Being well-used to tyre pressure warning signs appearing on driver displays when only a mild pump-up was eventually required, I wasn’t unduly concerned when the familiar icon popped up onscreen during a (thus far) uneventful drive home in early January.
But as I had to stop briefly on the way for supplies anyway, I thought I’d better take a closer look. The info on the screen identified the front passenger side tyre, and when I checked it from the outside I was genuinely surprised to find the tyre almost completely flat, from being fine not two miles earlier and thus a pretty sure sign of a significant failure of some sort, likely a puncture.
Only Kwik-Fit West Norwood, south London, was open on a Sunday lunchtime and near enough to limp to at low speed. Although they didn’t stock an exact brand match they did have a deal on the nearest equivalent Pirelli 18-inch tyre and offered to swap an undamaged rear Bridgestone to the front (and put the Pirelli at the back) so our front-wheel drive Golf would have identical tyres where the power is delivered.
Reasonably priced at a smidge over £100 including fitting, my GTE was back in business 75 minutes later. An annoying incident, but swiftly and professionally resolved by Kwik-Fit. Fair play.
Volkswagen Golf GTE |
Mileage 7292 |
P11D price £33,700* |
Forecast/actual cost per mile 61.5p/69.9p |
Our average consumption 35.1mpg |
Official combined consumption 166.0mpg |