Hi All,

Really not sure which to choose between these two. Have test driven the Octavia diesel and 1.8TSi. Quite impressed and you get a lot of car for the money. Have also driven a Mondeo Estate 2.5 titanium which was a lovely drive, but it is, after all, a £25k car so not exactly comparing like with like. I'm going to drive a 2.0 petrol Zetec Mondeo tomorrow, but wondered if anyone had any views or has ever been in a similar position of choosing between the two.

So far, Octavia offers vfm and good customer service, plus I've got an independent garage near me that has VAg certification or whatever it is.

Mondeo, however, was a nicer drive. However, it is at least £2k more and my local dealer's service dept is terrible.

Guess I'll have a better idea after tomorrow but would welcome any opinions.

Thanks,

Ade

The Mondeo is a very good car and I considered one closely

But in the end I went for the VRS

1. The diesel auto is not very quick and not very good mpg on the Mondeo

2. The Mondeo is a big car and is several inches wider and much longer

3. The kit on the Octavia is much better

They are both excellent cars, do you need the size and extra space of the Mondeo?

I chopped in a Mondeo TDCi to buy my Octavia vRS. No contest - the Skoda is a superior car in all respects. Nuff said.

Bob

well, the octavia is a mid sized car (focus / golf / leon size) whereas the mondeo is a large family car and should be compared to superb. Why do people compare octavia's to the next size up, it's fairer to compare octavia estate to a focus estate.

Edited 23 January, 201016 yr by fabia55

"Why do people compare Octavias to the next size up? It's fairer to compare the Octavia estate to a Focus estate."

Because the Octavia (despite being on the Golf platform) has almost as much luggage space as a Mondeo. The Mondeo is about a foot longer but that doesn't all transate into space for people and things.

Yes, the 2.5T may have been a better drive, but it's a lot more expensive and you'll be lucky to get 25 mpg out of it. I haven't tried a 2.0 diesel but I'd imagine that the Octavia is a lot more lively, especially the CR 170 as in my vRS.

Edited 23 January, 201016 yr by Zdenek Fibich

Hi All,

Really not sure which to choose between these two. Have test driven the Octavia diesel and 1.8TSi. Quite impressed and you get a lot of car for the money. Have also driven a Mondeo Estate 2.5 titanium which was a lovely drive, but it is, after all, a £25k car so not exactly comparing like with like.

2.5 Titanium, that makes it the latest Mondeo generation - you are comparing like for like in terms of price both 1.8T L&K and 2.5 Titanium are in real life £18-19k cars when bought from brokers. They are also one full class apart - Mondeo is a contender to Superb, whereas Octavia is in Focus class.

As bang for buck and straight car for car comparison, and this comes from a guy who's about to buy second Octavia - latest Mondeo wins hands down in every aspect. It is at least 5 years ahead of Octy - not just better handling, dynamics and poke, but when you compare it tit for tat whatever Octy has, Mondeo has more of it, whatever you can add to Octy as option Mondeo has better option for it - the whole Human Machine Interface and Ford Convers+ against Maxidot, bi-xenons vs xenons, bluetooth with voice control against regular bluetooth with limited compatibility, hot + cold climate controlled seats vs heated seats, adaptive cruise control with forward alert vs cruise control, three stage active suspension vs sport suspension, seven airbags vs four airbags, heated windscreen, DAB radio, keyless entry - there is no doubt new Mondeo is miles ahead.

Edited 23 January, 201016 yr by v0n

It all depends on why you need an estate. Neither of these really met my requirements, but I bought the s/h Octy. I find it really small with the shape of the back.

When I chose my previous estate, the Omega, I measured all varieties of vehicle I could find. The Mondeo was sold and promoted as a big car, but the rear access was then too narrow for my requirements.

At that time I chose the Omega because it had a 4 foot wide tailgate opening.

Replacing that in retirement, I would have considered a Mondeo if I could have found one in my price range. The Focus estate was too small in the back seat area, so I went for the Octy. It's only just big enough for my present needs.

I cannot understand why no-one seems to make a big, cheap low powered estate any more. I'm very depressed by the whole situation!

Interesting to see how others have broached the same decision. I started looking at Mondeos then thought Superb estate which is a very nice but very big car. The Mondeo has a lot of oomph with a 2.5 engine and I think the 2.2TdCi is good too but then I sat back and when I had thought about it a bit more the Octavia had more going for it. I don't personally buy too much into the idea that the Ford is way ahead on technology but I will accept some features look that way. The base platform was according to the press a reskin job unlike say the Ford Focus or S-Max which have been redone from ground up. Of course that is true of the Octavia given it is almost defined and marketed as a Golf V base.

My final decision was based on how I liked the drive but maybe I am used to VW. I started discounting the selling point of the massive space of the Superb when I realised we would end up being the family haulier every weekend!

Don't forget the value of the ford will sink faster than the titanic

I had to make the same choice recently. I chose the octavia:

The ford is 12,500 mile servicing and the skoda is 18-20 000 mile.

The ford had more expensive tax.

the ford was less economical.

the ford dealer was worse than useless.

the ford was a lot more money to get to L+K spec. (nearly 30k)

The octavia is slightly smaller than the mondeo however it suits me. When i change the car next it will probably be mondeo vs superb - but when I made my choice the superb estate was not out and I need an estate.

I hope this helps.

TC

The ford is 12,500 mile servicing and the skoda is 18-20 000 mile.

The ford had more expensive tax.

the ford was less economical.

the ford dealer was worse than useless.

the ford was a lot more money to get to L+K spec. (nearly 30k)

+1

Owing an Octy Hatch and driving a works Mondeo, I would prefer the Octavia every time.

The seats are more comfy, and EVERY one of our mk4 fleet has had major work needed. Out of 20 '58 plate cars with approx 30-40k, 3 have needed gearboxes and clutches, 9 (and mine is having issues too) have had the Sat nav and bluetooth units replaced, 2 ECU's and one a complete electrical system replacement!!! Our Mk3's had very little issues with almost all racking up 150 with out anything major.

Personally I find the build quility and reliability quite shocking on the mk4 Mondeo.

+1

Owing an Octy Hatch and driving a works Mondeo, I would prefer the Octavia every time.

The seats are more comfy, and EVERY one of our mk4 fleet has had major work needed. Out of 20 '58 plate cars with approx 30-40k, 3 have needed gearboxes and clutches, 9 (and mine is having issues too) have had the Sat nav and bluetooth units replaced, 2 ECU's and one a complete electrical system replacement!!! Our Mk3's had very little issues with almost all racking up 150 with out anything major.

Personally I find the build quility and reliability quite shocking on the mk4 Mondeo.

That is pretty shocking. The selling point of a Ford has been that well its only a Ford but is very reliable and if it does go wrong can be fixed quickly/economically.

The only good thing is my dealership does the oilchange service for £99. Their tech support is crap. Had to use another for warranty/diag stuff. But they charge, like most others our fleet uses, based on mileage etc. Ie 1st = £100, 2nd = 250+, 3rd, £150.....

Until they adopted that pricing, my £80k service on the mk3 was going to be around £400 without anything major on top. Got the pads and disks + service for that in the end.

One of the cars I test drove before I got the Octy was a Mondeo 2.0 tdci. The drive was OK but the build was terrible! Everything looked nice but felt like it was going to fall off at any time. Plus, it's a Ford! 'Nuff said

The drive on the Octy was far superior

having have 2 x focus hatchbacks and a focus estate id have the Octavia in a hearbeat

Also when I went from my vRS to something better on juice I had a look at the Mondeo Titanium X 2.2 TDCi and to be honest I wasnt overly impressed, big improvement over previous fords but still lacking compared to VAG so I ended up going for a Passat which interior wise wasnt a huge improvement over the damned good octavia but still infront of the mondeo.

PD170 Passat was deffinatly more of a drivers car than the 2.2 175 TDCi which felt heavy and wallowed about, lovely on the motorway though

Edited 25 January, 201016 yr by dan_the_v8man

One of the cars I test drove before I got the Octy was a Mondeo 2.0 tdci. The drive was OK but the build was terrible! Everything looked nice but felt like it was going to fall off at any time. Plus, it's a Ford! 'Nuff said

The drive on the Octy was far superior

There was a Ford dealer opposite the Skoda dealer last week so I had a wander over to look at the current Focus and Mondeo. I didn't get the impression the Fords were a generation ahead of the Octy, which they 'factually' are, and the Fords don't have any TSI equivalent engines, so you pay more road tax per bhp AFAIK. The Focus has the same wiper blades which can be removed from the parked postion. Good for windscreen cleaning, bad for thieving!