Hi there, my name is Alan and currently i drive a 52 reg Seat Leon TDi 110 (chipped and sitting on a sexy set of 18" rs6 wheels) my fiance has two kids and everything is going sweet at the moment. we have just found out that we are expecting a baby!! exciting times, i have been floating on cloud 9 ever since! only problem is mummy daddy two kids and a baby into a leon do not go, have been looking at alternatives, i dont want anything that is crap like a picasso or a zafira etc. wifey and i hate them lol! cars we have kinda shortlisted have been some kind of volvo an audi a6 maybe a passat and that had me thinking about the skoda ocativa estate or a supurb or that 4x4 thing. it needs to be diesel needs to be well specced (the leon is an SE so has all the kit) and needs to fit a family in is there anyone else in this situation? im not looking at spending much more then the leon is worth to be honest but i think i can get a 04 plate octavia for this? oh and the 2 children are still on booster seatswhat should i look out for on a skoda any advice at all, also can the pd's be run on bio diesel like i do with my leon?Alan

As mentioned elsewhere, I'm looking at alternatives to my current Mk1 Octy due to growing (In size, not numbers, at the mo.) family issues. Octy mk2 is on the short list as is VW Touran at the moment. We need the boot room due to 3 young uns and a large dog! We're thinking a Touran would future proof against any potention additions to the family...

The TDI is without doubt the way I'm going to go again. I believe the PDs don't like bio too much though... Have a read through http://briskoda.net/forums/general-car-chat/biodiesel-use/96374/ for clarification...

Congrats to the baby!

Octavia98 mentions the Touran and with a family of five I think that you now and then will dream of a 7 seater. But two kids on booster seats, baby in baby seat (rear-facing strongly recommended) plus mum and dad is not an impossible combination for either the Octy or the Superb. I would probably choose the estate - pram, nappies from the supermarket &c... well, you are familiar with that already.

lol yes i secretly like the octavia estate, if its good enough for the police and cabbies, it cant be that bad!

shame because i love my leon, if i was to get the 130 tdi what can i expect from a remap? also what models are high up in the range, i gather the classic is the base model ?

Alan

I think you can get almost anything in hp from the TDI's provided you are willing to pay for it and with the third child on its way there might be other priorities

I'm a bit lost in the maze of Octavia models and have never bothered to learn about the diesel engines. But yes, the Classic is the base model, followed (I believe) by the Ambiente, the Elegance, the Laurin&Klement and the vRS. And AFAIK the most powerful diesel is the 2.0 TDi PD giving 170 hp (in the vRS, I think it's used in some Seat models as well).

You could take your question to the Octavia section, no doubt you'll get more (and better) advice there.

i'm guessing that if your looking at the 1.9pd130 octi you are looking at the mk1. In terms of seeing what BHP/Torque increases could be had have a look at what some of the fabia vrs boys have done. I myself have a PD130 Octavia and have a panel filter and remap and hope to see around 170bhp/380nm torque.

In terms of back seat space I think you might struggle with 2 booster seats and a baby seat, the best thing todo would be goto a garage and try them out. I have 2 children, a 3year old in a booster seat with the back on and a 1year old in a front facing toddler seat. We often pick up SWMBO's sister on the way to her parents house and it is a very tight squeeze to get in the back.

If we have a 3rd child I would have to look to see if the mk2 octavia was any bigger (it does look bigger in the back), other than that I would have to leave the Skoda brand and start looking at the mondeo/vectra.

The more I look at Tourans, the more I think I might be onto something. Of course, an Octy II estate is very high up on my shortlist too! Gotta be a 1.9 TDi! I don't think the Touran quite falls into the crap Zafira/Picasso catagory, for me anyway, having read lots of reviews.

The Octy I really does run out of rear leg room for bigger children/adults so for the Octy II to be top of the list, I'd want a big improvement. Don't really like being kicked in the back on long journeys... My 3 are quite far apart in age range though. Eldest at 13yrs, youngest 14mnths with a 10y/o in between. I guess if yours are all younger, a late Octy 1 would do you fine for at least a few years.

Oh, and congrats on the expected arrival! Should have mentioned that earlier!

We vaguely considered a Touran before deciding we couldn't justify the expense for one baby and just got a roofbox for holidays. In your case, though, it could be just the ticket! I think you can get 3yo Sport ones with the PD130 engine, decent seats and lots of toys for around the £6-7k mark (maybe a bit less now)

The Octy 1 is very much like the Leon/Toledo in terms of rear leg room as the new Mk2 is much better for rear leg room.

I would reckon a 2.0 TDI 140 Mk2 Elegance would be best for cost versus kit.

The 140 will remap to around 170-180BHP.

MK I Octy:

Classic/Ambient = 1.9 TDI 90 only

Elegance/L&K = 1.9 TDI 110 or 1.9 PD TDI 130 from 03/53ish onwards)

VRS is petrol only and specified as an ambient with extras.

4x4 is petrol only.

The TDI 110 tunes up very well

Suspension is soft on all TDI models so if you like a sporty drive budget about £600 to have Eibach/FSD fitted to the car.

The MK II PD140 gives around 160BHP as standard anyway as confirmed by quite a few Rolling Road results from people on here.

Hatch boot is huge anyway be obviously the estate is good for more bulky items.

Touran is a nice car, had one for a hire car for a week.

A few comments:

- The PD105 doesn't have enough guts to move it up hill fully loaded at any sort of speed.

- The fuel consumption is significantly lower than other cars with the 1.9 TDI due to it's box like shape.

- The climatic (semi climate not climatronic) doesn't work very well in such a big car with a few people in it and we found ourselves constantly adjusting things to keep comfortable.