My poor Octavia was thinking of leaving home because of the boring first four months of its life. Down to the shops -3 miles, Supermarket 4 miles restaurant 8 miles, friends 16 miles. Some spells of 4 or 5 days not even switched on. What a way to treat a car. First 1170 miles like this.

Then the other day I woke it up said good morning and off we went. On the next 10 days it did a daily average of 345 miles.(Biggest day was 630 miles) Never above 3250 rpm(I think) but running for 2 hours or so at 3000rpm an indicated 90 mph with odd bursts to 110 mph to get out of the way of faster cars. It had roughly 2700 miles of this fast non-labouring spinning and 750 miles of faffing about in the UK at 60 or 70 or doing the famous stop roll 25 yards stop roll 50 yards stop laughingly called driving.

It averaged 49.9 mpg on the trip. Since I've had the car it has averaged 53 mpg. The on board computer says it has averaged 60 mpg the lying swine.

I've decided that the consumption read out is only useful as an economical driving style reminder.

Do I like the car now I know what it will do ?

Yes but--I love its speed acceleration and ability to storm along. It is quiet but has a nice growl when provoked.

I do not like the way it handles really bad road surfaces. When it hits sunken manholes or drains it is quite simply put off its stride. It lurches and definitely loses its composure. At one stage my wife actually said "Oh for god's sake buy another Xantia this is damned uncomfortable"

It transmits road shocks to the structure of the car so badly (unlike the Xantia we had) that I can't see it being in great nick for many years.

The seats were fine. The boot is amazing. The fit and finish is very good. The accuracy of the steering is a delight. Im glad I've got air con again.

Overall I love it--apart from the ride quality when the going gets rough.

And it used no oil at all and now feels a lot revier.

Car is 1.9 105 hp TDI on Bridgestones--are these tyres noisy ?

In case you were wondering it was a trip the length of Spain and France and back where I must have a car that can compete and get out of the way of the thundering Audis Mercs BMWs- all Diesels of couse.

But I still got overtaken by a Twingo in Gascony while cruising at 90. Damn.

I hope this was of some interest to one or two of you. (all mileages are "roughly" )

More miles than me ,but you are finding much about the same ,the handling is good but to compare with a xantia suspension is expecting too much.

I believe all octy obc's are terribly optimistic along with the fuel gauge,they havn't got it right, something to do with the shape of the fuel tank i'm told.

Regarding the road noise i believe the Bridgstones are the problem,i have had a loan car for a few days fitted with Goodyear Eagles NCT and find them much quieter.