Been lying low this last while but thought i'd drop in to say hi. Hope you are all keeping well. What am I saying of course you are well. You are Skoda owners!

When I changed jobs and gave up the Octy Company car 6 months ago I thought i'd landed on my feet in a nice new job with a 2 yr old £19k Primera 2.2 Dci SVE I picked up for £8k.

Hmm how wrong was I? Job wasn't what was promised (yup I was lied to) although the car was great. It wasnt quite as quick as the Octy but still had 138bhp. I loved the electric leather seats, xenons, sat nav, reversing camera, sports suspension and 17" wheels.

Trouble was the Primera was really just a Renault so it ate injectors for breakfast and turbos for tea. What a nightmare! Thankfully it was under warranty with only 33k miles on it so Nissan reluctantly fixed it saving me a mere £1,800 +vat!!!

So now I have a new job and the Primera has a happy new owner (give it a month or 2) for the princely sum of £7k ('he' paid 'me' btw. lol).

New job comes with the promise of a company car but i'm going to be careful in my decision on that so i've just bought a car to get me through the summer. Imacculate 05 Golf 1.9 TDI SE for £7.4k. I know I know but the Golf won't lose much money over the next couple of months and although a VW isnt quite the image my new boss wants me to have, it's acceptable. Sadly a Skoda isn't. I've tried educating him to no avail and given up in disgust.

I have to admit the Golf is a great car and the 1.9 engine is actually very good too. Switching from the the Nissan to the VW was like going from a biscuit tin to a tank!

I favoured the superior 2.0 TDi over the 1.9 in the Octy but the 1.9 105 bhp TDI Golf is remarkably powerful feeling to drive and absurdly economical. The interior and trim materials however are far outclassed by the Octavia. What were VW thinking?

Anyway i'm happy for now especially when it comes to refuelling. As a Ballymena man once said 'she'll run on the smell of an oily rag!'.

Johnny

Glad to see you back!!

What new company car are you being forced into?

Can't complain about the 1.9PD 105, its ok... just think how much better it would be in the Octavia!! :P

Can't complain about the 1.9PD 105, its ok... just think how much better it would be in the Octavia!! :P

Slower

Glad to see you back!!

What new company car are you being forced into?

Boss suggested a 320d SE but the whole BMW image thing ain't me. I have to admit to liking the new A4 2.0TDi even though there's a 3 month waiting list. A Passat would do but he reckons there's a reps image associated with it. Time will tell.

A car is a car to me these days anyway. As long as it goes and it's free I really don;t care. I'd actually be content enough to stick with the Golf for a while. It's pretty cheap to run.

John