Volkswagen Group-owned Skoda and Cupra have recently filed two separate recalls with Australia's Department of Infrastructure and Transport for a rather fiery problem. As it happens, the heat shield between the brake master cylinder and exhaust manifold may be incorrectly fitted. The connection to the brake fluid reservoir could, therefore, melt.
Volkswagen Group Australia further notes that brake fluid may leak, thus affecting braking performance. All of the affected vehicles use DOT4 fluid. If said brake fluid leaks on the hot exhaust manifold, there is a risk of an underhood fire. DOT4 is a flammable fluid because of its composition.
Volkswagen's Aussie division urges affected owners to contact their preferred retailer to schedule a service appointment. Volkswagen did not say how the dealers will remedy the concern, but chances are that technicians will just reinstall the heat shield.
Skoda lists 3,801 potentially affected vehicles, namely the 2020 to 2024 Superb and 2020 to 2024 Octavia. Spun off into a standalone brand in 2018, Cupra is recalling 26 units of the 2020 to 2022 Formentor and 2020 to 2022 Leon. If these names are somewhat alien to our American readers, that's because neither brand is available in the United States of America.
Skoda is quite a bit older than Volkswagen. The Czech automaker was founded as an arms manufacturer in 1859, whereas car production started in 1925. As for the Sociedad Espanola de Automoviles de Turismo, the Volkswagen Group became SEAT's largest shareholder back in 1986.
Photo: Skoda
You can think of the Cupra Leon as the sportier twin of the SEAT Leon. The Leon is joined at the hip with the Volkswagen Golf, meaning 2.0-liter turbo muscle and Haldex-type AWD for the spiciest grade. Cupra's first brand-specific model is the Formentor, a crossover that slots between the Leon hatchback and Leon wagon in terms of overall length.
As opposed to the Leon, you can get a Formentor with Audi Sport's 2.5-liter turbo inline-five lump. Over at Skoda, the Octavia and Superb come in either five-door liftback or five-door wagon flavors. The fourth-gen Superb is best described as the Skoda brand's take on the B9 Passat, whereas the Octavia is technically closer to the Golf Mk8.
In the Land Down Under, the most affordable Octavia available for 2024 is the Style 110 TSI at 41,890 kangaroo bucks or 27,450 freedom eagles at current exchange rates. Stepping up to the roomier Superb means $65,590 AUD ($42,990 USD) for the AWD-equipped Sportline 206 TSI specification.
Equipped with the Volkswagen Group's DSG dual-clutch transmission by default, the Cupra Leon V carries a starting price of $51,990 AUD ($34,075 USD) at press time. By comparison, the Formentor V kicks off at $64,990 AUD ($42,600 USD). As opposed to Cupra, which aims to become fully electric by 2030, the Skoda brand intends to increase the all-electric share of its European vehicle sales to over 70 percent by 2030.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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