Hi All

I have joined this group as I am hoping to buy a used Octavia Estate. I was hoping that someone could possibly give me some ideas of what I should look out for? I have viewed a 2003 1.9 TDi Laurin + Klement Estate, 53,500 miles, asking £4950 for a private sale. It looks in good condition and drives well.

I am going to look at a 2001 1.9 TDi Elegance tomorrow, 80,000 miles asking £3,994 from an independent dealer. This one I am told has some rust coming through under the tailgate. Is this a known problem? He says its covered by warranty.

If anyone can give me any pointers on potential problems, things to look out for, questions to ask, I would be eternally grateful. As you may guess, I don't have any technical knowledge, just someone who wants a good quality, reliable workhorse.

Thanks in advance

welcome

Welcome to Briskoda

Hello and Welcome.

Hello & welcome, Rust on Octy MkI tailgates is rare, although my MKI estate did have some paint peel off along the lower edge, the tailgate was resprayed under warranty in the third year. There are various Power outputs from the 1.9tdi engines so do your homework. 80k should have a new cambelt, sticking vains on turbo's can be an issue. The MkI is a good workhorse and the estate is a good size.

Hi

I saw the car this morning and liked it a lot. The rust is under the rear window and along the length of the tailgate and looks like its rusted from inside out. The guy assured me that it is covered by Skoda warranty. The cam belt and water pump were changed at 63,000 miles, so thats good! Its a 110hp engine and seemed to drive well. The front spoiler lies very low and does graze speed bumps that are particularly harsh. Don't know if that is of significance...

I will get the AA to do a report and ask them to pay particular attention to the turbo, thanks for that advice. If you think I should ask them to look more closely at anything else, then I would be very grateful if you could let me know.

Best wishes and many thanks for your reply.

The tailgate rust is a well known issue and will be covered under warranty.

Mk 1 estates are very low at the front. You have to be careful if you park nose on to a kerb etc. although you soon hear the grating noise from the plastic apron!

The rear tailgate is common-ish on Octavia MK1, it is covered under the warranty.

Around 80k-ish the 'air mass meter' may go which will make the car feel really slow and unwilling to rev, the part itself is £85 plus about 20 mins of a techs time.

Apart from that they don't really have problems.

Regarding the front spolier, I sold my vRS MKI for that very reason, scraping on a matchstick etc. Not such an issue with the MKII

Welcome to Briskoda,

Hope you enjoy the site.

Cheers

Davy