After an enjoyable ownership, I waved goodbye to my Fabia vRS for the last

time today. I am now ready to buy a new car. I have been looking at used S3s

around the '58 and '09 mark which will eat up all of my budget.

Poking around on Auto trader today, I spotted that my budget was also enough for

a nearly new or pre registered Octy vRS.

But, I'd want petrol this time, and a manual box. No DSG thanks.

Saying that, I don't know a whole lot about these cars and I'd also want leather and navigation

and preferably xenons along with cruise.

Mostly my curiosity is based on value for money and a new/nearly new car is

very tempting as it will of course come with a decent warranty if I go approved used

and there are many to choose from that are in budget.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201236484095810/sort/pricedesc/usedcars/price-to/18000/transmission/manual/fuel-type/petrol/price-from/13000/model/octavia/make/skoda/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/radius/1500/keywords/vrs/postcode/bs312hw/page/1/advert-type/standard-listing?logcode=ucbnp for example. Although an estate doesn't really suit my needs.

So... Convince me, I am open minded at the moment but still very tempted by the

S3 even though it will be older, have little or no warranty and more mileage.

Cruise was standard on my 2011 vrs

Ok so cruise is a given then,

What are the must have options?

I've got rear sensors, xenons (i think really good) and a spare wheel.

Nav is in my opinion overpriced. I would have paid a couple of hundred quid but over a thousand was too much for me.

Front sensors would be nice but I don't have a problem seeing the front.....

After an enjoyable ownership, I waved goodbye to my Fabia vRS for the last

time today. I am now ready to buy a new car. I have been looking at used S3s

around the '58 and '09 mark which will eat up all of my budget.

Poking around on Auto trader today, I spotted that my budget was also enough for

a nearly new or pre registered Octy vRS.

But, I'd want petrol this time, and a manual box. No DSG thanks.

Saying that, I don't know a whole lot about these cars and I'd also want leather and navigation

and preferably xenons along with cruise.

Mostly my curiosity is based on value for money and a new/nearly new car is

very tempting as it will of course come with a decent warranty if I go approved used

and there are many to choose from that are in budget.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201236484095810/sort/pricedesc/usedcars/price-to/18000/transmission/manual/fuel-type/petrol/price-from/13000/model/octavia/make/skoda/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/radius/1500/keywords/vrs/postcode/bs312hw/page/1/advert-type/standard-listing?logcode=ucbnp for example. Although an estate doesn't really suit my needs.

So... Convince me, I am open minded at the moment but still very tempted by the

S3 even though it will be older, have little or no warranty and more mileage.

When I bought my 2011 vRS I had the same dilemma. I convinced myself that I should buy a SH S3, however after sitting & driving both the S3 and a NEW vRS I ended up with the Octy.

For me, at the time, there was very little between the two when driving in general day to day situations. Interiors were very similar too. The S3 shows its true colours when driven hard off the line & through the twisties etc. So depends how important that extra is to you. I just felt the Octy gave much better value in that price bracket.

Mine stage 1 mapped now & extremely happy with it. A poor mans S3

As circumstances have changed now my next stop will probably be an S4. just waiting for the right well spec'd 6-12 month old car

Bought mine in January and came with leather interior, heated seats, front and rear parking sensors, Xenons,cruise control, electric sunroof, spare wheel........didn't have sat nav, but having just bought a Tom Tom a month or so earlier I wasn't bothered. All that for £18k My first Skoda and I love it.

Go for it, you won't be disappointed.

Edited 27 October, 201213 yr by Tigger25

Ok so cruise is a given then,

What are the must have options?

Common consensus is -

Maxi dot (I dont have & don't miss)

Xenons (depends how much night driving you do)

Bluetooth (a must have)

Sat Nav (divides opinion, I thinks it good but overpriced), easy to retrofit with b/tooth for £1000 (fitted price from a genuine source)

MDI (if you like your music)

Leather (expensive option, but if thats your thing!)

The parking sensors IMO are not worth getting. I have them and half listen for the beeps, but I never look at the screen. Just too distracting.

Oh yeah as said above - Spare wheel is a must, got me out of a hole a few weeks back! No amount of sealant would have plugged my blowout

Edited 27 October, 201213 yr by 999pooch

I went maxi dot, rear parking sensors and xenons when speccing mine.

Bluetooth I'm retro fitting the OEM unit myself as I couldn't spec with a manual.

Personally, in order of how quickly I'd tick the box (so not necessarily of importance but for example maxidot is on first coz it hardly costs anything and is expensive to retro)

Maxidot

Rear parking

Xenons

MDI

Spare wheel

The above are the important ones you wouldn't necessarily want to be without (although an alloy spare isn't too much more and you could just add a worn tyre the first time you had to replace one of the originals from the car)

Then, optional options in order of importance are:

Leather (if affordable but didnt mind the standard seats on my first VRS)

Front parking

Bluetooth

Nav

Well, as well as the S3 I've been looking at the BMW 1 35i series

2 door coupe the 335i 2door coupe and a couple of Porsche Caymans.

Mrs Grr has been pushing me toward the higher performance choices

which says to me that this may be my last fast car, and in a year or two

she'll start on at me for offspring.

When I put the idea of a nearly new octy to her she said she thought

they looked boring and hadn't done enough depreciation yet so lots

of money to be lost on one of those. She said I could have one of those

when and if I had kids to cart about Got to say though, I quite like the octy myself. .

Depends on what you can fit yourself

I ordered a std vRS DSG (which comes std with maxidot) but I would have spec'd it if not.

I fitted reverse sensors for £26 all in including colour coding

I fitted parrot Bluetooth (mainly because I already had it) but cost £130 new

I fitted 55w 5000k (£40) Xenons which are awesome, I know they don't have AFS and all the other stuff but unless you do A LOT of night driving I wasn't going to pay £760 for them

all in all that's around £1400 ish of options for £200. I know you have to fit them (really not difficult and labour free) and they are not as good as the OEM equivilant (although why do you need more than a beep with the sensors?) but a £1200 saving, for me a no brainer.

The only thing I wish I had considered was full leather but that's also way overpriced!

Well, as well as the S3 I've been looking at the BMW 1 35i series

2 door coupe the 335i 2door coupe and a couple of Porsche Caymans.

Mrs Grr has been pushing me toward the higher performance choices

which says to me that this may be my last fast car, and in a year or two

she'll start on at me for offspring.

When I put the idea of a nearly new octy to her she said she thought

they looked boring and hadn't done enough depreciation yet so lots

of money to be lost on one of those. She said I could have one of those

when and if I had kids to cart about Got to say though, I quite like the octy myself. .

Have a search through google for faults with BMW 35i engine shockingly bad don't go near one, great to drive but a nightmare to own and so expensive to service. In 3 years I had 2 new turbo sets (yes 4) Countless injectors and coil packs, I kept a print out of all work completed and if it hadn't been under warranty costs where £19.4k. Traded in for the octy an I love it.

Depends on what you can fit yourself

I ordered a std vRS DSG (which comes std with maxidot) but I would have spec'd it if not.

I fitted reverse sensors for £26 all in including colour coding

I fitted parrot Bluetooth (mainly because I already had it) but cost £130 new

I fitted 55w 5000k (£40) Xenons which are awesome, I know they don't have AFS and all the other stuff but unless you do A LOT of night driving I wasn't going to pay £760 for them

all in all that's around £1400 ish of options for £200. I know you have to fit them (really not difficult and labour free) and they are not as good as the OEM equivilant (although why do you need more than a beep with the sensors?) but a £1200 saving, for me a no brainer.

The only thing I wish I had considered was full leather but that's also way overpriced!

Where did you buy the xenons from? Are they just bulbs you swap out? That's the one thing missing on the octy oh and heated seats of course.

I've come from a BMW 1 series (albeit the 120i), and unless you are after the ultimate in handling at all times, then so far I am finding the Skoda to be a much more accomplished and rounded vehicle. Sure, it is not as accurate as the 1-series in the bends and you can tell that it is putting quite a bit of power through the front wheels, but I'm a lot happier with the Octavia.

I'd convinced myself that the 1-series wasn't as small as I thought as well, but in real life I found it very cramped. I'm 6'2" and quite a large bloke and although I could fit in the 1er, there was no room for me to spread out or stretch even slightly on any sort of reasonable distance. The BMW's aren't nearly as reliable as the brand would suggest either.

I've come from a BMW 1 series (albeit the 120i), and unless you are after the ultimate in handling at all times, then so far I am finding the Skoda to be a much more accomplished and rounded vehicle. Sure, it is not as accurate as the 1-series in the bends and you can tell that it is putting quite a bit of power through the front wheels, but I'm a lot happier with the Octavia.

I'd convinced myself that the 1-series wasn't as small as I thought as well, but in real life I found it very cramped. I'm 6'2" and quite a large bloke and although I could fit in the 1er, there was no room for me to spread out or stretch even slightly on any sort of reasonable distance. The BMW's aren't nearly as reliable as the brand would suggest either.

Oh come on. The one series is a million miles away from the 'ultimate in handling' at any time, let alone all times. I'm not trying to say the much larger Octy is the most agile car I've driven in the twisties but the baby beemer was twitchy on uneven surfaces (something they've sorted out with the newer models) and throw it into a corner at speed (or relatively slowly in the wet) and all you get is under steer, with not a lot you can do about it mid corner......

I sold my 2006 Fabia VRS with 35K on it and bought a 2011 Octy VRS CR170 as a replacement. I had Fabia running at 173.3bhp and it was fantastic really liked it but wanted to be able to tow my bike etc so Octy was the next best thing. Although I do miss the Fabia the Octavia does most things well, obviously mines a diesel and your after the petrol you would find it some upgrade in performance and all round smiles per gallon defiantly not miles per gallon, but thats the price you pay.

I would say the usual options to have that are nice the Columbus stereo (Sat Nav/DVD) and MDI, Maxidot (vital IMO), Xeons, Parking sensors (if your not a real man), leather if you can get it is always good but standard seats are nicer looking IMO so I binned off leather when ordering mine. The DSG box is fantastic I have a manual but still half regret not getting the 7 speed DSG.

As above for the options but if you've got a Bolero and a good sized SD card, the MDI is pointless.

Why buy nearly new Andy (Auric Goldfinger ) bought a 11 plate petrol dog with xenons answer sensors in yellow for shy off 13 grand.only done 23000 miles,a manual would be less than that.get it mapped lowered and new dampers and bingo !

Driving from Bristol to Brum today to look at a 5door S3

in black. (Another black car lol) 58plate, 47k

Why buy nearly new Andy (Auric Goldfinger ) bought a 11 plate petrol dog with xenons answer sensors in yellow for shy off 13 grand.only done 23000 miles,a manual would be less than that.get it mapped lowered and new dampers and bingo !

It's a DSG, not a Dog and it had done only 9K miles. Don't know what answer sensors are ?

If there will be the possibility of tiny little feet once you have bought the next car & this may be your last 'Fast' car, then you have to go for the Octy vRS.

As a 'responsible' parent the all round ability to load lug a baby seat, plus all the must haves that go with it along with a weeks worth of shopping will be a no brainer, this can still give you the certain 'fun' factor when reverting back to teen-hood while driving alone ( not condoning teen-hood behaviour )

As far as options are concerned it is all down to personal preference.

I had min of front & rear parking sensors ( thats because i came from avery small car to the Octy), Spare wheel and Maxidot.

The supplied Bolero H/U will take a 16gb SDHC card so for music you should be well covered ( it makes the internal cd redundant)

I have had a 3rd party Bluetooth phone kit installed as it was waaaay cheaper than the Skoda option.

An extremely useful addition that is not an optional extra on the manual Octavia vRS is the MFSW ( fitted with help of a friendly brisky member).

I also have some personal comforts, a front facing camera ( roadhawk - others avail, & a 100w mini sub woofer ( for the extra bass )

If you don't need the space then an S3 would be lovely, however i'd also be looking at scirocco r, golf r or edition 30/35 (basically anything with a 2.0fsi and a k04 turbo) as sometimes you get an 4-ringed premium applied to what are underneath very similar products.

From a personal perspective, a lighly modded vrs fits better with my lifestyle 'cos:

- kids x2 which means lots of stuff, camping trips, bikes, scooters etc

- wife's car is a mini so useless for anything practical

- i have to buy new (company car) so list price is relevant to me, so less allowance spent and lower tax on the skoda.

HTH.

It's a DSG, not a Dog and it had done only 9K miles. Don't know what answer sensors are ?

LOL stupid phone( and me!) predictive text and no glasses on! Mixing your mileage up with someone else, even more of a bargain then and not to buy new. Actually I think the phone is right calling it a dog gearbox

Driving from Bristol to Brum today to look at a 5door S3

in black. (Another black car lol) 58plate, 47k

Didn't go in the end, a quick text check once I'd

got the reg revealed 5 previous owners on a 58 car?

No thank you. Waiting on a call from West London Audi

who have a low mileage 08 plate with the options I want.

They also have a deposit on it already but it's subject to finance

being offered to the depositor whereas I'm a cash buyer with no PX.

If the finance isn't happening for the other guy then I'm off

to London to go see it on Weds. Should find that out tonight.

By the way Steve, it could be my last fast car... Maybe...

But Mrs Grr has already confirmed I'll be able to have an Octy vRS when/if

we do breed

FIVE!!!!!!! :rofl: