Hi all,

I got the chance at the weekend to drive a facelifted Octavia SE in silver.

My friend had got one as a works car to go to a course on so it was fresh out of the box and had about 200 miles on the clock.

First impressions on seeing it at the first time was that it looked like a Hyundai and my friend thought so as well.

Upon entering the car I was very impressed to see how nice a dash and layout the car was, my only concern was that the carpet coming up to the glovebox was hanging loose.

On the move the car was a lot noiser than my PD130 Fabia vRS and yes I know it had not been run in but it sounded a lot louder than other octy's, PD engined cars I have been in.

When I drove the car you could feel the diffrence in power I really think it should have a bigger pd engine in it as it felt quite heavy driving it and slow on the uptake.

so briefley here are my things I liked about the car.

Plus Points

* Nice well laid out dash and interior

* Skoda Audio System

*Nice Gear change

*Nice to drive once on the move

Negative Points

*For a SE could have been specced a bit better

*Could do with a bigger PD engine

* Could do with a extra cog instead of five gears

* New front restyle from some angles looks like a hyundai.

Hi all,

I got the chance at the weekend to drive a facelifted Octavia SE in silver.

My friend had got one as a works car to go to a course on so it was fresh out of the box and had about 200 miles on the clock.

First impressions on seeing it at the first time was that it looked like a Hyundai and my friend thought so as well.

Upon entering the car I was very impressed to see how nice a dash and layout the car was, my only concern was that the carpet coming up to the glovebox was hanging loose.

On the move the car was a lot noiser than my PD130 Fabia vRS and yes I know it had not been run in but it sounded a lot louder than other octy's, PD engined cars I have been in.

When I drove the car you could feel the diffrence in power I really think it should have a bigger pd engine in it as it felt quite heavy driving it and slow on the uptake.

so briefley here are my things I liked about the car.

Plus Points

* Nice well laid out dash and interior

* Skoda Audio System

*Nice Gear change

*Nice to drive once on the move

Negative Points

*For a SE could have been specced a bit better

*Could do with a bigger PD engine

* Could do with a extra cog instead of five gears

* New front restyle from some angles looks like a hyundai.

Thanks. The 1.4TSI facelifted Octies I've driven were also SEs, and like you i thought the interior was smart. It seemed a notch up and compared well to more expensive cars.

I found the ride to be very good, and with the TSI, the car is good to drive and quick. The biggest difference between my experience and yours was that the 1.4 tsi was very refined, whereas the 105PD isn't. I think the latter is probably the least refined engine in the Skoda/VW stable, but I think it typically improves with age, and is much better at speed than idle.

Spec on SE is adequate and the touch screen stereo is great, but I think the biggest omission for what may well be a family car is the lack of standard curtain airbags (missing from Elegance too). The Golf SE has ESP, 7 airbags, auto dimming mirro/wipers/lights and cruise control as standard, though it's about £2k more!

Cheers mate, if it were myself think I would take the petrol over the diesel in SE spec with the DSG gearbox, how much is the 1.4 SE in regards to the diesel version as I believe the one I drove was about £16K?

Hi

the 1.4tsi SE with DSG is about £14,800 so good value at c.£1400 less than the non dsg 1.9TDI. It's quicker too, but not as economical at around 44 mpg but you can get a lot of petrol for £1400!

there's a thread on here about the 1.4tsi which is worth a look

how about the PD140 instead? 6 speed bigger engine? fuel economy is still pretty good or wait for the CR140

Hi

the 1.4tsi SE with DSG is about £14,800 so good value at c.£1400 less than the non dsg 1.9TDI. It's quicker too, but not as economical at around 44 mpg but you can get a lot of petrol for £1400!

there's a thread on here about the 1.4tsi which is worth a look

Re my last post, apologies for my mistake: the 1.9 TDI is about £16,200 WITH DSG, not without, so the 1.4tsi DSG is about £1400 less tha the equivalent 1.9 TDI DSG

how about the PD140 instead? 6 speed bigger engine? fuel economy is still pretty good or wait for the CR140

The 140 TDI is good, but it's a fair bit pricier, and you need to stretch to Elegance spec if you want it with DSG. The 2.0 PD is generally thought to be more refined than the 1.9, but the CR will be yet more so, when it finally arrives. I've been advised that info about it's availability will be released soon, but may it not be available to order for a couple of months yet.

I've got the passat PD170 and after driving an Audi TT CR170 i'll almost be certainly having one next if I can afford it, CR170 is great so id fully expect the CR140 to be just as good