Is a used Octavia a ticking time bomb?

[orthogonal]

I'm considering purchasing a used Octavia (around 2010-2012). I've read rather mixed things regarding their reliability, so I'm of two minds as to whether I'd want to purchase one out of warranty.

Does anybody have any first-hand experience owning one? 
I'd probably opt for a manual to avoid any DSG issues.

Sources:
http://www.anusedcar.com/index.php/tuv-model/skoda-octavia

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/skoda/octavia-2004/?section=good

http://www.haaretz.com/business/which-cars-will-take-you-for-a-ride-1.391180
(Octavia finished 3rd from the bottom)

 

Thanks.

[mikey vrs]

Which model octavia are you thinking of buying??.......the only issue im aware of seems to be the timing chain tensioner failing on some of the earlier 2.0 TSI engines fitted to the vrs,ive read the odd DSG issue but none to worry about,The DPF can be a issue on the PD vrs but as long as you buy one thats been serviced correctly at the right times & mileage you should be fine,mine is a 2008 petrol vrs that i bought when it was 2 years old with 11k on it,its now 6 years old with 59k on it & ive had 1 minor warranty repair,other than routine servicing & brakes & tyres the only issue ive had was a faulty ignition switch which i replaced myself for £15.Im more than happy with mine & think its the best car ive owned & this is the longest ive kept a car. 

[Paulbrown]

I know mines older but I have a 08reg vrs petrol fsh really pleased with it skodas are very good cars!

[orthogonal]

Interesting. I was thinking of buying a 90TSI manual. Here in Australia it's not as cost effective to buy diesel compared to over in Europe.

[Aspman]

Remember Honest John lists pretty much every fault ever sent to him even if there is only one.

 

You take a chance on every car you buy. If you're worried look at extended warranties.

 

I got a 2010 Honda this year and negotiated a pretty cheap 3yr warranty. I'll probably keep it 3yr so the big things should be covered during that time.

[booke23]

As Aspman says, any car that is out of warranty is a ticking time bomb. Cars are fairly complicated mechanical devices, if you keep it long enough it will go wrong at some point.

 

I've never owned any VAG cars before the two Skodas I have at the moment. I've owned Renault, Chrysler, 2 Rover 600's (Honda), Fiat and Mazda cars. The Skodas have been average compared to my experience with other makes......the two Rover 600's I had were the best car I've owned for reliability.

 

Don't think that buying an Audi or VW will also buy you greater reliability.....it won't. I know a guy with a Mk5 Golf (Mk2 Octavia is 95% the same) and he has probably suffered worse reliability than me.....I know another guy with a newer Audi A3 (95% the same as the Octavia) with the CR diesel engine and he has had a couple of big bills for engine issues.

 

But even this isn't the whole story. Half the problem with diesel cars built in the last 10 years or so, is the complicated systems on the engine to reduce emissions as mandated by law. Unlike the diesel cars in the 1990's, all diesel engines in cars produced in the last 10 years have turbo chargers, dual mass flywheels, EGR systems and complex high pressure injection systems. Quite a a lot of them (and all built after sept 2010) have a particulate filter on the exhaust too. These systems account for a lot of faults when you read through this forum.

 

So it is fair to say all makes of diesel car from the last 10 years will probably be less reliable than a similar older car.     

 

What engine are you thinking of going for?

Edited 5 December, 2014 by booke23

[Machpoint005]

I'd say the key to reliability is thorough and regular servicing - regardless of make.

It has served us well through 2 Mk1 Octavias, a Mk2 and (presumably) the new Mk 3 which have clocked up 200,000 miles between them,

One is a ten year old Mk 1 (90PS turbodiesel) that is still going strong with another family member.

[orthogonal]

 

 

What engine are you thinking of going for?

I was thinking of going for the 1.4 TSI. Seems to be quite frugal, and as you've elaborated, I've heard some questionable things about the diesel engines. The prospect of buying an Octavia sounds more risky the more I read! Perhaps I should just stick with a reliable Japanese brand like Mazda or Honda.

[booke23]

I think the 1.4TSI is an excellent choice.

 

Mazda cars used to be supremely reliable, but I'm not sure this is still the case as a lot of their cars are based on Ford platforms. Honda also used to be renowned for reliability, but a guy I worked with had a 2006 Diesel Accord that cost him thousands when it suffered a timing chain issue.

 

The bottom line is, if you spend time reading all the forums for any car make you are interested in, you will be put off ever buying a car again! Most people only post when they have problems, so a forum represents quite a slanted view of reliability.    

[mcdeli]

I was thinking of going for the 1.4 TSI. Seems to be quite frugal, and as you've elaborated, I've heard some questionable things about the diesel engines. The prospect of buying an Octavia sounds more risky the more I read! Perhaps I should just stick with a reliable Japanese brand like Mazda or Honda.

 I researched long and hard and went for a 2010 1.4 TSI. I read all the long posts I could find on honestjohn, as much here as I could, some similar forums translated from other languages, and I spoke to Octy owners and a friend in VAG service.

 

My logic was to go for the lowest risk. So I bought from a dealer and got a year's guarantee. Petrol engine, manual transmission also seem less risky. FL rather than pre-FL also seems less risky. Everything I ran into suggested the similar Golf models have had far more issues than the Octy. 

 

Choosing the 1.4 over the other TSI options was easy because of availability, choice and relative power-cost.

 

Door seals and water ingress seem to be reported problems - and fairly easy to check - along with general wear and tear.

 

The cam chain tensioner is the one major issue. My understanding is that every TSI engine from this time will have the cam chain tensioner issue at some point in its life - could be after 12k or 212k. You just to have to listen for the engine to change sound at start up and get it fixed for 600 squid before it wrecks the engine and costs @3000.

 

I am no petrol head or expert and have limited experience. The 1.4 TSI seems like a great choice after a few months. You do hear and feel the road - it is noisy - and it mists up after the AC has been on a little too easily... I could have a little more poke in 1st and 2nd... after a few months on Briskoda I want a VRS... I can now recognize every Skoda alloy and badge angle at 100 yards... but so far those are my only negatives...

[blackspaven]

The cam chain tensioner is the one major issue. My understanding is that every TSI engine from this time will have the cam chain tensioner issue at some point in its life - could be after 12k or 212k. You just to have to listen for the engine to change sound at start up and get it fixed for 600 squid before it wrecks the engine and costs @3000.

 

 

It's not WILL have a tensioner problem, it's MIGHT. They'd recall it if they all went. Just bad luck if you've one of the few who has it happen to them.

[Eddie-NL]

Those reliability surveys are a waste of time

 

ALL cars can have issues, best to find a car you like and the get a 3rd party warranty for your piece of mind.

 

Obviously find a tidy example that has been well maintained and not been abused

[Phil-E]

Any car will have issues.

 

People just don't care for their cars half the time and wait for something to fall off rather than preventative maintenance.

 

Phil

[BO60BYS]

You come to a Skoda forum and bad mouth or cars ! haha kidding best way to find out is have a look through the forum and see how many serious problems you come across. 

 

Love the Skoda its VAG so if you don't like VW's or AUDI's then your probably looking along the lines of a upper premium car manufacture. 

[Anddenton]

Mine is now 6.5years old with 127.5k miles, is a PD with a DPF and has suffered no major problems. At the risk of tempting fate its on original DMF, turbo, battery, rear wiper motor etc so they don't all suffer the usual issues.

[hanseandy]

As mentioned by others the vast majority of cars eventually suffer breakdowns of some sort. Reading other forums (as you have been) gives the impression that a lot of vehicles share similar faults, (dual mass flywheels, dpf's etc...)

Previously bought a car (Nissan) based on its excellent reliability reviews - turned out to be the biggest lemon I have ever owned, I begrudged paying every bill because I bought it with my head not my heart.

The Vrs was bought on impulse 4 yrs ago - test drove it and had to have it! Bills never bother me with this car, it gets what it needs to keep it tip top.

I guess the point I am labouring to make is: doing your 'homework' is important - but buying something because it's what you really want matters more.

[andyoctavia]

I was thinking of going for the 1.4 TSI. Seems to be quite frugal, and as you've elaborated, I've heard some questionable things about the diesel engines. The prospect of buying an Octavia sounds more risky the more I read! Perhaps I should just stick with a reliable Japanese brand like Mazda or Honda.

 

We sold a Mazda 3 and bought our Octavia (55 plate 1.9 Tdi PD) a few years ago.

The Mazda (58 plate), was the worst car we ever owned, and had several "issues" which were common to the brand (confirmed by other people's comments on the owner's forum) - thin paint/loads of chipping (leading to minor rust), light switch clutch (no gradual take up), notchy gearchange, awful main dealer service, incredibly thirsty for a 1.6 car (largely due to the gear ratios - 70MPH = 3200RPM plus loads of vibration).

The Octavia on the other hand is very comfortable to drive, returns good MPG, has good paintwork, is relatively easy to service and cheap for parts, and has been quite reliable (DMF changed for single flywheel clutch two years ago).

[mcdeli]

 

"The cam chain tensioner is the one major issue. My understanding is that every TSI engine from this time will have the cam chain tensioner issue at some point in its life - could be after 12k or 212k. You just to have to listen for the engine to change sound at start up and get it fixed for 600 squid before it wrecks the engine and costs @3000."

 

 

"It's not WILL have a tensioner problem, it's MIGHT. They'd recall it if they all went. Just bad luck if you've one of the few who has it happen to them."

 

 

My language was a little strong the first time. Perhaps it is true to say that all this era's TSI engines are susceptible to the cam chain tensioner problem. No one can really say how many it will happen to because many of the models in question are not in the hundreds of thousands of KMs yet. What I have been told by VAG service professional is that you should be prepared to expect it to happen during the lifetime of the vehicle. And that doesn't mean some warranty definition of lifetime. These cars might not last into the 2-3 thousand KMs for all sorts of reasons. 

 

On the lack of a recall on this: Considering it has been reported on cars in the teens and twenty thousands it is a bit of a surprise there was not a recall. Presumably it is fixed in the 3rd gen.

 

I am dwelling on it because I have met people with far more car knowledge than me, who have VAG motors susceptible to this, who didn't know about it. One friend actually detected the problem the same week we spoke about it and got the fix half covered by VW on an out of warranty vehicle. 

 

[sniper29a]

It's all about previous owner of car.

 

My Fabia 1.4TDi 59kW, 2007 - bought with 225k km on ODO...my parents inherited this car at about 295k km...My friend said "Bloody hell man, this car drives better than my Octavia 1.9TDi." I bought this car from a guy who was first owner (company car)...all you need to do is ask about owner's driving style and attitude.

 

CAR IS REFLECTION OF ITS OWNER.

 

My second Skoda Octavia II 2.0TDI 103kW, bought from Germany. From first owner. 158k km on ODO...Car as new...All baby diseases are repaired and you have got reliable car.

 

IF you have intelligent owner who doesn't drive to work 500m (as most Austrians do), he never pushes cold car hard, always cool off turbo...YOU HAVE BEST AND MOST RELIABLE CAR YOU CAN BUY.

 

Important is changing oil at max. 10k km, always inspect car...Octavia engines - record is 900,000km, then they forgot to replace timing belt...bang...who knows how long would run this engine.

 

Of course, there is an issue with new experimental VAG engines. I am talking about good old VAG engines.

 

I noticed in UK that you people are scared from "old" cars - why do you think motorsport companies used to drive into scrapyards and buy old engine blocks...because they were stabilised by extreme temperatures and finally ready for hard core abuse.

 

DON'T WORRT ABOUT MARKETING AND ALWAYS BUY CAR WITH ABOUT 150k KM ON ODO - THAT'S THE BEST AND MOST RELIABLE CAR YOU CAN BUY. YOU WILL ALWAYS SPEND MONEY ON CONSUMABLES !!! NOTHING LAST FOREVER.

 

I noticed in UK that you have extended warranties for everything but you use just new stuff - afraid of most reliable "old" unfashionable stuff.

 

Boy, my ex-landlady give me some amusement when she explained me why she rather spend 25k £ on new car rather that on "old" car for 1/3rd of price.

[Frankieboy]

I have had my 2008 Octavia II Ambiente diesel 1896cc for 3 months, purchased for 6K in immaculate condition with 50,000 miles on the clock.  Can only say delighted with it and great fuel consumption. Reliability? - service history so far OK and one of the largest cab firms around here uses them so I reckon that cannot be too a bad a recommendation as cab firms will surely for suss out real duds?

[pastiche]

Had our 2.0 Octy for 9 years, at 6000 miles the dealer said the starter motor and flywheel have to be replace, at around 30000 the A/C compressor  had to be renewed, so far it was under warrranty. At around 50000 the EGR valve replaced,55000  turbo replaced. So at 59660 miles the dsg went and so the bl----- car went

[SkodaKitteh]

Had my 07 Octy 2.0T Fsi vRS for a couple of months now, all seems well.  I was expecting at least one or two little things to go wrong and to take it to the garage but no, everything *crosses fingers* is fine.  Got the MOT coming up at the end of February so that will really be the test, quite literally !  In the mean time I'm loving the vRS !

[brad1.8T]

Interesting. I was thinking of buying a 90TSI manual. Here in Australia it's not as cost effective to buy diesel compared to over in Europe.

You'll be fine with that. Manual is silky smooth & reasonably bullet proof.  90tsi is single turbo & no supercharger & has a good rep.

 

Keep in mind that it needs minimum 95ron (98ron is better) and most Aussies are too tight-arse to pay the extra 15c/L for that.

 

Don't expect it to be a Toyota Corolla or Mazda3 though. If you want outright reliability (and boredom) get a used Corolla.  They have next to zero features & are overpriced and have a really lightweight interior but if all you want is reliability then that's the car to choose - and you can run it on E10.

 

Skoda service is every 15k/12m whereas the Toyota & Mazda is still 10,000/6months????

 

The Skoda will let you down occasionally but it's a fun drive & the cabin is a nice place to be.  My FIL has the latest Corolla & I really think it's a backward in long lasting quality over previous Corollas.

 

What you need to do is be a bit pro-active & find a good independent specialist - you'll get a better service outcome than the crap dealership techos.  Also, try & source parts from O/S remembering a lot of VW Golf stuff fits.

 

I guess a 3yr old 90tsi manual hatch is around AUD13k with approx 50,000km?  +$1k for a wagon?

 

Keep an eye out for the 118tsi in manual too - well worth a few thousand more.

[nickguzzi]

Been an Octavia owner for 15+years.  One new 1U and a secondhand 1Z combi.  Combined mileage so far, 280,000+ miles.

Number of times broken down - none.

Non service items Items replaced - one battery, one aircon pump, the xxx relay on the 1U, few bulbs,  DMF+clutch (nothing wrong with clutch, grrr).

So, big long list.

[pipsyp]

Mk2 Octavias are on the whole v good. Like any car they have their known faults/weak spots but if you buy the right car thats clean, honest and well maintained you really cant go too wrong. The facelift is again a bit better/more modern than the earlier model in any case.

I also agree with the comments above...the 1.2 TSi is fine and not a bad car at all but the 1.4 is better (much stronger performance, not a great difference in efficiency).

Edited 28 December, 2014 by pipsyp