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.

I conceded defeat. My Octavia has now gone after 10 months of frustrating ownership. Had it been a brand new car, it would have lasted me only two days.

Mondeo Estate, although a manual Superb estate TSI 150 in budget probably would have done too.

After a second, but fairly brief, disappointing, and only 10 month, stint at Octavia ownership I'm departing. I chose to buy an estate car with the excellent TSI 150 engine, but hadn't appreciated, until a day or so after taking up ownership..... just how poorly executed the rear torsion beam was in the estate version. The ride, handling and really unpleasant thud/boom/vibration (that I found to be as unpleasant as somebody scraping their nails down a blackboard) really let down what should have been a very good car - and is....until you start driving on a less than perfectly smooth road, or a road with fast or tight bends or undulations in it. The OEM brakes/pads were a little inadequate too. Having spent time and money trying to improve the situation, and feeling increasingly frustrated, I have now traded it in. I've seen some interesting things on here and had some useful info. Cheers.

Mine is a manual. I've only given it a bit of a run out around the bumpy, twisty local lanes, and a short squirt down a couple of back roads, but it's actually not too shabby performance-wise. Economy seemed good tootling along the 30/40mph limits, but I suspect that such a big car it will use a bit of fuel if driven enthusiastically. It will get a longer run out tomorrow. It almost goes without saying that it rides, handles and steers very well.

As much as I like tinkering.... And I did spend quite a while trying sort it.... There is a phrase about "not being able to polish a... Something" The alternative cars I drove all felt much better out of the box. I don't expect the economy to be as good as the Octavia.

I've been lucky with cars over the years. This one just doesn't suit my needs, hence moving it on after less than a year. I'm sure the next owner will think it is fine. I'm looking forward to driving along a particularly bumpy, local, road without wincing and gritting my teeth again. The thud/boom issue doesn't appear to bother everybody. My wife (blocked ears problem) doesn't notice it, but my daughter does. Handling and steering won't bother many people. My Father in Law's hatch rides much more comfortably.

No. It will have its headlights looked at throughly when I get it, though.

It's a low mileage Mk5 Titanium Estate with 1.5 Turbo petrol. Apparently "sports" suspension, with big wheels, but the ride felt smooth and comfortable.

Having looked at, and test driven, some different cars I've settled on a Mondeo as a replacement. It just seems to satisfy my needs more. The Superb is a big step up in ride and general quality over the Octavia, but out of budget in the spec I wanted. Jumping back into the Octavia after test drives of other cars and driving the same roads did really highlight the ride, handling and booming issues I have with the chassis.

My car has been very reliable. As I would hope for a car with only 40K miles on it. I am one of those who values a chassis more than huge engine power. The TSI 150 is a great engine with plenty of performance. It is just a shame that the chassis that it is bolted into isn't up to the standard of the engine. I don't mean that it should be rock hard and have huge wheel rims, but should maintain tyre contact with the ground, control the body and isolate high frequency road imperfections from. The body and passengers. The booming resonance through the body is another issue.