Specifically the STW staple of an Octavia Estate(1.6TDI SE) v Leon ST (1.4TSI SE (S/S)), both 2015.

Going to look at a couple of used ones on the weekend. For the wife to use mainly, so lots of fairly short 1/2hr and round town journeys, but will be our main/good car so also used for any w/e distance miles, trips to france etc.

Seems to me both are part of VW group and so are likely to be more or less the same bar the engine. Octavia marginally bigger perhaps? Any opinions on one v the other?

I’ve a feeling that my ‘Diesel no good for round town stuff’ opinion is probably wildly outdated

Now I have never owned either but have friends who do and have been driven in and rented both makes. IMO Seat started out superior but VW have done great things at Skoda. I would say now they are pretty even and any decsion would be based on specific models / engines etc.

The Octavia is a nice cruiser but you may find the engine a little underpowered, especially in an estate. I have the hatchback with that engine.

DPFs still need to get hot regularly but if you’re often doing longer trips at the weekend that should be sufficient (I went with a petrol Octavia as 95% of my journeys are short).

Why don’t you compare the Leon with the petrol Octavias rather than diesel? I’m happy enough with my 1.8TSi and reckon the smaller petrol engines would be fine most of the time. Only issue I have with the 1.8 is there’s no pull at lower revs so you can’t drive lazily (I had a 3l petrol before so I guess picked up some bad habits…), that said you don’t need to rev it like crazy all the time like a Civic Type R.

Your diesel vs. petrol view is less outdated than you may think, take a look at the thread from this week – one less diesel in town is a good thing

The Octavia is much, much bigger than the Leon.

When we downsized from our Octavia, we looked at getting a Leon; after having a good look at a few different models, we decided to buy an Ibiza. It was only a little bit smaller than the Leon, but much cheaper.

I’d have another Octavia no trouble.

I’ve got the 1.6TDi Octavia Estate and test drove a Leon ST when I was looking. The ST seemed a lot less spacious than the Octavia, don’t know whether that’s actual volume or just layout, but in the back seat it felt more cramped and the boot didn’t seem as large. Could just be my impression, but going up from a Fabia both seemed bigger, but the Octavia felt a step above the Leon.

My daily run is 15mins to work and 15 back of an evening, not had any DPF problems as I tend to then do a longer run at least one night a week and much more at weekends.

Your “Diesel no good for round town stuff” opinion is still very much correct. Diesels of that age are very prone to egr and dpf problems if used predominantly for short journeys.
The vwg 1.6 diesel isn’t a great engine either, we are seeing loads of breakdowns with injector faults and they are £800 each to replace.
Buy the petrol version of whichever you prefer – the 1.4 engine is pretty nippy, fairly economical and much less likely to cause you expensive problems.

Why don’t you compare the Leon with the petrol Octavias rather than diesel?

Simply becuase no s/h petrol Octavias in nearby dealers (and she wants to buy from dealership)

The Octavia is much, much bigger than the Leon.

Interesting. At the moment we have a polo (which is being replaced) and my fabia estate (which i can fit a surprsing amount in). We’re undecied about exactly how much more space we need/want. I guess will see space wise what we think tomorrow

EDIT. Pyro/ bikemike thanks. Sounds like we are in a similar siteuation as you Pyro.

Get a petrol VRS Octavia, all of lifes problems solved 😀