Hi guys, great forum. I'm about to buy a Skoda Octavia vRS 1.8t around 2002/2003 plate. A lot of the cars I see advertised have around 60,000 miles which seems a good mileage for year (compared to others of the same age) and what I want to know, is if there is a "main" or "big" service due around 60,000 or 66,000 and what is involved. Alarm bells ring naturally with regard to cambelt and water pump. What about Turbo on these cars? What is the life of them?

Is it just a case of every 10,000 fixed from new it's mostly the same stuff then at 40k and 60k there are specific big things? Or does it just carry on and if the cambelt needs doing and water pump, they should get done?

If someone could point out the main milestones that would be really helpful for me, and obviously anything else to look for when buying ones of this age.

Finally I had a couple of other questions about the options that came on these cars:

1: Were heated leather seats an option on 2002/2003 plates?

2: As above for HID/Xeon lights?

3: As above for Cruise control?

4: Any other options I should look out for?

5: Did they ALL come with the 180bhp 20v 1.8t in this year?

6: How much money for a stage 1 remap to 220bhp? ish.

Thanks a lot guys. I will get into the welcome forum too.

hi and welcome! good choice by the way! basically a routine service every 10k with a brake fluid change every 24 months is all you really need to worry about. as for the cambelt then, well, its down to your own discretion really as skoda say every 120k but i personally like to change them at around 40k for peace of mind! most people tend to change at around 60k so its up to you really. but if the car has no record of having it replaced then knock the price down and get it done as it isn't just mileage that wears them out but age as well!

turbo's are generally long lasting, depending on how the car is driven, and if it is left to cool properly after long hard blasts and if the oil level is maintained and not left to run low.

nothing really major to look out for, just the obvious like crash damage repairs, fsh, etc. if you can, take someone along who has vag.com to check for any fault codes. the only real problem is the coil packs are prone to failing, all the time! annoying but cheap and easy to replace thankfully!

As for the optional extras, heated seats were only an option on laurin + klement, as were the xenon headlights.

cruise control was offered as an optional extra.

other options to look out for from a re-sale point of view are parking sensors, headlight washers,and electric sunroof i spose.

all the vrs octavia's came with the 180bhp engine, and a stage one re-map should set you back around 300 nicker and should give you around 220bhp and 230lb-ft torque. performance torque have just done a group buy on a re-map for £225 so get in touch with them to see if they can offer you some sort of deal, they are in the site sponsor section. hope this helps and good luck with your purchase, you won't be dissapointed!

other options to look out for from a re-sale point of view are parking sensors, headlight washers,and electric sunroof i spose.

Resale value I take it would be MORE with the above extras? Or are you saying less? Personally I think the washers dont look that nice, same with the parking sensors if they are the black type and not body coloured. But thanks for the very imformative and quick reply! The remap sounds ace at that price. Is that offer gone now then? I missed it? Also, is it a generic map and is it smooth delivery or a harsh spike?

re-sale value would be slightly higher with all the options, i'm not really keen on the headlamp washers either! the factory parking sensors on octavias are colour coded so not that noticeable.

as for the re-map, yes it was a special one off price provided they had 10 members. i think in the end only 7 put there names down ( me being one!) but they still did it at the special price, i'd speak to them to see whats available. they are custom re-maps specific to your engine i believe, my car was run on the rollers to get the best results. it took my octavia 1.8t 150 bhp (not a vrs) to 197bhp and the torque rose from 155lb-ft to 193lb-ft. the transformation was amazing, more power right across the rev-range, it is a very smooth progressive map. a mate just had his octy vrs done too he got 217bhp and 239lb-ft! needless to say he was chuffed! i'm no expert so for more accurate info regarding re-maps speak to will at performance torque (thats if you live in the midlands area!)

in reality mate a stage 1 generic map will only get you around 210. unless you put other mods on too. the stage 2 will get 220+ as it also needs more mods

ie

CAI/pannel filter

Turbo back zorst or cat back.

FMIC pos?

thats my perseption ne way mate

210bhp is enough for me. With a remap, is it worth getting the forge007p + air filter at the same time, or will this not really add much to the map? I'm saying, if I purely was never going to do anything else and just wanted the benefit of the remap extra power, would the filter and 007p add to any power or torque or not worth it on a stage 1? I know it all helps, but in these hard financial times, anything I can save I will if you get me.

you should get 200-210 whith the std box n filter.

or if you want CAI go on ebay and get one for the 1.8T golf/jetta for £35 then get a good filter to go on the end coz the one that comes with the kit is crap.(I used it for 12 month but I put 10-12 layers of tesco value tites over it too. worked well and every month or 2 Id remove 1 or 2 layers)

or go for a K and N or Pipercross pannel filter.

if you go CAI get the 007p as the noise is good mate, If not dont bother unless you get one for a really good price.

DV wont do anything for the BHP. the CAI wont help either but it sounds Ace.