MichaelTL

I'm learning by experience. The car I'm looking for is a SE L petrol manual. I had a test drive in a two year old car 14k miles that had been owned under a contract hire. It showed signs of heavy use on the seats and the service required warning was showing. Didn't care much for the dealer either - a main agent. Decided to look for a car owned by one private owner. I drove one today three years old at a Nissan main agent and upholstery much better with similar mileage. Sticking point was gouges in front ns wheel and new tyre just on that side. I could I suppose ask them to test alignment but I think we should probably wait for something else to come along. SWMBO not overkeen on colour - white either. We decided on the leather/alcantara seats as we think they are a bit more comfortable so it makes things a little harder to find what we want.

I had a test drive in a Mk3 Octavia and all was fine except there was some bad scuffing on the front n/s wheel and it had had a new tyre that side. Car is on sale at a Nissan main agent garage. They said they can get the wheel sorted out but I am concerned that something may have been damaged if the tyre change and scuff to wheel were the same incident. The car is very clean and was owned by a private individual.

I have now had test drives in a Scala, an Octavia Mk3 SE L and an Octavia Mk4 SE Tech I preferred the Mk3 over the Mk4. The seats in the Mk3 were the leather/alcantara which I found more comfortable so maybe an unfair comparison. I found it hard to get on with the entertainment/sat nav console on the Mk4. I preferred more manually directly controlled functions ie climate control in the Mk3 Probably a factor was that the Mk3 felt more similar to my Mk2 though I was surprised it still had a manual handbrake and it seemed to be a little awkwardly positioned. The Scala was a decent enough car to drive though it did get upset on some curvy undulating road at speed. The search is ongoing for a mk3 SE L man petrol with outstanding manufacturer warranty.

I couldn't see any chips in the glass or any damage to the wheels.

Q.Has the 2 year old car had 1 service already, or has it had 2 service, are they doing any servicing for the sale? I believe it couldn't have had any service. I am concerned that the displayed indicated the car needed a service. I assume this means it is on fixed so expecting a service at 10k. It's done 12300 miles. Q. What is the Record on the VW / Skoda system for Servicing & Maintenance & any Warranty Work or Service Campaigns. Is it possible to access this system and input the registration to interrogate it? I couldn't see any faults. They said it was on original tyres which didn't look particularly worn on the edges. They were all the same brand.

I'm going for a test drive in a two year old Octavia SE L tomorrow. It's done under 15k miles Salesman writes -

Thanks for your input e-Roottoot. The salesman from Marshall told me all their cars qualify as Skoda Approved so issues could be handled by a local agent. I considered a car which appeared looking at mileage to have been owned by a business before the dealership acquired it. Looks like many Octavias are. I am concerned about a car having been driven by a multitude of drivers, thinking one privately owned car would have been less likely to have been thrashed or had smokers using it (yes I'm an ex-smoker).

I have decided to sell my 1.9TD rather than risk throwing more money at it. I'm looking at another Octavia from a Skoda main agent but the better prices seem to be at showrooms more distant to me. If I were to buy a car from (say) a franchised dealer 90 miles away, could I get any faults rectified locally?

Ok thanks. So a question - Can anyone on here recommend an aircon specialist in Shropshire?

Thanks for the advice and particularly the information on buying and selling in France. I regularly follow an ex-pat forum so I knew that s/h vehicles are a lot more expensive in France. The mechanic who usually looks after my car had a go at fixing the a/c and changed a component but sadly it failed after a couple of weeks. He is a competent mechanic. Can anyone tell me what the cost is likely to be to get the aircon working at a specialist repairer? I think the car is in good shape - it's become a bit spendy in the last couple of years with new brake calipers being needed. I thought the clutch was on it's way out as there was a bit of a squeak with the pedal depressed but it seems to have stopped.

I have an 07 1.9TD Octavia with 170k on the clock. I am fond of it and would probably hang on to it but we plan to do some trips down to southern France. The aircon's given up the ghost and I think a younger car would be wise for these trips. The dilema is that we may decide to upsticks and live in France, so we prefer to buy something we would take less of a hit on if we needed to sell in order to buy a lhd. I'm interested in an Octavia with 1.4 or 1.5 Tsi. We planned to spend up to £12k but I'm wondering if we should spend more on something with a decent amount of warranty remaining. I know that if we buy from a dealer and resell in a year or so we will lose ££. Should we look for a private sale (with manufacturer warranty). I don't know much about cars but I could the RAC or AN other for a check. I'm thinking a private sale is a safer bet if the car still has manufacturer warranty assuming Hpi checks are done of course. I wish it were possible to just swing the car controls across, rhd to lhd!