Hello to you; Not sure if im posting in the right place,so apologies if ive got it wrong. I dont own a skoda yet but have seen one at a main dealer that I fancy (car not dealer). Its a 2005 Octavia 2.0 pd elegance. Very clean inside and out. 38500 miles. £9500. Years tax, years mot and years dealer warranty. What should I be looking at next time I view it, anything in particular. I know nothing about skodas.

Second part: do any of you tow a caravan with this model- My caravan has a MIRO of 960kg and MTPLW of 1250kg although we dont load up to that weight.

Any advice or comments on either subject will be most welcome.

Thanks, Mike.

Mike,

Hi. I'm new on here too and I have just bought a 2.0 PD Elegance on Saturday! It too is my first Skoda and my first Diesel so it's all new to me too. I've always had VW Golfs - Petrol ones with lots of valves that love lots of revs and lots of power. Diesel is so foreign to me at the moment - but I love this car. It is fantastic and has the performance to make my old 16V Golf seem slow!

I too bought mine from a dealer with full 12 month warranty etc etc. Make sure it all works i.e wipers, stereo and esp Cruise Control - mine doesn't at the moment - it will be fixed under the warranty though. Just a nuisance. Make sure you have all the stamps in the service book too. Check tyres match all round and tread is good. Check for uneven wear. Check wear on interior trim - esp drivers door handle inside. These wear and scratch easily. Make sure aircon works. Check the recall for the Dual Mass flywheel has been done. It won't cost anything but a nuisance if it has not been checked. There should be a sticker in the boot to tell you or a stamp in the book. Also make sure the brake fluid has been changed. Cam belt? Some say change at 4 years or 60k miles, I asked Skoda UK and they told me 5 years or 80k miles for this car. One dealer was prepared to change this for me as it was approaching 60K miles though I went with another car in the end.

Don't pay that price. I got mine for £8.7k with only 28k on the clock. It is a Nov 04 car but so little miles I snapped it up. It is like new all over. Pristine. I should have haggled more out of the deal but I'm a big softy really and wanted that car.

Mine has a factory fitted tow bar - as yet unused! Don't have a caravan but do camping with tents so can't comment on your intentions with the towing - might get a small trailer in the future.

One thing I have noticed is the VERY limited rear view. The only downside to this car.

HTH

Nick....

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your reply; dealer offered to give us £500 p/ex on the wifes Proton diesel which is a heap and not worth the hassle of trying to get rid privately which brings down to 9K plus year mot - tax and service. Im currently using a W reg 1.8td mondeo with 82k. Would be loathe to go back to a petrol engine now. (mondeo has poor rear vision as well). Your advice was most welcome. Ill certainly bear it all in mind. iff flywheel wasnt done then Ill call it a day and look round for another. A silly question but, how do I know if this particular car was one that had the DMF?

Mike.

The recall should not be a concern for you. There was a safety issue with the possibility of a samll fire. Skoda will have the details of this on file if you know the reg number call Skoda UK. Otherwise ask the dealer. It won't cost you anything if it is yet to be done and it will be covered by the warranty too.

Hi,

Im getting a bit confused (too many birthdays). Are you saying the flywheel issue was a fire problem as opposed to mechanical probs? Ive just phoned the dealer and on checking theyve come back with the answer that the car Im interested in was never subject to a recall! Could that be correct?

Mike

£9k isn't a bad price for that car at all.

What colour is it?

Does it have any options? A few of the earlier ones are sometimes randomly specced up with things like front and rear parking sensors, leather, audience cd upgrade, xenons.

Hello James,

Rear parking sensors-heated wing mirrors,climate control,cd auto change,cruise cont,

flamenco red, Ivory beige leather interior!!!! looked like black vinyl to me. What are

xenons? I phoned Skoda UK. Nice chap answered and phoned me back, said nothing on the database to indicate recall. Told me what had been done under warranty (minor niggly things,nowt major.) Services dept at dealer state not subject to recall, so hopefully no longer an issue (i hope) Dealer selling sold it new originaly

Mike

The recall was for cars registered from 01/02/2004 till 30/06/2005 The Recall Code is 13C9 and is for Skoda Octavias 2.0 TDi with 6 Speed Manual Boxes.

SeeRecall Details for SKODA - OCTAVIA 11 WITH 2 LTR TDI ENGINE AND 6 SP MANUAL GEARBOX

Yours might be a late 2005 model so won't be affected. Skoda UK will confirm this for you. Also make sure your cruise control works. On my test drive I didn't have the opportunity to check this and it doesn't Will get it sorted under warranty though - just a pain as this should have been checked by the dealer. That's why I bought a car from a dealer so I wouldn't have these problems

Likewise - my dealer originally sold this as a new car so know its history.

Take advantage of the 7 day free insurance. I did but the rest of the year was pricey - went with Elephant in the end as it was almost half the price

Haggle with them for any extras - new mat set, boot liner, luggage nets for the boots etc, brake fliud change. Also check for the screen delamination at the bottom of the windscreen (milky looking) - change under warranty. Also look at the edges of the Skoda badges - front, rear and wheels. The silver foil on the edges corrodes and goes powdery - ask them to change these for you - good luck - mine wouldn't - b^ggers. Looks a bit naff so will have to pocket this myself....

i've towed a caravan with a 1.9 pd105 remapped to 130 and it was superb, so I think its pretty safe to say the car you are looking at will be fine even if your caravan is a bit heavy imo, but if possible load the car up rather than the van

Thanks for replies Nick & Dan,

Car registered june 05. Will look out for points you advised on.

Dan,

Thanks for input; currently tow with 1.8 mondeo td (98bhp i think) pulls really well and of course the kerbweight is a bit more than the octavia. As we never load up to the max

mtplw and the fact that it has more grunt Im sure it will be ok. To be honest we will continue towing with the mondy but if ever it has a problem we will resort to the octavia.

mike.

Sorry for the late reply, 2.0tdi Oct'y has a max tow of 1400kg.

we had a Bailey 1198kg fully loaded, Oct'y towed it as easy as anything @ 37mpg. HTH.

Mine has a factory fitted tow bar - as yet unused! Don't have a caravan but do camping with tents so can't comment on your intentions with the towing - might get a small trailer in the future.

Tow bars are useful even without towing anything. I had one on my last car. I never used it, but although I had to pay to have it fixed on its last service because the plate the the electrics were on rotted away to nothing leaving the socket dangling, it probably saved me buying two or three bumpers over ten years by taking the knocks when I reversed into things. Remember when bumpers were designed to take knocks? The bumpers on my old Transporter were 2mm sheet steel. Now they're the most fragile things on the vehicle.

Thanks mike and rurwin-The octavia always gets a good right up in the caravan press but its nice to get the opinion of users.

I will get a tow-bar fitted anyway-as you say it certainly protects the rear end when reversing and I dont know if the reversing sensors are that

reliable .

Went back to the dealer on Saturday, took it out for a 25 mile test drive (town, country, dual c/way) and was really impressed with it. Spent time looking over the points advised on this forum (thanks all), put down deposit and await collection after service and valet.

Mike-B

We have the 2.0 140 bhp dsg Elegance reg 55 plate and we pull 1350 klg with ease. Done about 6000 miles towing and mpg over 30 months is 42 mpg ,that includes the towing bit. Best car we have had so far. The only problems has been a/c, cruise control,wheel centre cover plate flaking all done under warranty with no problem. Now done 28500 miles.