depending on age (and mileage) the obvious cambelt change – think skoda recommend 4 years now regardless of mileage (was 60k) (or at least thats what I was told when I bought my octy back in january – had it done as a matter of course anyway – decent indy did it for about £350 i seem to remember)
and from experience of owning an octy tdi for the last 6 months
1) rear window washer – hose pops off (especially when the lines are frozen)
2) some issues with my dual climatronic (sometimes wont blow cold on a hot day – quite random and intermittant and very annoying)
3) seems to eat headlight bulbs (always passenger side that goes – on my 3rd in 6 months and they are a pian to change)
4) had a fuel regulator (or something go) – basically caused the car to over fuel and the emmissons warnings to flash up – cost about £45 quid to replace (£30 of that was labour)
5) cruise control issues (depending I think on age of the car – there was a batch of dodgy stalks)
6) take a good look at the rear tyres and there wear – something to do with being able to set up the camber of the tryes – lots of info on Briskoda site (mine had no problem, but it was something I looked at when I had som handling issues (which I now put down to running it with 4 mistmatched tyres from when I bought it – running it on 4 matching tyres now and it sticks like glue)
its worth checking out the Briskoda forums – lots of usefull advice
might be worth considering buying a HEX/CAN Bus cable and reader to at least diagnose any faults (thats something I have yet to do, but at 40-60 quid a pop just to read the computer in a garage it can also pay for itself in no time I guess)
overall I love mine – really nice to drive (smooth and progressive is how I would describe it, but I guess that dephends on what you are swapping from) and capricious boot means I can fill it with assorted cack – enjoy!
