Skoda Octavia TDI VRS

A great drive but some major problems.

Over the past two years, I've had some fun drives in the Octavia VRS. It's fast, great mpg on the motorways (55 mpg sometimes) although I was slightly disappointed at times when I sometimes struggled to get 35mpg average around town. The interior is nice, with comfortable sporty seats, and little road noise compared to my past diesels.

The problems?

A month after getting it from the dealer I began experiencing a loss of power. My DPF light constantly flashed on the dashboard and I was soon booked in to have it removed. Six months or so on, my turbo also began to show problems (blue smoke, bad turbo lag, etc). I have persevered with the turbo and it's still going (one year and a bit on) but I'm refilling the oil daft amounts of times now.

And, not forgetting the recall from Skoda for injector replacements after I had to deal with the constant shaking when the engine was idle.

Would I recommend one?

I would certainly avoid the PD engines. Maybe I was just one of the unfortunates, but having experienced these problems I couldn't recommend this model. Make sure you get it thoroughly checked through by a mechanic. And, definitely go on a very long test drive. If you can, go for the new one if you have the finance, or wait till they drop down in price and get one of them! I would also make sure they sell any used car with a good warranty. I was sold mine with one month. Ridiculous!

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