FoundOnRoadside

1.8TSI would be good, but out of my limited budget. I'm saving to renovate a house. :( And getting married sometime soon. Speed isn't a massive issue, as I'm used to the Mondeo which seems on book to be similar performance, and our other car is a 1.4 Hyundai i30 (108hp and 1350kg, so about the same as the Octavia). I'm rarely in a hurry, so as long as it goes up hills without dying, and can do 60 on A roads and 80 at a push on the motorway, I'm happy. I've been there, done that with the fast cars, now I want slow and reliable.

Folks, I'm looking to change my current motor (2005 Mondeo 1.8LX) for an Octavia. Maybe. So, I'd really appreciate it if you could answer a few queries. I don't want a diesel, as I do low miles. My local Skoda dealer has a pair of Octavia 1.6FSI Ambiente, one 2006 with 64500 miles for £4495, and the other is a 2007 1.6FSI Ambiente with 55000 miles for £5495. Both a dark blue metallic. Is it going to be worth the extra £1k for the newer car, assuming they're both similar condition? Is the FSI cam belt or chain? Does the FSI go OK? Book performance looks almost identical to my Mondeo (10.8 0-60), but 5mpg better (42mpg on the FSI compared to 37mpg on the Mondeo). Is 42mpg likely on the Octavia? I get pretty much the book MPG on the Mondeo, mix of town and motorway miles. Anything I should watch for on a petrol Octavia? I've driven plenty of diesel Octavias of this era, bu never a petrol. Thanks.

Just registered on here to say this. I think you're expecting far too much, Mike. As you said in your thread at the start, you're replacing a Euro3 engine with a Euro5. These Euro5 engines are complicated beasts, with so many emission controls to try and satisfy stupid European taxes. All diesels need a good while to bed in, particuarly VAG diesels. They don't generally start going properly until north of the 50k mark. Anecdote: One of our pool cars at work is an old Passat B5 with the 130hp 1.9PD engine. I've done long trips in that, filling brim to brin and got well over 65mpg. Not bad for an old junker with 90k on the clock, and a 5 speed box. I've then gone on to do the exact same trip, in basically the same time in a 1.6TDCI Focus (90hp). The Focus with 10k on the clock only got 44mpg. There's progress for you. Personally, I wouldn't touch a diesel engine car that's less than 10 years old. I had so much trouble with commonrail diesels. Now I drive an old petrol Mondeo, and the engine is sweet as a nut at 72k, and apart from filters and oil and one set of plugs, it's had nothing. It's run perfectly. It gets a consistant MPG all year. True worry free motoring, and it's cheap to run as I only do 6k a year.