CB1

New, they are a rip off. Mines has come with half-leather interior (£900), Bluetooth (£500), bonnet stripes (£90), heated front screen (£300), cruise control (£300). I get no mpg gauge on the trip computer, because that was a £90 option. Cable to connect your ipod to the car as part of the phone package? That'll be £45 to you sir. That and the stereo has been deliberately held back so people go for the upgraded units (sounds like a mouse farting through a foghorn). However the stereo is an easy enough fix, and on the whole it is a fantastic, amazingly stiff and superb handling car, but easy to drive and (hopefully) efficient. They pulled wonders with it if you prioritise handling above all else and need occasional rear seat and boot space.

Mines was the Dundee MINI garage, nice wee 62 plate Cooper S. I was on HP and was costing very little, but they gave me £400 on top of my settlement figure and I am actually paying slightly less a month now. All I've done all night is listen to the exhaust pop and bang! Love the wee thing.

So the Monte has been sold. 2 years 3 months of reasonably trouble free motoring have come to an end, and I've decided to move onwards and upwards...kinda. I had a choice between a vRS Fabia and a Mini Cooper S, and my god it was a tough one. Ultimately it was a heart and wallet decision, with the Mini driving that bit better than the Fabia, being a cheaper thanks to being a 62 plate rather than 64 and generally just being more for me. If practicality was of any concern (an MX-5 was also considered, but it's not really a £13k purchase I could justify) the Fabia would have won every time, but it felt a little bit too much like Monte + a little bit, rather than a night and day change. That and the DSG box really wasn't for me. And the Mini feels faster. So, although I haven't been the most active member of the community, I'd like to say thanks to all that have helped out over the last couple of years with a few niggles and made life just a tad easier. I went on a decent 90-mile round trip to Glenshee yesterday to try out my new camera too, so I'll update this thread in a few days with some of the better pics I got .

Arise thread. After many trips to the dealer and an overnight stay this problem was fixed - we thought. The turbo was replaced as there was a wastegate actuator pin flapping around in the wind being generally useless. The problem was fixed for most the year and I thought no more of it. HOWEVER, it is back. This time they are replacing the timing chain to see if that's the issue. At the moment the noise is being generated initially whilst steering left under moderate acceleration, but can be heard under light throttle continuously after a while of driving. There is also a strange but brief rattle at start up occasionally. I'm going to head out tomorrow and see if I can record the noise for future reference, so I will post videos if I can get a decent sound recording from HTC's finest.

Sorry, not been on in a while. Car owned from new (2 years), pedals never removed and just over 7000 miles. The car is in on the 10th to have its timing chain replaced so I will be letting them know then. As said above, wether they care or not is a different matter.

Hello all, I'm going to say this isn't a complaint thread, I'm not going to be whining or telling you my car is the worst car of ever. A few weeks ago, without any real warning, my "alloy" accelerator pedal fell off. As it turns out the "alloy" part is just a cover slipped over the normal pedals, and is not secured in any way other than friction. There is no hook over the top of the pedal either so is held on by interference fit side and bottom by rubber grooves, sp it really is just hanging on. Thankfully when mines came off (I assume it had been off for sometime by this stage) it only jammed underneath my clutch so I simply knocked the car out of gear and kicked it out the way, but I am very aware that it could well have been the brake pedal and been a very different story. I have tried refitting the cover and it has fallen off again, this time with me monitoring it so was kept well away from any other pedals. So, the point in this thread; I urge anyone with a Monte/vRS and any other models with these covers, please quickly check they are secure. This may be a localised incident but best be safe than sorry. As it is, I will be reporting this to Skoda to make them aware of the issue and see what comes of it.

Got it, cheers for the help. Yeah it just needed pulled out but was so stiff with so little movement I assumed I was doing something wrong.

Sorry, I meant actually taking the bulb off the holder. I can get the cap off the back of the headlight unit, and the black connector with the bulb visible. It's removing the bulb after that I can't work out

Hi all, looked up a few guides here but having issues in removing my headlight bulb. I'm twisting and pulling and nothing's budging. What part exactly is meant to twist, and what bit do I grip? Cheers

Not my cup of tea but it's your car and if you like it then that is all that matters! However, "unique"? It's a Monte with some stickers...

Jealous. I missed out on the Tech by a couple of months. Would have saved me a few quid and came with the options I wanted but decided against to keep costs as low as possible. (I'm a poor student you see ) Enjoy!

Bump. Issue resolved; was the turbo wastegate actuator pin that wasn't moving as it should, and was just rattling around. Turbo replaced and seems to be all sorted

There's the TMC box which is pricey but I've heard nothing but good things about them from FiatForum when I had my Bravo. That gives 125bhp and 225Nm of torque, not far off the old vRS. Would fitting a tuning box go against the clauses of the contract for the car? I've had a read through mine and will buy a box, if I'm allowed to do so

Cheers for the link. From what they said, they wrapped brake lines in foam so it may very well be related but not the exact issue it doesn't seem.

Thanks for the replies. I agree with both the above; I want no one putting themselves in any kind of danger for the sake of a rattle, and the more the dash comes out, the more problems will be caused. Guess it's just massively irritating since it's a brand new car not even six months ago, and there seems to be no easy or known fix, since it seems to just be mines that is doing this specific rattle.