Ok, so I've been totally bitten by the Skoda bug and am seriously considering an Octavia vRS. I really like the looks of the new estate version, especially in black, as I have a dog, a drum kit, and will soon have a baby, so space is a major requirement.

But does anyone own or has anyone driven the estate yet? I'd expect it to be marginally slower than the hatch because of the extra weight, but what about the handling. Does the boot and the smaller tyres (estate only comes with 16" alloys) make much difference.

Also, any of you hatch-owners have dogs (big dogs that is - I have an Irish Setter - crazy loon that he is), kids, drum kits etc that you lug about? How do you find the hatch for space? I know the boot is cavernous, but is it big enough or do you think the estate is where it's at.

Has anyone seen any particularly good deals on vRS estates by the way? I found this just now: showroom4cars. Pretty good discount on new estates. They claim to be full UK spec, but my local dealer warned me that sometimes these are versions that come out of Skoda factories with differences from the normal spec (like cloth trim not leather). Anyone had any bad experiences buying from companies like these or are they safe?

Sorry about the massive number of questions - I just can't stop dreaming of getting my vRS, but with the kids on the way, I don't want to make any hasty decisions!

Congrats on a wicked forum guys. I'm glad I found it - loads of useful info. Hopefully I'll be joining the ranks of the vRS owners soon (as long as the Mrs doesn't find out how much I've spent ).

Tub,

You should try taking a printout of that page from showroom4cars (with the price saving) along to your dealer and see if they can do much to match it... I know my dealer was very good on the part-ex... even after I had the old car towed to his garage because i'd blown the clutch!

I must admit to having a lot of respect for my local dealer, and wouldn't have dreamed of going elsewhere to buy... I suppose it depends what your local outfit is like :-)

PS - instead of asking about hatch vs estate, you should have asked about what colour to buy - it's been a few days since we've had the black vs. yellow vs. silver debate...

LesPaul is the man to answer your question - as far as I know the only vRS estate owner on the board yet ... lots of other van owners tho

Originally posted by Tubthumper in this post

Also, any of you hatch-owners have dogs (big dogs that is - I have an Irish Setter - crazy loon that he is), kids, drum kits etc that you lug about? How do you find the hatch for space? I know the boot is cavernous, but is it big enough or do you think the estate is where it's at.

It took me a while to come to the Octavia (no regrets) as a year ago I nearly bought a black vRS hatch after my Impreza wagon.

The clincher for NOT buying it was that while our dog could fit in the boot floor space, he couldn't really turn round due to the angle of the hatch slope. (He's a very big dog).

I was so impressed otherwise with the Octavia that this year, that I bought a 4x4 estate after finding out that the engine is identical to the vRS apart from the ECU is 'de-tuned'.

The dog is very happy and even the official dog guard is good value

Thanks guys. I'll see if LesPaul has any advice for a potential fellow van owner

My local dealer actually told me to bring along anything I found on t'internet and he would try and match it. I'd rather go through a dealer if I can as 1) he's a nice guy, 2) They've been Skoda dealers for 23 years, which has to count for something, and 4) (any Monty Python fans?) it gives me a face to talk to instead of a monitor or voice on the end of a phone.

As for colour, there can be only one choice, and it begins with b and ends with lack!

Now look what you've made me start......

"Amongst the things" to recommend your dealer are: (does he have a nice red uniform? No it'd be green wouldn't it ..... )

Hi Tubthumper

I think I might qualify to answer some of your questions as I've just brought a Black vRS estate:D and it's great. When choosing I drove a estate and a hatch, to be honest I didn't feel any difference between the two, I went for the estate as it was a more practical option for what I need in a car (wife that likes buying flat pack furniture from ikea ) I have a 3 year old son and when you go on holiday etc the extra space is very handy for all the stuff you need to take everywhere with you when you have kids and the wife found the estate easier to park aswell due to the car finishes at the back window and there is no spoiler in your view.

I brought a uk car from a official dealer as at the moment they are offering 3 years 0% finance on new cars and I got a reasonable price for my Rover as a trade in, also you get a 3 year warranty and 3 years AA cover which is great as it means nothing to worry about for 3 years .

I've attatched a picture of my car to a thread titled "picked it up yesterday" if your interested, good luck in your decision.

Darren

As an aside to this thread, I greatly dislike the Fabia estate. There is something about it, like its too small to be an estate, or something like that. A bit like the 206 estate I saw on Top Gear last night. But, the hatchback is wonderful and is what a car that size should look like - Also, the saloon is not much better than the estate. I think that if anyone really wants an estate/saloon, they should go for the Octavia.

Although I have little experience with Octavias (hoping to change that at NEC meet) - I personally prefer the hatchback. I like the big rear screen, and the extra room given when back seats need to be collapsed. Dad's Honda Accord is good for that. I'll take a gander at some of the Octy's at the Malt Shovel and affirm that view, (maybe alter it?)

I had a Fabia TDi Estate as a courtesy car for a couple of days - not a bad little car at all. Personally (Nomex underwear on) I think the Fabia hatch looks a little heavy and could do with something to make it look a bit sleeker. The Estate looks a little more balanced IMHO.

Tubthumper

Welcome to Briskoda , and the joys of Skoda ownership (soon!) I do concur with you RE colour choice for your vRS estate , it looks great in black! Ive only seen black and silver ones so far ,only a pic of a red one and ive never even seen a pic of a yellow one (im sure there are some out there!) Do let us know how you get on with your dealer RE your purchase!

Hello every1...I'm new here. I ordered the silver octavia hatch, 2 months ago. I am expecting it by the end of this month.

Reading through the forums, the TDIs are hardly mentioned...Seems every one in the UK likes the vRS..

Cant wait to :drive1: :P

Tubthumper, when we bought the skud a few weeks ago our dealer matched the best price we could find on the Internet so good luck. If you are Hampshire based I will give you their name. As for Wagon or Hatch, the Hatches are rarer, therefore more exclusive maybe.

Why not take the dog down & try him for size. I am sure if you ask nicely & take a sheet or something to protect the car from hairs you may be able to. Oh & the drums & etc etc

Perhaps this could be the beginning of a whole new thread along the "how many dogs can you get in a skud line"

Good luck with your choice, I went from a Scoob STI to an Octavia 4x4 & have no regrets !!!

Get the wagon...the thing about the owning a hatch with a dog/s is your forever cleaning dog gob all over the rear window due to the rake of the screen...u dont get that with the vertical estate window.

Stuart_J - As for Wagon or Hatch, the Hatches are rarer, therefore more exclusive maybe.

I've never seen a vRS estate on the road, but i've seen loads (er 3) vRS hatches, and lots of normal hatched taxis.:1:

Hatch is rarer is it :confused: funny that as the vRS estate has only been available since March :p .

Tubthumper if you get the vRS estate just remember to get a nice cusion for the dog on the tailgate, for those times when you forget the dogs there and pull away briskly .

Darren.

Hi and welcome.

one of the reasons we got our original Octy estate was the space; the birth of our son proved this to be a good decision.

That said when the mother-in-law came for a visit we managed to get 4 large suitcases in the RS (h/b) and handluggage. Also managed a small freezer although it was at an angle due to the suspension braces as well as various flat-packaged furniture.

For outright space and ease of loading the estate wins everytime though.

Colour.......black or red (don't think the silver suits it with those small wheels;) ).

Cheers.

Adrian.

p.s I also think the Fabia estate looks better balanced in design.

Can I stick up for the Fabia Saloon? It's cheap to run, and unlike the 1.4 Octavia is perfectly suited to its engine. The boot size is huge (the rear seats collapse) and is I believe the same length as the estate, and, in my opinion, more elegant. I got a 4 shelf bookcase in it the other day.

Hi Tubthumper,

I am a bit of an estate convert, but in my opinion the Octavia is best looking in Estate version and is one of the nicest looking Estates out there, but I'm not biased. The double floor is a great facility if you regularly carry bits in the boot as they are kept out of sight/the way- sorry 4x4 owners!

I took delivery of my L&K last month, having waited about 10 weeks until they started producing black leather interiors, rather than the beige one. I did a lot of research, found Showroom4Cars was best deal, then took it to my local dealer who matched the price then did better by doing a deal on a removable towbar - so the dealer can do it if he's willing, unlike a certain dealer in Watford who was so arrogant about no discounts and didn't sell me a car!!

The hatch is a large boot for it's class. The estate however is larger.

For my 2p the Dog would be happier in the estate, unless it's a spaniel in which case it's anywhere in the car, but a red setter, estate, nice breed btw, mum always wanted one, but we were old english through and through.

hehe I miss that hidden floor pan area, great for laptops, easily modified to be quite secure against chance breakin & theft situations, least I thought so when thinking about things.

The estate form does suit some models, Subarau for example, I can't stand the saloon, but wagons I love, like wise the galant's, saloon is poop imho, estates give a bit of prescene to the vehicle. The only other major drawback is noise and climate. Noise is easily solved tbh, and not as much of a problem as one might think given it's a small estate, compared to say xantia estates. Climate, the auto controls seem to struggle to maintain even temp throughout without roasting me toes, but then I hate the auto climatronic thing anyway, would much rather have dials; another story. Audio, rear speakers are not that good, in fact there really bad, again not an expert or enthusiast but hatch setup is better for this. Again rectified reasonably easily.

If at the end of the day a estate seems to old, then a hatch and roof box for the big trips...or estate and tints, knocks years off it

All the best, either are great and there are nothing really that different between them except space.

Be sure to drive themahrd, the vRS estate might feel a bit different under pressure to the vRS Hatch due to the extra glass, however it's possibly a difference only the Stig would really exploit.

At the end of the day , as the two versions have oft been described - do you want a taxi or a van ? ! ......... that is from a functional point of view , but were aesthetics to be important then , unusually for a car , the Octy wins hands down as an estate ...... in my opinion .

Seconded - except I may now get mistaken for a fisherman after the new TV ad ...!

Originally posted by Leyland in this post

Hello every1...I'm new here. I ordered the silver octavia hatch, 2 months ago. I am expecting it by the end of this month.

Now thats interesting....

I ordered my RS just over 2 months ago, just like you i went for the hatch, in Silver.

The interesting part is that i got mine in 5 days, but you are still waiting. I didnt bother with any of the other options, cos the money was burning a hole in my pocket and i wanted the car NOW lol. However, i'm seriously considering retro-fitting the parking sensors.

So, are you waiting for options to be fitted? Cos if not, i think your dealer needs to pull his finger out

Tubthumper, just from reading your post i'd say you need the estate. Its a great looking car, and i'm not an estate fan. The only other i ever liked was the Volvo 850 T5. I reckon the Octavia estate is up there with it.

A 31"L x 21.5"W x 24.5"H Rosewood metal dog cage with an end door will just fit in a 4x4 Estate boot lengthways. Height is the most critical dimension since the rear top is very close to the rear window - but the standard (ie non-4x4 and vRS) Estates have a slightly deeper boot when the false floor is removed. FWIW, I think the black vRS Estate has a certain likeness to a souped-up hearse, and the fact that it doesn't come with 16" wheels makes some vRS drivers look sideways at it!

Sorry - forgot to answer the question! An Estate is preferable to a Hatch any day of the week, and especially if a vRS Estate rather than a vRS Hutch.

Leyland

Welcome to Briskoda! It is some years since I was based in Malta (RAF Hal Far 1966-67 and RAF Luqa 1969-71) but I still have fond memories of the island. Is the speed limit still 25mph in built-up areas and 40mph elsewhere, and is it still compulsory to sound the horn before going around bends out of town? In those days we were forever getting into trouble with the law for not avoiding collisions. We were apparently expected to avoid collisions with vehicles with dodgy brakes by using the superior braking power of our (usually) new duty free cars (not easy in a head-on situation when you don't know the other vehicle can't stop until it hits you!) Of course we also had insurance cover for our cars............

Time to dust off the suntan lotion.

I could have had mine within 5 days too, but I wanted the sunroof, so I had to wait. Oh and mine is not the vRS version. It's a TDI 90bhp. There's hardly any place where you can appreciate the speed/power of the vRS over here.

DGW, Yes I read somewhere you were based in malta, I think it was a thread on prev owned cars...

The speed limit is 30mph in built up areas and 50mph in non-built up areas. But I'm really concerned who keeps within the limits hehe..not that I don't :P

As for the horn before going into bends, I think its an optional extra lol... but it kind of adds to the fun :P.. miq miq... or does the octavia go paq paq.. with the horn.. still a mystery...

ne way.. i love Malta (:

Originally posted by Leyland in this post

Imiq miq... or does the octavia go paq paq.. with the horn.. still a mystery...

Well the RS has a loud Parp Parp type horn.