The Skoda Octavia. Is it finally time?

First things first – congratulations on imminent parenthood.
Is it essential for you to buy a second car at a time when your outgoings are about to move onto a permanent upward trajectory?
Definitely nice to have but…
Why not sell the pocket rocket and spend more on a family car?

On a slight tangent, but Skoda are keeping their value surprisingly high at the moment and there are probably better value cars around as a result. I was thinking about getting a Skoda Superb estate in the 2 litre petrol Sportline version – either 227bhp or 280bhp 4×4 version. As it happened I got a Jaguar XF Sportbrake 2 litre petrol for £3k less than the cheapest superb with 10k less miles on the clock and a year newer. More toys, full leather interior and a better looking / handling car.

I’d play with autotrader looking at your budget / any estate and trim it down with other filters and see what you find.

“Which subaru”
Mine is a forester, but if you’re considering an octavia scout the subaru outback is a very similar car, lifted suspension, all wheel drive, rufty tufty looks etc.

I have a 2010 outback diesel. In theory mine had the engine with all the issues resolved but the big end bearing started failing at 120k. Subaru replaced it the short block out of warranty and FOC. On 140k and will probably replace it with another eventually.

SCOUT WATCH:

I just spotted this yesterday- http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202106073559968

Half an hour from home. Looks promising. Decent MOT history. Looks better than either silver or black. I’m waiting for a reply from the seller about service history.

If he doesn’t put me off I’ll be able to see it later this week.

IME the mk3 (2012 onwards, but 2014 onwards for the Scout) was a far nicer place to sit than those mk2s – which definitely feel pretty spartan inside. Mechanically I don’t know the pros and cons of the various models though.

That one looks very clean, but at that age/mileage there’s a bit of risk, especially if you are planning to keep it for a few years and/or rack up the miles. The Mk3s seem to be £9k+ though, so a fair bit more money.

They’re good cars, just wish they did the vRS in 4wd.

They do but its only the diesel version.

I have a Skoda Superb 66-plate, I guess very similar to Octavia. Very nice car, however the coolant pump did just fail over b/h weekend and cost £600 to replace (included timing belt also as they said they had to take it off anyway).

If I have one irritation, its that although its big, in the boot its not big in any one direction (cube-like I guess), which means its actually harder to get a bike in than my previous Ford Focus Estate, which was wider but shorter, I could fit bikes in sideways with the wheels off, or a bike box. Cant do it easily with the Superb unless the seats are down.

Just been through all this. Had a few issues with my Audi 1.6 tdi, (my 3rd A3 and will probably be my last) so looked at changing. Looked for a VW Caddy Maxi Life…..hahahahaha…no chance, most second hand are ex mobility. Dealers have no stock within 200 miles. Looked at the Octavia estate but quite expensive and not much kit at the models I was looking at. Ended up buying a ………………………………………..
Kia Ceed Estate!! I know, dull as, but the left over warranty swung it for me over the Skoda. 5 yrs left out of the 7.

IME the mk3 (2012 onwards, but 2014 onwards for the Scout) was a far nicer place to sit than those mk2s – which definitely feel pretty spartan inside. Mechanically I don’t know the pros and cons of the various models though.

You’re right there and it’ll be crap going back to a stoneage head unit now that I’m used to having simple pleasures like good music which can actually be heard. There’s a big price jump up to the newer models.

There’s dozens of mk3 VRS diesels for between 10 and 11k which would be maxing out the budget but would no doubt be a much nicer car to live with. I’m just dubious about having that much money in a diesel which may be completely impossible to sell in a few years. Petrols are rare and a few grand more expensive.

I’ve got 2 weeks off work I’m intending to drive at least one Scout asap and then check out one of the many, many VRS’s just to see the difference. I can just picture a VRS with a motorbike trailer getting stuck in the pits and waiting for a rescue!

I think some of the Subaru’s look cool but honestly, if I ever buy a Subaru it’ll be blue with STi badges.

Edit- just got this back from Doncaster Scout man

Hi there thanks for your enquiry, I can confirm the vehicle is a very nice car, there is a stack of paper work listing extensive service history the vehicle has had, and is too numerous to list. In 2019 the vehicle was fitted with a new engine which only had covered 46000 miles and at the same time it received a timing belt, clutch kit, and head gasket, which is fully documented, it also has the haldex service documented at 42000, the car will come with 12 months MOT at an independent garage also.

No mention of the full new engine in the advert and the Haldex service was what, 70k ago?

Wrong format, if it was me, I’d go for something like the Touran / Picasso or other MPV. They have the same wheelbase but much bigger internal space, and more visibility which al in all makes them a better place to drive. Whatever the numbers on paper says, the boots are a much more useable space in these sorts of cars than estates. They tend to lie by including the spare wheel sump as boot space.

I’m just dubious about having that much money in a diesel which may be completely impossible to sell in a few years.

seems unlikely.

I can just picture a VRS with a motorbike trailer getting stuck in the pits and waiting for a rescue!

i see a scout getting stuck slightly further into the pit with an irate driver wondering why his 4wheel drive isn’t helping – as the tires are still the weakest link.

Haldex service was what, 70k ago?

It’s dead easy to do. Get a tube of the oil and a filter from the dealer about £40, undo the drain and squirt the new oil in (it comes in a caulking gun type thing), takes about 10 minutes.

Anyway black wheels = ragged.

On a slight tangent, but Skoda are keeping their value surprisingly high at the moment and there are probably better value cars around as a result.

This, get a proper car. I’d be looking at an XF, E Class or 5 Series.

Or perhaps a touran or zafira tourer.

You don’t need 4×4, get cross climate tyres and don’t buy the sport spec with massive wheels.

i see a scout getting stuck slightly further into the pit with an irate driver wondering why his 4wheel drive isn’t helping – as the tires are still the weakest link.

Don’t assume everyone is a complete muppet based on a few forum posts. I know how tyres work.

I don’t see selling Diesel as an issue, people will still want a decent size estate that has £0 / £20 VED and can do 500 miles on a tank.

Don’t assume everyone is a complete muppet based on a few forum posts. I know how tyres work.

You jump to the wrong conclusions.

The point was more your limiting.your self to a very small subsection of vehicles for a hypothetical situation that your self imposed limitation will be minimal benifit

Wrong format, if it was me, I’d go for something like the Touran / Picasso or other MPV. They have the same wheelbase but much bigger internal space, and more visibility which al in all makes them a better place to drive. Whatever the numbers on paper says, the boots are a much more useable space in these sorts of cars than estates. They tend to lie by including the spare wheel sump as boot space.

Entirely true as far as it goes (with the exception of the visibility – there are good and bad aspects to that one) but the economy is significantly worse vs. an equivalent size estate and they’re a **** to load the roof rack of and while some of them drive ok there is no escaping that they are a poor imitation of the car they are typically based on in driving terms. I like mine a lot (SMax) but it’s not without its downsides.

The other positive with new babies etc is you don’t have to bend over to fit the car seat.

Just to bring some closure to this thread I thought I’d post an update.

We bought a car yesterday and it’s not an Octavia.

It’s a 2015 Yeti Monte Carlo.

The wife loves it (she never really wanted an Octavia) and the new little’un (3 weeks 4 days old today) fits in the back with room to spare.

I went looking for one in a more subtle, classy colour but we visited 5 of them and they were trashed. Dealers want over 10 grand for cars that have obviously been used and abused by families and had dogs scratching around in the boot. We went all the way to Ripon yesterday morning for one which looked awesome in the advert and it was very rough up close and that was the last straw.

So I bought this one in a private sale for a few grand less. It was on the Autotrader but he’s also in the Facebook owners group. He was a nice bloke, obviously an enthusiast and it’s been maintained religiously. All the big jobs have been done in April this year and it’s got a full set of nearly new Michelin Crossclimate’s fitted. All I need is a towbar bike rack. I might buy some wheels with regular tyres on as we’ll be doing a lot of motorway miles.

To drive, it’s quite funny. I’ve never had anything SUV shaped. This is the ‘fast one’ with 170bhp and it’s really high and wallowy with loads of TDi shove. It feels like a little hot hatch, monster truck combo.

So yeah that’s it. Hashtag yeti posse.

The Octavia goes on the back burner once again.

Good call – buying on the owner and condition, not a fixed model.

I posted elsewhere – we saw a £15k Golf Estate last week that was also scratched, seats with stains on and an air of ‘abused’ about it. Next to it was a Polo, with dent on door and dog scratches on bumper.

I wonder if quality stock has gone, we’re now scraping the barrel.

Nice van 😉

I wonder if quality stock has gone, we’re now scraping the barrel.

That’s a possibility. If we’re to believe there’s been an absolute feeding frenzy on used cars it might be just the munters left behind.

We went to see this yesterday morning…

http://www.batchelorsmotorgroup.co.uk/used-cars/13044779-skoda-yeti-outdoor-2.0-tdi-cr-se-4×4-5dr

I was ready to buy it if it was as good as it looked in the pictures. It was bumped and scraped on every panel, had split door seals full of mud, arch liners hanging loose, every orifice underneath was packed with mud. It had 3 mismatched summer tyres with 1 aggressive looking winter tread on the off side rear.

It wasn’t even the worst one we saw. It was enough to make me get on the phone to a private seller even after my last disaster. He was the exact kind of person you want to buy a car from and it drove home perfectly.

Nice van 😉

Part of the appeal is that all the rear seats can be removed!

I don’t see selling Diesel as an issue, people will still want a decent size estate that has £0 / £20 VED and can do 500 miles on a tank.

LOw VED a bonus for sure. Long range not just a diesl thing though. My petrol 2018 Superb mananaged Glasgow – Nth Wales and back on one tank. 720 miles.

I got my Superb new for £18k, specced the fold flat front passenger seat. So it carries 3m long planks inside the car.

The boot not much bigger than an Octavia but acres of rear seat passenger legroom even with 6ft+ adults in the front.

I like the small touches the Superb has over the Octavia. Quieter. Bonnet goes up on telescopic strut rather than a clip stay. Brollys in the front doors. Rear boot light is attached by magnet. Pulls off to become torch. Adjustable boot floor (option). Gives flat load floor at the expense of a bit of height. False floor handy for stowing stuff to keep the boot floor clear for carrying dogs.
I have the 1.4Tsi 150hp engine. Absolutely fine hauling the car around.

Bonnet goes up on telescopic strut rather than a clip stay. Brollys in the front doors. Rear boot light is attached by magnet. Pulls off to become torch.

Cheers. Knowing that my Octavia has the bonnet struts and brolly in the front door…i just went out to try the torch.

The broken clip and wires hanging out of the broken light fitting would seem to suggest not all Superb touches have ported over 😂

I thought the removable boot light torch was a standard Skoda thing. The Yeti has one. On inspection I think I’ll be better off with one of my many cheap led torches anyway.

Well I actually keep a headtorch in the glovebox anyway but the torch is a nice touch.

Careful with the skoda torch thing. Camping last weekend left the car boot open all day not realising this left that torch on. All the other lights auto off. Needed jump starting next day.

I looked at getting one of those Yeti’s years back; the same version as you’ve got I think with the most powerful diesel they do & 4wd.
Not massively fast, but enough to give people a surprise off the lights. I think the 4wd helped.

In the end, it didn’t seem as large in the back as I was expecting so I gave up on the idea. Nice cars though.

A guy I was at uni with has his own race car prep business & did this to a Yeti:

I’ve seen that one on YouTube, it’s outrageous. If I could do something like that without the wife noticing it would be ideal. There’s a place down the road near Chesterfield who do custom remaps on their rolling road so I might order up a huge torque curve to smooth it out a little. Nice first job since all the servicing is already done.

Yeah they’re not enormous in the back but I like how versatile they are. 3 separate rear seats which can be fully removed leaving a huge cube. I’ve seen pictures of people camping in them with bikes so I might try to figure something out for solo missions. The rest of the time it’ll just be 3 of us with baby kit or camping gear.

I think we’ll get on with it well for a while.

There’s a place down the road near Chesterfield

Which one ? 🙂

JBS Auto Designs. I’d never heard of them but they come highly recommended.