Hi,
The tripmeter on my new Octavia 1.4TSi Elegance has just passed 1000 so high time I wrote a report. Overall I'm hugely impressed with it...
The engine is quite astounding. I would have got a diesel but had heard enough good things about this engine; the list price was so much lower than the diesel equivalent which made up my mind. Like Seant said about his Yeti, it doesn't feel like it's got a turbo, don't feel any lag, just a nice strong torquey diesel-like pull which means you can make brisk process on a very light throttle. And it is so smooth and quiet, cruises at less than 2500 rpm at 70 which makes it very relaxed indeed. Economy seems to be improving already, was only around 35mpg on early trips, but getting over 40 on 60 mile trips down the A3 which is about the same as I used to get in my Diesel C5. It's probably THE best thing about the car. I'm still driving it quite gently but I think it'll have a fair turn of speed if I need to floor it.
Handling is fine, it might not be as good as a Focus on the limit but, hey, it's a family hatchback so I don't drive it like that so I couldn't care less. Much less ponderous than the C5 was while the ride is very good too. Overall noise suppression is mostly fine, though I think this is the one aspect where it loses out to the Golf, it's quite susceptible to coarse road surfaces which kick up a bit of noise, though nowhere near as much as a Focus.
The interior is really excellent. Feels really solid and has an aura of class that's indistinguishable from the Golf. And has a far superior toy count over a Golf SE - dual zone climate control, parking sensors, electric folding mirrors, headlamp washers, quality touchscreeen stereo with an SD card slot, etc, etc.... I find the seats very good, the perfect blend of comfort and support.
As for the exterior, it's fine, looks handsome in Arctic Green (silver if you don't look too closely), and the headlights on dipped beam are amazingly good, that I hardly miss not having Xenons. And tyres that aren't so low profile that you risk kerbing the alloys.
I'm looking forward to a long and happy time together. In absolute terms, I think the Golf's a marginally better car but it costs 1000s more so hardly comparing like with like. At its price I think there's nothing to touch it.
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At its price I think there's nothing to touch it.
Sounds good. And I just had a look on Drivethedeal - £12.5k does seem pretty cheap.
Edited by Focus {P} on 04/02/2010 at 22:04
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I paid a bit more than that, though not much, direct from my local dealer. There was a VAT free offer in January which was simplly too good to miss. Gave me a very good trade in figure on the C5 too.
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Don't know what the equivalent Golf spec is, but the 1.4TSi SE is £16k (S is £14.7).
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Thanks for the review, Felix. I enjoyed reading it, partly due to the content, and partly due to the fact that it was well-written.
You never seem to hear a bad word about Octavias (Or Skodas in general, come to think of it).
When you were looking at getting a new car, which others did you look at (if any) apart from the Octavia & Golf, and what turned you off the others?
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Skoda's generally appear to be hugely well rated. I got a lift with the owner of a local taxi firm that has just bought 8 Superbs to replace Octavias. I mentioned that I'd been in an MB with 800k km on the clock, and got a "I can beat that".
Apparently one of the Octavias was got rid of at four years and 630k miles. It was on the original engine, gearbox and turbo. 2 clutches, 1 set of injectors and 'routine maintenance'. I wasn't with him long enough to find out any more, but I was impressed.
Edited by Statistical outlier on 04/02/2010 at 23:01
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When you were looking at getting a new car which others did you look at (if any) apart from the Octavia & Golf and what turned you off the others?
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I kept a very open mind. I knew I wanted to downsize from the C5 but couldn't decide by how much and probably wanted a diesel, and wanted to retain as much of the comfort and refinement of the C5 as I could in a more compact package, and was thinking (as I usually do) of buying nearly-new. I looked at a few superminis (Fiesta, Clio, 207) but felt that, even in their highest specs, they didn't feel that classy. The Polo was better but was going to be pretty expensive.
So I started looking at the "value" end of the small hatch market, at the Fiat Bravo and Hyundai i30, test drove both. I dismissed the i30 quickly, it disappointed me - the engine was noisy and rattly, and though the interior was OK, it was lacking "something". The Bravo was surprisingly good, there was a lot about it that I liked. However I coulldn't quite get comfortable in it, there was no foot-rest and I could tell that was something that I'd never really get used to.
Slightly dejected, I decided to increase my budget. Had a look at lots and came down to a short-list of 3, an odd choice of a Peugeot 308, Golf and Seat Exeo which I talked about in this thread....
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=81495&...f
It was only Avant's advice here that attracted me to the Skoda, and glad it did. It was far better value than any of these - especially the Golf - and I don't mean to use the word "value" in a demeaning fashion, just mean a lot of very good car for the money. The Golf was probably the "best" car on this list, but I was really stretching my budget and would have to accept a slightly lower spec. The Exeo was a very good car at a decent price (I don't thinnk it being a refettled A4 is a bad thing) but lack of a hatchback and its size dissuaded me. So the Skoda it was.
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Good to hear you're really liking the Octavia. I remember saying in the first thread if you are happy with their size which has always fallen between Mondeo and Focus... and the ride/refinement suits... then you couldn't get a better car. I think they are *the* car for all others to live up to in their class.
My cousins were here with theirs last week, a 6wk old 1.6 diesel. Just a basic car in plain red but well made, fantastic fuel consumption and I think it will suit their policy of keeping their cars a long time. Previously they had a Xantia diesel from new for 12yrs and a BX for 8yrs before that... they plan 10yrs+ for the Octavia.
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Sorry MM I know you did recommend it too :-) ... they plan 10yrs+ for the Octavia.
I normally never hold onto any car longer than 3 years, I get bored too easily and then find practical reasons to justify to myself changing it. However I can see myself keeping the Octavia a bit longer.
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Glad you like te car. I'd be interested in a 1.4 TSI next as well. Had my Fabia for 5 years and still impressed with the build quality. Skoda also replaced the turbo on my 130 PD out of warranty for just labour after some hollering too.
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I started a thread on fuel economy on this engine - www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=81723 and I noticed HJ referred to general disappointment in the newspaper this weekend.
Now ours is more run in, I tried letting rip for the first time. Wow! Talk about a wolf in sheep's clothing. I like it for the easy drive - loads of torque, and the other nice things about the car (boot like a country estate!) but I hadn't counted on it being sporty too.
Jon
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Felix - what do you reckon to the Owner's Handbook ? I've had my Octavia for 2 months/3000 miles and it's taken me that long how to work out how to get the mirrors to fold in when I lock the car, and having found out, I've re-read the handbook twice over and I still can't see where it tells me how to do that !
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borasport20 you've got folding mirrors?!
The dealer swore blind that option didn't exist on this car to me :-( Only on superb's he said.
This is good news, was one option missing that i wanted :-) My order's in but i don't have a build date yet so i guess i can adjust without too much hassle.
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Craig - there is some discussion over on Briskoda as to whether or not this function was deleted around december, but I took delivery of my Octavia Elegance on Dec 18 and it has them.
There is a setting on the control knob to fold them in manually, but keeping the lock button on the remote pressed when you lock the car folds them in also - not that you'd know from the manual.
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p.s. standard on Elegance and L&K only, according to my brochure from last year.
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Phoned him this morning, he agrees its available on Elegance but not on Vrs :-( had a search on the web seems to confirm this. I'll add it to the list of retrofits for someday :-)
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