I'm on the hunt for a mk1 octavia vrs. I notice that quite a few of them for sale now have 140k miles and upwards on them....I'm just wondering what would you realistically expect the 1.8T engine to do before needing expensive rebuilds etc? I guess the same questions applies to the car in general....from what I've read, they seem quite well screwed together but can you realistically expect say 200k miles from one with just general maintenance? I do reasonably small mileage which is why I'm considering one of the higher mile examples

Depends on lots of things but well looked after ones should have no trouble to 200k with correct servicing and decent oil. The problem is when cars get to this sort of age and price range some of the examples can be a bit neglected.

 

Mine is on 120k with the original turbo (to the best of my knowledge). Cars that have been on the long life servicing and not serviced regularly enough may have partially blocked oil pickup pipes. I replaced mine for peace of mind and it was only partially blocked (was on variable servicing from new to 60-70k ish and 9 years old). Since I bought it I service it every 9-10k miles but use the long life 504/507 spec oil.

 

I'd say buy on condition if the car drives well!

Thanks. I reckon the one I'm looking at has been looked after but I don't want the turbo to clap out on me in a few thousand miles!

Thanks. I reckon the one I'm looking at has been looked after but I don't want the turbo to clap out on me in a few thousand miles!

 

You do take a bigger risk as cars get higher on mileage as components do have a serviceable life expectancy.

I bought a 1.8T on 158k miles for very little money, because it had a total Skoda history with it and the owner looked 'right'. 

 

The plan is to keep it to over 200k miles bar any major failing (turbo / gearbox / engine). I've deliberately spent more than what I paid for it using OEM Skoda service, brake and suspension parts from TPS  plus a few bits that are troublesome with age (oil pick up pipe, hoses, O2 sensor etc). Call it an experiment - so far so very good.

I bought mine on 70k and it's up to 165k now, as stuff breaks it gets modded. Gearbox was a buggy but turbo has to give up at some point

Let's hope we get some decent snow this winter to have some fun before our turbos break on the dark side of 170k ? :no:

There was an 05 plate with 278k on eBay a while back. As long as you treat it well it should be aok

high milage cars are ok,  However the lower stressed the engine the longer it will last.  So i wouldn't blink twice at buying a high mile NA car such as Civic type R or 

 

150k mile 1.8T,  probably not my party i'm afraid unless you know the owner.  Turbo's running at Higher temps and are more stressed than a say a large 3.0 straight 6 .  i mean most of the 328i's we bu are well over 170k and we use them on track hard,

 

Is the mk2 out of your budget???

Here's mine:

 

A '51 plate, bought 4 years ago with 80k showing. Came with a lovely history file, with two previous clearly loving owners. You know the thing, lots of receipts for 'nice to have dones' jobs, rather than the usual 'essential repairs after neglect' type jobs. A record of oil changes and servicing with no period more than about 8,000 miles between changes - and the oil was always a decent, branded oil. In lovely condition throughout. I was lucky to find such a good one.

 

I could see that the last owner, who had her for 8 years, lived in one place but obviously had the car serviced near his work I would guess? As the garage's address was somewhere about 50 miles from his home address on the logbook. Knowing where his home and the garage were, I could see that the car was 'probably' used mainly for a 100-mile-a-day motorway commute. So, good news there. Regular daily use on a decent stretch, meaning the engine was used properly and got the chance to get to a decent working temperature at least twice a day.

 

 

Since then, one of the first jobs I had done was a stage-1 remap at JKS in Portsmouth, along with a Pipercross panel filter and a Forge re-circ dump valve. I get a lovely 'whoosh-tish' noise from the car, without it being Billy Boy loud

 

She is now showing 145,000 miles. I like to look after my engines, but at the same time I think with modern motors and modern oil technology, there is no need to 'panda' to servicing as much as we might have done 20 years ago? So, I put my trust in fresh Mobil One oil, along with a genuine vag filter, every 10,000 miles. Most of my mileage is also motorway too - so I think this is a good compromise between using decent products, without going bananas and dropping the oil in a paranoid fashion every few thousand miles, hehehe!

 

My regime also involves thus: Start the car outside my house, maybe 30 seconds of running, then drive away carefully. I go the mile out of my (flat) housing estate in 2nd gear, so I keep the revs up at 2,500, but the load on the engine very light. I then get to the main road, and gently go up through the gears, still revving to 2,500 but using a very light throttle. And I do this kind of driving until the temperature gauge is at 90 degrees. Once there, I drive with a little bit more conviction.

 

After about another 15 minutes, if I get the odd opportunity, I go hard on the motor. She gets used like she's supposed to be used, that's for sure! I think that giving these motors a good workout from time to time, when they are hot throughout, really helps with their long-term health.

 

Then I am gentle on the motor for the last 5 minutes of a journey, and let it idle for a minute or two before shutting down.

 

 

With this treatment, at 145k my motor feels as strong, quiet, smooth as ever before. There is no hint of any malaise at all.

 

Oh yeah, and one last thing.....I've not replaced my oil pickup pipe - eek! I like to live dangerously

 

 

Oh yeah, and one last thing.....I've not replaced my oil pickup pipe - eek! I like to live dangerously

Mine had been impeccably serviced and still is, but had 'swarf' in the strainer...  .

I'd get it done !

Edited 19 November, 201411 yr by Fabpreza

I'm over 157,000 miles now. Nothing major broken yet! (owned for over 7yrs and 85k miles)

 

I'd say a turbocharged engine is actually less stressed that an NA equivalent and would likely last longer. To get power out of an NA engine you have to rev it hard generally. With a turbo engine it's a bit more relaxed, with useful things happening at lower revs.

 

I've revved the balls off all the NA cars I've ever had (and destroyed many a piston ring and big end)! But I just don't need to in the Skoda.

Well, I guess I'll find out! I bought the car at the weekend, it is mechanically spot on. I'll start a new thread as I have a few questions...