Budget isn’t massive, but I’m wanting a fast petrol estate. I’ve seen a couple pre face lift skoda Octavia vrs estates (about 2007), but on my budget only 100k+ miles.

A few years ago I had a facelift with the chain driven engine, so am aware of the issues there, but these pre facelift cars have the belt driven unit.
I’d want to see recent clutch and cambelt/water pump but are there any vrs specific things to look out for?

From an ex VRS owner – tyres (obvs) and brake discs.

+1 brakes and make sure suspension is ok. Mine is 07 with 120k, in the last year I’ve had all brakes done (inc callipers) and every single part of suspension on front with new shocks on rear.

I had a really weird wind noise coming from my rear window which is quite common apparently.
Apart from that it was the best all round car I’ve ever owned.

So far nothing untoward, appreciate the replies!

Check make sure rear wash works, common for the pipe to come disconnected, if it has then lower left of boot may be damp (check behind the cover for the cd changer). Not a huge issue and easy to sort…. And it will drink oil, every 1k I’m topping mine up 😕

I had a pre-facelift car for 9 years and they’re great cars. I moved to a Mk3 so the experience can’t have been that bad.
However:
Check the Aircon radiator they are easily damaged by stones and leak.
That ABS pump! The dashboard will light up like a Christmas tree of it’s broken. The cost is down to hundreds from over a thousand, due to refurbished pumps, but still not a fun bill to have.
Look for knocks in the suspension they like to eat bushings.

At that mileage if it’s direct injection (ie it doesn’t have the fifth injector in the inlet manifold) they can coke up the inlet ports/cylinder head pretty badly due to the EGR system.

Don’t know if it’s specific to the diesels but the ECU is under the scuttle panel and can suffer with water. Mine was terminal after the snow last year.

Calipers, rear bearings (due to rusty ABS rings), rusty cills, bust air con rad and uncomfortable seats were the non diesel specific issues I had with mine. I had it from 85 to 140k.

Overall a pretty good car, but not without its problems.

Skoda is an ok option. I speak from some experience. I have owned over 150 cars. Many of them estates. Some fast . Some not. The vw engines aren’t all that! Not great to work on either. Of the octavias choice would be a 2.0 TDI, and make sure it’s driven hard. My money would be on a Subaru, petrol estate. Sty away from the boxer diesel. A 3.0 legacy auto or legacy outback auto in my opinion are hard to beat. Not as bad on fuel as you might think. Will take you and your stuff/ family pretty much anywhere in any weather, quickly too if you want. Most have heated leather, big sunroof, huge boot and reliability that will wipe the floor with the Skoda. Build quality far superior to Skoda or most European cars for that matter. Some bargains to be had too. My first Subaru was a forester turbo about 10 years ago. I have owned 5 since. Always end up disappointed with a vw group car. My wife has currently an Octavia 2.0 TDI laurin and Klement. It’s ok. My current Volvo XC70 knocks spots off it ! Wasn’t expensive either! I could ramble on all day!

Sorry didn’t read your initial question. Thought you were looking for recommendations. Oops. Newbie error .

Much depends upon what is meant by a ‘not massive budget’, its a relative term.

I bought a 2008/09 Mazda 6 estate 2.5 petrolSport version with 117k miles about a year ago for £2.3k and its been fine thus far. It drives really well, taut and tight handling, rattle free, cruise, air con, Bose sounds, part leather and for me, plenty quick enough and as quick as a VRs estate through the roundabouts of the Thetford bypass… Build quality seems to be higher than the Skoda too, I did look at the Octavia VRs and was surprised by the flimsiness of the rear seats.

Look at Seat Exeo 2.0 Petrol Sport 2010ish.

Same golf gti engine but in an Audi B4 shell.

Much better VFM and handling. They were slated when new for being waaay overpriced, but they are unknown so cheap as chips now. Good luck finding one.

Or an equivalent bhp petrol mondeo / mazda. Seems “VRS” has a premium now. Would love a mk1 1.8T VRS estate if theres a none rusty one out there.

I had one of these for a few years before it unfortunately got written off by a van.

Super practical car, mine was reliable over the 50k I put on it. Quick enough with a remap and a few bolt ons, though a bit dull to drive imo.

The main issue I had with mine was rust, the general bodywork paint/lacquer quality isn’t good. The sills started to rust really badly as the stone chip protection doesn’t go high enough on the pfl cars (compare them to the same year VWs!) so make sure you check the sills carefully. Also check for lacquer peel on the bumpers.

Apart from that it’s the usual mechanical stuff to watch out for, check the Aircon as mentioned as that can be an expensive fix if anything other than a regas.

Thanks for all the ideas folks! Plenty of good stuff to consider.

Now I just need to find a decent one – the first one I looked at was a proper lemon and not as advertised at all. So if anyone is selling a prefacelift petrol octavia vRs estate, hit me!