Hello,

I am new to the forum and am looking to buy an Octavia. I really fancy the VRS for the performance and the beefy looks, however my more sensible wife wants a diesel.

I have seen a VRS locally which seems good however it has done 143,000 miles. If it was a diesel I would not be so concerned however, since the VRS is a performance car, I imagine the 143,000 miles have not been frugal miles.

Should it still be ok after covering such mileage? Hopefully they have been motorway miles, again will this still be ok?

Going the diesel route which is best to get in terms of performance. I have just sold my Alfa 156 which drove great but want a little more reliability. I only have a small budget of up to £3000 max but firmly believe I should find a good one.

Any help would be much appreciate.

Many thanks

I can't speak for that kind of mileage, but I have a 2001 octy with 102k on it, still very tight and responsive. Basic rule is make sure the cam belt and water pump have been done before you buy it and you should be fine as long as the service history. Personally any service history gaps on a car like that would put me off.

Hope this helps you.

It's a buyers market and you'll get a decent average mileage example for £3k.

There are plenty around so hold out for the right car. Looked after properly they'll last but abused I'd walk away.

It's a buyers market and you'll get a decent average mileage example for £3k.

There are plenty around so hold out for the right car. Looked after properly they'll last but abused I'd walk away.

I agree, mine cost me £3500 when the market was more in favour of the seller.

i picked up mine with 95k on it for 2100 in march i think, there should be some right baragins around at the moment though

I don't know a lot about these.

I have just bought my first. 2001 vRS 91,000 miles and the water pump and timing belt have been done.

£1900.

Going to be reading a lot about it and asking some (probably) stupid questions.

I don't know a lot about these.

I have just bought my first. 2001 vRS 91,000 miles and the water pump and timing belt have been done.

£1900.

Going to be reading a lot about it and asking some (probably) stupid questions.

That just shows how much the market has fallen, mine was considered alot of car for the price I paid. That was back in march 2008.

I paid 4.5K for mine in may last year probably worth much less now as its gone from 89 to 104k.

over 100k is nothing to worry about its some wierd psychology that people think a car over 100k is going to be bad, its a proven audi/vw engine and internals so buy on condition not age/mileage, if its in good condition inside and out then its probably been well looked after, should have had 10 services by 100k, if you buy one from here then thats generally a good indicator too.

mine has years of life left, ive just got it remapped to 216bhp and done a few other mods too.

£1900 for a vRS?! By the power of greyskull that's cheap!

I paid £5300 for mine in September '07 with 70k on the clock. Back then, that was a lot of car for the money!

I'm definately not selling her now. I love her too much anyway.

Buy on condition, not age or mileage.

Oooh I see you have a mini clubman! I sold my clubman estate a couple of years back (rusted away)!

Skoda 2063

Don't be put off by high mileage. As has been well said already, buy on condition, never age or mileage alone. My '03 VRS has 156k and is going strong. I bought it with 80K up from Cargiant in Wembley

What makes a huge difference to the way it shows it's age is the use it gets. Mine was an ex-fleet motorway mile muncher. Engines love motorways, they get one warm up, then constant revs, then a slow cool down. But motorways wear out your tyres and your wheel bearings, and your brake disks rust before they wear out. Motorways put almost no wear on steering, suspension or clutch.

Avoid cars used for school runs or other short haul use, which wears the obvious things like clutches, and brakes, but also engines and cats (they never have time to warm up), and exhaust pipes (the condensation doesn't get driven out).

I've always thought that the VRS white interior was a great help with this. If anything is going to show up a car's use as a school bus it's a white interior.

Check the service history, never buy if you have a doubt, or get a woolly answer. An ex-fleet car will have a printout of everything that's been done to it, including tyres.

My mum had an orange Clubman 1275GT and she was a bloody maniac in it.

i brought mine last year with 104k on it,its now on 111k,mine is a 2004 with fssh,its been serviced every 10k,it was a company car,it looks & drives like 50k,i never buy a car on mileage,its always on condition & service history,100k+ is nothing to be afraid of nowadays as long as it has a proven full service history,these cars are great value for money at the moment!

Same here, mine was bought this time last year, 52 plate with 89k on the clock and a fssh... has now just passed 107k, all the mileage before I had it was motorway cruising as a rep-mobile. Looks and drives like a car with half the mileage. Thought it would have lost a few horsies from under the bonnet in the space of 100k miles but not the case at all!

My old vrs felt like it would go on forever and the thought of me keeping it for years and years didn't worry me at all but visiting the petrol station twice a week and the increased cost of the insurance was too much for me. I still wanted the performance & handling of the vrs but with the economy of a diesel and the insurance of an old mans car, welcome the PD130 octavia that I have now.

The PD130 is a very tweakable engine and with a generic remap will give you around 170bhp & 300lbft of torque which is great, vrs/tt brakes are an easy addition and suspension upgrades/seat upgrades etc etc etc are also plentyfull.

I don't regret making the move from the vrs to the tdi. My vrs only had a map/filter & exhaust and my insurance was over £1k, my current modded pd130 will all mods map/filter/brake upgrade/suspension upgrade/bushes upgrade/clutch upgrade/golf gti seats etc etc etc ( I could keep going on) and my insurance is only £440 and I haven't moved house, I've never had any points on my license so I was paying for the badge.

Work out what you want from a car and if you want to mod and how much you want to spend, take a vrs & a PD130 out for a test drive.

My old vrs felt like it would go on forever and the thought of me keeping it for years and years didn't worry me at all but visiting the petrol station twice a week and the increased cost of the insurance was too much for me. I still wanted the performance & handling of the vrs but with the economy of a diesel and the insurance of an old mans car, welcome the PD130 octavia that I have now.

The PD130 is a very tweakable engine and with a generic remap will give you around 170bhp & 300lbft of torque which is great, vrs/tt brakes are an easy addition and suspension upgrades/seat upgrades etc etc etc are also plentyfull.

I don't regret making the move from the vrs to the tdi. My vrs only had a map/filter & exhaust and my insurance was over £1k, my current modded pd130 will all mods map/filter/brake upgrade/suspension upgrade/bushes upgrade/clutch upgrade/golf gti seats etc etc etc ( I could keep going on) and my insurance is only £440 and I haven't moved house, I've never had any points on my license so I was paying for the badge.

Work out what you want from a car and if you want to mod and how much you want to spend, take a vrs & a PD130 out for a test drive.

In contrast to that argument, I can get insured for cheaper than that on a VRS and given that I don't do huge miles, arguably a Diesel would not be worth paying out more on fuel as it wouldn't pay for itself for quite a while for me. Plus I know which one I would prefer to drive.

I've seen an 03 VRS near to me listed at £2300 but it's done also about 140k I seem to recall. I am tempted to make an offer of 2k. Think its worth it? Or too high? I think the history will probably be patchy. Its not the engine Im worried about, more things like suspension etc. Anything to look for at that age?

Ishould have had 10 services by 100k,

Not if its on variable servicing, which they all where from the factory. If on variable it would have been into the dealer approx 5 times only.