.

My diesel Citroen Xantia had an undertray with a little hatch where the sump drain plug was. It had a simple rotating catch to secure it so no tools were needed to open it. I wonder if it would be possible to modify the undertray on my Octavia?

That doesn't look too bad to me but the photos do not show the onboard pads. The best thing is to measure the pad material left and the thickness of the discs and compare the figures with the Skoda stated minimum figures. Although there is a rusty lip around the edge of the disc, which most have after they have been fitted for a while, the contact area appears good with no signs of radial cracks or deep gouging.

A little searching on the forum came up with these threads which may be useful.

Did the "Skoda Approved" garage give a detailed reason as to why both front shock absorbers needed "urgent" replacement?

I don't know what Latvia has to do with anything as the OP lives in Cornwall! I wrote that post before the OP clarified that the speedometer did in fact work but that it was the illumination of the needle that did not. However I still stand by my premise that if a dealer supplies a vehicle that is not fit for purpose e.g. the speedometer does not work then in law you have the right to get the dealer to rectify the problem at their expense or refund your money. You should not be out of pocket for no fault of your own. I would however have expected such a problem to be picked up on a test drive and the car only being purchased subject to the fault having been rectified. If the speedometer was working when the car was collected then I agree that faults that developed later would not necessarily be covered in law.

So the garage either hasn't replaced the led properly and reassembled the cluster correctly or they may have mislead or misinformed you regarding the fault.

Another vote for bringing back the old Android version of Firefox. I do not like the new version at all. I preferred the tabbed view and for it to start and display my favourites and not have to put them into collections. I will have to investigate alternatives for my tab,et and phone.

I would return the car to the garage as not fit for purpose and either get them to fix it, whilst suppling a courtesy car, or get your money back. it is a legal requirement that every car has a functioning method of indicating the speed and I would have thought that selling one without a functioning speedometer was illegal. As far as I know, like you, canging the leds would not stop the speedometer working. In your photo the speedometer needle does not even apear to be lit. When was it last MOT'd?

This would be cheaper

If you use Wino's method of drawing the tank by syphon will you get more fuel out than you would with the pump? I am not familiar with the design of the tank but wiil the pump run dry earlier going up hill than down and if it does run dry temporarily will that introduce air bubbles into the system?

I hope that it all turns out to your satisfaction in the end and that they deliver their promise. I look forward to a post from you on Thursday evening saying how shiny your new car looks.