philhoward

Nope - the older iron block 1.4 which was available in 150, 160, 170, 180 and 185PS (Audi figure manipulation) guises and bears little/no resemblance to the current ACT engine, apart from being a "1.4". Some engines suffered shocking oil consumption and cost VAG a lot in warranty claims. Technically, a wonderful engine though. I mourn its loss. I've regularly managed over 50mpg on my ACT-engined Leon - like your son, I'm averaging high 40's

Within tolerance? I'd call that unacceptable personally - and tell them where to shove their order! a 1959 Mini didn't use that much. The question is where is the coolant going? As has been said before, it's possible to for the level to settle within the first couple of thousand miles (although shouldn't as filling systems at the factory fill by volume - which should be pre-set and not change) but to get through what is half the coolant capacity between oil changes is ludicrous!

I don't know - 27mpg from my 1.4 Octy with a caravan on the back to Le Mans and back in 2014. I didn't think that was bad? Wasn't much worse than a mate's diesel Scenic doing the same.

Not the most reliable of engines (both of mine needed work), but when it worked (most of the time, to be fair - I did a combined 130,000 miles in them), it was marvellous. Twincharging isn't dead - Volvo have now embraced it. My Scirocco needed half the engine rebuilt but that was VW's fault for specifying the wrong plugs at service time - the Fabia spat out part of a valve whilst cruising down a Belgian motorway. They did have a bit of a thirst for oil though until you got about 40,000 on the clock at which point they settled down - in my case anyway.

The vast majority of the car buying public still associate the engine size with the power, but this certainly isn't the case nowadays. The most extreme case I can think of is the new 1 litre Mondeo which most people will consider a crazy idea. I've not tried the 1.2TSI engines but it seems to get good reviews - certainly not wanting. I'm more of an advocate of the 1.4's from VAG - two twinchargers (160PS/180PS), and two turbo-only 1.4's (Octavia - 140PS and now a Leon 150PS with the ACT engine). Great performance when you need it, and great economy when you don't. Didn't have the Octavia long enough to get a decent MPG test, but the Leon is returning mid to high 40's mpg with mixed driving - all these have been DSG/Auto as well. These engines really do warm up quickly - both the car I are warm within a few minutes of starting which really does help the economy. In terms of "old school" engine sizes, the 1.2TSI in the Octavia is akin to somwhere between 1.6 and a 1.8 in performance; the 1.4TSI more like a good 2.0 - maybe a 2.2/2.3 depending on the manufacturer. The bonus is you get the economy you would associate with the smaller engine. 40mpg+ should be achievable in the real world from either the 1.2 or 1.4. I'm not sure if there are plans to bring the 1.0 cylinder turbo unit to the Octavia (as used in the Fabia and Golf that I've noticed so far)?

A 1st March 16 (16 plate) registered car will be worth more than a virtually identical February 28th (or January in your case) 65 plate - price guides won't care is it's only one day older. If it's on hire/lease/PCP it won't make a bat of difference. If it's your own cash, then if you're keeping it for less than 10 years, stick to your guns although I think there's a clause that unless a delivery date was previously agreed, you MUST take delivery within a certain period of it arriving at the dealership (either 14 or 21 days I think). When we bought SWMBO's Citigo, it was on the premise that although they expected delivery early Feb 15, we wouldn't take delivery until 1st March and this was agreed before we signed the paperwork.

Clarkson said it should have been called the Ford Asbo, I thought - based on the colour (and the manners!) in his TG vid? ISTR he made some closing comment like "also available in blue, but why would you?". Who was first is another matter..

Shame that temperature gauges are not much use these days - roughly about right until the thermostat opens at which point it's no more than an idiot light (my first Citroen BX had an "overheating - too late to save the engine" light and nothing else). They sit at 90 or max as soon as they've reached temp. Placebo gauge.. Apparently stops people panicking when they see 100 degrees on the gauge as they think it's boiling. Jaguar fixed that years ago when the V12 engine came out (that ran at its best about 100 degrees) - changed the gauge to read "C---N---H" instead of the actual temperature As others have said, pumps seem to be an issue and is a likely suspect.

Try again towards the end of the month when they have targets to hit - if a dealer is a bit short on sales they could dig a bit deeper.

There you go then - as long as you limit the trailer load to under 450kg or so (and load it correctly) it will be fine

Orange light is low level (but not critically low) - red light is low pressure (too late).. I've had 2 VAG cars with the twincharger engine so know the yellow light well

It's not uncommon to need a top-up before the first service (assuming variable) but I'm surprised you didn't get a 1l top-up bottle in the black zip-bag? Grade will be to the relevant VW spec (502/504 or the like).

Indeed - the flat, wide, torque curve is exactly what you want and need when towing IMHO.

I've heard something about Macs doing odd things...not sure if it's related though?

I towed 1000kg-ish of caravan to France and back with my 1.4 Estate no problem.

2+2="That might be why you've getting it fast-tracked as part of a deal"?

I'm with pipsyreturns - should it got stolen (and there's no proof the lost key has been disassociated from the car) you may well find an insurance company declining to pay out.

Such are the plethora of wireless devices now, anything could be "waking up" they key. I have 2 phones with me at all times (work and personal) - if I wake the screen up on the works phone (to check for messages) and put it back in my pocket within 20 seconds, my personal phone thinks it's near a Contactless payment device (and wants to make an Apple Pay payment to it..). It could be anything waking the key up - unconnected bluetooth device (phone/ipod etc) looking for something to talk to?

Depends on the phone, but some have a "bluetooth" volume (as well as ringer and normal call volumes) - I know my Windows phone (Nokia Lumia something) does. Try calling voicemail or something and pressing the volume UP button on the phone during the call as well as on the car? Amundsen is the Nav unit

Get a service/warranty report on the car before committing - check it isn't a returned car/lemon that's possibly got a fault that can't be fixed as there are a few out there..

Stays on until you reach something like 10kph or so for the reason given by Dithane.

I've just been caught by a change (maybe another rise imminent again?) in CO2 on my Leon (ST, with the 1.4 ACT); between ordering and delivery the CO2 figure has gone up from 109g to 111g - Fleet company said one figure (111g), yet Seat assured me it was 109g. P11D figures are about to go in to the tax man based on 111g (which is now shown in the brochure, but not on the website) which means I have the pleasure of paying another £100 a year for the next 3 years, so will be interested to see what happens here.. EDIT: beaten by skodafang. I don't have a fuel card, but have already had one rise - I hope there isn't another otherwise I'll be throwing the keys back to the lease company!

Same on my Leon - bit of an annoyance TBH, especially now I actually use the passenger auto-dip on reverse (due to having to park in a slightly different place).

I know it's not the same car, but there is a "Motorway" setting for lighting on my new Leon - accessible from the infotainment unit.

I've just got an ACT engine (in a Leon) and the instantaneous MPG figure does jump up significantly as soon as it goes into 2 cylinder mode - holding a reasonably steady speed shows it going from high 60's to mid/high 80's mpg at around 70mph, so that disabling of two cylinders (effectively only frictional rather than compression losses; considerably less) does have quite an impact. To compare, it's got less than 1000 miles on it at the moment and is giving better mpg figures than the Octavia 1.4 I had 18 months ago, and I'm driving it "more energetically" at the moment than I did the Octavia.