A few weeks ago my wife noticed that her vrs was losing power and seemed to be ‘dragging’ This was happening intermittently for a couple of minutes and then disappearing. I have now driven it and when this happens I am presuming it is the brakes as it happens when I put the clutch down and/or put the car in neutral. My (local 40 miles away) Skoda garage said they have not come across this fault before. It is booked in for its 20k service in 2 weeks. I have also just noticed that the alloys (especially off-side) can be very hot after stopping for a few minutes.

My questions to the knowledgeable gurus are:

1. As this has been happening for say 5 weeks or more, are the brakes likely to be worn and hence need replacing?

2. Should it be driven at all whilst it has this fault bearing in mind the garage is quite a distance away?

Thanks.

EDIT: It was first noticed when the petrol mpg went down from a typical 53 mpg for the journey home, to 37 mpg. When this problem occurs the instantaneous mpg in 5th gear at 50 mph drops from say 55 mpg down to 28 mpg - level road etc. Jabbing the brakes (including hand brake) has no effect but I am still testing this.

Sounds pretty dangerous to me - I'd get it fixed ASAP.

Could it be a worn bearing perhaps? or a seizing caliper?

If you have to drive it - go slow and plan ahead.

how cold has it been when this happens? I had the rear brakes binding, when first driving the car from cold (below freezing outside) but it went away after the car warmed up after a few miles... and went to my stealers, they say its the condensation in the handbrake cables freezing, and holding the brakes on for a short while... sure enough, if cured itself, when it was no longer v.cold in the morning

Sounds like a binding brake.

I'd get it looked at sooner rather than later, and you will need new brake pads and to be safe I would do the fluid too as it will have got pretty hot and may have degraded a bit.

Thanks for the replies, djthompson, sharkrider and cheezemonkhai.

After posting, I took the car out for a run (wife using my Octavia for work) and the problem started after about a mile which might imply expansion and binding, but it then cleared suddenly and soon restarted. The car delelerated when the clutch was lowered as if the brake is slightly touched on but to a much greater degree than the handbrake can make it decelerate on its own. This happened on my return journey - it was the worst it's been - 40 mph in 4th gear, steady speed, level, which would normally be very good mpg but it was really resisting and the mpg went down varying between 19 and 25 mpg!!! I had to increase pressure on the accelerator to maintain speed with the traffic, then suddenly everything cleared and the car therefore accelerated (as a vrs can do at 40mph) and lurched forward - worrying in traffic.

I'm going to contact teh garage and tell them it's worsening. (BTW it was going to have a brake fluid change for it's 20k servive)

Thanks all.

deffo not the prob I had then.... like the others have said get it sorted sooner than later

The AA are going to transport it to the garage on Monday. The service man says it could still be an electronic problem that is causing it. Skoda/AA very helpful.

Just an update in case anyone else has the problem. The garage left a message today saying they are asking for authorisation to replace the callipers and brakes.

EDIT: Garage says it was the callipers so the brakes were on. It often takes Skoda 2 to 3 days to authorise BUT they may not pay for the brake pads because they are wearable items. My questions are: (1) At what mileage (under 'normal' driving) would the pads need replacing as I would like to contest this if Skoda say no - the car has done 19400 miles and the problem started at about 18500 miles. (2) what is the approx. cost of replacing them.

Thanks for any info.

Contacted Customer Services yesterday saying I would not be pleased if the pads were not included. They phoned back today saying they have been. CS said yesterday that if the warranty department refused to include them, then they would most probably pay for them.