MC Bodge

The Mondeo has 235/45/18 tyres. There were various comments about the Mk5 Mondeo being not very good, barge-like handling etc. The Octavia was big enough, but it just would not carry as much of our stuff inside as the Mondeo, and wasn't a deciding factor in moving on. Admittedly, I had been under the impression that it wasn't as good as the previous Mondeo, but it is actually a very good car. Despite being bigger and much heavier, it also steers, handles and stops far better than the Octavia we had. It is very composed. FWIW, even our 2006 Fiesta (that we still have...) was better to drive and ride in than our Mk3 Octavia Estate.

I re-discovered my Briskoda activity 3 years on... In contrast with my relatively short and frustrating Octavia ownership, I still have the Mondeo. The Mondeo has been painless to live with. The chassis is excellent, even on 18" rims on its standard non-"sport" suspension. Not once have I thought that I needed to make it ride better or to make it quieter (I even leave my roof bars on) The steering did initially have an annoying anti-drift, anti-weave feature that I disabled in software and it improved the driving a lot. I suspect that this was a negative feature that tainted early reviews. The boot is more useful than the Octavia estate. It will carry more camping and sports kit, as is very useful for tip and DIY shop runs. The Sync3 infotainment unit works as it should. The radio sounds good, but benefits from a bass enhancement. The halogen headlamps are not good. Better bulbs helped a little, but if I still did a lot of driving on dark back roads, I would fit a set of extra driving lamps. The rear tailgate won't hold a bike rack. It required a towbar and a cantilever rack, which is a superior method of carrying anyway. The 1.5 petrol engine is not as good as the 1.4TSI. It is not as economical. Its not quci off the mark -Torque is restricted in first and second gears, and gearing is very long, although from third onwards it is fairly rapid. The aircon is very powerful, although spring temperatures can confuse it a little. I managed to correct some of the settings in software. With the great chassis and adequate power it is much quicker and more agile than the Octavia on the road, empty or with a full load, roofbox and four bikes on the towbar rack. Whatever some people argued on this forum, the Mk5 Mondeo is in a different league to the Mk3 Octavia (and is far better than its reputation suggests) and to argue otherwise is just perverse.

I re-discovered this thread 3 years on... In contrast with my relatively short and frustrating Octavia ownership, I still have the Mondeo. The Mondeo has been painless to live with. The chassis is excellent, even on 18" rims on its standard non-"sport" suspension. Not once have I thought that I needed to make it ride better or to make it quieter (I even leave my roof bars on) The steering did initially have an annoying anti-drift, anti-weave feature that I disabled in software and it improved the driving a lot. I suspect that this was a negative feature that tainted early reviews. The boot is more useful than the Octavia estate. It will carry more camping and sports kit, as is very useful for tip and DIY shop runs. The Sync3 infotainment unit works as it should. The radio sounds good, but benefits from a bass enhancement. The halogen headlamps are not good. Better bulbs helped a little, but if I still did a lot of driving on dark back roads, I would fit a set of extra driving lamps. The rear tailgate won't hold a bike rack. It required a towbar and a cantilever rack, which is a superior method of carrying anyway. The 1.5 petrol engine is not as good as the 1.4TSI. It is not as economical. Its not quci off the mark -Torque is restricted in first and second gears, and gearing is very long, although from third onwards it is fairly rapid. The aircon is very powerful, although spring temperatures can confuse it a little. I managed to correct some of the settings in software. With the great chassis and adequate power it is much quicker and more agile than the Octavia on the road, empty or with a full load, roofbox and four bikes on the towbar rack. Whatever people argued in this thread, the Mk5 Mondeo is in a different league to the Mk3 Octavia (and is far better than its reputation suggests) and to argue otherwise is just perverse.

Sync 3. The factory nav seems good, or I can use Google maps. I'm quite old skool, though, I don't use nav very often.

1.4TSI estate, 2016. 16" rims, Rainsport tyres - soft.

My car did this. And the booming/resonance. And the poor steering. And fading brakes. I noticed the ride and booming the day after I bought it. Awful. I tried to resolve it, fitted 4 new tyres, adding more and more soundproofing, various tyre pressures, kept it for 10 months and then got rid of it. Sorry.

It was terrible. Entering destinations, fairly fundamental, is a pain.

The Mondeo boot appears more usable than the Octavia was. The volume of the cuboid contained by the floor, roof and back seats is large and certainly doesn't appear smaller than the Octavia. The floor area is certainly much larger. The rear passenger compartment is very large, so for holidays, more things will be able to be stored there between the kids! It does seem a bit odd that the Mondeo boot floor isn't lower, though. The enormous exhaust silencer takes up a lot of space under it. It's a shame that the Mk5 was developed from the US Fusion rather than the European Mk4 Mondeo, but big non-German/Czech, non-SUVs are not a big market nowadays. My Octavia had levers to drop the seats from the boot, but one was broken. I can cope with leaning forward to flip the seat catches. As discussed, I disliked driving the Octavia I had intently. It had a big boot, but it was like a throwback to the early 90s, with harsher springs/dampers, and unpleasant vibrations, no steering feel around the centre or in long bends, brakes that faded and tinny body shell. The Mondeo is vastly superior from that point of view. I would have had a manual TSI 150 Superb estate had I found one in budget, although the chassis of the DSG one I drove wasn't as good as the Mondeo. I found some photos. The Octavia boot is narrower, and shorter front-back.(compare the front seats for perspective) With more, albeit thin, underfloor storage, although the Mondeo has space around and top of the spare wheel. The Mondeo has more space above the parcel shelf.

It doesn't surprise me. Having said that, the Mk2 Estate suspension drags it arse along the floor on standard springs when fully laden. It doesn't pull off the trick of working well under a range of loads. Helper springs are needed for that.

My Mondeo is a 2017 Titanium Estate. It is not as economical or throttle responsive as my Octavia was. but not slow. (The VAG TSI 150 1.4 is a fantastic engine. The 1.5 TSI gets mixed reviews). NB. The TSI had resonator pipes that added significant intake roar, which made it sound good/faster. Despite it steering more lightly than the Mk4 Mondeo, the ride, handling feel, consistency and composure, especially in non-super smooth roads, on undulating roads and on fast bends is vastly superior to the Octavia, even with a much heavier body and 2" bigger rims. It can be hustled down back roads much better, despite the extra bulk. The boot space claims is a bit puzzling and I suspect inconsistent. I suspect that Octavias are measured with no Vario floor and no spare wheel, quoting total gas volume. I fitted the things I kept under the Octavia floor into the underfloor pockets around the Mondeo spare, which are possibly not included in the volume. The Mondeo boot is large, albeit narrower than the Mk4 was. 2m+ length with seat down was handy for Ikea and tip runs this weekend. Each to their own, but I was glad to see my Octavia go.

As I've pointed out before, my Father in Law's hatch rides better than my former estate did (and didn't produce the horrible pressure wave). The Octavia estate suspension and excitation frequency response is obviously a compromise resulting from using VAG parts bin components designed primarily for other cars. Which Mk of Fiesta are you driving? I've not noticed any road bumps since I traded in the Octavia.

My Octavia rode best when loaded to the max with camping gear, full roof box and family. Our Fiesta has a torsion bar rear and rides firmly, but smoothly. The Mondeo is in a different league to the Octavia.

Possibly. The engineers at Skoda must have been aware of how poor it was on the estate. The steering, especially through a constant sweeping bend would still be vague, though.

Good stuff. The differences are enormous. The again, the current Superb is also very good

Economy around 41mpg average compared with 45mpg for the Octavia on the same toured. The Mondeo is much bigger, heavier, more refined, comfortable, though. It is also better to drive and ride in.