MK3 Skoda Octavia vRS thoughts?

[ZG002]

Hi all,

My lease car is due to go back in just under a year so I've been looking for a replacement, thinking about buying the next car outright with a loan and some savings.

Currently have a 67 plate Leon FR (150bhp petrol)
Cars been great, but a little tight at times when camping say or just loaded up as we usually have a pram and child seat.

So I've decided to get ahead of the game and start looking at potential replacements now.

The Octavia vRS hatch or estate seems to give everything I could want, I'm far from a badge snob so the "image" doesn't bother me, but they look to offer a fair bit more space and some more power to go with it. I have a £15k budget which looks to currently get me into a 2016 pre face lift model (interior very similar the the Leon I have currently)
Dunno if prices will fall enough by the end of the year to pick up a slightly newer one with the split head lights.

Has anyone here owned or leased one for a period of time? What was it like to live with? Any options to look out for? Any issues?

Thanks

 

[ZG002]

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Just what I'm after, I'd of never known about the screen and sat nav. The Leon has the finger print issue, I can live with it, think it's worse as the screen is a matt finish.

So winter pack adds some nice touches, the adaptive cruise control has a different stalk am I right?

We had to put roof box on the Leon and still only just had the room inside on our last camping trip!

I'm not expecting a massive jump in room, but it seems like it's right direction (The Mrs wants an SUV but I refuse)

We only do about 8000 miles a year, so I'm thinking the petrol engine is the right choice for us. No issues with the DSG box? I've been looking at manuals.

Thanks

 

[ZG002]

You can get a 2015 BMW 530d for that sort of money.

I've looked at BMW, Audi, Merc etc and as fox says I can get into one yeah but it's older and with higher milage and at this moment in time the badge doesn't bother me. They also typically come with higher repair costs, I plan on keeping what ever I end up with for 5+ years.

If I had a higher budget I'd of been tempted by a a4 avant s line or something but at my budget they ain't great.

 

[ZG002]

I had a 2015 VRS Diesel and it was a great car with a really good boot for lugging my MTB around. Had it for 2 years from new and did about 28k in it. In hindsight I would have defo got the DSG version and, whilst it is a good car, you can see where they cut corners on it to make it in the price bracket befitting a Skoda. The A6 I replaced it with (ok different league of car) is so much more refined. But then again, the Skoda was list of about £26k and the Audi about £52k...

I'd definitely consider one again and I had zero problems with mine. At 2 years old it went through the auctions @ £13.5k and VWFS tried to sell it to me for £16.5k...

That's good to know, think I'm going to have to get out and test drive a DSG.

Thanks

 

[ZG002]

I'm gonna try get my head around the screens, is it easy to tell from photos or do you need to have poke around to tell the different systems?

I know I'm not looking to buy just yet, but most the cars I'd consider look to be a fair distance away with hardly any up locally for sale. Even to two Skoda dealers who are near have no vRS used for sale currently

Point being I think to get the right car I'm likely going to have to travel which is fine but helps being able to confirm things like that adaptive cruise has a separate stalk etc.

Thanks for the info all, very helpful.

 

[ZG002]

staying within vag family - do you really need the size of a vrs, especially day to day, or, would a golf estate 4motion/allroad be a candidate
.. vw media kit, nimble, discreet, better for camping needs ? - friends octavia always feels a bit bulky on the roads

Anything with the word Golf in places it out of budget or I'm looking at a older car with more miles on the clock, I will likely keep this car for 5yrs min but could be as long as 10yrs if required. I'd like the newest I can afford really. Dunno I guess it just comes down to I don't value the Golf over the Octavia, just like I prefer the Leon I have now over the current Golf.

Leon ST is an option, but they are all the same engine I have now, no one seems to really have bought the bigger tsi engines. So for some extra performance I'd be looking at a Cupra which once again don't seem to really fall into the budget at this point, the new Octavia and Leon are both primed for release.. so the cars I'm looking at now come the end of the year may well do, Still it's the Octavia I'm personally interested in.

 

[ZG002]

Yes - ok - if you don't like the design .. 4motion can be had on 16 15K@50K, but diesel;
fwd, even with a diff - the age old cookie - is it an exciting way to put >200bhp down.

We do 8k miles a year so diesel really doesn't appeal,

4wd in a diesel all track Golf isn't an exciting way to put 180bhp down either....

Thanks for the suggestion though.