After reading alot of reviews and some of the great info on here I am about to take the plunge on an 03 Octavia 1.9TDi 110bhp Elegance in silver.

The car has done 43K and is in pretty much immaculate condition. From what the sellers says it has no CD changer which I found odd as it is in the factory spec. Could it be hidden in the boot.

The car has Two owners but the second is the daughter who inherited the car recently -V5 all good and HPi clear.

The car has had 3 services with a Skoda or VW garage. It is due a cambelt change and service. Tyres all pretty much new and Alloys etc spotless. All the electrics etc seem to work.

Anyone like to give me a fair price. Glass have it at £4061 which sounds fair enough to me.

CD changer is usually in the boot, passenger side wing, should be obvious where it would have been/is. Get nicked/lost and not replaced.

Price? Is that retail with all the servicing issues attended to and 12 months MOT and some warrenty? If not it is too strong for a private sale with all the expensive servicing needing doing - I'd say £3-3.5k at most

Some of the guides are way out as the market is pretty much in chaos.

(one suggests £2k private sale but I think that one's lost the plot).

I'd suggest a very thorough test drive, and you must include a long (several miles) uphill stretch of road and keep accelerating in top gear.

Check all the 'turbo' power doesn't suddenly disappear and reappear after turning ignition on and off. Common problem, several causes and never solved on some cars, so walk away - so many others to pick from.

I agree with Kandy,£3k about right,maybe£3.5k if cambelt and service all done.

That seems really low. I should have said the car is an estate does that make any difference. Parkers have it at £4500 and Glass at £4100 and it is in really minted condition. Thanks for the tip on the test drive. I have taken it for a little run around the block and all seemed well. Good accelleration and handled the speed bumps well. I have said to the vendor I will take it for a full test drive before putting my hard earned on the table.

When you take for a proper drive I would give it a good thrash to test the turbo, it's only done 43K in 5 years. Make sure you take the revs over 3000 and see if it goes into limp mode. This seems to happen on low mileage cars that have been used for town driving and the turbo gets cacked up. It can be intermittant so give it a good few goes. It depends on how it was driven before of course.

A dealer will tell you that you need a new turbo for silly money, but you can get it cleaned out instead for a lot less. A search on here will reveal all.

Mate at work is going to be selling his 03 vRS estate soon, with 67000 miles for £2.5-£3k,prices have really dropped lately.

I really need a diesel, low tax and high mpg. Low insurance group helps too. My days of being a boy racer are gone and I just want something that is reasonable to run and will last a good while, fingers crossed.

You really have me thinking about the price and I have spotted this. A bit far afield but looks better value assuming it is as described and comes with the cambelt done at a recent service.

link

ANy more thoughts. Sorry to bump it up but I really need to get a car soon as SWMBO totalled her car last week.