hey dudes

havent been on here in a long long time, have popped on every so often anyways,

ive been feeling the need to move from the fav to a octy VRS. always had a liking for one and decided im going for it, my questions are simple but want owners advice rather that sales site etc etc.

main concerns are service costs averagely, cam belt changes time and costs, other problems that im concerned aboutare that ive seen alot of adverts with "new engine fitted" why? cost of brakes etc etc.

any help for general inspection would be great, rust ? weak areas ?, elecy faults ?, silly but expensive faults?

i apologise as this is probably a common topic that is bought up. any advice is very very appreciated.

cheers guys

the search button is what you want to look out for buddy:thumbup:

Everything is going to fail according to the search button. Trouble is people tend only to post faults with their cars on here not the good bits so probably not the best place to look. It would be a good idea to take someone with VagCom along with you if you are viewing the car. On the whole the car is very good value at the moment so go buy one and enjoy it.

:iagree:

there is some cracking cars at the moment depending on what you want. Even octy II are very good value ATM.

Biggest costs will be tax and insurance, and tyres and petrol if you drive it hard. Also the modifying slope is a slippery and expensive one.

Servicing is the same as any other car. Being a Skoda they are pretty reliable so you shouldnt have to fork out often for other stuff to be done.

think there is a buying guide somewhere on the website

Insurance is going to vary massively depending on your circumstances, but compared to a lot of similar cars I found it a little cheaper to insure.

Servicing varies where you take it obviously. I took mine to Awesome for the cambelt change and a major service and they're fairly typical of what you should expect to pay. Major service (20k) is £170 and interim (10k) is £100. Cambelt change should be around the £300 mark (so not cheap!) but it's only once in a blue moon (60k or 4 years). Shop around though because some dealers will charge silly money for cambelt changes.

As for problems....as most people have said already....search on here and it'll sound like the most unreliable car ever made. The typical issues though which you probably will encounter are:

*Coil pack failure - I've had 2 go in 8 months. One failed the day I got the car...the other broke in half in Jan. Very poor design IMO and it's not limited to VW. Renaults, Saabs, Mercs....you name it, they have all suffered. Buy a couple of spare ones (£40) and keep them in the boot. It's a 10min job to diagnose and fix

*Some form of the hesitation - It seems that a lot of 20VTs develop at least some hesitation. I had the DV replaced under warranty which helped slightly, but it wasn't fixed properly until Awesome reset the ECU for me. It's been fine ever since, and part of what I thought was the hesitation I've recently realised is the ECU coming off the start-up map (the choke in old money). The engine should be very smooth in standard tune. Although there is turbo lag, it shouldn't be hugely noticeable and it shouldn't be jerky at all. Look out for it on the test drive

*Radiator mounts - It seems the lower radiator mounts (plastic) wear out and you might find it starts to rattle/squeak. It's not a mechanical issue....just annoying. It can be fixed with new ones, but getting to them isn't easy.

*Air con diverter flap - It can get stuck leading to an annoying click, click, click that comes from the glovebox. It's fixable, but I can't really be bothered atm. It sorts itself out after about 10 mins.

Other people have had driveshaft problems, bush problems, snapped arbs....you name it really. I think those are fairly rare though. Most of the problems are fairly minor and won't cost you a lot to replace/repair. Same as any second hand car really.....take your time and be sensible and you can't really go wrong.