When I started car shopping in December I had a BMW 525d, 2004 and very expensive to run around town - and most of my driving was round town!

I wanted something that was a hatch, 2007 or newer with low mileage. I took a trip to Fords of Winsford and started test driving. I took loads out - Smaller BMW's, Audi's, Golf, Mazda 3 & 5, Leon FR, Mondeo, Focus... It was a long day. My girlfriend suggested I look at the Skoda that was sat there - I kept walking past. In the end I agreed to take him out - and from that moment I was won over! I took a few more out but kept coming back to this one!

So, after signing on the dotted line I drove the car away 10 days later. now into my second week, I know the weather has been crap, but as a former badge snob, I kind of wonder why I waited to long to get me one of these!

Don't get me wrong, the car is far from perfect, but what car is perfect? However, I have a driving position in this that is exceptionally comfortable! I love the way the arm rest adjusts to 4 levels of height and forwards too! The lumbar support really does help when going into a corner, whereas with the BMW, you sort of rolled quite a bit. I do find that the tires like to spin (a lot) if you put your foot down in the wet - and thats all we have lots of right now, but that is easily controlled.

Round town, I had been getting 18-20mpg in the BMW - Now I get 36-40mpg. All of a sudden my fuel costs have halved - this was one thing I was trying to achieve, whilst not getting something too small or too slow!

The boot is cavernous - I could happily get a few bodies in there and accessories - which translates to all of our camping gear without having to put a single thing on the back seats!

The interior is very tidy - the BMW had quite sweeping lines that were not to everyones taste, but this is just well laid out and everything feels well put together.

As I said, I have only had the car a couple of weeks, so not really been able to do much more than drive carefully, but I am looking forward to warmer weather when I can open him up a little and go for a proper run!

So far, over the moon!

Andy

I have had my Octavia VRS for a couple of months now, mine is an older car but it still feels like a new car in the way it drives, and I have had new cars before. You will enjoy the turbo in the Summer. Woop Woop

Yeah looking forward to that!

I am quite tempted to look at what can be done to stop the wheels spinning quite so much - I used to have an Impreza and that had something on it that stopped the front lifting as you took off - really helped with traction! I can't get all technical as to what it was tho

Yeah looking forward to that!

I am quite tempted to look at what can be done to stop the wheels spinning quite so much - I used to have an Impreza and that had something on it that stopped the front lifting as you took off - really helped with traction! I can't get all technical as to what it was tho

the only thing that will stop the fronts lifting underacceleration will be stiffer springs( if the rear spring is stiffer it wont squat under acceleration so much)

I used to have an Impreza and that had something on it that stopped the front lifting as you took off

think your talking about the whiteline anti lift kit(walk) , which does stop the front lifting to a certain degree, but its more about keeping the wheel in contact with the ground on bumpy roads etcmeaning more traction. the half degree of additional caster also gives you 'dynamic' camber when cornering as well, meaining you have the plus points of additional camber(cornering grip) without any of the draw backs(bad tyre wear), good cheap little mod IMO

think your talking about the whiteline anti lift kit(walk) , which does stop the front lifting to a certain degree, but its more about keeping the wheel in contact with the ground on bumpy roads etcmeaning more traction. the half degree of additional caster also gives you 'dynamic' camber when cornering as well, meaining you have the plus points of additional camber(cornering grip) without any of the draw backs(bad tyre wear), good cheap little mod IMO

That's the one Thanks dude! I will go on the hunt for one. Did make a difference before, and quite noticeable too!

Is it the 2.0 TSi vRS or the TDi you have? Interested in the 36-40 MPG you get around town

Its the TDi - very impressed. Although traffic can crawl sometimes, I still am averaging very good MPG!

Good old FoW - glad you came to the right decision in the end

Are you local to there then?

Steve

Kind of local to them - I live in Warrington (Lymm) which is only about 20 minutes away

youve been camping iin the last couple of weeks?!

Still waiting for mine. So reading things like this make me feel a bit sad but happy at the same time. Interested to see you are leaving BMW behind aswell. I saw the X1 on Tuesday in the flesh which I was considering before ordering mine. I am glad now that I made the choice i did as it did not do it for me.

Glad you like your car.

Hehe nope not been camping - saving that for better weather

Well, as much as I liked liked the BMW, the Octavia has much more going for it, IMHO. Not least of all the fact I can manage close to 60mpg on a run - thats around 20mpg better than the 525d. Nice car but just not a good time to be owning one!