Monkhai

I think they’ll cop out and extend hybrids, probably only range extender types.

Yes, but you don’t need to spend 50k so it cancels the savings out and then some. Not trying to be difficult but the big sell was they’re expensive but so cheap to run. Now that’s not true all the time you will have a much harder dell convincing your average punter to part with a big lump up front. Again you’re forgetting the up front extra cost of the EV.

It's not unreasonable, but if your derv does 12.5MPL (Approx 56PG) it's costing say £1.80 per 13.5miles currently. At the 67p/kWh rate, lets say you're getting a somewhat generous 4.5 miles per kWh (It is a tesla and they're efficient), then it's £1.86 for the same 12.5 miles. Now there are a lot of factors, but that's not a compelling case to spend 40/50/80k going electric. It's really sad, but until either the price of an EV drops to that or an ICE car or on the road charging becomes substantially cheaper than ICE it's going to be a very hard sell to your average motorist who does long trips. As a second car, which can do a real 100-200 miles for going around town and the local area then it would make sense as you go out full, you come home and charge. That however assumes you have access to cheap charging or solar when you need it.

You can put rings on the battery (or appropriate) terminals and then you have an accessible connector. The CTEK claim they are suitable for maintainance charging and I believe are what is supplied by a number of vehicle OEM. I actually use the cigarette lighter (12v power) adapter and charge through there most of the time.

Don’t take my word as gospel I don’t drive petrols but do drive manual diesels. If it’s not notchy in the diesel I’d be amazed if it was in the petrol and I think it’s the same gearbox.

As for the steering, it’s electronic so change the drive mode to eco and compare. That should feel much more assisted.

Will move it, but the box shouldn’t be notchy so if it is on just one change that’s not ideal. 3rd to 4th is the gear that will take the biggest hit when being pushed hard too imho.

I assume you mean DSG, but since you have another thread on automatic reliability I think it’s covered and this thread is unnecessary.

In the UK, a good compromise (unless you get lots of snow) could be 4 good all-season tyres. By this I mean the ones with snowflake/mountain marking not the cheapy "all season" sometimes seen. If you're very cold or get regular snow, then definately not, but if it's just to get you home safely in a flurry of snow, then AS might be a good compromise. Cost wide you will save little, as the summer/winter are only on half the year each, so you'll use one set of each vs two of the others. The savings come from storage, changing and wheels etc more than the cost of the tyres themselves IMHO.

I don’t know the codes, but has that relay been checked?

I wouldn’t put winters on only one axle unless you want to go off the road in a big way. Slowing down and cornering/changing direction are where you would come very unstuck

As ken alluded to, just sitting with it on and moving the flap position "manually" a large number of times by pressing the button for feet, windscreen, face over and over whilst also setting lo and hi over and over might be enough to free something. It's worth a try for nothing. I think the diagnostic tools might be able to do some playing around with this too.

It's a friction brake. The friction lining (Brake Pad) rubs against the brake disc to create friction to slow the car down. They wear, that's the point of the disc, albeit slowly. You can't put too big or deep a groove in it or you harm the performance of the disc and if you drill the disc it can crack around these. Most people I knew who had proper fast track cars (not off road going through dirty standing water) used solid discs as the extra mass gave better cooling. There's a whole series of possible factors from: Discs are worn out Pads are not applying pressure evenly (that would really only go for the wear ring you see about 1" out from the centre) Discs are not on the hub quite straight (fraction of a mm, meaning a tiny tiny bit more wear on one side of the disk than the other They were not milled consistently (I'd assume a machine did them, so it would be unlikely but you know what they say about assumptions) The material the original disc is made from. Many more Where did you buy them from? Not an e-bay special I hope? What is the wear pattern like on the inside of the disc (Is that face slotted too - it should be and if so is it worn in the same or mirror image) How many miles have you done on them and of what sort of driving. It's normal for slots/groves to wear as the disc wears, but how much depends on the brand. I know some makes had a certain bit wear flat at minimum thickness, so you could easily tell when it was new disc time. Perhaps it's that? I personally wouldn't bother and would put bog standard discs of a decent brand/quality on them (OEM Equivalent brembo for example) Regardless of what we all say, I would be getting the brakes checked by a qualified person if you are not 100% certain what you're doing as they are the one thing not to take any chances on.

A pandemic A war A loss of manufacturing Critical changes in oil/energy prices Lack of shipping resources .... JIT is great when everything is perfect and predictable. The sticking loads in a warehouse costs too much. Sadly what is needed is ARTBIRN (Just made up) - A reasonable time before it's really needed, where goods are shipped in half warehouse quantities, such that the warehouse holds enough to deal with a reasonable period of time of work continuation should an oops happen. Essentially when you've used half your stock, fill up again rather than waiting until it's nearly empty. As for the side window... I doubt it's a common parts, so they might have one of each type in a central warehouse if you're lucky, but probably not as it would cost much £££ to do so for all the popular cars. Front screens yes, possibly some others for very common cars, but not all of them.

Already got 3 star locks and 2 star handles (not needed I know, but I was replacing some old broken ones and the cost difference wasn't huge). I've been fitting decent locks for over a decade as I used to work in DG and so knew how vulnerable EC locks are. Hingebolts are something so many people overlook too. It's just a shame that stalking out cars/houses isn't something the police can pick you up for. It's pretty indefensible when you do it in the middle of the night, wrapped up hiding yourself and clearly checking out property 😕

I would image you’ll have to ask the manufacturer, but that they’ll be pretty unwilling to share in any detail. Probably because the compound make up is the difference between two identical looking tyres being a top performer and a ditch-finder.

I was thinking stealth marking, using some of the uniquely identifiable not visible in under normal light solutions. Probably in not typically visible places of the easy to flog bits, such as the radio parts, engine and exhaust parts, suitable parts of the alloys, seats etc. Basically enough removable parts to make a reasonable chance of a conviction if people were caught transiting/selling a car as parts. A bit like the visual "find an easier one" deterrent of the disclock, I imagine advertising the marking with the supplied window stickers (like the old car alarm stickers) would make the car less attractive than one that is unmarked. The old lock bumping and snapping thing bothers me, because it's been known about for years and yet doors/windows are still sold the vulnerable locks. It's time for a Eurocylinder v2, with two not one screw points and anti-snap/pick/bump features a requirement of the basic spec. Obviously it only applies to new doors. I do hear what you're saying about they'll do what they want though, as they are basically out there and don't care one bit if they're seen. I didn't like the 80s/90s and yes, it's that same you can't have anything nice or it'll get nicked or at the least damaged feeling. Having looked at the pandora system, it reminds me of an alarm from the 90s, where you could hand over the keys, they could drive away and after a certain time the car would just cut out if they hadn't put in the right number of taps. Essentially they get away, you have time to call the police and then hopefully the car can be recovered.

I would suggest that many of the members mentioned on the list may not be around any more and that if they are many of those cars will have been reverted to standard or scrapped by now. I'd suggest this thread, which was last updated 14 years ago (2008) has run it's course, although you are welcome to start a new one.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought this, although my contemplation came from the idea that it's impossible to get a new car right now, so if it got stolen you could be without one for a long time. We have noticed a lot of last generation cars are being broken into and stolen, with the suggestion they're desirable for spare parts due to a shortage of new spare parts. The older cars are easier to nick (if you discount keyless entry), which makes them a target. The disclock type steering locks at least means they need to make more noise to steal it, although how much people would notice at night is another question. I am assuming (although could be incorrect) that marking car parts with something police approved that can be used as evidence and advertising that fact would make it a less desirable target, but you never know if it just makes it more of a target just because they can.

There appear to be people scouting out cars, particularly anything that isn't current generation, of late. Are there any known vulnerabilities on the Octavia 3 which make entry/theft easy. I specifically DO NOT want details as that will only help those who are looking to take or break into the cars. For example, do I need to be mindful that entry is now easy and should look to use something like a disclock? Also what makes a good deterrant these days? Trackers, Smart water, ruddy great steering locks etc? Is it worth leaving the boot uncovered, so it's obvious there is nothing in there or is that just asking for problems with the storage pockets that come with the car to hold deicer and the first aid kit etc? I have this nasty 1980s/90s feeling about thing at the moment 😕

You have already posted a nearly identical thread Please don’t create multiple similar threads, as it’s against the forum rules.

Ahh yes, it's the mother and baby/disabled bay types again

I've noticed a very entitled attitude of certain types of EV driver. Not the majority of them, but the £100k is no object types, who would previously have driven their Giant SUV, with the biggest engine and parked it in a disabled or mother and baby bay.

Oh right, well I got completely the wrong one. The only thing I can think of is that they're using genuine parts, or they are doing the control arms, the ball joints/track rod ends and all new bolts at the same time. The latter isn't that unreasonable as I've seen a fair few rusted bolts shear when undoing them and the ball joints at the ends of the control arms are pretty exposed. Certainly last time i had bushes done I was presented with one that had gone, so just did both to save future costs. You really do need a parts break down or a second price.

You'd need to do that and then once that has done, fill it with the appropriate plastic using something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plastic-Soldering-Adjustment-Temperature-Professional/dp/B09VL6P2RG/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=plastic+welding+kit&qid=1662979490&sr=8-6 It might just be chaeper to find a plastic repair company and get them to do it unless you think you'll do it again.