Been quite some time since I did a detailed update on my wife's Moon White Karoq which we bought on 26th January 2018. The original Braga 18" alloys and Michelin Primacy 3 tyres (215/50R18 front wheel drive size) are sitting in our garage after 27,000 miles on the car. It is currently fitted with the 19" Superb Vega alloys which are 1" wider at 8" and have Bridgestone S001 Performance tyres in 235/40R19 dimension. These have increased fuel consumption by around 10% but I have been impressed by the increased grip in corners and very little extra tyre roar and still excellent ride comfort. Starting the year after 23 months ownership the car had done 22,500 miles and 11 months later it has now covered 28,336 miles. The main reason for the reduction is that my wife like so many now works from home so only uses it for home visits and when helping her service users with shopping. She is a Social Worker dealing with Adults With Learning Difficulties. The good news for us is that the Council pay a generous mileage expenses when she uses the car for work so she usually gets more for her mileage than the monthly fill up requires. This year I have put 572.80 litres of regular unleaded at a total cost of £623.97 and the car has covered 5,795 miles (126 gallons exactly) which works out at an average of 45.99mpg which is not too far from the indicated 46.4mpg Long Term figure in the maxidot onboard computer. We have had no problems this year following 2 issues last year which were resolved around the car's only service so far at 18,700 miles in October 2019. They were just to recap the long awaited software update which has improved the cold engine skippy nature of the car from new which seems to be low torque related and possibly connected to the alternator. It has not completely gone but is much more driveable than before. Another issue which many early KESSY equipped Karoq's suffer from was the failure of both key fobs in quick succession after 21 months which was diagnosed eventually to a batch of faulty key fobs which were both replaced under warranty thankfully. The second service (variable service plan) is not due until October 2021 when the brake fluid will be changed for the first time. The first MOT is due in just 2 months time and the original wipers (all 3 of them) are still in excellent condition and they will also be replaced at the second service which should be at around 35,000 miles. The gearbox has been getting better with age and is now very slick even comparing to the 6 speed manual on my previous Octavia Vrs245. Compared to my current 150PS diesel 2020 Superb DSG the Karoq feels like a sports car owing to it's relatively light 1,360kg kerbweight. The Superb is around 1,500kg and takes about 10 seconds to get to 60mph (but compensates with 66mpg average so far) whereas the Karoq does the sprint in around 8.5 seconds. Overall we are very pleased with the car and it replaced a top of the range Skoda Rapid SE Sport 1.2TSi 6 speed manual which also averaged around 46mpg over 28,500 miles and 3 years between 2015 and 2018. We find the high standard spec of the SEL and the practical 3 rear vario flex seats which can fold up cinema style or can be removed completely so if you need to load long or bulky items (I used the Karoq to collect laminate flooring boards for our kitchen, lounge and master bedroom) it is as practical as the Roomster or Yeti were before it. We paid £23,500 including metallic paint and the RRP is now around £27,500 before discounts. We like this car so much we plan to keep it for 10 years and then sell it when we retire and move to a sunnier climate somewhere.

From what was said in a thread a while ago, you might have to factor in a decoke at 80,000miles due to the direct injection engine.  Don't know how much a de-coke costs, but I've been thinking, assuming I do 10,000miles p.a. (only 6,000 in year 1 though) maybe keeping my 1.0 SE tech for 7 years, what with the DSG wear issues and the complexity & questionable long term reliability of modern car tech electronics.  As I get older I worry more about being stranded by a broken down car.  I also admit to being irrestably drawn to taking on board ever more tech features like 360degree cameras, self parking, lane keeping, blind spot monitoring etc. etc. - maybe they'll all be working that much better by then.

 

I don't think I'll be able to beat that 46mpg overall, best long distance motorway trip yet has been a freak 53mpg actual a few months ago and that time I unwittingly left the gear lever in Sport mode for 40--50miles on the M4.

Costs between £60 and £100 depending on where you go.

That seems very reasonable, presumably involving taking the head off, I thought it would cost a lot more.  So, it isn't really an issue in the grand scheme of things.  It might even be worth doing well before mileage reaches 80,000, when there's not too much sooty build-up.

 

I can't see a DSG overhaul being anywhere near that cheap though.  Being a NO-Autohoder, I've now started putting the car in neutral if waiting at traffic lights to hopefully reduce gearbox wear whilst idling.

 

I was once told about a decoking technique that involved no dismantling -- put car in the middle of a field & with engine runnining put some Redex into the air intake and watch clouds of black smoke emerge form the exhaust - might clog up modern emissions facilities in the exhaust though.

 

 

Google Terraclean. Technician removes a small amount of engine oil, adds the additive and then drives the car to loosen the carbon deposits then the engine is drained and fresh oil is added. The company that did my last remap offer this service BTW 

I have a DSG SEL and the only time I have got anywhere near your mpg was when I was doing trips along the A14 at Cambridge when the roadworks were restricted to 40mph. I rarely do dual carriageway trips what with lockdown however I do live in a rural area. 

 

tom

6 minutes ago, Sanqhar said:

I have a DSG SEL and the only time I have got anywhere near your mpg was when I was doing trips along the A14 at Cambridge when the roadworks were restricted to 40mph. I rarely do dual carriageway trips what with lockdown however I do live in a rural area. 

 

tom

With 19 " alloys and 235/40 tyres only getting 50/51mpg on my commute now in winter whereas with 215/50 tyres on 18" rims was getting 55/56mpg.

Sanqhar, as noted in earlier threads, my motorway trips on the M4 aren't at a constant 70mph (but do occasionally speed up a bit to get past a slower batch of traffic) and typically getting 45mpg actual until I hit a long stretch from before Reading up to the M25 that's limited to 50mph often fairly close behind another vehicle, so further reducing air resistance and when the indicated journey mpg gradually improves.  Then 50minutes worth on the busy M25 oftenat 65mph, without too much slowing - the mpg seems to at least maintain that improved mpg figure, again lots of traffic reducing air resistance.  My 53mpg figure was a best case in warm weather, it's usually 50mpg.  I got that same 50mpg figure on a 30mile trip coming home from the M-in-L yesterday on ordinary roads, mixed traffic.  However, I do usually try to drive in a reasonably economical manner, but keeping up with traffic + both those journeys above avoid hills in the early stages when the engine is cold.  Starting cold from home, I have to go up some steepish hills and it takes a while for the journey mpg to get to a reasonable figure, as well as maybe incurring extra engine wear due to the cold oil.

 

Extrapolating Shy's wheels size example, I wonder if I change down from 17" wheels to 16" I can also expect 10% mpg improvement - maybe not.  Thanks for the Terraclean mention, I'll look into that.

 

 

A Terraclean would be the very last thing to be having done on engines that might need 'actions' by the manufacturer even after the Manufacturers Warranty has expired because the future is not known on engines that some have had issues from their launch.

You only know what 4 or 5 year old engines are going to be like for longevity 4 or 5 years after they have been on the road. 

Especially with VW who never admit issues even at 1,2 or 3 years old.

Small update 1 week before the car has its first MOT next Monday. Worked out total amount of fuel purchased since new over 28,803 miles (46,382km) and it is 2,867.65 litres or 630.81 gallons. This works out at 16.17km per litre or 45.66mpg. In the last 4 weeks during lockdown the car has traveled just 193 miles and used 23 litres of petrol. Will update this thread after next weeks MOT and second service due around October 2021. The plan is to get the first brake fluid and all 3 wiper blades replaced at this point.

I am running 16” winter wheels at the moment instead of standard 19” which came with car and have not noticed any improvement in the fuel consumption.

53 minutes ago, kenfowler3966 said:

I am running 16” winter wheels at the moment instead of standard 19” which came with car and have not noticed any improvement in the fuel consumption.

Hi, forgive me for asking plse but how are you finding the ride quality on the 16s? Is it VERY different to the stock 19s?

Cheers 

Andrew

Ken, re the change from 19" to 16" wheels for winter, you presumably are only using the 16" wheels in winter, when as discussed in earler thread & illustrated with charts, cars are thirstier due to lower air temperatures.  Although you say there's no improvement in economy, is the economy signifantly worse?  If not, that reduction ion wheel size would still indicate significant theoretical improvement.  This is all complicated by the fact, as reported here elsewhere, that summer tyres are generally of stiffer ECO construction these days, whereas AW & winter tyres have to use softer compounds & so I would have thought, be a bit less ECO.

 

Shy's observation & experience about wheel size and thus higher profile tyres, did surprise me, though.  I would have thought the extra flexibility in higher profile tyres equals more resistance to movement & so worse economy.  Maybe the tyre width as opposed to profile is the significant factor.

I think you make a valid point that my summer 235/40R19 tyres which are currently on the car (got 49mpg on the commute last night) are stiffer and more Eco based than a softer higher profile winter or mud+snow tyre with say a 215/60R16 profile. More comfortable yes but probably not more economical.

The ride on the 19” is acceptable and a huge improvement on my prior Yeti on 17”.

On 16” it is better again, but handling and grip will be suffering at the limit. I don't push the limit now though so happy with both.

25 minutes ago, kenfowler3966 said:

The ride on the 19” is acceptable and a huge improvement on my prior Yeti on 17”.

On 16” it is better again, but handling and grip will be suffering at the limit. I don't push the limit now though so happy with both.

When you say 'happy with both', do you mean 19s and 16s, or the handling and grip on the 16s?

I'm on 19s, well only picked the car up a fortnight ago tomorrow lol, but definitely a firmer ride than the test-drive i had on 18s (SE L)..

Just wish they had left things alone and kept 18s on the SE L!!

Happy with both. I already had the winter wheels from my Yeti, now on third winter.

The 19” are really a fashion statement though for UK market. Car doesn't really need such a wide and low profile tyre fitted. I have an edition and don't expect to be anywhere near the limit of the tyres these days.

18 hours ago, kenfowler3966 said:

The ride on the 19” is acceptable and a huge improvement on my prior Yeti on 17”.

On 16” it is better again, but handling and grip will be suffering at the limit. I don't push the limit now though so happy with both.

 

Yetis were and still are crap in comparison with anything at the time. 

16 minutes ago, Tim1631 said:

 

Yetis were and still are crap in comparison with anything at the time. 

Tim what tyres are fitted to your Sportline (make and size please) just out of interest, because the Bridgestone S001 on my wife's Karoq are very grippy and such has been the reduction in her mileage I'm seriously thinking to fill it with Shell V-Power Nitro+ from next month and remap it sometime in March.

Yes the Yeti ride was rubbery firm, almost dodgem car like, but at the time I bought mine, say 6years ago, I tried 4 other cars.  The VW Golf SV definitely had a better ride & was overall favourite, but long delivery period.  I recall 2 others were clearly worse.  Didn't like much about the Ford C-Max - ride worse, dashboard & general cabin feel, but it was a noisy 1.6 diesel manual with iffy gearbox.  BMW Active Tourer Sports suspension 1.6 manual diesel with low profile tyres, ride even worse than Ford, horrid steering, daft having sports suspension with such a slow noisy engine, but couldn't try a non sports petrol auto version. Citroen C4 softish ride but didn't handle ridges and broken sufaces particularly well, strange semi-auto box.  The steering feel of the 2 VAG cars, interior ambience & both nicer to drive than t'others.

Well this is the 36 month and MOT update. Prior to the test decided to get Bosch Aero Twin front wiper blades fitted at Halfords for £34 and a Halfords rear wiper blade as the original ones were still on the car (rear was £15 fitted). Took the car to Kwik Fit in Ashby and it had a clean pass on everything tested (BTW found out they don't check rear wipers as so many saloons don't have them fitted anyway). Walked to Tesco's and did some shopping so car was ready when I returned with just a £39 bill to pay (all costs include VAT). Car has done only 6,000 miles in the last 12 months and when I got there it just clicked over to 29,000 miles. The tester reminded me to get the XDS oil changed at 40,000 miles but the Inspection service is due in 7 months (213 days) anyway so probably get it done then along with the brake fluid change. Car still allowing another 9,700 miles until the Inspection service but based on current mileage more likely to be at 32,500 miles.

Blimey, Shy, are you telling us that you survived 29,000 miles on the original wipers? They cannot have been the dodgy screeching sort that we all changed as quickly as possible before they drove us mad? 

Yeah got my money from the originals. I was following all the good comments about the Bosch ones though and didn’t realise how noisy the factory ones were until I replaced them. Good to listen to folks on here.

Done 9,000 miles so far in 18 months, so by that reckoning I'd have to put up with these originals for nearly 5 years - not likely.  I've 2 spare Bosch sets in boxes, the rubber blade would likely perish on the 2nd well before fitting in 8-9 year's time.  My thinking is to change the wipers over when I re-shoe with AW tyres on 16" wheels in a sort of mid-life upgrade - should turn the car into a Jaguar.

 

No mention of poorly wiped patch in line of view then, as some have noted even with the Bosch replacements?

No never had a vision problem with the factory blades but the Bosch ones are very quiet in comparison.