Thanks for your post, sorry I missed it until now.

On 02/12/2025 at 18:19, DerekU said:

the manual controls for the Climatronic system were revised (photos in my 20 November posting above). I also notice that, on the infotainment-unit, the format of the display for the Climatronic system has been altered beneficially to take advantage of the fan-speed adjustment having been migrated from a 'slider' on the display to an extra pair of press-buttons on the manual controls.

And why would the mighty VW design engineers make this change possibly because perhaps some of the actual end users, the buyers of the cars, possibly found the controls unnecessarily over complicated.

In a previous life I used to deal with marketing and direct sales to real live human customers, face-to-face, in their businesses and homes, and as part of another life I would have, usually brief, interactions with higher-level computer programers (of course some had other titles to justify their enormous (over) pay (the ones that earnt the most were contracts and did care what they were called) so I can see things from both sides, a bit. The computer systems are supposed to work for the customers not the other way round.

It's not just the VW Group that's returning to physical buttons/knobs.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/heres-why-its-taking-automakers-ages-to-put-buttons-back-in-cars

A 2023 AutoExprees comparison between a Skoda Fabia, Mk4 a Renault Clio and a Honda Jazz said (about the Fabia)

it’s worth noting that, unlike on some of Skoda’s larger models, the Fabia’s air-con controls are adjusted via big, round knobs and large buttons.

In 2024 the Fabia Mk4 evolved

https://www.skoda.co.uk/news/details/skoda-updates-fabia-and-karoq-lineups

and one of the minor changes was a revision of the climate control's operation, with the fan-speed now being 'button-operated' (as in the Clio and Jazz) rather than via the infotainment-unit's touchscreen.

As a Fabia Mk4 owner/driver (and an ex programmer/ system analyst) I'd prefer to not have the fan-speed control on the touchscreen. I don't see originally choosing to put the fan-speed control there as a cardinal sin, but there's little doubt that moving the control to its revised location is a sensible ergonomic improvement.

I can't find any online complaints about the Fabia's touchscreen fan-speed control presenting problems for Fabia Mk4 drivers, but, as moving the control could be done without modifying the Fabia's dashboard, I can easily imagine a designer suggesting the change be made as part of the 2024 Fabia evolution from Mk4 to Mk4.1

Skoda Superb and Envaq models now have 'Smart Dials' for their heating

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzkAwuPufas

Whether these prove to be 'better' than the previous system remains to be seen, but, if even they were an obvious great leap forward, they could not be introduced on a Fabia Mk4 without major and expensive modifications to the dashboard.

Edited 5 December, 20255 Dec by DerekU

If you and other Mk4 users are happy with things then that is great.

I don't think of VWs including the Mk4 Fabia as being much different to other major marques and brands (though similar regimens to the other German marques, Mercs and BMW).

I note in that article that as usual the German marques feature in being upfront in introducing more complexity as they have for many decades, often these can be advances but not always as demonstrated by the article.

Just because others do the same or similar things doesn't mean it's right or best to do - or preferred by their paying customers

Personally any farting about with touchscreens, particularly for a driver, I find annoying and distracting and to have controls buried x-number of menus back like I believe Tesla sometimes do even more so and VW like others follow leading brands.

Controlling the heating/air-con/interior climate (whatever you want to call it) shouldn't be any sort of mental or physical real effort to allow the driver to concentrate and aid their main task of driving the vehicle.

Just in case you think otherwise, I'm not a Luddite type in fact nearer the earlier adaptor but I do expect improvement, practicality (to some extent) and that it reliably works for a reasonable time (without the need of farting about or need of unreasonable additional knowledge).

The Fabia 4's AI reaction to my efforts to start off safely in difficult weather conditions is to display the message:

Eco tip Avoid running the engine when the car is stationary. ☹️

Never mind though, the digital dashboard display tries to brighten the day by changing its format from time to time. 🙂

This forum is over accomodating of the flaws these cars display. The Fabia 4 needs a lot of improvement but I'd say with confidence that will never happen. Expect this thread to go off at a tangent about the horror of aero-trims on the alloy wheels soon.

Be advised that headgear helps prevent colds when driving with the front windows cracked slightly open to reduce misting. The ire of motorists who like to hoot at older drivers wearing flat caps could perhaps be reduced by the wearing of a baseball cap backwards.

Altho' there's never really any good excuse at whatever age

for wearing a flat cap. 😁

The wife has complained about the rear heated window failing to clear which I can now confirm as an additional issue. This morning I was away to a slow start in very cold damp conditions. The front windows behaved and stopped a couple of centimetres down so when it seemed OK and using the rear camera and wing mirrors I undertook the tricky reverse off the drive. It's wall to wall cars round us with vehicles blocking the road and pavement. A short way up the road I realised the back window was condensated apart from narrow clear sections around the heating filaments. 15 minutes later when I arrived at my destination the glass still hadn't cleared. I opened the boot and wiped off a considerable amount of dampness from the glass. I've never had a rear window stay obscured like that when using a heated rear windscreen.

If anybody needs an alternative to the rear facing baseball cap or flat cap there is also the baker boy cap. This is becoming fashionable and enables street cred for the more mature driver.

If wiping glass is needed then that is what you have to do. Along with taking wet stuff out of cars. Mats after trips maybe, and AC on as much as it can be used. Not for cooling for drying the air. & put a couple of £1 damp traps in the cabin and the boot.

Seems quite bad for skoda , Ford have this in the bag.

I'm a big fan of using a damp synthetic chamois outside and in but it does need to be clean for inside use on the windscreen at least.

My wife's car got a couple of dehumidifier bags put on the dash soon into the first winter of her ownership IIRC, started with one but that wasn't enough so it got a twin, this was before any (known) leaks. I couldn't believe how bad the condenation was on the front screen and how much effort and how long it took to fully clear to be ablet drive off, not good to have the engine idling so long without driving off. Which reminds me I must check the 7 month old cabin filter has got damp and scuttle drainage as turning the air-con and blower on condensates the windscreen.

Obviously you need to check you have nothing damp in the boot or back seats or on the shelf, like clothing or a dog blanket perhaps but if not then if one of the back windows gets condensated more then it might be another VWŠkoda that runs from the Mk1 Fabia on of an internal rear door seal no longer fully sealing and letting water through on to the door shut bottom and when worse onto the rear seat footwell. I suppose if you're unlucky this could happen with both rear doors. But your rear door seal might well be fine (for now at least).

I would generally expect more problems from any 2023 car to say a 2016 and earlier cars but if that make and model is already less reliable than others then you're bound to be at a lower point in with a 2023.

On 05/12/2025 at 17:06, bazz2004 said:

The Fabia 4's AI reaction to my efforts to start off safely in difficult weather conditions is to display the message:

Eco tip Avoid running the engine when the car is stationary. ☹️

Perhaps you should swap your Fabia for a Tesla

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WGT7d2PMryU

A Tesla looked very attractive five years ago. In hindsight it’s proven better for us to stay with petrol. There are problems with adding a car charger to our property and most ev’s are large, heavy brutes.

The Chinese are dominating electric vehicle manufacture so the future isn’t with Tesla or VAG group cars.  One big plus with an electric vehicle though would be warming up everything from inside the house and then making a relaxed getaway.

A Fabia is hell in difficult weather conditions unless of course you have a warm garage.  The few garages round us that haven’t been converted are too small to comfortably hold an SUV sized ev.