Thoughts on our new 1.6TDi Elegance Estate

[catzi]

Have had new Octavia for a couple of weeks now and done almost 900 miles in it. First thoughts are:

Pro's:

1. 1. The 1.6 TDI is nippy, pleasantly quiet and happy overtaking on the motorway.
   
2. On a round trip of 335 miles, from a full tank, the fuel gauge was just above one notch more than half full and the maxidot showed a trip average of 64mpg. The trip computer also suggested there was 450 miles left in the tank. I reckon 700 miles on a single tank should be easily achievable.
   
3. Cruise control is fantastic. Don't know why we haven't had it before.
   
4. Auto lights (option) are also brilliant. The leaving home / coming home is nice on a dark night / morning.
   
5. The Bolero radio is a lot nicer than the old stream - all my iTunes music is on a 32Gb SD card which makes the CD changer irrelevant.
   
6. Climatronic is great - the fact that you can have split driver/passenger temperatures meant the mother-in-law could be toastie and hot while I was suitably cool.
   
7. The auto-dipping mirror is something we've missed since our 1999 Bora.
   
8. The wife is very pleased with the heated seats (option).
   

Cons:

1. It doesn't have the torque of our old 2.0PD so there's a lot more changing down required.
   
2. The cloth interior seems a bit more nylony than the old car which had very hard-wearing grey cloth. I may be concerned about it's longevity.
   
3. The raised boot floor is more of an inconvenience than anything else - we put a dog cage in to travel so the boot floor has to come out.
   

All-in-all we're very happy with the new motor.

[Richard A Thackeray]

We have the SE version with the 1.6Tdi, & it's very nice indeed.

I can see 55-60+MPG 'knocking about' (town/school-runs/etc..) in it, which is a similar figure to what SWMBO can garner when taking it down to Cardiff/Bristol on business.

Then again, I am a lot more sedate than her.

As for flexibility, it replaced a (much despised, by me) C-Max 1.8 petrol, so the flexibility isn't an issue, it seems quite happy to 'lug' to fairly low RPM in the intermediate gears (2nd/3rd) without complaint

[Silvergamer]

Had the 1.9 TDi Elegance Estate for 3 years and loved it most of the time.

cons; 1. Had constant problems with the rear wiper staying on even with the lever in the OFF position. Never really got fixed.

2. The automatic rain sensors were never consistant enough to work properly. Either not wiping till you screamed at them of wiped a dry window till it screeched.

3. Even with the heating controls on manual the fan seems to change speed whenever it felt like it.

Apart from these i loved the car, especially the Bolero stereo, amazing sound.

I've driven the 1.6 and it's pretty underpowered even compared to the 1.9, but having picked the 2.0TDi I'm glad i did, so much torque as you say.

They have now taken the folding mirrors off the Elegance but i don't know why as its useful.

[Paul007]

2. The automatic rain sensors were never consistant enough to work properly. Either not wiping till you screamed at them of wiped a dry window till it screeched.

Apart from these i loved the car, especially the Bolero stereo, amazing sound.

auto wipers drove me mad on my last car so I wouldn't spec them again. Agree about the Bolero - much better than the Stream.

[alberg]

Hi 1.6tdi mate

As for better torque you have to wait for some more miles.

On mine only at about 15000km was when she let loose and the mpg lowered.

As for the cloth I must agree, my frenchy is better.

As for the raised boot floor, I took mine and donnot regret it as it´s heavy and just more weight to carry around.

Happy motoring

Edited 13 May, 2012 by alberg

[catzi]

As for the raised boot floor, I took mine and donnot regret it as it´s heavy and just more weight to carry around.

Happy motoring

Indeed! I couldn't believe how heavy it was when I lifted it out of the boot.