Currently running two old cars we’ve had for ages.  One 12 and one 11 years old, both are only worth around £1.6K according to WBAC.  We are going to offload one which potentially has some big bills looming and keep the other, which owes us nowt, as a back up until it dies.  Though we may ditch that too and go down to one car to save on tax, insurance etc.

So, we are in the market for a replacement do it all and fancy something used but a lot newer, say 2-5 years old. Requirements:

Petrol engine, although we do some longer trips, most are local and short so don’t fancy a diesel.  I’d love a fully electric car but could probably only afford an old/shonky one.

Decent fuel economy.  My old Suzuki Vitara petrol 4×4 does low to mid twenties MPG and it’s bankrupting me! double that or close would be awesome.

Comfortable, nice to drive with a decent level of tech/trim to spoil us after years of driving old bangers.

Reliable.  I always plan to change cars after a couple of years but invariably end up hanging on to them for yonks.

Big load carrying space. My wife runs a small business carting boxes, a gazebo and piles of stuff to markets, shows and outdoor events.

Reasonable ground clearance.  We are rural and live on a pot holed bridleway. All our local roads are also potholed and poorly surfaced.  An SUV would probably be better in this regard, but for fuel economy, baby robins etc. we are resisting that for our next car (old ‘spare’ is a 4×4 SUV).

Reasonable in the winter.  We are 900 ft up in the Shropshire hills and get big dumps of snow most years.  Again, a 4×4 would be better – but how will an Octavia cope if we put some decent tyres on it – cross climates or similar?  This is not crucial as if we keep the old Suzuki we can use that in snow instead,

Ability to carry one, maybe two mtbs in the back with the front wheels off.

£20K ish budget.  I’m thinking of a Skoda Octavia estate.  I’d like a Superb but they seem to be just out of my price range for a 2-5 year old example unless the mileage is high and most seem to be diesels.  Will the Octavia do what I want?  Anything else within budget and age range to consider?

Will the Octavia do what I want?

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>Almost certainly. you’ll be able to get nice spec main dealer car for under £20k. I don’t like the 2019 on Mk4 octavia, but i’ve had a MK3 for 5 years and love it. </span>

you could also look at a seat leon or a volvo V60 – but I think the octavia is the sweetspot for space / quality/ comfort. I’ll get another one when this one wears out.

EDIT – ran winter tyres on a previous octavia in winter and it coped well in snow. Better than 4×4 on summer tyres.

Thanks, sounds encouraging! Is yours petrol or diesel?  What fuel mileage are you getting?

I’ve got a 2019 Octavia mk3 estate SE-L spec with the 1.5TSI engine.

Good car. Reasonable level of tech with a CarPlay head unit, dual climate and lots of auto stuff like lights/wipers that is useful. Good safety features too. It’s properly comfortable and not a bad drive – the kind of drive that isn’t exactly inspiring but is completely faultless. It’s good on fuel too, if I take it easy it’s rare I get below 50mpg on any sort of a run. Stop start out of the city is still well over 30…

Can’t comment on snow, but it does have reasonable enough ground clearance and the suspension is pleasant enough on rougher/uneven roads. My main test was can the hound sleep in the back on a trip through the peaks. Answer: yes. He didn’t like the Legacy it replaced so…

It’s big inside too, I can’t get a 29er FS in the back (front wheel off) while keeping one seat up in the back. I’ve had two 29er in the back and there is ample room even though loading them is a complete shit. I reckon I could get a third in but not a third person! All this is with the boot floor raised to flat too.

Personally I think they are a cracking car, I’m only changing to a van next year because I’ll need to regularly carry 2-3 bikes and the hound is getting older so needs a lower vehicle (or steps) to get in.

EDIT – ran winter tyres on a previous octavia in winter and it coped well in snow. Better than 4×4 on summer tyres

No experience of the Octavia and I don’t want to turn this thread into a tyre debate, but I’d echo this. I’ve had an automatic RWD BMW which was better in the snow on winter tyres than a 4wd on summer tyres, and it was tested in some serious conditions, so I wouldn’t imagine the odd dump of snow would be a problem for the vast majority of cars. Only time it got stuck was when it bottomed out on the snow and the wheels no longer touched the ground. Cross Climates are a middle ground but really good year round – I have them on now.

Toyota RAV 4 but get the one with larger engine.

The fuel consumption is average for this type of SUV.

Handing back my se 1.5 tsi estate lease car in the next week or so. I’m replacing it with another in sel spec. Waited 15 months from ordering. Good engine in a cracking car.

My main test was can the hound sleep in the back on a trip through the peaks. Answer: yes. He didn’t like the Legacy it replaced so…

Forgot to mention, ours will be used for mutt carrying duties too.  Have you put a dog guard thingy in it above the rear seats? Our cocker would climb into the front without one, but I wonder how much of a PITA they are to take in and out when load carrying and folding the seats down

Cross Climates are a middle ground but really good year round – I have them on now.

Agreed, have them on my old 4×4 and will probably put them on the new car.

Toyota RAV 4 but get the one with larger engine.

The fuel consumption is average for this type of SUV.

As I said, I specifically don’t want an SUV, fuel consumption being just one of the reasons

We ran a Octy 4×4 but diesel and on Cora’s climates it made it up our rural highland road well before the snow plough. It was a 17 plate and while not inspiring was a good drive with decent level of spec

Thanks, sounds encouraging! Is yours petrol or diesel?  What fuel mileage are you getting?

ah. well. Mines a  manual petrol VRS so fuel economy isn’t really it’s thing, but long term is about 36 mpg with a roof rack on permanently.

It’ll do about 42-44 mpg on a long motorway journey if I try hard.

I have a 2020 estate SEL (LED lights, bigger alloys and suede leather (faux) interior) mine is the diesel so cannot comment on engine. Re dogs I have 2 labs and if you do not want a grill at back seat there is anchor points each side of tailgate that you could tether a dog to.
Edit to avoid confusion it is the older 2017-2020 model I have, not the current one.

So glad you mentioned cross climates in your op because that was my first thought as I read it. I run a golf estate on those in very similar rural circumstances and it’s such a confidence inspirer. So yes, as above, you’re on the right track.

I have a 14 plate Octavia hatch. Only a FWD diesel but seems fine on cross climate tyres.

Not very exciting but probably the most proficient car I’ve owned. Not a fan of the Mk3 facelift with the split headlights and the Mk4 has a crap touchscreen infotainment system.

For your budget I expect you’ll be able to get a VRS which can come as a 4×4. Or a scout which is a bit jacked up and again 4×4. You’ll lose out some mpg but probably only a couple of MPG as it generally runs in FWD until a wheel starts slipping, so it’s the extra weight which hurts the MPG. The 4wd system needs an old change every now and again so will cost slightly more to service as well.

Forgot to mention, ours will be used for mutt carrying duties too. Have you put a dog guard thingy in it above the rear seats? Our cocker would climb into the front without one, but I wonder how much of a PITA they are to take in and out when load carrying and folding the seats down

I’ve not bothered to be honest. Headrests up and a comfy bed is all I need to keep a greyhound content in the back. Plenty of tether points though.

Another Vitara? My 4wd 4 year old does 40+ mpg, and Japanese reliability.

Another Vitara? My 4wd 4 year old does 40+ mpg, and Japanese reliability.

I have considered it. Apart from the fuel consumption it’s been pretty faultless.  Now on 120K miles. I just don’t think I really need a 4×4 most of the time. A decent sized estate will be nicer to drive and more economical whilst still carrying everything I need to.

Very occasionally I need to pull a trailer. I have a tow ball fitted to the old Vitara. I don’t really want the expense of fitting one to the new car for such occasional use. So I will probably keep it for utility use such as towing, trips to the tip and builders merchants and driving in the snow/ice etc.   The new car can do everything else.

Thanks all for the useful info. Still very much focused on an Octavia.

In the same position as our Octavia estate has just died, was looking at replacing with the same, but ended up going with a Volvo v60. I wanted a diesel manual and the difference in price wasn’t much at all, collect on Saturday, but seems a lovely place to spend a lot of time in.

Crossclimates have not let me down yet, that includes lots of muddy festival sites in a van, if the clag of Kendal calling hasn’t stopped them I doubt a bit of snow has any chance!

I have a 1.4tsi SEL estate, 78k on the clock from new. Crossclimates all round, live on edge of Peaks and Sheffield so plenty of snow action, as said above much better than any 4×4 with normal tyres. Never failed to get to work as yet.
Long term mpg 49.8 mix of commute and biking trips, our cocker sits in boot or footwell no problem. Flat boot space great for occasional sleeping duties.
I’ll have another!

I think the Octavia sounds perfect for you.

I’ve had mine for five years now, it’s the VRS diesel estate. Done 65,000 miles in it and it’s been faultless. Like pretty much everyone else, I’m running Cross Climates and they’re great, we had a couple of heavy dumps of snow last winter and it wasn’t a problem driving before any gritters etc had been out.
The car swallows up a huge amount of kit, we did a Lake District and Northumbria trip a couple of weeks back with two bikes in the back along with all the other kit and still had space for more. Best thing was that it managed an average of 69.4mpg over the 700 miles according to the dash!

We went from Octavia Estate to Volvo V50 to BMW 318i Touring, all petrol engined estates.. The latter is by far a nicer car to drive than the others with WAY more boot space than the V50. THere are downsides though, it’s on runflats where i’d prefer a proper spare – though (touches wood frantically) in 33 years of driving I can’t say I’ve ever needed a spare while out and about).

Wuuld second the recommendation for all-season tyres like cross climates, or even a second set of wheels with full winter tyeres (which is what I run)

I did want a facelift Volvo V60 but when I bought in November 2019, the facelift ws only just out and was at least double the price of the BMW – even the none-facelift was significantly more expensive.

Oh yes the BMW does have tether points and a mesh that comes up from the back seats if you want to put a cage or a loose dog in the back

@nbt thanks.  A quick look on Cazoo suggests my 20K would only buy a 7 or 8 year old 318 touring.  Nice cars, but I’d prefer something less than 5 years old and ideally 2-3. Out of interest, how does the boot space compare to the Octavia?

@crossed & @cyclelife, really useful info, thanks!👍

Umm, it’s about 10 years since we had the octy and it was the oder model, I’d say similar in size. I recall a bit of a drop into the octy boot space, the drop is much smaller on the bmw. The BMW has little touches like a space to store the boot cover when you remove it (but not the dog mesh), and a warnign triangle in the boot door where it’s accessible. The seat backs just drop in the BMW, where in the octy I think you had to flip the bases up first. One plus on the octavia was the passenger seat back would flip forward giving you a VERY long load space

Jeez – prices must have gone nuts. I bought an 18 plate Leon estate in July 2020 with 27k miles on for £12k.
At the time it was a toss-up between several cars – Leon, Octavia, Cee’d, i40, A4, C-Class – all estates.

C-class was out as I was going to have to stump up more money, or go for a much older car with higher miles & missing things like Android Auto.
A4 was OK, but boot was smaller than the others & the premium price didn’t seem worth it for what you actually got.
Cee’d was OK, but a bit…..meh & limited engine choice. Wanted somethign with a bit more poke than the 1.6 diesel available.
Ended up being a choice between the Leon or Octavia. Very little between them, but I much prefer the look of the Leon, so ended up with that. It sacrifices a bit of boot space, but not enough to worry about.

Because of working from home & lockdown I’ve not really put many miles on it compared to previous cars I’ve owned – about 17k miles in 2 and a bit years, but so far it’s been great.
It’s a diesel, so not really what you are after, but I get around 65mpg on my commute.

A guy I work with has the same car with the 150bhp petrol engine (1.4 TSi, I think – maybe 1.5?) and he gets low to mid 50’s out of it. Another colleague who I lift share with has the same engine in an Ateca and gets around 43mpg out of it.

I suspect the Octavia would ride more comfortably than the Leon.

Jeez – prices must have gone nuts

wow,just checked and they have. Cars with the same spec / mileage as mine are going for 2 or 3 k more than I paid in Nov 2019

Would the roughly 20 miles of electric range of something like an Outlander PHEV work for your local trips? They’re not great on fuel for longer trips (but not terrible – and the later 2.4 is better and in budget) but that’s offset by using a lot less petrol for local stuff.

Although SUV styled, it’s more like a tall estate (roof height much closer to my Leaf than say a Discovery) and usefully narrow on the lanes – slimmer than a current Focus. Ticks the other boxes for space, tech, comfort, reliability, ground clearance and it does have 4WD for snow. Mid spec up have heated seats and steering wheel plus of course you can preheat on electric for cold mornings to save scraping.

An SUV would probably be better in this regard, but for fuel economy, baby robins etc. we are resisting that for our next car (old ‘spare’ is a 4×4 SUV).

Do not rule one out too quickly. The difference in mpg is minimal / not material, but I would stay away from a 4×4 version.

We have a BMW X1 and Merc E Class estate. The X1 is much the more practical car in every way despite the Merc having more actual luggage capacity. Estate cars are just not a practical load lugging shape.

Personally I would go as large a car as you can get (so long as its a relatively efficient car) bigger cars are more refined and just more comfy.

The X1 is a 2.0 petrol and we still get 40+ mpg from it. Where as the 1.0 fiesta that it replaced was lucky to get mid 30’s mpg.

Look at any of the VW group SUV’s as a starter.

I live in the Shropshire hills (well have done the last 3 years) and there has never been snow that has worried me, even in rwd cars I’ve owned in that period, the climate is mellow compared to West Yorkshire 🙂

Would the roughly 20 miles of electric range of something like an Outlander PHEV work for your local trips?

God know they are terrible real range is terrible + get them to look at a hill and that range reduces to nothing and less than 20mpg

What is the auto box like on the Octavia. I generally go for autos as I like drinking tea whilst driving, I also think nowadays most autos are better at managing gears than humans are. I’m no driving god, I like to just trundle along. Anyone got real world experience of the Octavia auto?

Superb here and have frequently driven a work Octavia. The extra space is very useful indeed, some of it is in the back seats, some in the longer boot. I can readily get two FS 29ers in there with front wheels off and have been to the Alps in that format. I too live half a mile down a farm track and even when heavily laden, with an entire field hospital in the back, it doesn’t ground on the rougher track sections.
Through 4 years of second hand ownership, it’s been nearly faultless.
For me this one hits the sweet spot, a real workhorse and load lugger yet with decent comfort. Not being the sportier, lower suspension version is helpful for me though and anything comparable from BMW or Mercedes simply wouldn’t cope.
I am on diesel, the older 140 engine and get around 63-65mpg these days from fill to fill, not as per the dash (which can be persuaded to show 70+). That is on mostly longer runs now as I no longer commute and it does favour the expensive V-power fuel. You can really feel the extra energy and it shows up in the consumption. I’ve summer and winter wheels for it, Ultragrips for November to April. New steel wheels are surprisingly cheap and readily available. Consumables like discs & pads, suspension arms are more reasonable than my previous Passat and are also lasting better so far.
in an ideal world, I’d have a Superb ‘Scout’ with more ground clearance to better cope with deep snow but I’ve never seen that in the UK and don’t know if it even exists here. The regular Superb 4×4 is lower than mine.

I live in the Shropshire hills (well have done the last 3 years) and there has never been snow that has worried me, even in rwd cars I’ve owned in that period, the climate is mellow compared to West Yorkshire 🙂

It’s not Finland for sure, but we’ve been properly snowed in 3 or 4 times in the 7 years we’ve been here. As in couldn’t get the car out of the gate without a couple of hours of digging.  We are 900 ft ASL in an old farmhouse and are the highest point around, so the wind properly howls through in the winter. If there is snow on Brown Clee hill, or Titterstone Clee both nearby, we invariably get some too, when Ludlow 5 miles away doesn’t get touched.  We have to negotiate 400m of rutted, unpaved bridleway to get to the lane into town which is via a steep hill with a couple of hairpins which never gets gritted.  This is not a big factor in our car choice though, I’m happy that a 2wd car with OK ground clearance and decent tyres will cope well enough and for the few days it won’t, we will fire up the log burner and hunker down!

Octavia vs Superb most of the extra room is for rear seat passengers I think. I wanted a Superb with the 280bhp petrol motor but they shot uo in price with the chip shortage quicker than an equivalent Jaguar XF Sportbrake did so I ended up with the Jag.

The 1.5 petrol engine in the Octavia and superb seemed like a pretty economical option for petrol when I looked into it – especially with the DSG box.

I’d take more suitable winter tyres over a 4×4 system. I assume the 4×4 under a superb is Haldex which is mostly front wheel drive until they slip. I had an Audi TT with it and in snow that could be quite amusing – if you gave it a load of throttle in a corner and overwhelmed the front tyre grip it sent a load of power to the back wheels and then would step out massively in the rear end 🤣

Another question.  My budget seems to put me in reach of late Mk3s or early Mk4s, ISTR it was a 2019 or 2020 changeover?  A couple of people have said they prefer the Mk3 or don’t like the Mk4.  Why is this?  Someone mentioned the infotainment system – I know it has touch screen rather than physical controls for the climate control etc. which is not ideal.  Any other reasons?  I would normally go for the newest version if I had a choice, for residuals if for nothing else.  Any reasons why I shouldn’t?

Octavia vs Superb most of the extra room is for rear seat passengers I think.

That’s useful to know.  It’s relatively rare that I will be carrying rear seat passengers but will be folding the rear seats down for big loads quite frequently.

Love my SEAT Leon ST. 1.5 petrol, same underneath as a Golf/Skoda but much better looking.

My budget seems to put me in reach of late Mk3s or early Mk4s,

I find the MK4 ugly and the touch screen tech that VW are moving toward just seems like a stupid thing to do in a car. I like to be able to look at the road while changing the a/c temperature.

to my eyes the mk3 estate is a particularly elegany looking car – its not overly “designed” , the boot space aperture is wide and high – its reminiscent of the B7 A4, back before Audi went after the maxpower aftermarket bodywork segment.

last MK3 is 2020 , so you’ll get a 3 year old cars coming off lease onto main dealers around now.

Jeez – prices must have gone nuts

Indeed. My octavia was £14k in 2017  (3 years old, main dealer) , same 3 year old car now is about £23k

We went from Octavia Estate to Volvo V50 to BMW 318i Touring, all petrol engined estates.. The latter is by far a nicer car to drive than the others with WAY more boot space than the V50. THere are downsides though, it’s on runflats where i’d prefer a proper spare – though (touches wood frantically) in 33 years of driving I can’t say I’ve ever needed a spare while out and about).

Series 3 and 5 are the best looking estates IMO, brain says Octavia, heart says 3 Series.

Any petrol engined medium car is unlikely to get much more than mid 30s on short hilly journeys. A phev will do much better, even if the journeys aren’t 100% electric, and will recover breaking forces lost in the downhills.

Lots of c class phev in the price range, or Passat’s, or something like this? https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209069492996?advertising-location=at_cars&maximum-mileage=50000&postcode=bn68ff&body-type=Estate&sort=price-asc&page=1&fuel-type=Petrol%20Plug-in%20Hybrid&include-delivery-option=on&percentVehiclePriceDeposit=true

Yeti 4×4?