| Motoring Discussion > Skoda Octavia II - Review | |
| Thread Author: Skoda | Replies: 5 |
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Thu 30 Dec 10 11:48
Skoda Octavia II - Review - Skoda
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Skoda Octavia Vrs Estate, 2.0TSi Petrol Turbo. I've had this for 9k miles now, and i've just agreed to sell it to a Skoda dealer. In 8 months of ownership, it's lost just under £3k since new. I doubt i could have contract rented even a base spec model for that little, the intention had been to keep it for a long time when i bought it, but it's a nice little bonus all the same. The Bad Bits - There was a lot of tyre roar at speed. I don't know if i've just adjusted to it or it's gone away as the tyres have worn but i'm not conscious of it anymore. It's not as quiet as a 7 series but it's totally fine for us now whatever's happened. - Headlight washers can't be disabled easily, they just seem like a waste in this weather, they use so much screenwash when all you want is a squirt on the windscreen. The wipers swipe twice too many times on skoosh and wipe mode. - The leather's a bit underwhelming, it's matt finish. It doesn't have that expensive feel of BMW leather. - The seat heaters are adequate but no more. In -7 it takes over 2 miles before i need to turn them down, for contrast BMW seat heaters need turning down in under the mile in the same conditions. - There's no mudflaps available from Skoda for this model. - No steering wheel controls if you spec a manual gearbox. - The A pillars are a bit big for my liking, but along with giant wing mirrors they go with the territory on new cars i suppose. - The seating position is higher than BMW. It's comfortable enough, i think i prefer being completely on the ground though. The Good Bits - Everything's solid. Very well put together, everything's perfectly aligned and it's well screwed together. - The paint is very good, i don't have a single stone chip and i've never had to correct a single scratch. Well, i picked up a car park nick in the rub strip on the passenger door, only i notice it but if i could ever identify the scroat responsible... :-) - The touch screen stereo is very good. Works very well with an iPod too. - The ENGINE! Wow! It's just a wall of solid torque from 2k rpm up to the red line at 7k. Traction is surprisingly good for a FWD, you can make use of the power. - The ESP system, this is the new fancy ESP v8.1 or whatever from VAG group. Why wasn't ESP like this from day one? I've never come across an ESP implementation i felt the need to praise, but this gets it so right. Cutting the throttle is an absolute last resort for it. You wouldn't ever turn this off, it never does anything other than help - on track, in the snow. Very well done. If you turn it off, you can't turn in as sharply, you notice that it's not braking the front inside wheel. If you've braked too much going in to a corner, you can't put the accelerator on the floor until you're coming out the corner - with ESP & XDS enabled, you can nail it, you'll feel it grip and accelerate. - Visibility, it's good and it's bad. Present car design niggles excepted (high sides, smaller rear view) it's probably good for a new car but just ok really. - Handling is very good. The long wheelbase is evident, it turns in marginally slower than a Golf, but the damping is every bit as performant on OEM shocks and overall the response is first rate for an off the shelf consumer car. It's so stiff out the factory, that you can put it sideways from 35mph with a gentle Scandinavian flick (properly gentle, wouldn't raise a passenger's eyebrow) and lift off the throttle, and the back end will come round as far as your nerve will. - Lots of upgrade potential. VAG deliberately tone down the torque available in the bottom - mid range to make it very easy to use and well mannered to drive, you can remap it and unlock that (there's almost 100lb/ft extra available at 3k rpm). The chassis is well understood dynamically now, you can buy off the shelf upgrades from popular handling experts like Whiteline for not very much money at all. - The boot space is excellent, the false boot floor option is ace, i hide everything under there, shovel, bags, 2x large carpet rolls, some tools. The compartments in the sides of the boot space with the doors are good for a compressor, toolkit, quick detailer & microfibre cloths, wheel wrench, gloves... they're pretty big is what i'm saying :-) The spare wheel well is just big enough for an 18" alloy, but it's a (full fat) steely spare supplied. - The rear seats are angled slightly upwards, it's very comfortable but also gives extra leg room in this layout. I can sit behind myself with a gap between my knees and the seat back in front. I would definitely buy again. ... which is exactly what i intend to do. New deal still being worked out, but the new one will have the DSG auto box and exactly the same spec, except maybe the colour. |
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Thu 30 Dec 10 12:03
Skoda Octavia II - Review - Tooslow
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"the new one will have the DSG auto box " Hee hee!! What did I say? Have fun S and thanks for all of the Skoda / VAG input. John |
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Thu 30 Dec 10 12:35
Skoda Octavia II - Review - BobbyG
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| So have you literally just sold it to a dealer and walked away or is that an agreed trade in on another Skoda, model to be determined? |
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Thu 30 Dec 10 12:46
Skoda Octavia II - Review - Skoda
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Still up in the air Bobby, bouncing 2 dealers off each other and the London dealer that supplies DriveTheDeal.com just for good measure. The car's going to one dealer, that's sorted although not handed over the keys yet. It looks like i'm going to be buying from another dealer though since they can do a couple of extra things i'm after cheaply (going for white car this time but i want my alloys & door mirrors painted glossy piano black). It's all a bit manic trying to beat the VAT rise. It's only come about since we found out moving to Poland wont be possible for April next year :-( (my work preventing it). If i'm going to be stuck in this rainy traffic jam, then i'm having an automatic gearbox :-) |
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Thu 30 Dec 10 13:07
Skoda Octavia II - Review - WillDeBeest
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I don't quite get the 'bonus' maths at the beginning. How is £3,000 in depreciation over eight months good news, when all you're doing is swapping it for the same model with an automatic gearbox - which will presumably cost you at least as much again over the next eight months? Is it just relief that what might have been ruinous turned out to be merely expensive? As for ...going for white car this time but i want my alloys & door mirrors painted glossy piano black. I hope you're ready for the 'panda' comments. };---) Gentle (I hope) ribbing aside, thanks for a useful review. The petrol Octavia is on my list for the forthcoming Beest Fleet Review. |
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Thu 30 Dec 10 13:52
Skoda Octavia II - Review - Skoda
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Haha sharp as ever :-) Yeah i can't really defend the financial side. I don't feel i've been ripped off but i've not exactly made a profit. |
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