Hi all, First post. You've been recommended highly from Pistonheads!

I've recently been looking for an estate to replace our ageing GTTDi Mk 4 golf and frankly useless Saxo VTR. Our local Skoda dealer showed me an Octavia VRS hatch, which I must admit I hadn't considered. I'm seriously tempted as it seems to tick all our boxes. My one concern is that our two year old boxer might feel a little cramped by the sloping hatch (he's perfewctly comfortable in the more vertical golf.) Do any Octavia owners have problems, or should I just succumb and buy the VRS?

Thanks,

Stumbledrunk

Hi Stumbledrunk, and welcome :wave:

Did you know the vRS also comes in estate flavour?

We used to own a Nissan Primera hatch which has a similar size/shape to the Octavia, and had no problems with 2 large dogs in the back.

Hi all, First post. You've been recommended highly from Pistonheads!

I've recently been looking for an estate to replace our ageing GTTDi Mk 4 golf and frankly useless Saxo VTR. Our local Skoda dealer showed me an Octavia VRS hatch, which I must admit I hadn't considered. I'm seriously tempted as it seems to tick all our boxes. My one concern is that our two year old boxer might feel a little cramped by the sloping hatch (he's perfewctly comfortable in the more vertical golf.) Do any Octavia owners have problems, or should I just succumb and buy the VRS?

Thanks,

Stumbledrunk

Does your dog stand up all the time then? :confused:

I have a large labrador who's perfectly happy in the boot of a Mk1 hatch. He lies down most of the time anyway. If I'm feeling nice i remove the center headrest to he can see out a bit better, but that's all. The mk1 boot was miles bigger than the golf of that time iirc

Used to do 4hr trips with him in regularly (but he's too old for that length of journey these days)

We had 2 large dogs , a rottie and a german sheherd , with the seats dropped they both had enough room to move about .

Not sure i would put 1 in the boot tho .

It's a big boot. There's plenty of room for our Border Collie and Greyhound - so you should be fine.

I'd say it depends what shape and size your dog is. Yes it's a capacious boot, but it might not be in the right dimensions, depending on the dog. I was hoping Pete would reply as he came to mind when this thread came up

Estates tend to always work best with dogs, mainly because of the continuous height of the roof really

Steve

We had an octy vRS hatch and a full sized Greyhound fitted fine in the boot, Most of the time he was stood up as well admittedly sideways, but managed to turn round when he wanted, ( he liked to see where he was going ) Just have to be careful of the tail when shutting.

I've got a HUGE Weimeraner that loves it in the boot of my Octy hatch...

I take it you'll remove the parcel shelf first?

I always worry about hot sun being magnified through the rear screen. Which is why I chose an estate. But IMO estates generally look nicer.

My dogs hate cars. The lurcher has to be kept from jumping over to get as close to those in the front seats as possible where she pants and dribbles...

I bought a Skoda dog guard and I'm terrified that, if I needed to do an emergency stop, her (very pointy) nose would get jammed in the mesh.

It doesn't bear thinking about.

woof woof

dill

Thanks for the replies. Was originally looking at Passat estates, but at the end of the day, I'm 31 and the Octy VRS has considerably more appeal. We regularly go from Newcastle to Whitehaven which takes 1'30- 2 hours and, less frequently, to Worcester so the mutt needs to be comfy. He lies down for much of the journey but like all boxers spends lots of time looking out of windows! I've seen, and sat in a VRS estate and liked it, but the hatch, if I can get away with it, has a little more appeal. Wonder if the dealer will let us bring the dog on test drive?!

Thanks for the replies. Was originally looking at Passat estates, but at the end of the day, I'm 31 and the Octy VRS has considerably more appeal. We regularly go from Newcastle to Whitehaven which takes 1'30- 2 hours and, less frequently, to Worcester so the mutt needs to be comfy. He lies down for much of the journey but like all boxers spends lots of time looking out of windows! I've seen, and sat in a VRS estate and liked it, but the hatch, if I can get away with it, has a little more appeal. Wonder if the dealer will let us bring the dog on test drive?!

If you're anywhere near me (Southampton) you're more than welcome to try your pooch in my vRS...

Yeah, whereabouts are you? Update your profile!

I'm sure there'll be someone pretty close by who can answer the question for you.

Steve

I have an 05 Skoda Octavia Ambiente hatch and we have two large (35-45kgs each) and they both go into the boot with no problems...

The Hovawart (male, German farm dog, bit like a cross between an Irish Setter and a Flat Coat Retriever but longer and heavier than either) lies down 90% of the time

The long-haired Weimaraner (female, 35kgs, endless energy but mad as a March Hare) spends 90% of the time looking out of the window and the other 10% walking all over the other dog to get to the other side of the car :rotz:

Can you tell which one is mine and which one is my wife's? :rubchin:

When we considered an estate , i worked out , on my hands and knees i'm about as tall as my dogs , we dropped the seats and i got in , it looked stupid but , i'm used to that and it worked .

Didnt buy the estate in the end but seriously need 1 now , so be sure , just looking at how to do the swop now.

Going to test drive the Octy on saturday. It's a 07- plate race blue vRS CR 170 hatch. Its up for £12.5k. I'm also trying an 06 Passat TDI 140 PS estate on sat, so can compare directly. Hope I can get away with the hatch. I've measured the hound 'cos I can't imagine the sales manager being too thrilled with 28kg's worth of slobbering mutt turning up in his showroom. I'll keep you posted. Cheers for help thus far.

Just bought an 07 octy vrs hatch tdi today, I have a boxer to and to be honest think its going to be fine as the boot is huge! Will post my doggie in boot pics when I get the car... just a we wait of 2 weeks on the DVLA transfering my plate before I get the car.

Normally it's only the Cocker, but these two are happy out back there:

Lovely looking dog

Steve

Don't forget the handy parcel shelf stowage area at the back of the rear seats meaning you don't have to take the parcel shelf out of the car and leave it in the garage (where it'll never get put back etc etc).

Hope you plump for the Octavia, it's a great car and far better quality than the Passat.