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its OK, I've put a post in the Octavia section anyway. No doubt it'll be a topic that will crop up now and again.

Hello all, I recently took the plunge and bought a 2025 Skoda Octavia SEL. It’s a lovely car, but in today’s world of ever-tightening emissions standards, it comes with a feature I find incredibly frustrating. The car uses what I believe is called “coasting,” where the DSG shifts into neutral when no throttle input is detected. However, it seems VAG have pushed this even further, and the engine actually switches off entirely. Apparently on earlier facelift cars turning off the starts/stop feature stopped this but not so on the very latest models. I find this especially annoying when you want a bit of engine braking on a downhill stretch, there’s nothing there, so you end up having to tap the brakes (which then restarts the engine) just to control your speed. I also can’t help but think this constant stopping and starting isn’t doing the starter system any favours in the long term. Switching the DSG into Sport mode disables the feature and brings the car back to how I expect it to behave, though of course the engine holds onto revs for longer before shifting. With that in mind, I went searching online for a way to disable this behaviour, ideally something I could tweak with my VCDS cable. There are a few discussions suggesting it can be coded out (for example: Module 19 – Gateway > Long Coding > “FPA Funktion Freilauf DefaultON” > set to “Not Active”). That may well be a red herring, and not the correct parameter to change. Thought I would put a post up on here to see if anyone else has had any experiences/thoughts on this.....

oh, actually no its for an Octavia - but was hoping it might be a similar principle.

has anyone had any success applying this on a 2025 year of car? I love the car but i find it very annoying how the engine turns off when i disengage the throttle.

ok thanks for the comments there - will have to go for a look at one and see what i think. Not a fan of all the modern bells and whistles but seems there is no way to avoid it.

Hi all, I'm looking at downsizing from a Superb to an estate that's a bit smaller and something petrol with an automatic box as i'm not doing the miles. What's the general opinion of the newest Octavia's with their 1.5 TSI engines and DSG gearboxes - are they generally reliable or are they experiencing some worrying issues.

Yeah, I think the general consensus is to wait and see if the error comes back. I’ve spoken to several VAG specialists about it—some are aware of the issue and say failure is likely due to bolts holding an auxiliary pump working loose, falling out, and causing damage to the gearbox. Others, however, haven’t come across it at all. Mine’s a DQ381, and from what I’ve gathered, this was a known issue within Audi/VW, where they would sometimes replace the gearbox as a goodwill gesture. Not sure if Skoda would do the same, especially since the car’s now out of warranty. If the fault returns, I’m potentially looking at a £2,600 bill to replace the pump with an upgraded (and supposedly safer) version. Worst case, if it fails completely before I catch it, I could be facing a full gearbox replacement costing up to £7,000. After spending so long finding the right Superb, I’m reluctant to let it go just yet. I’m hoping it was just a one-off glitch and doesn’t come back—but until then, it’s definitely playing on my mind.

Hi all, While I had a bit of spare time today, I decided to run an auto-scan on my 2018 Superb SEL (with DQ381 DSG gearbox) to check for any fault codes. One code caught my eye—it was related to the automatic transmission. There were no warning lights on the dash, so without the scan, I’d have been none the wiser. Out of curiosity, I checked my dashcam footage and noticed the error appeared right as I came to a stop in traffic—coincidentally, just as Rick Astley came on the radio (not sure if that's a sign or just bad timing 😅). For reference, I have the start/stop system disabled. Not knowing what the code meant, I turned to Google—and naturally, that led me down a bit of a rabbit hole and into a mild panic. That said, I’ve driven the car several times since the code first appeared and it hasn’t returned. The car feels completely normal when driving. The car has around 63k miles on it, and I had the DSG oil changed at 42k as a preventative measure. It's no longer under warranty, and I recall dealers generally don’t investigate issues unless a warning light is active. Still, I’m wondering if this could be an early warning sign and whether it might be worth having it looked at proactively. What do you think? 1 Fault Found: 35494 - Control Circuit for Aux. Trans. Fluid Pump P0C29 00 [00101000] - Implausible Signal Intermittent - Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear Freeze Frame: Fault Priority: 0 Fault Frequency: 1 Mileage: 102195 km Date: 2025.09.03 Time: 13:30:31 Engine speed: 742.00 /min Vehicle speed: 0 km/h Coolant temperature: 91 °C Clutch: primary stat: Creeping selected gear: GANG_2 Driving position: d Engine torque: 4 Nm Control Module temperature: 85 °C Accelerator pedal position: 14.9 % DTC memory status: 296

Well I don't know who quoted the recommendation to drive in a low gear but my observations are that it doesn't speed up the process. I got better results putting the car in manual mode (as it's a DSG) and maintaining a constant 2000rpm. The car appears to need a constant high 600+ degrees temperature to achieve adequate soot burn. If you drive steady it appears to me that it is able to regulate that high temperature, whereas if you drive hard the ECU must have a harder challenge trying to keep a balanced temperature and thus with that approach I've seen the burn temperatures go up and down constantly as the ECU tries to stop things getting too hot (presume to avoid risk of fire). In the grand scheme of things is it worth worrying about... probably not as we're talking about a process that takes between 10-20mins to complete once it's started. 10mins is the best regen time I've seen with constant throttle vs 20mins with varied throttle behaviours.

ELM327 Bluetooth 2.0 ODB2 interface Cost me about £2.50 when I got one.

no its not related to odbeleven, but I believe you'd need to manually look for the measuring parameters used to perform the same analysis. I've got an Android phone and this app works fine. Might also be available for iPhone but would need to check.

Here are some insights I've gathered from using the VAGDPF app to monitor DPF regeneration on my diesel Skoda Superb: Short Journeys: Frequent short trips result in poor fuel economy and quicker soot build-up in the DPF, causing regenerations to occur more frequently—sometimes as often as every 200 miles or even less if short trips dominate your driving pattern. Longer Journeys Help: Extended drives are beneficial. I’ve observed intervals of up to 370 miles between regenerations during consistent, longer journeys. Driving Behaviour During Regen: Maintaining a steady speed and throttle input during a regeneration seems to improve efficiency. Stop-start driving extends the regen duration, likely because the car adjusts DPF temperatures carefully to avoid overheating and reduce fire risk. Incomplete Soot Removal: Regenerations don’t appear to reduce soot levels to 0%. On motorway drives with steady speeds, the soot level typically drops to around 22% before the regen is marked as complete. In contrast, interrupted regens tend to stop at about 33%. Incomplete Regens Lead to More Frequent Cycles: If a regeneration is not allowed to complete, more soot remains in the filter, which shortens the interval before the next regen is triggered. This is a key reason why diesel engines aren't ideal for drivers who mostly do city or short-distance driving. Aggressive Driving: Hard acceleration or racing the engine increases soot production, meaning regenerations are needed more frequently. Fuel Additives: Based on my experience, I haven't noticed any measurable benefit from adding fuel additives to the tank in relation to DPF regeneration frequency or performance.

LOL yes i did consider that but when i look at what sits underneath from the other side, it appears to be a bit of circuit board so might not be a good idea 😞

I ordered a pair of what was advertised as dynamic indicators for my 2018 Mk3 Superb. After trying to fit them today, unsuccessfully, it seems there's a nodule that protrudes from the rear of the light unit preventing fitment to this car. Yes I know they are from China and what do you expect, but as eBay seemed to be littered with what appears to be the same items for 3 times the price I thought i'd take a pun. It's a shame they wouldn't fit as I plugged one in and it actually worked well. Curious to see if anyone else on here has successfully fitted their superb with this indicators and if so where they sourced them from.

That’s what I was asking, would it impact particular tyres to wear diffident to the others? I actually feel the car handles OK at the moment but I don’t drive it like a sports car or push to its limits, I guess my worry is, will the attempt to asjsut things open a can of worms in terms of ending not being able to get all within tolerance or a steering wheel that’s never straight.

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. Is this the sort of thing that will impact tyre wear on the inside shoulders?

I had a new set of boots put on my car this week and whilst they were at it I asked them to check my cars wheel alignment to be checked. The tyres on my car have been on it for 50k miles and the outer edges on a couple look a bit more worn than the centers which I've had on past VAG cars as apparently its common. The car has alway run straight and doesn't drift when you temporarily take your hands from the wheel. After being put on the wheel aligment system the workshop guy told me all measurement were in tollerances and its not worth adjusting (pictures attached). Looking at if from a simplistic point of view things in red it would seem to me that there are two items out of tolerance but hey... I'm not an expert. Of course I could take it to another tyre place and get a second opinion but thought I would canvas it on here as you get some smart people who tend to know more than your workshop 🙂

Turning off KESSY is pointless in my experiment, having to hold the ignition key next to the start button is a waste of time.

I also saw a video on YouTube where a chap had cut the end off a bad heater matrix to show its insides. Interestingly he said when it is partially blocked you can get symptoms where for example the side vents are cooler than the air on the central console. This is just like what I’m experiencing. Looks like a new heater matrix is in order then.

Ok that’s a fair comment, it has been playing on my mind that this could still be a problem. My only issue will be finding the correct part number for the heater matrix as VW never want to tell you.

Hi all, As the colder UK weather has returned I've been faced with troubleshooting a problem in my other car (VW Golf Mk7) that shares the same engine that's in my Superb. Recently we've noticed the cabin heater when turned to full blast on hot, initially gives a belt of warm air then soon changes to luke warm. Turn it back down to the lower setting and it seems to remain hot. I did some searching through all sorts of forums and it seemed to me that the problem may be related to the heater matrix. Today I removed the two pipe connections in the engine bay that lead through to the heater matrix and began to flush it through with clean water. All that came out was a bit of red coolant, possibly a little bit of silt but was free flowing. It certainly wan't full of the crap I've seen some folks videos demonstrate. This made NO difference to the issue and the problem remains. Strangely the water level in the expansion tank did not drop at all but maybe some of the water I used to flush was still in the heater matrix. I moved onto trying to flush the coolant system as the car is 10 years old and I'm not certain it would ever have been done. I added some additive, ran it for 10 mins and removed one of the lower radiator pipes to let the fluid out. Strangely I could only get 1-2 litres out and that's it. I put some water back in and re-ran the car some more, and i could see the water was being circulated with more red coolant. I flushed that out and repeated a couple more times. For now I've refilled the system as I can't get to the bottom of this issue. The bottom radiator pipes always remain cold and i'm not sure if that is normal? The car temperature behalves normal as far as I can tell and moves religiously to 90 and stays there. I can't get the car engine hot to the point it triggers the engine fan and to be fair this has applied to all diesel engines i've owned apart from when its mid summer with high temperatures. With current 4 degrees weather I've got little chance of getting it really hot! The cambelt was changed this year along with a new water pump so i'd like to assume the water pump is OK. I did try pressing the accessible coolant pipework when the engine is running and i can squeeze them quite easily - this seems the same on the Superb when i perform the same check so assume this is normal. VCDS doesn't show any errors. Comments appreciated.

thanks for the info. i guess its one of those topics where you think at the end of the day, its not worth wasting any more brain power on and just enjoy the drive, which I can say i do very much.

yep thats the what they used to say but as some else mentioned, on these modern cars you can't quite tell what other trickery they are achieving under the bonnet.

I like the coasting feature too… funny as back in the day motoring specialists said coasting in a car uses more fuel, and it’s best to leave it in gear.

Yep same here