As the title says really… wife having her car back as maternity is over…

i'm strangely drawn to the 4X4'ness…

Mmmm orange?

i guess the only bad point is its quite crap on fuel?

cheers..

PS- This would be the exact same engine and 4×4 bits of the non S3 A3 1.8T?

Looks good to me – buy it.

I'm no car buff but I've had an Octavia. Massive boot space, but the stereo was poo.

Seriously though, I had no complaints but mine was a 1.9 diesel so not really a fair comparison. I've owned Mondeos and Civics since which are both more fun to drive and have more umph. Again, diesels, so probably not helping you very much 😉

could be a dog when it starts to go wrong… It will be the detuned version of the engine I imagine, probably the 150BHP, but a remap will get it to 225, so whilst it does run it could be a right laugh

I have a 2002 4×4 octavia.Been excellent,very nice to drive,not brilliant of fuel and quite high for tax.
Engine is 150bhp but can be remapped to 210bhp ish some say 225bhp.
Check its had a cam belt-Every 4 years if i remember correctly

For that money I'd snap it up. I've seen Fiesta's for more than that. Remapped up to 225 or so with the 4×4, stiffer ant roll bar and maybe uprated shocks = practical quick saloon.

Fuel costs are fuel costs. You can reduce them but you'll never get away from them. I reckon this will be cheap to insure and it's cheap to buy. Loads of space too. The full history seems to deal with the biggest reliability issue so looks like a no-brainer to me.

cheers all…

yeah the full skoda service history may seal it for me

i 'assume' it would have had a serious major service with belts done.

going to call the garage later ask him about it and try and do the old trick of calling the skoda garage and ask more questions, its a bit of a trek so want do my background before i go to see it.

i 'assume' it would have had a serious major service with belts done.

IME FSH means a full quota of stamps in the book and nowt else. get the reg, give it to your nearest skoda garage and ask for a printout of the history. that FSH might be hiding things like 'brakes discs worn all round', and 'suspension bushes worn', which could cost a packet to sort out. all of a sudden that cheap car isn't quite so cheap. just sayin'

Don't assume and don't go by stamps in a book (or a note or 'CAMBELT CHANGED' in red stamped either).

If it has had one recently- ask for the photo, scan of the servicebook or at least where the services were carried out and ring them. Ask them nicely if they can confirm that they changed the belt.

I've done this recently. Subaru Legacy on ebay – rang the dealer 'err no we haven't changed it'. It had a stamp in the book.

On the 1.8T make sure the pump and belt are changed. On that engine the pump also needs changing at the sametime.

also make sure the Haldex fluids have been changed in the 4×4 system.

Ps. "Full Skoda service history". The amount of times I've rung a indie dealer and 'full' to you and me would mean 9yrs old? So ideally circa 9 stamps? In reality first 4yrs Skoda then indiex2 or 5stamps total and not serviced for the last 2yrs+ 😆

Always check this and double-check before setting off. Some dealers will say 'not near the car at the moment but I can assure you it does have the correct intervals'.

Ps. Don't assume that if your buying a car from a dealer that you have peace of mind either. They can argue that cars of a certain age should be expected to be 100%.

Would be worthwhile just asking him for the V5 reference and doing a quick online check of the mileage over the past few years (just to dot the i's and cross the t's etc):

http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request.jsp

I've had two of these, the first was remapped to 200+bhp and did a few trackdays and the like, from 23k to 95k.

The second, a family bus I'm running at the moment, is still standard, but at 93k.

As above, make sure cambelt is done. The water pump may as well be done at the same time just to be sure it doesn't have the original (weak) plastic impeller, and swap with a metal one.

Any suspect coilpacks should have failed by now, but if there are any "missing" in the rev range, they can struggle before failing – do an OBD scan for codes if you can.

The rear drop links will probably need doing, as might the alternator.

The engine is an ARX which is one of the better "cooking" 150bhp 1.8t's and will take abuse as long as the oil has been changed regularly. The MAF can gum up so if any codes show bank 1 too rich, it can be a simple case of soaking in a bag of white spirit.

Have a good listen with the bonnet up for any hissing, flex some of the hoses around DV and check for leaks. Not a major expense if you find a crack, but an unfound boost leak will be a pain!

Fuel, well I saw 8MPG on track with my first one, but that would do 0-60 in 6.4 and was driven hard. Motorway miles can see over 40mpg, but assume 26-32 for local running.

It tows well, it goes well, it tunes well, and two family members bought them after being around my first one. One of them is still in use, and as I say I recently bought another after having several other cars (including a very disappointing E92 325i SE Touring).

There is a great resource called Briskoda, might be worth a read for more info, but then I'm biased.

I've owned one for three years (2001 4×4 turbo elegance estate)

Good car, but.

1 set of disks last month
1 dual mass flywheel/clutch a few months ago
has an electrical fault that causes it to lose power whilst doing 90mph on a French motorway on the way to the alps…
some intermittent faults that can't be tracked or sorted
fuel gauge doesn't work properly
terrible fuel economy when loaded up (28-30mpg on way back from alps with three bikes on back)
wallowy, poor handling (4×4 estate is 4cm higher on the springs than standard, great for when you fill it up)
realatively shallow boot due to the haldex coupling underneath.
ignition coils blow regularly

Apart from that, fine….