Going to see a meticulously maintained and garaged Octavia estate with 40k on the clock (£3k). I don’t mind the opprobrium of driving a Skoda as I see cars as tools rather than the bodily extension type. Any informed comments on the vehicle would be most gratefully received.

You need to see past the ‘badge’ – £3k for a 13 year old car, seems £2k too high.

Agreed far far too expensive, not even worth viewing at that price to me!

depends on engine imo, if its the 1.6 petrol or sdi diesel that are a bit naff. The TDI’s or VRS’s are nice. From what i can gather the 1.8 turbo fall apart a bit.

Way to expensive for a 1998 car.

Why is it to expensive for a car that has –

been kept in a garage its whole life
have FSH (i assume)

Again if its got a shit engine not worth it. If its a VAG TDI they will last forever. It would be pretty obvious when you go and look at the car whether it has been maintained to the standard they say.

Got a link to a skoda octavia more recent in the proposed condition and mileage for that price?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201131407675278/sort/priceasc/usedcars/price-from/3000/transmission/manual/price-to/4000/seller-type/private_adverts/radius/40/postcode/nn14ql/page/2?logcode=p

1.9 tdi

Im sure an expert can shed more light but isnt the SLX the worst interior? Might not even have ABS, probably has Air con though.

From looking at autotrader it seems somewhat overpriced, as others have said.

My 51 plate 1.9TDi Octi Elegance cost me £5000 back in 2007, so £3k seems very steep, I wouldn’t expect more than £12-1500, and that’s tops. Great cars, though, if you can find one like mine the engine’s excellent, quite pokey enough and delivers excellent economy on steady runs, very comfortable, a 200 mile run without stopping and feeling pretty fresh, decent tax and insurance ratings, and it’s a VW/Audi in reality; what’s not to like? If you can find an estate, even better, and a 4×4 would be outstanding. The boot on mine is enormous with the back seats down.

It’s overpriced. SLX is base spec. Engine will make a difference – as mentioned the 1.6 petrol is not the best, although it’s adequate.

Had an octavia for the last 5 years, not bad cars at all, but not at that price

depends on engine imo, if its the 1.6 petrol or sdi diesel that are a bit naff. The TDI’s or VRS’s are nice. From what i can gather the 1.8 turbo fall apart a bit.

Vrs’s are 1.8 turbos just with more power.

It’s still a 13 year old car, yes the mileage is low but in fact it’s so low as to be a worry, 3k a year isn’t good for a car. Definitely far too expensive. I bought my old man a 57 plate, 100k 2.0fsi 4×4 for 3200 earlier this year. Granted that was a steal but the owner of this car is dreaming.

Short tax and ticket too, as with others, over priced

Thanks people, you’ve given me much to reflect on.

SLX is not base spec, it is the top spec.

Spec goes LX. GLX and then SLX, changed to Classic, Ambiente, Elegence with the face lift in 2001??

but i wouldn’t pay that much for it. I would want to know if the cam belt has been changed and how long ago, it should be on its third for a start. If it hasn’t been done then factor that in.

Seems pricey as has been said, I bought an immaculate 70k 03 tdi elegance with fsh and one owner 2 years ago for £3200 (it was up for £3500) from an independant dealer, it is a hatchback but the same dealer had an estate that he’d sold the same day in similar spec and condition that still had the screen sticker on at £4k.

When a vehicle gets to that age it’s not about mileage – either overly high (even at average miles it would be 160K) or suspiciously low – it’s about condition. When have items been replaced due to wear (high) or corrosion (low)? Many rubber type items like seals, bushes, pipes, belts etc will corrode with age, more so in some cases when not used regularly; look for cracking, hardness and weeping on shocks etc.

Has the storage garage been dry? Long inactive periods in damp or humid conditions will induce corrosion. Check electrics; connectors and motors.

Somebody will doubtless pay good money for it just cos of the low milage, but I’d far rather buy that car with 100k miles on for half the price to be honest. I’d be worried just what’s about to go wrong on a car that’s barely been driven.

Also £3k is a lot of money for a 13 year old Skoda, regardless of milage etc. I’ve seen new shape (so 06 or newer) Octavias and Passats with TDi engines dip under £4k, still with less than 100k miles on, and that has got to be a much better buy surely!

Worth £2k tops, and that’s if you’re planning to keep it a number of years. If you just want a runabout for a few months til you find something better, don’t bother as it will be hard to shift for anything over £1500.

I’d say its not even worth £1500. I paid £1000 for a 1999 mondeo back in 2005, it had more miles on the clock (120,000) but there’s no way a 13 year old octavia is worth that

and he wanted another £100 for 2 spare tyres…

I had a 1998 Octavia SLX estate, but bought mine in 2000 for about £8K I think. Nice car, AC, lekky windows all round, lekky sunroof, 1.9TDI 110bhp one (there was a 90bhp one as well). Not many issues but more than the Mondeo I had after. Sold it in 2007 for £1K trade in.
As above, £3K is at least £2K too much.
If you do buy it though I have a set of Thule roof bars for it if it doesn’t have rails….

I paid under 2k for my ’99 Octavia estate 5 yrs ago (with 39k on the clock), its now done 78k and I think I’d be lucky to get a grand for it.

But its been a great car and mechanically mine’s solid, but there are loads of little faults with it now – electrics, central locking not working, rear wash wipe don’t work, no radio reception (no idea why!) etc., etc. I’m sure the engine will just keep going, everything else will fail around it!

Just because its been looked after doesn’t mean you won’t need to spend money on it.

1998 makes it an old car, don’t get sucked in to paying too much.