Sadly, we live in a bit of poor area for used cars, so I am will be relying on home delivery having not driven the vehicle.
STOP
Dealers are now open and you should make the effort to go and look at and test drive shortlisted vehicles.
You are spending a lot of money and as we know all dealers lie about their stock.
So get out there and see what YOU like. Surely you have an opinion as to what feels right to you and its you and the family that matters and not a load of faceless forum members who you have no idea if they have actually owned or even drive the car in question.
As for the Octavia its a fine car and the 1.4 TSi is a cracker but I would only buy the hatch, the estate has terrible noise and booming form the rear (tried 3, all the same). Many on here will tell you not to buy a DSG but whilst there have been failures (most years ago) there have been countless thousands sold and a vast majority have been fine.
For the record unlike most posters we have actually bought 3 Skodas in the past 4 years and all have been excellent. 2 have been Superbs and one a Fabia.
To be fair, Skidpan, all you VAG cars have been manuals, haven't they? The concensus appears to be that whilst the majority of DSGs are fine, that alone does not make them 'relaible', especially when buying second hand, and especially if the OP decides to buy blind (which I agree with you is a VERY bad idea).
The problem with buying those sort of dual clutch gearboxes is that 99.9% of the time, the prospective owner has no idea how the car was driven previously, which as we know makes a huge difference to how long those sort of gearboxes, particularly VAG DSGs and Ford powershift DCTs, will last.
The car they look at might have been driven sympathetically on predominantly longer trips, and will last a long time, or it may have been driven on repeated short trips in slow moving traffic or doing lots of hill starts - or, like them, pulling a caravan/trailer, etc, which could mean the gearbox won't last that much longer.
Unless they comprehensively test drive it, they won't know, possibly until after the dealer's warranty has run out, costing them a lot of money. If they can drive a manual, it would be a far better bet to buy that, as the car would be a far safer bet (though I'd always advocate a good look over and test drive); if not, I'd advocate other makes where their 'auto' gearboxes are far more robust, although that might mean upping the power/torque requirements depending upon whether this camping involves towing.
IMHO, dual clutch gearboxes should never be bought if either the previous owner(s) used it in heavy slow moving traffic a lot (and it hasn't had a change in clutch pack recently) or the prospective owner will be triving it in that way or using it for towing.
I also think it does depend on the specific combination of engine and dual clutch gearbox, given the 'wet' variety appears to be more reliable than 'dry' ones, but some combos appear to be better matched where the max power/torque capability of the gearbox seems to be much higher than that of the engine it's mated to.
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A similar thread came up a few weeks ago and Mondeo was quite a popular alternative. Lots of space, reliable and cheap to run. Lots to choose from, not much to dislike really.
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The other issue with VAG cars of this age is the 1.5 engine when running from cold. Reports vary as to how bad they are - apparently some are fine- and “fixes” may or not have worked. This is another reason to test drive from cold. There are plenty of 1.4s around which are probably a safer bet. I have a Golf 1.4 with the same engine and it’s a good car to drive.
Civics have been mentioned and it’s an ideal car for a growing family. Even the hatch has a big boot and there ought to be good selection of 1.8 petrols at your budget. That was my car before the Golf and I ran it for 6 years. As other have said the magic seats are a great feature.
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To be fair, Skidpan, all you VAG cars have been manuals, haven't they?
Obviously you have not read the posts about the Superb iV I bought last October. That is a DSG and I am delighted with it.
The other issue with VAG cars of this age is the 1.5 engine when running from cold. Reports vary as to how bad they are - apparently some are fine- and “fixes” may or not have worked. This is another reason to test drive from cold.
Before we bought the iV we test drove a 1.5 TSi Passat DSG estate and a 1.5 TSi Superb DSG estate. The Passat was a 3,000 mile demonstrator and I drove it twice from stone cold and had no issues with it at all. We had the Superb overnight thus obviously drove it from cold and no issues with that either. It was a brand new car, we were the first out in it, only 10 miles on the clock.
The DSG in the Passat was fine providing you were prepared to use drive and sport to suit the situation. Drive seemed to change very early and made the car quite leisurely away from lights whereas sport made the car much livelier but it held onto the revs much longer than needed once driving in a relaxed manner. The DSG in the Superb basically did not have a clue. It was possibly because it had only covered delivery miles and needed to learn that it was a gearbox but drive or sport seemed to make little difference.
Neither was for us, if we had not bought the iV it would probably have been a Volvo V60 T4. never used sport when we drove that, seemed great in drive (other than the dismal mpg).
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Just looked on Autotrader and there is a '19 plate Toyota Auris 1.8 Hybrid estate automatic with 19k miles for £12300. You'd still have a few years of Toyota warranty on it.
This would make a lot of sense for repeated short journeys and they use an Aisin eCVT gearbox which is extremely smooth and reliable. It uses a set of planetary gears, rather the belt used by conventional CVTs or the clutches on a DCT. Taxi drivers love these cars and rack up huge mileages in them. And when they finish with them they get exported to places like Sri Lanka where there do another 200k miles!
Be sure to get a CatLoc fitted though.
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Just looked on Autotrader and there is a '19 plate Toyota Auris 1.8 Hybrid estate automatic
Colleague had one when I had the Leon 1.4 TSi. He loved the low company car tax but hated the car. Went in it a few times (as a passenger) and it was not on my wish list.
Many say the new Corolla is much better (it needed to be) but that would be out of your budget.
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Just looked on Autotrader and there is a '19 plate Toyota Auris 1.8 Hybrid estate automatic
Colleague had one when I had the Leon 1.4 TSi. He loved the low company car tax but hated the car. Went in it a few times (as a passenger) and it was not on my wish list.
Many say the new Corolla is much better (it needed to be) but that would be out of your budget.
Yes thecAuris Hybrid is bland, but also robust, reliable, easy to drive and loads of room. That's why the taxi guys like them. Depends what you want from a car. Personally I think that as a car ages and drops out of warranty the small highly-stressed engines and DSGs become a liability.
My son currently drives a Diesel Skoda Octavia DSG as a company car. I think its around two years old. He does like it, but every now and then the DSG 'throws a wobbly' and shifts incorrectly or loses drive. Its very infrequent and the dealer can find no fault because there are no stored codes - which seems odd. Possibly something mechanical rather than electronic. My son is not bothered because its not his car, but if I were a private owner it would worry me.
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Personally I think that as a car ages and drops out of warranty the small highly-stressed engines and DSGs become a liability.
Not sure I'd consider a 140/150bhp 1.4/1.5 turbo as being highly stressed, that is either 100 or 107bhp per litre, which isn't actually very much (there is a 1.6 turbo in some Peugeot models is kicking out nearly 170bhp per litre, and I believe it is a pretty reliable engine). Plenty of naturally aspirated cars over the years have made around 100bhp per litre or more. And bear in mind, the turbo torque means less revs are needed for a given level of performance.
I would agree though, that for someone who thinks of a car as just a means of getting from A to B, comfortably and reliably, the Auris hybrid would be ideal. While answering another recent thread, I found a Lexus CT200h (mechanically identical to the Auris hybrid) on Autotrader, it was a 2014 one owner car with 208k miles!.
I'd also be very wary of getting a used DSG, especially the dry clutch version, which is what I think you'd get in a 1.4TSI. How reliable it is will depend on how previous owners have driven it, and how would you find that out?.
I'd actually be looking at the Astra estate myself though (assuming the Auris hybrid didn't appeal). £10k is enough to get you into 2018/2019 1.4 turbo (150bhp) auto (T/C). It is a reliable engine with a reliable gearbox, and because Vauxhall's don't hold their value well, they are a bit of a bargain compared to that Octavia.
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You have stated it's the 1.4 TSI whereas the dealer advert says it's a 1.5TSI - which one is it?
I bought my last 5 cars using the internet and all were between 5 months and 2 years old at time of sale. The first one was a Rover 75, followed by a Toyota Avensis, then a Kia Sportswagon, another Avensis and finally my current car - Skoda Superb Estate. Dealers were located up to 150 miles from where I live. Importantly, on each occasion I did not agree to buy the car until I had inspected it. However, before agreeing to view the car I asked the dealer a series of questions using email; the responses from which would help me to make a decision about whether it was worth me even making the journey to the dealer.
I garnered as much info about the car from the dealer by asking pointed questions and insisted on replies by email. I found some dealers were not prepared to do that because they allegedly didn't have the time. More like they were put-off by my advising them if it was subsequently discovered that they had provided me with factually incorrect and/or misleading information then I would use it as evidence to support any legal claims I might make against mis-selling!
One of the downsides of buying from a dealer remote from where you live is what happens if the car needs attention. Some dealers will insist car is returned to them for repair rather than you having it dealt with by someone local to where you live. All my cars had remaining manufacturer warranties so this wasn't an issue in my case. 'Your' Skoda Octavia looks good, dealer looks ok and the Skoda approved warranty very worthwhile.
I have the 1.5 TSI engine in my Superb and am very impressed with it. Recently did a 100 mile return trip and got an indicated 58.7 mpg using Eco mode. Mine's a manual and have no personal experience of the DSG.
Good luck.
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If we are lucky, we get about 80 years of advantaging ourselves of our own very temporary tenancies of the facilities of this obscure spinning rock.
0-20 we are mainly under the influence of our parents.
20-30, as a bloke, you are having the best time of your life.
30-60, you are more or less a wage slave and funding your partner's breeding programme.
60+ it's just good if you are still capable of doing anything that gives you pleasure.
As members of a tiny little blip in evolution, where personal transport has been something to aspire to, until it's banned, why the heck would you compromise on it?
Get the nicest car you can. To heck with the cost. It'll all be finished soon, as will you.
Bleak view I know, but if you get the chance to be on your back on a trolley staring at the strip lights before you shuffle off, do you want to remember driving a rubbish car or one that you liked?
;-)
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If we are lucky, we get about 80 years of advantaging ourselves of our own very temporary tenancies of the facilities of this obscure spinning rock.
0-20 we are mainly under the influence of our parents.
20-30, as a bloke, you are having the best time of your life.
30-60, you are more or less a wage slave and funding your partner's breeding programme.
60+ it's just good if you are still capable of doing anything that gives you pleasure.
As members of a tiny little blip in evolution, where personal transport has been something to aspire to, until it's banned, why the heck would you compromise on it?
Get the nicest car you can. To heck with the cost. It'll all be finished soon, as will you.
Bleak view I know, but if you get the chance to be on your back on a trolley staring at the strip lights before you shuffle off, do you want to remember driving a rubbish car or one that you liked?
;-)
Ally Back
What a brilliant epistle of the Meaning of Life. You must have had a brilliant education to write something as profound as this
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To be fair, Skidpan, all you VAG cars have been manuals, haven't they?
Obviously you have not read the posts about the Superb iV I bought last October. That is a DSG and I am delighted with it.
You may well be, but you've a) owned it from new/essentially new, b) only owned it for 6 months tops and c) know what type of driving pattern causes problems.
No-one is saying that every car will develop problems with a DSG box, or even the majority of them, just far more of them compared to other gearbox types, especially for those used for work in conditions that quite a large number of people face, and more than comparable systems such as from Hyundai/Kia, but less than Ford's.
TBH, if it weren't for this issue(I was looking for an auto back in 2017), I'd have bought one, as I thought the drive of the 1.4TSI excellent and I liked the styling of the mk7 Golf and Leon of the same era (the Octavia was too large for my needs).
Dual clutch gearboxes were originally designed for motor racing because they gave swifter gearchanges without efficiency penalty, meaning performance was improved without using more fuel, and keeping the driver's hands on the steering wheel.
I'm still not convinced that even today, dual clutch gearbox systems are really suited to congested road driving or the 'shopping car', where TC and CVT auto boxes appear to be more robust over the longer term. Unfortunately it would not be economically viable for car makes to offer more than one 'auto' system on each car. I suppose that will be the benefit of EVs, where they don't have gearboxes.
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