I think someone has already done the same move I'm contemplating - just wondering how you found the move if anyone has?  Currently running a Fabia vRS Estate and so far the leader for its replacement (about 6-9 months away) is the 1.4TSI Estate; probably with DSG again but can't see if the Elegance warrants the increase over the SE as most of the extras I'm not fussed with (SatNav being one of them).  I rarely use all the performance of the Fabia and the Octavia engine has the same 250Nm torque figure for the useful part of the rev range anyway.

 

Any thoughts?

go for it! On paper the 1.4 mk3 is roughly the same as the mk2 1.8 performance wise and looks to be a very good package. I've seen comments from others who switched to a mk2 and everything was positive, so theres no reason to think it'll be any different with the mk3. obviously its a bigger car so handling will be different but a decent test drive should answer all your questions. good luck