our octavia looking at a hefty garage bill (gummed up turbo vanes, cambelt change time) and on a 53 plate with 120,000 on the clock im starting to think its maybe time to cut losses and trade it in.
i know nowt about cars tho, i just know i like the octavia. bought it 5 yrs ago so they were maybe a bit cheaper then because of the name, but thats all changed and they seem to be quite expensive now.

what sort of options am i looking at? which Seat is around the same size? vauxhall insignia worth considering? and what about the ‘steadier’ cars such as saab and volvo? what models should i be looking at?
the octavia was returning around 58mp. yes, i drove like a grandad, which has maybe contributed to my gummed up vanes 🙁 but fuel economy is quite important.

i wont be doing many motorway miles, got a 45 mile round trip commute each day, but mainly theyll be shorter ‘town type’ trips, so id consider petrol over diesel, but dont mind either way really.

thanks for any pointers you can chuck my way.

Mondeo? Passat?

Had both in the last five years, would recommend either.

Mate of mine drove an Insignia at the weekend, hated it.

</anecdotes>

I am in the same boat clutch on my Vrs Estate packed up this week on 150K miles. It needs new tyres and is over due a cam belt change. Clutch is £400 so not sure what to do. I have had car from new so now its history so not sure if I should fix it or cut my losses.

I have another car as well so I can think about it a bit but its not ideal.

id love a passat, but im thinking skoda/seat are same quality but cheaper. cant stretch to vw/audi prices im afraid.

Must be the week for Octavia. 02 plate. 88Kmiles!

Mine has issues. Oil Pump, Ordinarily a great car.
Its being fixed, so I can sell it

I like the look of Volvo V50, does anyone have any experience of them???

Volvo S40/V50 are very nice in my opinion and relatively cheap.
Saab is a bit of a gamble as they have gone bankrupt again so values will Definetly take a dip and future parts supply/warranty could be a issue.
Regards Seat the most similar size model would be the Exeo which is based on the previous generation Audi A4 but they are quite pricey still.
If overall size is important take a look at the Seat Altea Xl,mechanicals are all vw based like your Skoda,or consider a Skoda roomster if you don’t mind the looks.
The insignia is probably a great car but just so dull and a bit of a rep mobile.

Last year I changed from a 130k miles 01 Octavia to an 70k miles 05 Audi A3. Granted it doesn’t have the boot space so the bikes go on the roof but it is so much nicer inside. I looked at similar age and mileage Octavias but they were only a few £100 less.

Kia Ceed SW ?

thanks for the replies, keep the suggestions coming please, im beavering away on autotrader checking them out 🙂

just as a matter of interest, ill be needing finance. ive been told dealers do 0%, but thats just on new cars. apart from that its the usual percentages. is that correct? and if so, arent you better off getting a bank loan and owning the car, rather than dealer finance and not owning it until payments are done?

ta

just been to the local main dealers. wouldnt mind your advice on one of the cars there. i know main dealers are gonna be a bit overpriced, but there was an octavia elegance took my eye. 2.0 tdi PD. it was a 55 plate, so well overpriced (i thought anyway) at a tickle under £7000. but……. it only had 39,000 on clock FSH.

whats your opinions on this? still overpriced, or is that the sort of thing i should be looking at. they said theyd give me £2000 on my 53 blueline 120,000 mileage which seemed fair. just seems a lot for a 55 plate.

opinions welcome please.

Does it have to be Octavia sized? (The Exeo is the Seat equivalent, btw)

I’ve just swapped my old Leon for a petrol Fabia 1.2 TSI with DSG box, and managed 50 mpg into work yesterday, to my surprise – think I was lucky with the traffic lights keeping it a nice steady commute

i have owned 3 volvo V50’s. They have all been great cars and | have had many years of trouble free motoring. the last one was the 1.6 Drive. 60 odd mpg and £30 per year road tax.

My Dad is selling his 55 reg Passat estate. 60k miles, 130TDi Highline. 5sp manual, heated seats, VGC. Taxed til Apr, all service history, MOT etc. He’s looking for about £5500 I think. Email me if you’re interested. JamesATsingletrackworldDOTcom.

Mazda 6

Does it have to be Octavia sized?

ideally yes, for camping purposes really. we seem to have a full boot a fair bit of the time.

i have owned 3 volvo V50’s. They have all been great cars and | have had many years of trouble free motoring. the last one was the 1.6 Drive. 60 odd mpg and £30 per year road tax.

ive actually been offered a V50 estate but looked into mpg and the general opinion is 40 odd to the gallon. ive been getting 58 with the octavia and dont really want to go to a thirstier car. although with you saying 60mpg ill revisit that. can you provide any links to back that up? id certainly be happy with a volvo. they got good names for reliability.

My Dad is selling his 55 reg Passat estate. 60k miles, 130TDi Highline. 5sp manual, heated seats, VGC. Taxed til Apr, all service history, MOT etc. He’s looking for about £5500 I think. Email me if you’re interested.

id be interested in that james, if it wasnt for the fact id like to part ex mine :-/

thanks a lot 🙂

dont think you will get 58mpg out of the newer 2.0tdi engine in the vw range.

more like mid 40’s

the price on that octavia does seem a bit high but not by that much.

ive been looking at loads recently – nissan Qashqai, notes, fabia estates, octavia estate ,golfs and the latest being an Audi A3 sportback with the 1.2 tfsi engine more power than the old 1.6 petrol that ive driven before and friends have and manage fine with.

The basic A3 is actually better specced than basic octavia and golfs.

http://www.hyundai-car.co.uk/newCars/i30estate/

I got Mrs Almighty an A4 Estate, 02 plate but 1 lady owner with 68K full main dealer Audi history and cam belt change for £5k.
Its the 2.5 V6 diesel version but still does 54mpg in grandad mode, id spend more on an older but ultimately better quality car. It worked for us

Sorry to hi-jack your thread, sadexpunk, but bazzer, if you’re still reading this thread, I might be interested in taking your Octavia VRS off your hands if you do sell. Email address in my profile (yours isn’t, which is why I’ve had to be so rude to sadexpunk!)

On the general discussion, I hope the Volvo V50s are are better than the V40s – had one of those 3 years or so ago, and a bit of a disappointment – stodgy performance and handling, various electrical glitches and £1K on a clutch/dual mass flyweel (and that was fitted by local feller, god knows how much if done by dealer.)

Have now got a Saab 9-3 1.9 TiD estate. I love Saabs, but it’s fair to say GM have done their best to destroy (and thus bankrupt) them. Less reliable than the old ones, and bits need replacing sooner. Mine drives like a dream at 146K miles, but I have had to replace all suspension, cam belt and water pump, inlet manifold, and alternator all at about 120K miles. Handles well though, packs a punch, is v comfy for long journeys and has plenty of bike space. Warranty stuff doesn’t worry me with 55 plate and mega miles, and I always use specialists not main dealers – they can access most spares and cut service costs in half. One like mine with half the miles should now be as cheap as chips – £4Kish.

If you don’t want to get another Octavia (your best bet IMO), then I suggest you should be seriously tempted by crazy-legs/James’ dad’s 55 reg Passat. I’m sure you can beat him down below £5K, and forget trade-ins, sell your Octavia privately – you should be able to get £2.3K+ for it even with cambelt pending.

yup, itd be tempting to go for it, but as i said at start of thread, im thinking of part exing as the turbo vanes are gummed up i think. i wouldnt want to sell that privately to a family, id rather a garage had it instead.

dont think you will get 58mpg out of the newer 2.0tdi engine in the vw range.

more like mid 40’s
is that right, the 2.0 is crap mpg compared to the 1.9?

‘is that right, the 2.0 is crap mpg compared to the 1.9?’

Basically, no. Depends on the model and years you are comparing, but the mpg on a new 2012 2L VW diesel (~60mpg) is better than what you used to get on a 1.9L from a few years ago.

what about the 2.0 from say 5 years ago? how does that compare to 1.9 of same age?

also does automatic have any noticeable difference in mpg?

ta

sadexpunk: webuyanycar.com for yours
Then buy my Dad’s car.

😉

I took an ancient heap of junk Fiat to WBAC years ago and they gave me more than it was worth for it. Think they’ve tightened things up now, all the stories I’ve heard of them is that they’re a bunch of conning shysters now! Could always give it a go – just don’t mention the gummed up turbo…

http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleSearch/Skoda/Octavia

1.4TSi Octavia on an 11 plate for under 9k. They will also take your old model as part-ex and won’t be worried about turbo valves.

james, ill mail you in a sec.

cb, thanks for the link. just had a look. cant really stretch that far, and after looking into it, i think i prefer diesel to petrol.

thanks

Mazda 6

just seen one of these and it looks nice, so id definitely consider one. how do they rate for reliabilty, mpg and cost of parts?

ta

my tuppence worth, avoid the insignia. I have one provided to me. I have had it 18 months and it has been in the garage 4 times with different faults each time. Its ok to drive but nothing special and is not that economical. Its the 2.0 160 diesel and the best mpg on a run was 48, day to day more like 38.

The wifes golf 1.6 will give 65 on a run, so maybe an estate golf?

‘sadexpunk – Member
what about the 2.0 from say 5 years ago? how does that compare to 1.9 of same age?

also does automatic have any noticeable difference in mpg?’

In those circumstances there won’t be a significant difference in mpg, and the 2L is a much nicer, more modern engine.

thanks mate. havent had much luck sourcing an octavia, so at the moment got me eye on a mazda 6 TS2. anyone got any knowledge of reliabilty, mpg, parts/repairs cost etc?

ta

Re Volvo V50

To get the 60 odd mpg to the gallon you need the 1.6 Drive model available in a range of models from s se selux and r design.

i had the basic s model which was a basic spec but good enough for my needs, my previouse 2.0D se was only returning approx 42 per gallon.

I’ve got a 55 plate 2.0 tdi with DSG box. Great car, lots of room and powerful enough for me.
52mile round trip each day (half on motorway at 80mph)
Getting 49 mpg on average.
Got it for a bargin 4300 and spent approx 1k on service, cambelt and water pump and oil change for the gearbox (£150 !!) 58k on the clock.
Never thought I’d ever get a Skoda, let alone an “automatic” but I’m well happy with it

its a known fact that the first generation 2.0 tdi engine from the vw/audi group isnt as frugal as they make it out to be.

lots of people over on the uk passat forums getting no where near vw spec for mpg.

most are getting between 40 and 48 mpg.

newer vw engine 2011 onwards is meant to be better.

what about a mondeo with the tdci engine??

Ref the gummed up turbo vanes, ‘clean’ them out by just giving the car a good, low gear high revs, bouncing off the rev limiter thrashing down the m-way now & again.

Worked a treat with mine.* ( 52 plate Octavia tdi 177k )

*This is only an armchair mechanic suggestion, & I accept no responsibility if you destroy your engine in the process… 😕

tried that mate. its an intermittent fault, sometimes drives fine, sometimes not but thats whats been diagnosed. think the damage has already been done with me driving like a grandad. i should have razzed through the town revving me engine more, with me window down and shades on, bit of dubstep blasting out the car to impress the laydeez 😀

‘its a known fact that the first generation 2.0 tdi engine from the vw/audi group isnt as frugal as they make it out to be.

lots of people over on the uk passat forums getting no where near vw spec for mpg.

most are getting between 40 and 48 mpg.’

I suspect most of those people would get also get nowhere near the 1.9, or any other claimed figure either. Unless they have tested the 1.9 and 2.0 over a suitable period of time, over the same journeys, it’s not really relevent.

I’ve got a 54 plate Mondeo that does 50mpg with a very heavy right foot ie 80-85mph on the daily 100 mile commute.

Build quality better than VW IMO, and a much better drive than any VW. Cheap to buy second hand too.

Imdrove a scout today andv that was alright. Sadly my rs4 has gone, must be getting old as I started to get annoyed about how much it was costing to run.

well…………. finally got sorted, 57 plate octavia lauren and klement. tried the mazda 6 and was seriously underwhelmed at the drive. tested the octavia and it seemed a world of difference.

thanks everyone for all your advice 🙂

Is this the first big bill? why the need to sell?

If you want something new / change then fair enough, but spending even more money because you don’t want to spend a bit of money now seems silly.

There’ll be plenty of people prepared to buy your car off you for £5k after you’ve spent £1k on it. If you like it spend the money on it and keep it running – at least you know what you’re letting yourslef in for, otherwise you’re just buying a whole new world of uncertainty.

Otherwise Mazda 6s are always cheap as chips.