Could not read either the coolant temp gauge or fuel level.

 Hello,

  My own  car is a 21 plate Mark 3 Fabia estate but i was given a 21 plate  Octavia Mk 4  petrol as a   loan car by the dealership when mine was in for warranty work recently. It was OK , all sorts of gadgets that are not on mine but I found 2 things irritating  ( even  just on a day loan car)  and am posting to get answers.

 The first is the coolant temperature gauge. With my Fabia the gauge  starts working when I start the car and is really easy to read .With the Octavia nothing at all happens or, at least, thats how it seems. I cant believe the dealership had disabled it( why would they?) but I had no idea what was happening coolant wise. It could have been normal or it could have been overheating. I was none the wiser. I did about 50 miles in the car and had to assume that all was well but I like to be able to see the gauge working in front of me.

      The second is the fuel gauge. I saw the fuel gauge but, again, nothing seemed to be happening. I put fuel in and nothing changed in the gauge. I couldnt tell whether I had a full tank or pretty much empty and it was a tad disconcerting.

      There was no handbook with the car so I couldnt look up either of these things. I am assuming that something had to be pressed inside to activate one or both yet even as I write this neither of those suggestions   makes sense. If not it can only have been that I wasnt reading these 2 gauges correctly yet, again, I cant see that being correct either. I have had quite a few  loan cars before and I have never experienced either of these things before with any of them. I would have thought it was definitely  in the dealerships interests not to have to come out to a car that had either run out of fuel or had overheated? In short, I am flummoxed and would welcome the answers which I know will be out there.

                Thanks.