USED Skoda Octavia Hatchback (98 - 04)

My car

Sssh, don't let anyone into the secret. This is a great car!

Performance and practicality at a bargain price. Once you get over the stigma of the Skoda badge you can enjoy a practical car (I can cram my family of four into it with enough junk in the boot for a major expidition) with the performance of the more illustrious German marques. It's solid and reliable. I've driven mine for over 58k miles with only one hiccup (a faulty ignition coil - a problem across the VAG range from which it derives).

You get pretty much all you need as standard but make sure you include the reversing sensors option - the high bootline can give you parking problems.

This is the first time I've owned a car that I've enjoyed so much I want another one!

My car

Performance bargain of the decade. This is a family saloon with enormous boot but also has enough hidden up its sleeve to embarrass many other sportscar drivers. The look on people's faces when overtaking them in their 30K cars is priceless. The car can also be driven around town with no hassle as all controls are light and easy to use.

My car

The first and only mojor problem with this car is, no not the badge but the silver carpets and half-leather seats as they attract dirt better than anything else known to man. That said, as long as you keep in top of it, there is no drama.

One slight problem is that when unleashing the full potential of this well refined 1.8 litre turbo in wet conditons, the traction control can take just a little too long to kick in for my liking.

Nothing else worth even complaining about on this well built and extremely sporty family car. It's well built and thought out and as a bonus if my house gets repossessed, then I can move the wife and kids into the boot as it is that big.

Young drivers like myself need to be cautious and ensure you get a good insurance quote before you even think of buying.

My car

What other car gives you so much performance, space, and standard equipment for your money?

I have owned an Octavia vRS since May 2003 and covered 54,000 miles. On the motorway it is smooth and comfortable, on twisty back roads it's a sports car. The acceleration is excellent and it sticks to the road like glue, although the electronic stability program does kick in to save you when you do push it too hard!

Climate control is awesome, just set it to the temperature you want and then don't touch it until summer! The sporty appearance of the interior is top quality, lots of leather and mock carbon fibre. The white carpets look great and are surprisingly not too hard to keep clean (I work on construction sites!)

Negatives: the back seat isn't nearly as comfy as the sports seats in the front, rear legroom isn't as much as you would imagine, but the boot is huge.

Pay £150 extra for cruise control, it's easy to drift up to 3 figures! Depreciation is not as bad as you might have been led to believe - until you get over 36,000 miles or so the values hold up pretty well. Customer service at the dealers has been excellent and servicing and parts are very reasonable (even though most of the parts are from VW / Audi).

Highly recommended. If you want a cheap, genuinely hot hatch, this is the one.