Hi guys,

The Fabia is not far from paid off (donating it to my wife to replace her old car) and I'm currently looking around for it's replacement. Thing is we're planning on having kids soon too so my shortlist spec has included the practicalities of boot space and rear leg room for the child seat, and also how well the interior will stand up to a bit of abuse.

The Fabia has had Seat Surgeons leather fitted to it for the very reason of stains etc (got sick of cleaning the stupid standard white seats) but the boot is tiny and with a rear facing child seat in the back you have to move the front passenger seat forward quite a way hence it's made me think of these things.

Space wise, I understand the Octy will be more generous but does anyone have any experiences of throwing in all the baby stuff in there, and has anyone done the same with the Seat with it's smaller boot? Same goes for child seats in the back, and interior durability etc - anyone any experience on a basis for comparison?

I've read on here that the FR has quite harsh suspension, which to be honest I'm hoping to avoid after driving the Fabia on British roads for the last 3 years. :(

Octy wise, is this a far softer choice?

And finally - performance. With the Octy being the bigger car albeit on the same platform, are there any performance losses for the extra size or is this negligable? I'll admit to not having researched kerb weights at the time of posting.

Any opinions welcome.

Many thanks,

Chris.

I would go for octy as seat boot a lot smaller,when we have our grandson we have no trouble getting all his stuff in the boot ( pushchair travel cot etc,etc,) also can put rear facing car seat in back with front passenger seat right back no trouble at all,my last car was old shape leon fr and could not get all this in the boot,looked at new leon before i got vrs and the boot did not look any bigger than the old model,boot space swung it for me.

Our Octy estate was bought just after our second daughter arrived and since then with a 4 year old and a 1 year old it's proved fantasic, swallowing all the junk we carry and proving surprisingly resilient and resistant to the everyday crap that gets thrown at it (literally!).

Mind you so has our Fabia estate but I know what you mean about moving the front seat forward as that was one of the reasons that spurred on the purchase of the Octy - otherwise we may have stuck with the Fabia.

As above + I've driven both and the Octy has a far better ride, without being soft. Unless you are a racer you won't notice much difference in performance. I can get my 3, 7 & 11 y.o grandchildren & ALL of their paraphenalia in the boot of my Estate, plus most the the stuff for my 2 y.o.g'dau whilst her parents put up with a Focus saloon & the rest, It's huuuuuge. Also found the Seat had more groans & creaks. The Leon felt cramped, even though it wasn't really.

Of course they're both even better with the DSG box, but that's another story....

Altea FR worth a look?

While the dash etc is made from harder plastics, they do seem a big more able to not come off badly from a child rubbing/beating on it a lot.

Space wise, I understand the Octy will be more generous but does anyone have any experiences of throwing in all the baby stuff in there,

You are joking, right?

Have you seen how big an Octavia boot is? I think you will struggle to find a car with a bigger boot!

If you can't get everything in there then you are taking far too much crap around with you!

TBH i wouldn't worry about rear legroom, by the time you will need it (when a kid is 3+ years old) you will probably be looking to change again anyway.

I'm 5'10 and I can fit the baby seat behind the driver seat without any need for adjustment in my Octy. And the boot is cavernous. Same certainly couldn't be said for the other car in our house (mk III golf). That said, we managed fine with the golf and one child for 2 years - just packed frugally and carefully. Suggest find a friend with a rear facing car seat and take it to the Seat and Skoda dealers and try it for yourself.

Hi guys,

The Fabia is not far from paid off (donating it to my wife to replace her old car) and I'm currently looking around for it's replacement. Thing is we're planning on having kids soon too so my shortlist spec has included the practicalities of boot space and rear leg room for the child seat, and also how well the interior will stand up to a bit of abuse.

The Fabia has had Seat Surgeons leather fitted to it for the very reason of stains etc (got sick of cleaning the stupid standard white seats) but the boot is tiny and with a rear facing child seat in the back you have to move the front passenger seat forward quite a way hence it's made me think of these things.

Space wise, I understand the Octy will be more generous but does anyone have any experiences of throwing in all the baby stuff in there, and has anyone done the same with the Seat with it's smaller boot? Same goes for child seats in the back, and interior durability etc - anyone any experience on a basis for comparison?

I've read on here that the FR has quite harsh suspension, which to be honest I'm hoping to avoid after driving the Fabia on British roads for the last 3 years. :(

Octy wise, is this a far softer choice?

And finally - performance. With the Octy being the bigger car albeit on the same platform, are there any performance losses for the extra size or is this negligable? I'll admit to not having researched kerb weights at the time of posting.

Any opinions welcome.

Many thanks,

Chris.

It's a no brainer mate, it has to be the Octy.....

I have both, Octy Vrs and Leon FR, both are good in individual ways, but if you are going to rely on it solely for family use i would stear away from the Seat, just not practical enough on a day to day basis......

My kids are now 9 and 10, in the summer we go camping, we have never had any problem fitting all the camping stuff in the Octy's boot and neither me nor SWMBO have needed to adjust our seats for the sake of more rear legroom.

If you go for SEAT, be prepared for car sicknees from the kids. The ride in the Leon is bone-shakingly hard...

Like someone has said - Go for the Octy CR TDi VRS its a NO BRAINER !!!

My 2 boys are 4 and 1 - boot is ace for buggy plus full size suitcases easy

and 2 child seats in the back plus an adult easy

My mrs always leaves her CMax home and takes mine

If you can get an estate go for the Octy ......you'd be surprised how much use the boot will be ....tail gate folds up and shelters you from rain as well

We got our Octavia when my son was a year and a half old. The boot space is fabulous. We took it to Centerparcs the other week and easily had enough room for all his stuff (pushchair, high chair etc) plus our luggage and had plenty of space for a stop-off in Bluewater on the way where my wife bought bags of new shopping!

We looked at the estate but realised that with the back seats upright (as you would with a child-car seat fitted) the difference in boot capacity is only 70 litres between the hatchback and the estate. As for leg-room that has not been an issue. We use an ISOFIX car seat that has a long supporting leg that reaches the floor of the car and even with that fitted my Father (who is 6 foot 1) was still comfortable in the passenger seat in front of the child seat. I cannot comment on the Seat but would heartily recommend the Octavia.

If you go for SEAT, be prepared for car sicknees from the kids. The ride in the Leon is bone-shakingly hard...

I often wondered about this... Not with kids, but I have several family members susceptible to car sickness and they have all had much less of a problem in the vRS than my previous softer-ride car. It's down to the fact that it doesn't roll side-to-side or dive on breaking nearly as much as a car with softer suspension. I guess it could be just down to different seat design or something though...

We got the first Octy vRS as we were starting a family and it hasn't disappointed in the practicality stakes. Both mine and my wife's parents live a considerable distance away so we often go away for the weekend so need a car with plenty of space. When our little girl was a baby, that was when we had to cart the most gear around and the Octy's boot just swallowed it all. We looked at a Golf GTi / R32 but decided that we would not manage with a boot so small so the Octy was a no brainer. I've not seen a bigger boot on any other car....

As countless people have said already, it's a no brainer. 47 mpg out of mine both driven hard and softly. A wheelchair is chucked in the back without any signs of any damage to it or the interior and the bootspace is massive. I've driven both the FR and Vrs and I'd go for the latter each and every time.

As a slight aside does the Leon TDi come in both CR and PD guises too?

I would recommend the Octy VRs too. I have had it since my son was born and I have never failed to take all I need in the boot. The rear facing seat and now front facing ISOfix seat have fitted easily in the back with plenty of room for the passenger in the front. Behind my seat would be a little bit of a squeeze but I am 6'4 and like to have the seat back as far as it goes. I had a Leon as a hire car during my last holiday. Interior space was very similar to the Octy as would be expected but the boot was a lot smaller (although still managed to fit 2 large and 2 handluggage sized suitcases in it).

My car decision was between these 2 and coming from an old shape Leon FR I did want to like it.

However, the boot is crap. Not only the space available but the way the hatch is designed. It's very narrow which means your pushchair will struggle to go in at all. (mine didn't and I took it for the test drive!)

The interior space and rear leg room is about the same and I agree the suspension is harder. Interior design is ugly and not my cup of tea. As for performance I didn't note any real difference but felt the FR was noisier.

All the above was a suprise and a dissapointment because the white FR I had my heart on looked fantastic.

However, where the Seat dissapoints the VRS has ticked all the boxes that myself and my family want in a car and I'd certainly chose another one when the time comes to change.

Got to be the Octy if kids come in to it.... saying that we managed with a MKV Golf with a todler and a dog

Get a VW Jetta.

I have a 6 yr old and a 3 yr old and it is more than big enough in every department for our needs.

If i were chosing between the two cars you mentioned it would deffo be the octy. Never been that much of a fan of the seat range tbh.

Brilliant, thanks for all the comments guys. Re the boot space, I've not actually seen one in the flesh, I've been looking up the size in litres instead and saw that the Octy one had about 200 litres more or something like that....it was a fair bit. Also, the opening on the Seat boot looks a little more awkward for loading/ unloading etc but again I've not seen either opened in the flesh. We were going to be doing a tour of the dealers to have a proper look but I thought I'd save us some hassle by asking everyone on here first.

Reason I was looking at the Seat is I love the look of the new one (not that I hate the new Octy mind ) but practicality has to come into it with family being on the cards and it does look a little poky in comparison.

Interior wise, I see that the Octy VRS seats still have whitey grey-ey bits to them, albeit nothing as bad as the standard Furby seats. How do these stand up to family use and should I be saving up for another Seat Surgeons visit?

Other than this, it's looking very much like the 'no brainer' listed above.

Mine are OK, comfortable and have bits of leather too. How they'll look when they've been used for 50k is another matter.

My seats on my last vRS was as good as new when I changed it after 2 and a half years.