Personally I think it has absolutely nothing to do with your driving style. If the car was thirty years old then sure, but it's a 2020 with 23k on the clock - you have to try pretty hard to upset it. Certainly, I had a hire Golf for a month or so a few Xmas' ago and failed to do anything to it, despite trying my hardest.

I see you're up near Birmingham - perhaps someone can suggest a reputable VAG specialist for you to go and see? I've found these that all seem to be worth their salt -

https://www.centralaudivw.co.uk

https://vagtechnic.uk

http://www.autotechnikltd.co.uk

Local garages are always a bit hit and miss. Certainly, being on my own at uni with several malfunctioning cars taught me how to find somewhere decent to get honest and decent help.

What was it the SEAT Master Tech said to me after two hours of diagnostics? The knocking from the front was 'just wear and tear' on a 2018 car. What did the VAG specialist find? A rock, jammed in the subframe. There's a reason people on here call dealers 'stealers'.

Thank you for your help. I am at my wits end with it to be honest. But I did call a local VAG specialist who you have tagged (autotechnik) and have booked in with them.

A lot of people have suggested the battery and I am considering getting a new one as far as I am aware it’s the original.

Hopefully booking with a specialist they can sort the issue.

You'll get to a solution, believe me. I remember my parents had endless issues with their A3 for several years (the horn, wipers, locking would randomly stop working) and the issue was eventually traced to an incorrectly coded in battery.

I wouldn't go to anywhere other than a VAG specialist, whether it's for a new turbo or an oil change. Just because they know how to sort cars doesn't mean they care about sorting them.

Do others a favour and please update this thread with an update or solution once you've been to see them! It's always nice to have a complete issue, for when people find this thread in fifteen years time.

Thanks for the photos, at the very least they show the style of dash dials layout you have.

More advice, for photos like these taking them in landscape instead of portrait generally gets more information in the image.

One of my hobby horses is the battery in low state of charge causing all sorts of unexpected warning lights, messages, unseen error codes and issues even if the headlights seem bright enough and the engine starts - BUT - I don't think this is the case for you, if only for the reason I put before (but I could be wrong, I am many times per day).

Another hobbyhorse of mine is people changing the battery prematurely, it's one of the most oversold car parts. A lot of time just properly recharging the battery using an appropriate battery charger maintainer can add possibly many years reliable useful life to the battery with just perhaps (very) occasion preventative charges to follow.

A good battery maintainer can be bought for £15-£30 and is easy, clean-hands stuff (can't call it work even really) which anyone can do and with time and patience frequently better than a garage, mechanic or auto-electrician will do.

By all means charge the battery but don't think about replacing it without having it properly tested (which you could easily learn to do if you were interested) by a trustworthy person - but again if there was any hint of the battery being iffy I think you'd have been sold a new expensive one with 'coding'. But I could be wrong, a quick test would give me an idea of how the battery might be.

If it's not been done you want the engine air filter changed (and air box and tube wiping clean) a job you could possibly do and possibly better than a garage or mechanic. You also want the three spark plugs changed, a little bit more to it but again a job you could do if you wanted. You will do a good job because you care about the quality of the work and (if you're sensible) won't put yourself under any time pressure to rush the job or cut corners (unlike perhaps some garages, mechanics, auto-electricians).

Don't get me wrong there are some good people about that do a good job and are allowed to do a good job just that in my experience they seem fewer and further apart, and generally very busy with plenty of work (some don't work weekends or past Sat morning). I loathe working on cars, particularly my own and more so my wife's VWŠkoda, and I'm not mechanically minded and certainly not good at mechanics but still I have found I can often do "service" and "maintenance" and (proper) service work and maintenance better than some of the professionals I've paid in the past. I started by redoing and putting right the work they had done so certainly not by choice.

I wasn't thinking of your driving techniques particularly just that some owners of 1 litre Fabias even those who have been driving for a very long time find the engine can "cut-out" on occasions for a couple of reasons, I don't think (obviously can't know) this impacts the issue you have but it might be an add-on to it making it more difficult to sort one from other, like the start-stop so eliminating it just removes a distraction.

When I first drove my neighbour's 2023 Nissan Cashcow with start-stop and manual gearbox, it caught me out at a busy roundabout when I thought I needed to give way then didn't need to and my brain adjusted for this but not the car's and then later the car's lane and front "assist" wanted to think about things and decide when I wanted to accelerate on the dual-carriageway. I had to adjust my driving because I was not fully in charge of the driving as I was much more used to, more of a collaboration with me as very much the junior partner despite the car's inferior programming. (Do NOT rely on these "assists" as they still have many flaws, errors and omissions, and yes so do all human drivers but we have more real life, real world, experience).

A good auto-electrician should be able to diagnosis at least possible causes in well under one hour but this is not the same as repair/resolve (necessarily). First thing, often forgotten by many is to check the battery terminal post clamps (and major electric (and Earth) connections) are clean, secure and where appropriated protected. A dirty or loose battery connections have caught out those that know better - and that's just a start of simple things that can be missed by others.

Good luck and do let us know how this goes on or if you need more info or advice.

Edited 15 April, 20251 yr by nta16
typos

Just to keep current and future readers informed. I got my car looked at by a VAG group specialist and sadly the ECU had failed which had to be swapped out. Towards the last few days before going in the garage it basically became totally un drivable. It happened to be quite costly but back on the road and driving better then ever (fingers crossed)

Thanks all for your advice and help.