Perhaps it's this weather...but something has permeated into my brain that it would be a good move to sell the vRS and buy/lease a Grand Scenic instead.

a) Should I go and commit myself immediately; or

b ) Has anyone else fallen into this trap before?

Reasoning is mainly financial. I'm no Jimmy Carr, but come January I will owe the tax man more money than currently is available, so my thinking is by selling the VRS I should get a decent wad of cash, from which I can either extract a deposit for a new car and/or top up any finance payments over the next few months until my salary rises in January.

Why Renault? Well, we still have a Megane II as a runabout, and I can't fault the local Renault garage (other than the more local branch that was 25 miles closer but then closed) in terms of customer service or friendliness. Also, they currently have 4 years warranty and breakdown and 5 years 0% finance as a carrot. I was originally looking at the Megane Sport Tourer...but then began to wonder about kids. We have 2 at the minute, both under 3, and would ideally like another within the next 5 years...hence looking for a car with more seats, as I don't think three child-seats will fit in the back of an Octavia, for example (happy to be proved wrong!)? I test-drove a normal Scenic today, and was moderately impressed...it lacked the "weight" of sitting behind the VRS controls, but had an impressive dash display, integrated sat-nav, bluetooth as standard. The 1.5 derv engine didn't feel strained pulling something shaped moderately brick-shaped through the torrential rain and wind, but lacked the noise that you get when you put your foot down in the vRS. That, the outright acceleration and the flappy paddles are what I think I'll miss the most if I do go ahead.

The other option of course is to get another Skoda, given the current finance deals it would probably have to be leased through work...I looked at the Yeti, but the boot doesn't seem big enough after the Octavia. Or I could go for another Octavia, vRS or otherwise, but then I'm left with the seat connundrum.

Oh, one last thing - the Renault dealer valued my car today at £10,500 - down to £10,000 for a September delivery. Does that sound about right, considering it has £300-400 damage to the rear passenger door/wheel-arch after I made the mistake of parking overnight in a Birmingham NCP...?

Help?

Edited 22 June, 201214 yr by IndianaBlues

I think u banged ur head u should wake up soon!

I know which i would prefer and its not French.

I know which I'd prefer, unfortunately this is a choice driven by economics...my tactics of winning the lottery before January don't appear to be providing much of a return!

On the car evaluation front, I should have said it's a Dec09 59-plate with 46,400 on the clock. I tried webuyanycar as a lowest denominator before the dealer evaluated it, and that came up with slightly less than the dealer offered. I'm presuming if I sell it privately I could get another £1-2k on top, perhaps more if I fix the damage first! Having never done anything other than straight P/Xs before - do Skoda dealers buy back cars that aren't being part-exchanged? If so I guess that's another potential avenue...

Long term wouldn't it be much better to get a short term loan to cover your tax bill?

Long term wouldn't it be much better to get a short term loan to cover your tax bill?

This.

Changing cars always ends up costing you money.

Renault mechanics are quite good - they get lots of practice on the cars. Electrical faults come as standard too so you need not worry whether or not they would be included on the Grand Scenic.

Even if all that were untrue you are going to lose money on changing cars anyway and in my opinion end up with a far lesser vehicle.

You know you'll be put into the class of,angry dad who had to sell his beloved performance car to make way for kids,and now attempts to drive his people carrier like he still owns a sports car,and treats public roads as a track day...

If you go for a Scenic get the most basic spec you can, Renault have a problem with electrics and this will isolate you from some of the potential issues.

Oh and from experience they eat brakes - Front pads at 18k and pads and discs all round at 36k (This was not my driving style as following car went 60k for front pads and 80k for rears and never needed discs in 100k).

Add to this problems with the alarm (Dealer changed bonet switch but didn't make any difference so I fixed myself), keyless locking (Dealer argued that that door was meant to work differently to all the rest - wtf?), electric sunroof, keyless starting and a track rod end that went at 35k. I won't be having another.

I've just bought an octavia for practical reasons... Its not the vrs, but in that form surely its the most practical performance car on the road. The boot is huge! Interior space great, we have two very happy kids in the back now! And remember when it come to child 3, child 1 will be in a much more compact booster seat.

I'd much rather be driving a car that a small shed! The only good point I can see with an MPV is taking all the seats out and using it as a van should the need arise.

1.5 derv is actually a very nice little engine but it does coke up if you don't do a lot of long trips, and if you do a lot of long trips or medium trips. You'd need to use it a lot or it'll lunch itself or you'll need to use a lot of additives.

+1 on electrical problems got the hat on that one

+1 on brakes made from cheese, that goes for the callipers too.

Other mechanical bits like window mechanisms are also made from soft cheese.

Will creak like a hookers bed

If you get one get rid of it before the warrant is up.

I found my local Renault dealer to be fine for warranty work (of which there was lots) but very expensive for everything else. Had an indy do all my work for less than half of Renault's prices.

I have had a similar issue (sort of)

I went from a Saxo VTS to a Rav 4, I wanted to be able to go places the Saxo couldn't (never did though) and didn't want to be stuck in bad winter weather.

Got bored very quickly of low MPG and low performance, so I chopped that in (after only 18months) for my first Octavia VRS. Had issues with Skoda / Dealer and a few with the car, but kept it for 7.5 years and it did me proud.

Chopped that in a couple of years ago for an Ex demo Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4 for the same reasons I got the Rav.

Now while I love my Vitara, It's been lifted, big tyres + an assortment of other toys, I have seen the light and I am back where I should have been 2 years ago... Another Shiny Octavia VRS.

My 2 cents... Don’t do it!

If you do....

1. If you regret it, you could end up blaming the kids (subconsciously of course)

2. You'll miss it soo much you might end up calling your 3rd 'Octavia'

I am slightly biased about French cars having sworn to myself I would never touch Peugeot or Citroen ever again after the disaster I had with my old Saxo VTS and friends and relations have said similar about Renault. Heck I nearly cancelled buying my Suzuki when I found it had a Renault sourced diesel engine!

In all seriousness, I know from experience, you'll make a fast buck but suffer in the long run. Go for a smaller cover loan to tide you over as others have said (AVOID Sainsbury's Bank, their early interest calculations mean early repayment has little or no consequence to the total amount repaid).

The Octavia in either hatch or estate form have huge boots and should be more than capable of coping with most loads.

If you are looking to change for other reasons like more seating etc., then fair enough but for the money reason, I think you’ll be better off sticking with the car you’ve got.

Try another test drive load up your VRS and move the load to the Renault. With the thing fully loaded you’ll get a much more accurate idea how the car compares to your

You really should see a priest :-)

I can only draw on experiences of $hitroen and Peugeot. Both bad ones. The EGC gearbox is something that rhymes with trap. The handling is soft and, incidentally, what is this "pay rise" thing you talk of...?