Octavia 1.6L Petrol

Dools2007

Hi,

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this car. I have test drove a 1.9 diesel over the weekend but mileage was a little high and was the older model (pre 2005). Thought the diesel was ok but finding it hard to come across a good model for the right price.

Anyway, just wondering what is the general consensus on the 1.6L petrol (have seen a nice looking one online tonight). I have read a lot on here about the 1.4L petrol being underpowered which I would believe to be true for a car that size. Would there be much difference in the 1.6L or would I be better holding out for a diesel.

Sorry for long post but hoping you can help.

D

andyseadog

Dools2007 wrote: »

Octavia 1.6L Petrol

No.

Dools2007

Doesn't really answer my question.

Why NO?

Underpowered?
Fuel consumption?
Just don't like Octavia's
Other?
All of the above?

andyseadog

i dont think they have a great rep. you seem to be talking as if your looking at relatively new models (05+) i dont know if those are much better but the earlier petrol models wouldnt be known for their reliability in general.

Ricardo G

Powerwise they are'nt too bad, reliability is a bit of an issue, i had one for 8 months and they give the typical VW irritating problems e.g central locking gave up, electric windows packed in, starter motor replaced twice, uses a lot of engine oil, wheel bearings. In fairness nothing too bad but quite costly when you add them all up. MPG was'nt too bad imo

Dools2007

andyseadog wrote: »

i dont think they have a great rep. you seem to be talking as if your looking at relatively new models (05+) i dont know if those are much better but the earlier petrol models wouldnt be known for their reliability in general.

Cheers, good to see your opinion of them rather than just NO... . Opinion seems to be backed up by Ricardo below.

Ricardo G wrote: »

Powerwise they are'nt too bad, reliability is a bit of an issue, i had one for 8 months and they give the typical VW irritating problems e.g central locking gave up, electric windows packed in, starter motor replaced twice, uses a lot of engine oil, wheel bearings. In fairness nothing too bad but quite costly when you add them all up. MPG was'nt too bad imo

Cheers, looking for something fairly reliable so might stay away from them so.

andyseadog

sorry, was just feeling a bit sarcastic. id rather a high miler diesel than a petrol if your buying a skoda/ vw in my opinion.

if your buying petrol, buying japanese is probably a better bet.

Ricardo G

Dools2007 wrote: »

Cheers, good to see your opinion of them rather than just NO... . Opinion seems to be backed up by Ricardo below.




Cheers, looking for something fairly reliable so might stay away from them so.

Try a Focus, almera, avensis if your looking for something reliable that will hold its value reasonably well

Dools2007

andyseadog wrote: »

sorry, was just feeling a bit sarcastic. id rather a high miler diesel than a petrol if your buying a skoda/ vw in my opinion.

if your buying petrol, buying japanese is probably a better bet.

Is there not another risk then when buying a high mileage diesel that there could be DMF problems after not long??

Ricardo G wrote: »

Try a Focus, almera, avensis if your looking for something reliable that will hold its value reasonably well

Yeah, Focus is ok, just thought the Octavia was a little bigger. Not that gone on the Almera, test drove one before and wasn't too impressed, don't really like the look either. Not gone on Avensis looks wise either.

Dools2007

Thinking of taking a look at this one later today. What are peoples thoughts on it?

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/Laurin-&/201104201049118/advert?channel=CARS

Good spec but only thing that would put me off slightly would be the mileage although they do say that they have a full service history.

ThisRegard

Mmmmm, I have a 2001 1.6 petrol Octavia, over 90,000 miles and do not know of any of the issues mentioned above. It's not underpowered unless you want to go racing in it. The issues I did have with it was replacing a couple of pipes that got leaky, one being the coolant. There's also an intermittent issue with an O2 sensor but Skoda themselves told me not to bother replacing it unless the car fails on emissions in the NCT, it hasn't yet anyway.

andyseadog

Dools2007 wrote: »

Thinking of taking a look at this one later today. What are peoples thoughts on it?

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/Laurin-&/201104201049118/advert?channel=CARS

Good spec but only thing that would put me off slightly would be the mileage although they do say that they have a full service history.

i like it!

if they have a service history, i wouldnt let that mileage bother me, if you kept it serviced and drove it correctly you could realistically expect to double that mileage relatively trouble free.

spiggotpaddy

theres a 1.6 on dungdeal at the mo with 177,000 on it and loads with over 130,000 advertised as good nick.

Dools2007

Ok, so thinking of looking at this one tomorrow, timing belt just done, serviced, good tyres, clean looking car, low mileage, FSH.

Yay or nay???

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/Elegance/201105201137766/advert?channel=CARS

What would be a good offer for this car. Considering it's petrol, I reckon it is not as popular so should be a nice few euro off the asking price.
Straight deal, no trade in.

Ricardo G

Dools2007 wrote: »

Ok, so thinking of looking at this one tomorrow, timing belt just done, serviced, good tyres, clean looking car, low mileage, FSH.

Yay or nay???

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Octavia/Elegance/201105201137766/advert?channel=CARS

What would be a good offer for this car. Considering it's petrol, I reckon it is not as popular so should be a nice few euro off the asking price.
Straight deal, no trade in.

5 year old Octavia 1.6 petrol, No one will be knocking his door down to get there hands on it Op, i would be more inclined to go for a 05/06 Tdi for the same money tbh. Does'nt say anything about NCT on the above car either (presume they would have to test it before sale) If your heart is set on that car after viewing i would be offering between 5k to 5500k at most

Dools2007

Ricardo G wrote: »

5 year old Octavia 1.6 petrol, No one will be knocking his door down to get there hands on it Op, i would be more inclined to go for a 05/06 Tdi for the same money tbh. Does'nt say anything about NCT on the above car either (presume they would have to test it before sale) If your heart is set on that car after viewing i would be offering between 5k to 5500k at most

Finding a 05/06 TDI with FSH, low enough mileage, etc though is proving harder than you would expect though.

I have checked carzone, donedeal, etc, and have only found one or two models for that price where they either have large mileage or no service history or have other faults.

Have you any examples of 1.9TDI for this price in this model (new shape)?

Ricardo G

This one is on donedeal, for sale in Kildare. Only thing you might not like is its Automatic !! 125,000 kilometres, 130bhp, new timing belt fitted, fully serviced, elegance model, lloking for 5850

Dools2007

Ricardo G wrote: »

This one is on donedeal, for sale in Kildare. Only thing you might not like is its Automatic !! 125,000 kilometres, 130bhp, new timing belt fitted, fully serviced, elegance model, lloking for 5850

Yeah, not gone on the automatics, would prefer to stay with a manual. The only thing that bothers me with high mileage, low cost diesels is (and maybe I have been reading boards.ie too much) that going on reports, at this mileage, there could be a few costly bills coming in which I am looking to stay away from. **

** I know any car can have problems but diesels around the 100,000 mark seem to have a bad rep around here..........

Ricardo G

The one you are looking at has 64000 miles !!
The above diesel has 77,000 miles !! Not a big difference at all and relatively small mileage for a 06 reg diesel

Dools2007

Ricardo G wrote: »

The one you are looking at has 64000 miles !!
The above diesel has 77,000 miles !! Not a big difference at all and relatively small mileage for a 06 reg diesel

Cheers for the replies Ricardo, but this one is an automatic and I am looking for a manual. I looked at a diesel Octavia last weekend for just under €6,000 with 125,000 miles but it turned out to be a Category C write off in the UK so I reckon I am going to stay with a dealer for now as it will give me a little bit more peace of mind when purchasing.

Have you any examples of a manual 1.9 TDI for similar money?

EPM

The gearbox that's mated to the 1.6 petrol is prone to failure. Well known problem on all VAG cars with this engine/box combo.

CabanasBoy

EPM wrote: »

The gearbox that's mated to the 1.6 petrol is prone to failure. Well known problem on all VAG cars with this engine/box combo.

Only pre 2003/4, it was actually the diff that fails which in turn destroys the 'box (I know cos I had one). diff got uprated internals which eliminated this prob in later models.
Back to OP's request. Plenty of taxi drivers out there driving 1.6 petrol octavia's. (I have one as well as my TDi) There's not much goes wrong with them, a bit underpowered with 5 people on board but that's about it.

CabanasBoy

Ricardo G wrote: »

Try a Focus, almera, avensis if your looking for something reliable that will hold its value reasonably well

Hahaha! Nearly choked on my cornflakes with laughter reading this.

_toiletduck_

EPM, very good point, alot of 1.6 VAG cars have gbox trouble.

Personally I'd be pushed towards the 1.9TDI, few reasons:

1) diesel cheaper than petrol now

2) you can go further on the (slightly) larger amount of diesel you can purchase for the same price

3) big point: resale value on the car! I assume that you will sell the car eventually, without a doubt if you had a petrol and diesel at the same price now, 3 -> 4 years down the line and the diesel will be worth more.

I drive a '99 golf TDI (AGR) it has just rolled to 175,000 miles this morning, still havn't had a problem with her

EPM

CabanasBoy wrote: »

Only pre 2003/4, it was actually the diff that fails which in turn destroys the 'box (I know cos I had one). diff got uprated internals which eliminated this prob in later models.

Had an identical engine and box in a 2006 Leon. That failed at 78k km. Another regular poster here is in the same boat. Plenty on seatcupra.net have had the box fail and the guy that fixed mine said he's kept extremely busy by them. Doesn't seem that the problem is eliminated, well known for bearing failure.