octavia vrs tsi or bmw 330d

[JungleJames]

My 1-series (M Sport) is actually a very pleasant place to be - it's only when you actually stop and look/feel that you notice the poor quality plastics.  I agree that the 3-series doesn't quite pull it off as well (don't know why, it's essentially the same).  And the standard leather is hideous - it's what put me off a 3-series M-Sport touring.

 

As for the XF, a wood interior is a no-no for me, which (as I said before) means you need the sport version.  But then it's as though it is trying too hard to be the Starship Enterprise.  I don't know, it just doesn't look quite right to me.  The F-Type interior is absolutely gorgeous... but that's considerably more than £30k.

Well we can agree to disagree on wood interior. I think the XF pulls it off just perfectly.

However, you dont need to move up to the sport spec to lose it. You can choose the carbon?? look on any spec i believe. Unfortunately it does cost extra. I shall check and find out for sure

[JungleJames]

The XF interior looked great when it first came out but I think it's looking dated these days. The nav and command screen especially. Think the xf tourer looks great for the outside but don't know if I could bring myself to buy a jag.

We'll have to agree to disagree.

To me, still the nicest interior around. Well, unless you want to go into the Bentleys and RRs.

Some Mercs may technically have better put together interiors, and nicer materials, but do they make you feel as special as an XF? To me, thats a tough task

[JungleJames]

 

 

As for the XF, a wood interior is a no-no for me, which (as I said before) means you need the sport version.  But then it's as though it is trying too hard to be the Starship Enterprise.  I don't know, it just doesn't look quite right to me.  The F-Type interior is absolutely gorgeous... but that's considerably more than £30k.

With the XF you can spec Carbon Fibre instead of wood veneer on Luxury trim and above. However it is a £1000 extra. Yikes

[Yogi-Bear]

With the XF you can spec Carbon Fibre instead of wood veneer on Luxury trim and above. However it is a £1000 extra. Yikes

 

And that's £1k I'd rather put towards getting the Sport trim... and it's also Carbon Fibre.  That's the one thing that I wasn't keen on when ordering my vRS, but I'll live with it as the rest of the car more than makes up for it.

 

(and yes, I'm quite possibly the only person who ordered a 1-series M Sport and changed from the default hexagonal trim / estoril blue finisher to brushed silver + black finisher).  It's estoril blue on the outside, didn't need any more of it on the inside, and that hexagonal trim is just plain nasty.

[Chunkstar]

Dare I mention audi

Nice interiors I have had 3 ,s5 was the first and was great but that was 2008 still the same!?!?!? In 2014

Also e90 bmw 2006 330d m sport nice but still almost the same now !?!? WHY

I would love to have an audi interior in a bmw 235i coupe mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[neil_f]

We'll have to agree to disagree.

To me, still the nicest interior around. Well, unless you want to go into the Bentleys and RRs.

Some Mercs may technically have better put together interiors, and nicer materials, but do they make you feel as special as an XF? To me, thats a tough task

Yeah everyone has their own preference. It's by no means bad from a quality aspect but just doesn't look hi tech even with the motorised air vents and gear selector which at the time was quite revolutionary. If you read recent reviews quite a few magazines are saying that the interior is now showing it's age. Wouldn't mind a xfr estate in the bright blue all the same (I'm sure someone will say a remapped vrs is faster and better value lol) Anyway I think the thread has gone rather off topic as it seems to have become what premium car is better than an octavia vrs.

[Ultima]

What about the new Focus ST?  A diesel is now available with more torque than the VRS, it's better to drive and you get to tell everyone you've got an STD !

Like the BMW 3 series though, it has less space.

Edited 8 July, 2014 by Ultima

[neil_f]

What about the new Focus ST? A diesel is now available with more torque than the VRS, it's better to drive and you get to tell everyone you've got an STD !

Like the BMW 3 series though, it has less space.

Eh...no thanks. Wouldn't consider the petrol which has more power than the vrs and definitely wouldn't go for the diesel.. Build quality is worse than the skoda or bmw and don't think it looks good either plus they tend to depreciate badly.

[Timoctav]

Im starting to think I must be odd!!

The only one that thought the 3 series had a cheap looking and feeling interior. From the cheap plastic bits i could pull off, to the horrible feeling and looking upper dash.  

Yep, I must be odd! Dont worry, not the first time

 

Although admittedly the Octy could have been a lot nicer in some areas, namely the doors.

Don't understand "the cheap plastic bits I could pull off" . The one I've had the last few days everything was solid and properly screwed down. Nothing rattled or squeaked, much less fell off. Yes the fascia is a plastic moulding, but what car isn't unless you go to a top spec Jaguar, Mercedes or Lexus? Much better to drive than any Skoda, including an Octavia VRS. With the discounts available the differences in what you actually pay is not great. As I've said before the only thing the Skoda is better is the greater room - if you need it, I don't. The bread and butter Octavia's make a lot of financial sense, the others frankly don't ( room excepted).

[JungleJames]

Don't understand "the cheap plastic bits I could pull off" .

Forward of the centre console, right under the dash. Thought it may have been a bit of storage space underneath, but couldnt see anyway of sensibly opening it. Eventually pulled off, but not in any sensible way. Too much hassle to be a bit of storage space, and im left with a bit of plastic in my hand. Also not any decent amount of space underneath. Eventually clicked it back into place. What the hell is it for?

[Timoctav]

Forward of the centre console, right under the dash. Thought it may have been a bit of storage space underneath, but couldnt see anyway of sensibly opening it. Eventually pulled off, but not in any sensible way. Too much hassle to be a bit of storage space, and im left with a bit of plastic in my hand. Also not any decent amount of space underneath. Eventually clicked it back into place. What the hell is it for?

Immediately forward of the gear lever is a cover which lifts off, under which are a pair of cup holders. There isn't anything else there to pull off! It certainly isn't a cheap bit of plastic, if clicks off and clicks back on again. You could also keep keys, coins etc there covered up from prying eyes when parked. Don't have a problem with that at all.

Certainly the quality is no worse than the cheap nasty plastic electric seat adjustment on the Jaguar XF, don't understand why Jaguar don't use the far higher quality items used in the XJ /XK.

Edited 9 July, 2014 by Timoctav

[fiisch]

Why buy someone else's mistake?  Why is someone selling a car that is a year old?

 

It isn't really fair to compare the price of a new car from one brand to a second-hand banger from another, but in my opinion it's a no brainer - the new option wins every time.  If it's a new Citigo vs a year old 330d, then you might have a slight dilemma.

 

Buy the Octavia - no one has guffed in the seats before you, there's no mystery as to why it's being sold so early in it's life and people will let you out of a side road. 

[JungleJames]

Immediately forward of the gear lever is a cover which lifts off, under which are a pair of cup holders. There isn't anything else there to pull off! It certainly isn't a cheap bit of plastic, if clicks off and clicks back on again. You could also keep keys, coins etc there covered up from prying eyes when parked. Don't have a problem with that at all.

Certainly the quality is no worse than the cheap nasty plastic electric seat adjustment on the Jaguar XF, don't understand why Jaguar don't use the far higher quality items used in the XJ /XK.

Ah, its meant to be cupholders. Didnt look deep enough to me. To me it didnt seem to nicely click off, unless i was doing it wrong. Taking it off and putting it back on sounded cheap to me (Sorry!) 

Also, i dont want to be left holding a 'cheap to me!' bit of plastic! Leave them uncovered or fit a proper lid which isnt left sitting in your hand. It just wasnt the 'quality' i had expected from a Beamer.

My, who'd have guessed it. Driving a Skoda, and i sound like a car interior snob!!!!

Wont disagree regarding your point on the XF.

[neil_f]

Why buy someone else's mistake? Why is someone selling a car that is a year old?

It isn't really fair to compare the price of a new car from one brand to a second-hand banger from another, but in my opinion it's a no brainer - the new option wins every time. If it's a new Citigo vs a year old 330d, then you might have a slight dilemma.

Buy the Octavia - no one has guffed in the seats before you, there's no mystery as to why it's being sold so early in it's life and people will let you out of a side road.

So a year old car is a second hand banger ! Guess my vrs is classed as that then as I bought it when it was just over a year old. (Incidentally the previous owner bought another vrs and has traded in his cars after a year for a new one - guess that takes the mystery out of it!).Now has 60k miles on it and still performing great. Oh and I missed out on the huge chunk of depreciation that the first owner must have taken (I saved over 7k against the new price with the same spec.) Guess you like losing a lot of money if you only ever buy new cause apparently anything other than new is dodgy?

As has been discussed with the discount that bmw appear willing to offer a new bmw can be had for very close to the price of a new vrs which skoda appear non willing to negotiate on.

[Timoctav]

Ah, its meant to be cupholders. Didnt look deep enough to me. To me it didnt seem to nicely click off, unless i was doing it wrong. Taking it off and putting it back on sounded cheap to me (Sorry!)

Also, i dont want to be left holding a 'cheap to me!' bit of plastic! Leave them uncovered or fit a proper lid which isnt left sitting in your hand. It just wasnt the 'quality' i had expected from a Beamer.

My, who'd have guessed it. Driving a Skoda, and i sound like a car interior snob!!!!

Wont disagree regarding your point on the XF.

Truth be known, you can find cheap bits on any mass produced car. Some of the plastic trims on my recently departed Porsche 997/2 wouldn't look good in a Skoda, although the behind the scenes engineering quality is probably the highest of any car on the road, regardless of price. I loved the full leather on Porsches, standard on 911's optional on Boxster & Cayman, always specced in when it wasn't standard again to hide cheap looking plastic mouldings. Done the same on the 335d I am currently waiting for, the same reason even if ordering BMW Individual options has delayed delivery by a couple of months. Edited 9 July, 2014 by Timoctav

[themanwithnoaim]

Lets forget all the slightly second hand, discounted on-line, bottom of the food chain spec and get to the outta the showroom, on 0% PCP with 3 years service/assure whatever it was. How Fn much a month ?

I give £266.67 a month with £266.67 as a deposit for an Elegance with the added safety of rear airbags. Anybody tell me WTF comes close to that.

[pipsyp]

Agreed on a PCP (with the earlier 0% deal) I think the Octavia was nigh on impossible to beat.

I put £500 in and pay £297ish a month for my 2.0 Elegance estate which is very cheap for a (23k) medium size family estate. Most other cars from other manufactuers id have considered buying were coming in around at least £100/month more expensive.

[neil_f]

Agrew with 0% pcp and the free servicing it was a great deal but skoda have stopped this offer on the vrs.

[loadswine]

VRS tsi made perfect sense when I bought mine as well. Nothing I wanted , that Suited budget was any better.

[Orville]

Prices up + incentives down = plenty of alternatives worth considering. I would not have purchased my VRS under current "deals", and would likely have opted for a CX-5, A4 Avant or 330dTouring instead.

[fiisch]

So a year old car is a second hand banger ! Guess my vrs is classed as that then as I bought it when it was just over a year old. (Incidentally the previous owner bought another vrs and has traded in his cars after a year for a new one - guess that takes the mystery out of it!).Now has 60k miles on it and still performing great. Oh and I missed out on the huge chunk of depreciation that the first owner must have taken (I saved over 7k against the new price with the same spec.) Guess you like losing a lot of money if you only ever buy new cause apparently anything other than new is dodgy?

As has been discussed with the discount that bmw appear willing to offer a new bmw can be had for very close to the price of a new vrs which skoda appear non willing to negotiate on.

 

The only pooh particles on the seat are mine, so yes, more than happy with the depreciation!  I know how it's been driven, what it's done and where it's been - for that alone, the extra is worth it. 

 

Second hand is always a gamble - admittedly sometimes it does pay off, provided you don't mind sitting in someone else's faecal matter.

 

In all seriousness, like for like on a new car now is tricky, as the Octavia deals are not what they were.  I was looking for a hot hatch, but the Octavia vRS was >£3000 less on a deposit with same monthly payments as a Fiesta ST or Clio Renaultsport, so was a no-brainer for me.

Edited 10 July, 2014 by fiisch

[actionman39]

i've got an E91 330d & would pick the same every time. Before i bought it i considered all sorts including Octavia but the only other thing that came near to the 330d for me was the A4 3.0TDi & i couldn't find a nice manual version. They were all auto which i hate

[Timoctav]

i've got an E91 330d & would pick the same every time. Before i bought it i considered all sorts including Octavia but the only other thing that came near to the 330d for me was the A4 3.0TDi & i couldn't find a nice manual version. They were all auto which i hate

In fairness although the 330d / 335d are light years better cars than any Octavia in almost every way apart from internal space, they are also a lot more expensive, both to buy and run. The nearest equivalent to the Octavia on price and performance would be the 320d. It's still a better car IMO if the much roomier cabin of the Skoda isn't a priority.

In my own opinion though the latest 8 speed automatic in the BMW makes it a far better car than the rather notchy manual. It's also quicker, cleaner and more economical.

Edited 14 July, 2014 by Timoctav

[actionman39]

agreed they are more expensive but worth it IMHO. Mine has got a stage 2 remap with DPF delete so it quite lively! Not that they're not lively in standard form! lol! I had briefly considered a 320d but with the budget i had i would've had to buy the model that suffers with timing chain issues but once i'd priced up repair/replacement costs the £2500-£3k bill more than put me off.

 

Yes the interior space is slightly smaller but we didn't need a bigger car. I'm only 5ft 5 & my Mrs is 5ft 1 so anyone that sits behind us gets enough leg room!

[Timoctav]

agreed they are more expensive but worth it IMHO. Mine has got a stage 2 remap with DPF delete so it quite lively! Not that they're not lively in standard form! lol! I had briefly considered a 320d but with the budget i had i would've had to buy the model that suffers with timing chain issues but once i'd priced up repair/replacement costs the £2500-£3k bill more than put me off.

Yes the interior space is slightly smaller but we didn't need a bigger car. I'm only 5ft 5 & my Mrs is 5ft 1 so anyone that sits behind us gets enough leg room!

My long commute (80 miles round trip) precluded a BMW - I used to have a 123d but on that mileage cost of replacing run flats and frequent visits to dealers through the computerised servicing regime meant it had to go. The Octavia is dull, but reliable, comfortable and very cheap to run so suits my needs fine - too big really for me and has room I don't need, only SWMBO and myself most of the time. Having divorced ourselves with some difficulty from sports cars we now have a 335d X-Drive Touring on order for SWMBO and weekend / leisure purposes - hopefully get it for 1st September. Edited 15 July, 2014 by Timoctav