Just checked on Darkside and they are quite a bit more expensive for the CR170 (about £175) - I would have gone down the delete route at that kind of price for a new one.

I did think of that but wasnt brave enough!.. I've started adding redex when I fill up now in the hope of avoiding the problem in another 30000 miles. But if/when it goes again I will probably do the delete..

On the verge of deleting mine - just need to get a few maintenance and upkeep tasks out of the way first

My workhorse before the VRS was a 2001 1.9 Tdi (110hp) Elegance Estate.

Bought in Oct 2005 with 19k on the clock.

In January this year I gave it to my brother having just gone past 140k

Serviced by me every 10-15k (oil, filters, brakes etc), used Redex every couple of tanks, ran on Shell diesel unless in emergency!

Faults: Wiper linkage got sticky, MAF sensor, sunroof didn't like closing, wheel bearing (my fault - don't drive with loose wheelnuts). That's it!

Wear & tear: Battery, cambelt, cleaned gunky EGR after 90k.

Brilliant car! Though as luck would have it, 2 weeks after giving it to my brother, the alternator seized, snapping the aux belt (still wear & tear after 11 years old)!

It's part of the trade off reducing depreciation for increasing bills.

some of the bills can be anticipated but there will be an increasing number of bits that might go wrong.

I guess at around 4 years 60-100k you are looking at cars that will have used some of the more expensive consumables

brakes, 2nd set of tyres, cam belt & 2nd dsg service if relevent.

if you find a car with new tyres(£400+), brakes/discs(£400+) and recent cam belt(£369) and dsg(£100+) service you are hopefully looking at a couple of years of cheap motoring if you don't get any of the niggling faults.

Probably a DMF or DPF lurking in the background.on any car with them fitted.

If a car looses 1/2 is value in 4 years, you can buy two 4 year olds and sell at 6 year(ish) and still have the residuals from 2 cars less any bills, if mileage is relatively low that would could be just before the next variable service so only outlay is repairs if chosen well.in the first place.

edit: the key is the residuals from 2, 6 year olds more than the 50% value of a 4yo from new and the extra cost to change..

Edited 29 August, 201213 yr by P&N

Hmm, to be honest this is the sort of thing that usually happens with a used car - you spend the first few months sorting things out and then it settles down. Well, it should do. If it doesn't then that's when you start thinking.....

With every new owner the car gets another life. Thats the way I see it because every 2nd hand car you buy you fix all the little issues until you have sorted them all or ran out of money/got fed up, lol.

You still got the car at a cheap price Phil and it looks to be in good order with only minor issues.

Car's are always a gamble even ones bought froma dealer. The only difference is you are paying more for peace of mind from a dealer in the form of a warranty. I think Phil used his head and bought a decent car at a good price. I dont think he's bought a lemon.

I could tell you stories of buying a lemon/money pit and i'm sure it will happen again. I always protect myself as much as possible through research and checking the car before buying but unless you spot the fault (if they are even there at the time of purchase) you pay your money and take your chances.

A lot of insurance is cheap now because they have extracted all the extra costs that used to be merged.

Cash back and lower comission mean any intermedery has to charge for changes

So there are admin fees for this and that change, even cancellation can cost.

Great up front price but change anything and there are admin fees as well as the cost to change.

You can't even just leave a policy running in the background due to NCD issues.

I had a Policy with ABC(part of LV) through swintons, cost to change £90 for 3.5months left on a £200 policy, renewal was going to be high for some reason ABC don't seem to like the Skoda+me, cancellation £40 refund but charges made it -£10..

Changed policy to direct line £180 and lower future admin fees.

Well thanks for all your comments, an interesting discussion. Its a multi-variable problem on which is the optimum time to buy for reliability versus depreciation, is quite difficult to solve and depends on the particular model. before i settled on the Octavia, I checked its reliability ranking and it was no 12 on the list. Toyota being number one as usual.

I'll get there with this one. I'm going up to Scotland for four days tomorrow, this will be the first good run in it and I'll check its fuel consumption.

Thanks for all your help, advice and comments.

Well thanks for all your comments, an interesting discussion. Its a multi-variable problem on which is the optimum time to buy for reliability versus depreciation, is quite difficult to solve and depends on the particular model. before i settled on the Octavia, I checked its reliability ranking and it was no 12 on the list. Toyota being number one as usual.

I'll get there with this one. I'm going up to Scotland for four days tomorrow, this will be the first good run in it and I'll check its fuel consumption.

Thanks for all your help, advice and comments.

If it's any consolation to you I bought a second hand, 3 year old, petrol vrs a couple of years ago and had nothing but bother with it, however all the mechanical issues were covered under the warranties, I paid a couple of hundred quid on it to get the paintwork up to scratch and when I sold it a few months ago it was in better nick than when I bought it. I thought I'd bought a lemon but I just think that the previous owner didn't look after it as most owners on here would.

I'm sure that your costs will reduce (even new cars will cost you) and hopefully, like me, you'll end up with a decent enough car.

Stick with it mate.

I've owned my 56 plate Octavia 1.9 diesel for just over a year now. In the first couple of months of ownership, I had a hot starting problem which was remedied by replacing the battery of all things. On top of that, I replaced the glow plugs, serviced it and fitted a new cambelt & water pump.

In that time, I've travelled 18000 miles, the bulk of which is a 100 mile daily commute to and from work and I couldn't be happier with it. It satisfies my needs by being economical, comfortable and touch wood, reliable.

I must admit, I'm a fussy bugger when it comes to cars, and lost count of the number of Octavias I walked away from as they didn't meet my needs. Buy in haste, repent at leisure is my motto!

As for Japanese cars being reliable, I've had mixed results in this department. My wife owns a new shaped Honda Civic 1.8 petrol and this is our third Honda. Mechanically, they have been bomb proof, needing nothing more than an annual service. However, I just can't get on with the new Civic.

The cabin looks like its been designed by a group of 17 year olds, with switchgear in no logical order. Very confusing & cheap in comparison to the Skoda. The paint and bodywork also feel inferior compared to my Skoda.

Prior to the Honda, we owned a Mazda6 diesel estate thinking it would be a good family bus. Great looking car, but that was about it. It rusted terribly around the rear wheel arches. Mazda were aware of this, however when I challenged them, I was fobbed off with the excuse that the car was devoid of a full Mazda service history.

The fuel pump was also a known fault, which manifested itself in the car cutting out when slowing down, i.e when approaching a junction. Not good with a young family on board. Again, Mazda didn't want to know when I questioned them after our car developed this problem.

I would definitely buy another Skoda. They feel solid, and for those who are not badge snobs, offer a quality vehicle for a fraction of the cost of an equivalent Audi or VW.

FP.

Unfortunately buying a secondhand I have found is luck and timing, I have had mine just over 2 years now and apart from brake pads all round (which was used as a bargaining chip at the time of purchase ) and a water destroyed parking sensor (not spotted at the time of purchase ) I have only had minor routine servicing costs.

The car is now approaching its 7th birthday and a small but, growing list of niggles has now started in the last couple of months. A couple of glowplugs, poor radio reception, faulty wiper stalk, faulty rear wiper, an alarm siren that is well silent! I am also now due a major service at the end of the year and a brake fluid change is overdue, the aircon probably also needs to be looked at and I am not sure this is entirely down to the gas levels.

However with the above said I was lucky when I purchased the car as it had been a well looked after fleet car in a previous life. It had some major pieces of service work just before I bought it. The timing belt had been replaced, a pair of tyres (I have Pegasus wheels, the main reason I bought this particular car) and a major service. It came with the paperwork for this even down to the list of parts fitted with the part numbers!

In the 2 years of ownership the car has not missed a beat. It has been driven all over Europe including being driven to the country of its birth on 5 occassions. Clocking 18k, 3k of which was done in a month. Started in temperatures as low as -20 and as high as +35, driven everyday for a month then not driven for 2 months and started first time everytime, ok I lied it struggled in minus 20 conditions but to be fair at least one glowplug may have failed with another possibly past its best!

From what the OP has said, this car has been as good to me as one of his previous cars, a Peugeot 406 Estate, and once I have put some time, effort and money into my car I am hopeful that another 2 years of happy motoring can commence!

Stick with it Phil, I like you have bought cars that have needed work to bring them up to scratch, after this though, and touch wood, they have tended to only require service work. Hopefully this will be the case for you too!

Silver1011 hit the nail on the head. However annoying it is to pay out on a 2nd hand new car, let's be honest that's why most cars are sold on, they are starting to develop faults, depreciation is not an issue. The reason why some people buy new is the fear of faults. If you are 'brave' enough to buy an older car at a cheap price, it is unrealistic to expect that it will be perfect.