I am 61 and have a bad left knee which was giving me problems changing gear in my manual Honda Civic 2.2 diesel so I've just traded that in for this automatic Octavia which I collected today, my first Skoda. It's only done 52K miles and is in immaculate condition.  I bought it from Motorline (ex Sherlodge) Gillingham and my early impressions of the car are very good.  I like the suspension being much softer than my Civic, even though the roadholding seems as good.  The performance appears on paper to be less but it seems as good to me.  I find the driving position and amount of room excellent (I am 6'2").  I really can't find anything wrong with this car.  I might be a Skoda convert!

Welcome to Briskoda.

After 500 miles of driving my "new" car I am over the moon.  Its doing 47 mpg (actual tank full to tank full) which is only 2 mpg worse than my manual Honda Civic 2.2.  I think this is amazing for an automatic family sized car.  I find the driving position the best I've known and I really like the bags of room around my feet!  I can stretch my bad left leg out nearly straight to stop my knee aching.  I feel I have discovered something and I want to tell everyone about it!  I think the past bad reputation of Skodas which was about the seventies seems relentless and must still be fogging peoples perception today.  How else could such a good car as this be missed by so many?

 

On a different note, I find all cars have a character which may cause you to drive it in different ways.  I found my old Honda Civic 2.2 drove a bit like a big go-kart and the tendency was for me to put my foot down too often.  The Octavia I find is giving me relaxing vibes which make me drive carefully and not too fast.  I find myself selecting more subdued music and smiling more at other motorists.

 

It's a cool car....

welcome to briskoda

Hello and Welcome! Sounds like a good buy and nice spec..... enjoy! 

I had the same model but it had the sports suspension, I absolutely loved it and achieved 60mpg on a good run when trying to be as frugal as possible with the acceleration pedal.

I loved everything about it and it broke my heart when some old dear turned in front of me one day smashing me into a wall.

I sadly had it written off(no surprise) and couldn't get the same spec with the insurance money.

2 cars later and I finally made it back into the Skoda family.

Happy days !!