BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome!

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Fri 28 Dec 2018 22:24
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - Ripper83
So I currently own a mk7 vw golf but due to a new addition to the family I am looking to change this for a bigger saloon petrol model and after much research with my requirements and budget I have narrowed down my choice to the following:

Bmw f30 316i

Mk3 Skoda Octavia Elegance 1.4 TSI

So I’d love to hear some thoughts on here from any owners of either of just opinions on the best choice. My difficulty is neither of these specs are currently available anywhere near where I live so test driving isn’t easy but I still somehow hope to drive both before I buy.

My thoughts are as follows:

Bmw - the car my heart wants more with better quality interior and driving experience but my concerns are the possibly underpowered engine, boot space and possible running costs as I’ve never owned a bmw before and this does worry me. The ones I’m looking at are around 60k on the clock.

Skoda - the sensible option as it ticks nearly all the boxes but interior will be a downgrade on my current car let alone a bmw...and should I buy one when I could get the entry level 3 series for the same money?

Thoughts welcome!!
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Fri 28 Dec 2018 22:53
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - Avant

This one's fairly simple! The 3-series BMW (unless it's a Touring estate) isn't any more capacious than your Golf, whereas the Octavia (hatch or estate) is much more roomy. You may as well go for the Octavia estate as it's the same length as the hatch and it has better rear vision.

Also:

- you'll get a newer Octavia for the same money;

- there's a risk in buying any used car, but an ageing BMW will cost more to repair than will a Skoda;

- the 1.4TSI is an excellent engine, and the car will feel livelier than a 316i which is underpowered; and

- I had three Octavias, and the interior finish was just as good as a Golf's.

One final thought - if you go for the Skoda, it needs to be a manual, as the DSG in the 1.4 TSI can be unreliable as mileage mounts. If you must have an automatic, let us know and we can think again.

Edited by Avant on 29/12/2018 at 09:15

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Fri 28 Dec 2018 23:23
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - Ian_SW

A mate has a 3 series (57 reg 320d saloon), which he's owned for years, and now has a young baby.

After only a few months, he's thinking of getting rid of the 3 series and replacing it with something like a Golf because the BMW is (in his words) "about the least practical car you could carry a small child in". The pram has to have a wheel taken off it so it can fit in through the letter-box they provide as access to the boot, and once that's in it blocks access to put much else into the boot. He also said there's now very little opportunity to 'enjoy' the driving dynamics of the BMW unless you want a screaming child (and wife), and baby vomit spread all over the back seat!

Any "Saloon" type car would have a similar problem with access to the boot. The Octavia may look a bit like a saloon but is actually a hatchback so that would work fine. I'd also add the other long hatchback 'repmobiles' to the list (Mondeo etc) as they all offer a good carrying capacity whilst still being reasonable to drive and better value than the SUV type cars.

If the OP is really after a BMW, the 3 series "Gran Turismo" (i.e. hatchback in marketing speak) might be worth a look. There aren't many around though, so may be fairly tricky to find one.

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Sat 29 Dec 2018 01:25
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - SLO76
“The ones I’m looking at are around 60k on the clock.“

Forget the BMW, you’re just entering the danger zone where hugely expensive failures lurk. What is your maximum budget and what sort of usage will it see?
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Sat 29 Dec 2018 07:41
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - nellyjak

As above...wouldn't touch the BMW...there are better cars with less risk attached out there.

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Sat 29 Dec 2018 07:49
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - DavidGlos
I'd definitely avoid a saloon. We found the time around the arrival of our baby pretty expensive and so stuck with our existing Golf hatchback at the time. The pram and subsequent buggy both fitted in the boot ok, although we sometimes needed to use the other half of the back seat for coats, nappies etc. You could always source a second hand roof box for it?
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Sat 29 Dec 2018 08:03
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - sandy56

Any young family needs either a reasonably large estate car, like the Skoda estate, or an MPV like a Peugeot 3008, or similar. Most salons just cannot cope with a family and all their kit they need to carry around.

The Skoda is a reasonable buy, personally I would rather go for the Peugeot.

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Sat 29 Dec 2018 08:59
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - badbusdriver

I can only assume that the research you did before coming up with a 3 series BMW did not involve such questions as "what would be a good car for a young family". If you had, the beemer wouldn't have came up at all!. Out of your choices, the Octavia is the clear winner by literally miles and miles. But as others have pointed out, for ease of getting a child into and out of a child seat, something with a higher seating position would be better still. Something like an MPV or an SUV.

And by the way, a BMW won't have a higher quality interior than a VAG car, at best it would be about equal.

Edited by badbusdriver on 29/12/2018 at 09:01

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Sat 29 Dec 2018 10:40
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - Ripper83
Thanks for all the replies already. Just to elaborate a bit further my current golf is a diesel and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having it and would consider the estate version if it was within my budget (about £9k) but the combined factors of struggling for space already and the writing being on the wall for diesels means I want to sell mine whilst it still has some value. Will be very sad to see it go though.

I never expected to see those 3 series in my price range and I guess I’ve had my head turned a little bit by them as part of me always would have liked one but something deep down is telling me it could be a massive gamble and there doesn’t seem to be many good words about them on here!

I’m not a fan of SUV type cars so not looking for one of those, was originally just looking at estates but the choice of these in my budget range which are petrol I found to be quite uninspiring! Hence why the Octavia appeals, the boot on the saloon is bigger than some estates! It does seem to tick nearly every other box too. The badge doesn’t bother me (if I could have anything I’d get an Octavia VRS!).

Also open minded to mondeos, insignias etc but all the ones I’ve found seem to be missing something spec wise or are just considerably slower than the 1.4 TSI which I’ve read plenty about and it does seem a great engine.

I’ll be doing less than 10k miles a year with mainly urban driving but a couple of European driving holidays thrown in. The difficulty with having a 5 month old baby is I’m not going to be able to rest drive anywhere near as many cars as I otherwise would so it’s a case of really narrowing down my search and then finding the right car.

Edited by Ripper83 on 29/12/2018 at 10:41

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Sat 29 Dec 2018 11:38
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - SLO76
The problem is that earlier TSi petrols are rather notorious for timing chain failure, VAG responded by reverting back to timing belts instead which require changing every 5yrs. I’m not 100% sure of the date that Skoda changed the set up in the Octavia but you need to avoid the chain driven models like the plague.

As for a Mondeo well I rate the 1.6 Ecoboost but they’re quite hard to find and a bit thirsty in real life. You can possibly pick up one of my favourite big family cars for your budget though, the Mazda 6. The 2.0 Skyactiv petrol motors are bulletproof and dynamically they’re a match for the best yet there’s plenty of room for the family and decent near diesel economy too if driven gently.

Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20181218334...1

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Sat 29 Dec 2018 18:48
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - Ripper83
Correct me if I’m wrong but believe the mk3 isn’t affected by this issue. Think I’m going to have to source one nearby at any price to at least test drive
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Sat 29 Dec 2018 19:22
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - bazza

The Octavia is a fantastic family car, either hatch or estate, although the hatch might be a bit quieter. I've had two, owned from 2004 through 2017, both tdis. Although I had a number of issues with the last one, I think it was more down to a previous hard life by the first owner. If I was in the market I wouldn't hesitate on another one, a tsi this time. They are hugely practical and real workhorses. Also consider the superb estate, even more space and more refinement.

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Sat 29 Dec 2018 20:53
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - SLO76
Correct me if I’m wrong but believe the mk3 isn’t affected by this issue. Think I’m going to have to source one nearby at any price to at least test drive

Correct, all Mk III’s date from 2013 onwards so no timing chain worries. The belt is due every 5yrs though so factor in the cost of this when negotiating (£350-£400 approx with water pump) as few will have been done just before part exchanging or returning from a lease. A good car but it’s not uncommon to hear clutch master and slave cylinder failure and minor electrical irritants. It is basically a Golf underneath and suffers the same issues. But dealers tend to be good and owners (other than taxi drivers) a little less excitable on the road. I’ve never heard of any major issues relating to the later belt driven TSi engines which are proving very robust and are well liked by the trade so far. The estates hold their money better and are very practical but are a bit noisier on the road than the hatch.
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Sat 29 Dec 2018 21:41
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - badbusdriver

Something else surely worth consideration is the Honda Civic Tourer. They were made from 2014 on, so probably not a huge amount out there in your budget, but well worth a look. Huge boot, spacious cabin, incredibly reliable and decent performance. Unusually, the turbo diesel seems to be free on the usual problems modern turbo diesel's suffer from relating to emissions equipment, but the 1.8 petrol would probably be the best bet given the mileage.

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20181118253...1

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Sun 30 Dec 2018 09:35
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - Chris79
Have you ever considered a Seat Toledo. There are examples on autotrader coming it at sub 10k for a 67 plate with less than 5k on the clock. It comes wth all manner of goodies and has a huge boot plus room for 4 adults very comfortably.

Granted these are not popular cars but they have been built using VW engines and a plentiful hand of bits from the VW parts bin.

I ran a 1.6 tdi on a 63 plate from 5k to 90kin the space of 3.5 years. In that time we had a double buggy with two sub 5 year olds.

It constantly returned 55mpg + and was able to cope with all the clobber that’s comes with kids ( double buggies etc) without removing the parcel shelf. As a family car it truly was brilliant. At the time the wife had a Audi A4/Q3 and they didn’t even come close to matching the Seat for practicality.

I know that the diesel is not popular on this forum or worldwide anymore but I ran it largely on bp ultimate with oil and filter every 9k and service at 18k and I didn’t get any trouble from it at all.

The example I saw on autotrader for sub 10k had the 1.0 tsi which I recently drove in a seat arona loaded with 5 people and luggage. It was surprisingly nippy.

All the best in your hunt.



Edited by Chris79 on 30/12/2018 at 09:36

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Sun 30 Dec 2018 21:44
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - pinkpanther_75
Have you ever considered a Seat Toledo. There are examples on autotrader coming it at sub 10k for a 67 plate with less than 5k on the clock. It comes wth all manner of goodies and has a huge boot plus room for 4 adults very comfortably. Granted these are not popular cars but they have been built using VW engines and a plentiful hand of bits from the VW parts bin. I ran a 1.6 tdi on a 63 plate from 5k to 90kin the space of 3.5 years. In that time we had a double buggy with two sub 5 year olds. It constantly returned 55mpg + and was able to cope with all the clobber that’s comes with kids ( double buggies etc) without removing the parcel shelf. As a family car it truly was brilliant. At the time the wife had a Audi A4/Q3 and they didn’t even come close to matching the Seat for practicality. I know that the diesel is not popular on this forum or worldwide anymore but I ran it largely on bp ultimate with oil and filter every 9k and service at 18k and I didn’t get any trouble from it at all. The example I saw on autotrader for sub 10k had the 1.0 tsi which I recently drove in a seat arona loaded with 5 people and luggage. It was surprisingly nippy. All the best in your hunt.

I can only echo this suggestion - lots of car for the money and although a little narrower than an Octavia, the boot is huge and £9k will buy you a 1 year old one. This will have 2 years manufacturer's warranty remaining, whereas a £9k Octavia will be considerably older.

More here regarding my experiences with a Toledo: www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/119666/seat-toledo...5

Edited by pinkpanther_75 on 30/12/2018 at 22:27

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Sun 30 Dec 2018 10:50
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - Ripper83
Not even considered the Honda but will certainly investigate further! Thanks.

That’s my only other worry with an Octavia, a lot are used as taxis and certainly wouldn’t want Ann ex taxi - can imagine the substances that would lurk deep in the rear carpet!

Am surprised no one here has much positive to say about BMW’s.
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Sun 30 Dec 2018 11:27
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - SLO76
“Am surprised no one here has much positive to say about BMW’s.”

Nice to drive when new but reliability is very poor and handling and ride is ruined when non-manufacturer suspension components are used, something you’ll almost certainly find on any you’ll be looking at on your budget.

If driver enjoyment is high on your agenda and you want reliability I’d have the Mazda 6 at the top of the list well before an Octavia. A Civic will be reliable and cheap to run (the 1.6 diesel can do 70mpg) but driver appeal isn’t as high as the Mazda 3 or 6 or possibly a Focus or Mondeo 1.6 or 2.0 Ecoboost. The Mazda Skyactiv models are reliable and fun to drive, I really rate them and in over two decades of owning and flogging motors I’ve yet to have a major issue with a Mazda.

Edited by SLO76 on 30/12/2018 at 11:30

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Sun 30 Dec 2018 16:50
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - ike2

I had a 2010 Skoda 1.4TSi elegance estate for 3 years and really loved it. The interior was well equipped and the car did everything I asked of it. It certainly moved well and the chap I sold it too was equally impressed as he expected it to be far more sluggish than it was.

Not entirely sure why I sold it, having a bit of a head f*** I think. I bought a Toyota Auris Touring Sport hybrid. Obviously this was much more economical than the Octavia but didn't have the space I needed and just didn't feel as well screwed together. Nothing closed with a reassuring "thud" like the Skoda did.

Due to a change in circumstances I am now doing a lot more miles and wanted a car that was more comfortable and easier to drive over regular long distances. I looked at a BMW 2 series and a Skoda Octavia 1.5TSi SEL estate - both for £18k. The BMW was a year older and frankly I couldn't see what extra I was getting for my money by buying the BMW over the Skoda. The Skoda was 9 months old and the interior is alcantara and leather with a decent sat nav and infotainment system. It has more room in the back seat for elderly parents and the boot is huge. What,s more I'm not paying premium prices for insurance and parts. MPG on a long run is just under 50 but clearly much less around town. When I compare my car to friends who own "prestige" brands, I reckon I've got the best deal.

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Thu 3 Jan 2019 12:02
BMW 3 Series Skoda Octavia - My next car...but your opinions/help welcome! - Ripper83

Have to say the search for a 2nd hand car of the kind I am looking for is incredibly frustrating, have identified models and some welcome suggestions on here too but just by how much the market is still completely flooded with diesels.

The cars I am looking at, I would say only 5-10% of them nationwide are petrol and they are all hundreds of miles away!

Will probably have to try a diesel version locally and then narrow it down to what I want before travelling to purchase the right petrol version when it comes up.

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