Just as a reference for people, my taxi Octavia 1.9 tdi classic has just had a gearbox failure not long after clocking 200k. It turns out a pin in the differential had popped out and blown a hole through the casing eek. It gave me no warning , i was turning in the road and the front wheels locked solid, i was able to select gears but the wheels were locked :-(, epic getting it towed away had to be slid onto a flat bed recovery truck. Anyhow i tracked down a used gearbox for £300 and my mechanic fitted it for £100, which seems like a very good cost overall all seems well now, fingers crossed :-)

had exactly the same thing happen in my previous Octavia with 98k on the clock, sourced a box on ebay then sold the car.

That's great mileage out of the gearbox and something minor to blow it. Glad you sourced another and as Mike states pop a SMF in now.

Well, I have 100k on my Octavia and after a weekend of looking to replace it have decided that I cant get anything better! If I get to 200k without gearbox problems I'll be happy...well done

Thanks for the replies people, I already had the solid flywheel conversion and new clutch  done at 172k so hopefully i should be good for a while now, darn timing belt is due at 205k tho so more expense to come :-(, but overall as a taxi i clock around 45k a year and its been an excellent car so far. Going to go for 300k then see about getting another Skoda or the Seat Toledo, nah think i'll stick with Skoda :-)