Hi guys,

Im on the hunt for a Mk1 Octavia VRS and am just back from looking round a very good candidate. Its a 2002 Red VRS with 85k on the clock. Its list price is £2695 which i though was reasonable. Its got a full service history with it too.

It hadnt been started in a month due to the garage being closed a lot over christmas and with a booster pack it fired straight away and idled perfect. No lights on the dash at all which again was good and there wasnt any smoke out the back even when revved (when warmed up of course)

The only things ive noticed are the following.

Central locking only opened the drivers door. When inside the car the buttong on the drivers door to unlock/lock all doors worked fine so all solonoids are fine. Could this be because the battery was flat...can it be programmed?

Centre screen on the dash wasnt on and i couldnt find the button to switch it on! all trip computers and that worked. where is it?

Also there is slight lacquer peel on the front bumper. As this isnt metallic paint i cant see it being much to have it sprayed....maybe £50

The engine itself seems good and very well looked after. the only noise i could hear when the bonnet was up was injectors....is this normal?

Ive read the buying guide and checked everything works which it does.....interior is immaculate too.

IS this a good price? Im happy with it but i have a habit of over paying. Theres another local at 2995 but thats 96k and needs a cambelt.

Thanks

Richard

Central locking only opened the drivers door. When inside the car the buttong on the drivers door to unlock/lock all doors worked fine so all solonoids are fine. Could this be because the battery was flat...can it be programmed?

Did you push the button only once? As stock it needs a double unlock to open all doors (this can be turned off with vag-com - It's called "selective unlocking")

Hi, yes i tried several times. Only the drivers door unlocked but as i said all the doors unlocked when using the button in the car

Centre screen ??/ as in inof screen ? They don't have them like the mk2 IIRC

Price seems high to me although I'm no expert on prices.

As above for the locking

Hi guys,

Im on the hunt for a Mk1 Octavia VRS and am just back from looking round a very good candidate. Its a 2002 Red VRS with 85k on the clock. Its list price is £2695 which i though was reasonable. Its got a full service history with it too.

It hadnt been started in a month due to the garage being closed a lot over christmas and with a booster pack it fired straight away and idled perfect. No lights on the dash at all which again was good and there wasnt any smoke out the back even when revved (when warmed up of course)

The only things ive noticed are the following.

Central locking only opened the drivers door. When inside the car the buttong on the drivers door to unlock/lock all doors worked fine so all solonoids are fine. Could this be because the battery was flat...can it be programmed?

Centre screen on the dash wasnt on and i couldnt find the button to switch it on! all trip computers and that worked. where is it?

Also there is slight lacquer peel on the front bumper. As this isnt metallic paint i cant see it being much to have it sprayed....maybe £50

The engine itself seems good and very well looked after. the only noise i could hear when the bonnet was up was injectors....is this normal?

Ive read the buying guide and checked everything works which it does.....interior is immaculate too.

IS this a good price? Im happy with it but i have a habit of over paying. Theres another local at 2995 but thats 96k and needs a cambelt.

Thanks

Richard

You can shop around and get cheaper but you will get more miles on the clock than 85K.

So not a to bad price. I would expect to get the garage down to £2450 starter and see where that goes.

Central locking may be a central convenience unit playing up. Maybe just not used for a while(but use this as a bargaining tool)

The center vent may of had it's vent shutters closed? (found at sides of vents) or the button on the climate control may not have been positioned to dash vents.? It is full climate control so you will need to adjust to your position using the buttons.

It is common to hear the fuel injectors ticking. They all do this. Some more than others.

I would see if you can get a warranty included for that price because if the central lockings playing up it can be expensive to fix (or cheap but a lot of hassle if you do it yourself). When I had trouble with my central locking it would lock and unlock the car overnight and flatten the battery so that may be why this one was flat.

Not many of them have a screen in the centre of the dash, IIRC it was only available on models with the factory fit sat-nav and it popped the directions up in front of you. So either it had a factory fit sat-nav in the past or it's not a screen, just a blank space (I think some of the warning lights show up on it)

The ticking can be the injectors or the charcoal cannister, its normal

i have seen a lot around the £2,000 mark but on over 100k £2695 seemed reasonable for a car in such good condition from a garage.

The central locking i think may need resetting as if all solonoids work and the fob only does the drivers door i cant see too much of a problem, plus the garage owner was surprised when it didnt work. he said he will have a look at it for when i go back.

The centre info screen on the dash board.....i thought they had one but obviously not! this would explain it not working!

Car comes with a 1 month parts and labour warranty and after that a 2 months parts only warranty.

I thought the same about the centre screen as my Mk4 Golf has the mpg etc display in red...

On the Mk1 Octavia the left screen (showing the clock above) cycles though info when you press the button on the end of the right indicator stalk.

ah yes thats what it did! so it is right.

Just to add regarding the price, I initially thought £2700 was quite high. I checked Parkers guide recently and was surprised how low it valued a 2002 90,000 mile Octavia.

However, if you're planning on keeping the car for 2+ years then I wouldn't worry, but if for some reason you needed to get rid of it in a hurry after only a few months then you could end up losing £1000 in a pretty short time. But if you keep it for say 3 years and can then only sell it for £1000 you've only lost a few hundred a year which wouldn't really matter. Hope that makes sense?!

Edited 28 December, 201114 yr by OU51

Very helpful thank you. I'd be happy with it at £2200 I think. A lot of car for not much money. Idont do much mileage so that wouldn't pass 100k for 2 years I don't think.

Parkers do seem to value them much lower than they are all up for sale at though

God its scary how cheap they are now... selling for Fiesta money!

That part exchange price is a bit optimistic though, one of the ex-Briskodians near me part ex'd his 50k miler at a VW dealership in 2010 for a Mk5 Golf GTI and was lucky to get a grand for it.

Be warned though that parkers isn't accurate, they pick figures out of the sky me thinks, try glass's guide which is the industry valuation.

But best thing to do is look around and compare prices with other for sale, pay an amount your happy with. I would be asking for a few hundred pounds knocked off for the central locking. There's plenty octavias vrs's knocking about as there 10 a penny so don't settle.

I wouldn't believe those prices really. Looking around all the 130k cars are 2 grand still where this guide would surely say a grand?

Either way even 2500 for one of these isn't a rip off with good miles and history

Not many of them have a screen in the centre of the dash, IIRC it was only available on models with the factory fit sat-nav and it popped the directions up in front of you. So either it had a factory fit sat-nav in the past or it's not a screen, just a blank space (I think some of the warning lights show up on it)

The ticking can be the injectors or the charcoal cannister, its normal

Even the factory sat nav's or optional extra fitted ones don't use that center screen.

I fitted one to mine. If I recall the last few MK1 octy's had maxidot full center screens.

Most of our octy's only use that screen for warning lights, as you mentioned.

offto view another tomorrow so we will see what that one is like

They are not uncommon so definitely view a few. As mentioned full cambelt history, coolant should be PINK and very clean in the header tank, easy to check condition of brakes through wheels and one of the key indicators on how a car has been treated and money spent...what boots is it wearing?

Edited 28 December, 201114 yr by Liverpool-Lad

God its scary how cheap they are now... selling for Fiesta money!

That part exchange price is a bit optimistic though, one of the ex-Briskodians near me part ex'd his 50k miler at a VW dealership in 2010 for a Mk5 Golf GTI and was lucky to get a grand for it.

Yeah I'm not 100% sure on those Parkers figures, but I think the dealer p/x price is the important one....

If it helps, the previous owner of mine paid £2995 in April 2010 at 72k miles (from a dealer).

I paid £2250 earlier this year at 77k. At the time I thought I got a good price and I reckon I could get up to £2500 if I tried selling now, but it could take months to find a buyer willing to pay that, and if I was in a hurry I may have to sell to a dealer for much less than I paid.

well this one is forum owned which is a good start!

Haggle hard, fuel and insurance prices have hurt values, £2650 is strong money really, I have seen 04 plates with 85k on them for around the same money.

Also to paint the front bumper will cost more than £50 for a proper job, I paid £120

One other point you say fsh but when was the all important cam belt and water pump changed.

I paid £3500 for my 2002 vrs six months ago with 65k on the clock, full history cam belt and water pump done. Sunroof,parking sensors and cruise control with tax and a years MOT and a VRS private plate excellent new tyres and it's mint ! So top dollar probably but I looked at lots before that we're cheaper and needed lots doing to get them anywhere near the condition that my one is. Since owning it hasn't missed a beat and drives as new. Believe me as I've had two brand new ones in the past. So my advice would be look at lots before you purchase and if you intend to keep for a while it's better to pay more to get the right one.

Even the factory sat nav's or optional extra fitted ones don't use that center screen.

I fitted one to mine. If I recall the last few MK1 octy's had maxidot full center screens.

Most of our octy's only use that screen for warning lights, as you mentioned.

Theres a couple of vids on Youtube with it fitted, it was called D-Dot. I think if you had the D-Dot dialset and OEM Sat-Nav unit as well then it would show the turn directions with arrows at the bottom of the D-Dot. Like rocking horse poo to get hold of one now though!

Theres a couple of vids on Youtube with it fitted, it was called D-Dot. I think if you had the D-Dot dialset and OEM Sat-Nav unit as well then it would show the turn directions with arrows at the bottom of the D-Dot. Like rocking horse poo to get hold of one now though!

You could be right there my friend.

These sat navs are a little dated now though, although i use mine to fill the center hole nicely and looks good lit up in green