USED Skoda Octavia Hatchback (04 - 13)

My car

Unfortunately I have had a bad experience with this car. I bought it when it was 6 months old (12,000) from the Halifax Skoda dealer and have had a catalogue of problems. The worst being when it was just 4 months out of warranty at 45,000 the internal cv joint went and caused damage to the crown wheel and pinion in the gearbox costing me nearly £2,000 in repairs. Skoda head office were not interested and said it was normal wear and tear. This begs the question 'is this joint really up to the job if it fails at this age ? ' can't wait to get rid in the new year but feel gutted at how much money it has cost me throughout ownership.

My car

I had heard how good the Octavia was but my wife had ruled it out straight away on image grounds. I happened to pass a Vauxhall garage and spotted second hand example. I was simply amazed at what a good car this was. It has the 6 speed multi-tronic gearbox and while I had not been looking for an auto I loved it.

I went home to tell my very sceptical wife that I had found the perfect car for us. I didn't shut up about how good it was all the way back to the garage and she kept telling me 'your over selling this, it's going to be disappointing because you've built it up so much'. Well she thought it was incredible and only took a short time to come to terms with the image thing.

It has space for our two young daughters and all the associated kit. It is as fun or utterly relaxing to drive as you want to make it. Running costs are reasonable and there is a sort of smugness, when I see other Skoda drivers I find myself thinking, there's someone else who has found out about this secret.

To sum up after over 6 months of ownership I am always disappointed if I luck out and end up with our other car (not that the other one is bad) and I enjoy driving the Octavia every time I get in.

My car

Bought this car at launch brand new. This car seems to be on a bungee cord from my house to dealership. I have had to date been back for rear tail pipe,front headlight,inner wing lineing,steering rack,idle valve x2 ,engine management lights to be put off at least 7 times and at the moment this car is at the dealers because of severe power loss.The dealer cannot find the problem even after two weeks of investigation/part swapping. THIS CAR IS A SERIOUS NIGHTMARE. Only gave 1 star for running costs because an etimated £3k + in warranty claims(and still ongoing)

My car

I purchased this car new after having an Impreza 2.5 WRX for a year. I chose a vRS after test driving the new hatch Impreza, Golf GTi, Mazda 3 MPS and Focus STI. I found the vRS to drive very much like the Golf GTI, but for considerably less money and with better seats and a lot more interior space. I'm very pleased with the car, the 2.0TFSI is a remarkable engine and I suspect the car is quicker than the quoted 7.3s 0-60 time. The engine has a superb wide spread of torque and pulls well in any gear making it a very easy car to drive compared with the Subaru. The gearbox is light and precise and the car cruises in wonderfully relaxed fashion in 6th gear. Handling is excellent, with loads of grip, very powerful brakes and good balance in corners. Downsides include excessive tyre noise from the rear (I have the optional 18" alloys, which may be a factor) and an engine/exhaust note which sounds a bit dull compared to an Impreza. Overall the car is remarkable value for money, insurance is very reasonable and fuel economy is 50% better than the Subaru! I'm surprised they don't sell in much greater numbers.