As the title suggests, it's about the 110bhp diesel (guessing that would be a 1.9 then) and the Furby.

My Furby has had it's little DiamondBrite treat. Last time I had a Furby 1.9 Elegance, which had pretty much the toys in it I have in mine. It was not as fast as the vRS but certainly quick enough on the motorway.

This time I had a Silver Octy, when I returned I was told it was a 110bhp (I may be slightly out, I thought it was 105, but doesn't matter here).

It was definitely the base model, and not the Octy II.

I was amazed about a few aspects of the car (about 3k on the clock).

1. Massive boot - it's absolutely massive, compared to the Furby, so if you need space this is worth checking

2. Suspension - it was comfortable but very, very wallowy. Even my ZX 1.4 felt more planted. I must try to drive the vRS one day, or the Octy II, as apparently the Octy II is far, far better (and the vRS should already be). I was amazed how it didn't feel very confidence inspiring.

3. Size of the car itself - boot is big as already said. Rest is plenty spacious, seats were a little more basic but not too bad.

4. Sound system - terrible compared to the Furby. No surprise Octy I owners get their system changed. Speakers seemed underwhelming and couldnt handle much bass at all (and that was at lowish volumes, not bomb-the-bass-levels ).

5. Dash layout is similar, and it shows the MPH for the whole range, unlike the Furby vRS which has the stupid 100 mph missing. It annoys me, stupid detail like that, no reason for it at all.

6. Visibility - seemed good

7. Power - well it sure feels a lot slower, but then the car is far bigger/heavier. I'd say fair performance, you have to work the engine up the rev range a lot more. Handles that well, no smoke visible unlike on the TDCI Ford in front of me :eek: Probably worth getting the 2 liter diesel instead, or get it remapped, it can do with that extra bit of torque

8. Brakes - different. Feedback was better, had to kick a bit more to get similar braking performance but felt solid enough. Again vRS brakes and Octy II brakes are apparently better by a fair margin.

9. Feel of the car - Furby feels more solid. Not sure why as I was expecting the opposite. Octy II is a massive improvement on this.

Note this appears heavily scewed towards the car I own - no surprise there then

I'm thinking the one-above base-level version would be worth the extra dosh. Not having any form of aircon/climate was a surprise to me, as the Fabia comes with that standard across the range now. No electric windows is not a big deal in reality, it's handy I suppose.

If you need boot space though, there is a clear winner for sure, and I must admit the Octy vRS estate I spotted on the M4 on the way home looked well slick

PS I'd be interested to see your responses driving courtesy cars of the Skoda type Mentioned to the dealer I would like to take an Octy vRS out for a spin one day, maybe next time

(guessing that would be a 1.9 then)

all the diesels in the octavia I are 1.9

the car is far bigger/heavier

fabia vRS = 1315Kg

octavia 1.9tdi ambiente = 1400Kg

not that much difference

If it was base model it would normally be a 90bhp.

Did the tdi badge on the back have a red i?

Up until the very last few models only the Elegance and L&K had the 110tdi.

Cheers

Lee

Didnt have anything on the boot except the Octavia & Skoda badges.

It sure felt like 90 rather than 110.

100kg is a fair bit of difference imho, that's roughly one passenger plus a varying amount of luggage (depending on build of the person )

Hopefully I can do a fairer comparison with a more spec'd out one. The new Octy II sure looks the dogs danglies.

Dealer said the Octy II vRS' engine was still undedicided, could be a 220 bhp petrol or even a 180 bhp TD (PD??) engine. Something to look forward to for sure

If it was a base model the tyres would have been a high profile making the handling very poor better models have low profile and are a lot better car still wallows a bit though.

As for speed and such I have a PD 130 elegance and this is very comparable with the furby VRS in terms of top speed and acceleration (only 10ths of a second in it) and if you go by Skodas own figures the octy 130 is one mph faster than the furby.

Sound system in the base model only has speakers in the front doors and this makes it sound a bit thin....again go up the scale a bit and gets better.

Visbility ....ask any octy hatch owner if they like reversing into a space.....no

base model is also a bit thin on soundproofing so when you close the doors instead of a nice thud it sort of rings

All that said though just had the slowest car of my life as a courtesy car Furby 1.4mpi estate base model (nearly 20 seconds to 60) and the road holding was terrible (again high profile tyres)

Octy II is better in most departments but the 1.9 tdi engine is really noisey and the windows are smaller (after my octy I felt a bit shut in) but it's a nice car........my next car will be an Octy II 2.0 tdi pd elegance estate

when you consider the size difference in the cars 85Kg isn't that much really, the fabia is a fat little fellah if we're being honest.

but totally agree with with what PD said, the super high walled tyres will make a big difference plus they will be narrower tyres aswell making the handeling worse again

Octy II vRS's gotta be the 2.0 Turbo FSI in the GTI Golf.

It was definitely the base model, no doubt about that, and I must admit the spec was pretty bare. I'm guessing most of the dosh went towards the size increase. Finish was decent enough.

Yep tyres would have an impact but not this much surely - my ZX had high profile tyres and was not exactly lowered, and it felt more planted.

The Furby sure isn't a light car, especially not when loaded up like mine.

Soundproofing - didn't think the engine was particularly noisy in an annoying way, you could notice it when revving but then I would expect that.

My Furby was soundproofed as I wanted to have less roadnoise, which worked.

Hmmm that engine sure sounds good

Yep it was definately Classic spec you had which AFAIK only came with the 90bhp engine. The Classic also rides on skinny high profile 175 tyres on 14 inch rims, very small tyres for such a large heavy car. I bet your ZX was a third lighter than an Octy.

The upper spec diesels with 16" rims and 205/55 rubber are a lot better but they are not sports models, are softly sprung and the Octavia has a lot of rear overhang to control. The biggest boot of almost any car on sale does come at a price and was the main problem with the balance of the Octavia WRC.

Performance between the Octy and Fabia are almost the same engine for engine. The Fabia is a fraction quicker to 60 due to being slightly lighter and the Octavia has a slightly higher top speed due to it being slightly more slippery through the air.

The Octavia's sound system deserves to be junked in any model but the Classics is the worse I've heard in any modern car.

As for interior I prefer my Octavia Elegance interior to my Wifes Fabia Comfort interior although the total build of the Fabia feels more substantial.

The Octy Elegance seats with driver and passenger height and lumber adjustment are far superior to those fitted to our Fabia.

Performance is hard to split between our two the 110 Octy (When Standard) and the PD100 Fabia are almost identicle upto motorway speeds but at the top end the Octy will pull away. The PD100 Fabia is higher geared than the 110 Octy and the Octy (Standard) feels far more keen to pull in top gear at high speed.

A work mate of mine bought a Fabia vRS after driving our two cars and we sometimes come across each other driving to work, my Octavia is running around 140bhp and straight line performance upto 80mph ish is very similar but he can make me look silly if we get onto tight bumpy roads.

Cheers

Lee

110 bhp Octy + Jabba Map = 164bhp

Octy pd130 + jabba remap = :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: then burnt out clutch :(

The Furby vRS has height-adjustable driver seat, and I must say, it's not bad

You've definitely got a better comparison going then I could do in the short time I had the car, thanks for that as it balances it all out a bit

The Elegance spec Octy would certainly be a better comparison

The lack of sound quality really amazed me as the Furby sound system is pretty decent - you can get better, don't get me wrong - whereas had I bought an Octy that would have come out.

Anyone upgraded to an Octy II from a 'I' ?

I'd definitely agree that standard Octy/Furby of similar bhp will be pretty closely matched on the motorway. Must admit the extra bhp would probably make it perfectly fine.

Remap = sounds like a good cure

The lack of sound quality really amazed me as the Furby sound system is pretty decent - you can get better' date=' don't get me wrong - whereas had I bought an Octy that would have come out.

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What gets me is how little it costs to put it right and why Skoda didn't do it.

Everyone complains about it and I certainly couldn't live with even the Elegance level's sound system. A Skoda employee told me the paper cone speakers in the Octy cost the dealers less than

Remap = sounds like a good cure

Yep it is.

The 110 also seems to respond well to tuning boxes as well with most manufacturers claiming over 140bhp which I've seen backed up by rolling road tests on a few different boxes on a Golf 110.

Cheers

Lee

Octy pd130 + jabba remap = :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: then burnt out clutch :(

The 110 now has something like 75000 miles on it, was jabbad at about 8000, still going strong & the original clutch & averages about 53 mpg

The 110 now has something like 75000 miles on it, was jabbad at about 8000, still going strong & the original clutch & averages about 53 mpg

Michael's (Jabba) own personal transport is an Octavia 110 estate...remapped at 150k now done over 200k...circa 150bhp IIRC.