I would be less concerned about the belt and more concerned about the condition of what tensions it. I'm not familiar with this engine, it might be tensioned by the waterpump or traditional tensioners. If the car is in good condition and you intend keeping it then the price is a lot less than buying another car of unknown history. So I would get it done for peace of mind but you will get other views including leaving it alone.

Yes - I'd get the cambelt kit /waterpump changed. This engine used in the 1.4 16v was one of the reasons VAG revised the cambelt interval down to 4 years/ 40k miles. It has plastic pulleys that fail. I know as I had the same 1.416v engine in my Skoda Octavia that had a cambelt/ pulley issue around 50k miles - sorted under the manufacturers warranty. Fortunately the belt/pulley failure didn't wreck the engine at the time but it made a hell of a noise. At the time the replacement schedule was something like inspect at 110k miles!

I generally quite liked the little 1.4 engine in the Octavia. I'd only bought on a deal new to use as a cheap long distance commute car (buy cheap - throw away) but it ended up being our car of choice for long distances, was surprisingly lively and reasonably economical (circa 43mpg). We kept it in the family for 19 years! It was still mechanically sound at 150k miles. Just keep an eye on the oil breather at the back of the engine. It can block, seals fail and leak or get blocked where it enters the air filter housing if doing low mileages (condensation/ oil mayo). Easy fix though.

Edited by Big John on 08/03/2022 at 14:16