Long post so please bear with me.

I used to have an 07 Passat 2.0tdi estate DSG which I really liked but managed to crash and it was never the same so it got swapped in for a 2.0 mondeo powershift Titanium.(11reg)

supposed to have the same power and performance but is so much slower and just about manages 40mpg vs the Passat 50mpg.

Now I have got used to the slowness ( having a motorbike for fun helps) but I have also got used to the Fords gadgets namely the Bluetooth phone ( for both calls and music) and the voice control- though I only really use it for dialling names on the phone and the odd radio station)

 

I also like the sound system on the ford, Sony DAB and 9 speakers (8 plus sub)

 

I have started looking at the Skoda's and was quite taken by the Octavia 1.6d, I will be buying second hand and it looks like a SE model , working on the theory that the performance wasn't that different from the ford (talking about acceleration more than top speed) but the fuel consumption seems amazing.

The sound system I know will be worse  but I can always change the speakers if I have to.

But can the Bluetooth stream music? and can I access my contacts either via voice commands or through the cars menu (pref  from the steering wheel controls)

 

Any other things I should be aware of in comparison.

 

many thanks

The 1.6tdi is a sweet little Diesel engine but it lacks punch. MPG is impressive but do not expect ~70mpg as quoted within the brochure, however 50-55mpg is certainly achievable without trying too hard. The sound system within The Octy sound system is okay, but even with the Canton options it is not a car for audiophiles. Handling is safe and predictable but will not match a Mondeo for fun. Build quality beats the Ford and the rear passenger space is better in the Octy. An Octy will hold its value better but you will also pay more for the same age used car. If your main concern is fuel economy, little can touch the Octavia 1.6tdi.

I have the 1.6 TDI with DSG and it is a bit better on performance than I expected but not as economical as I thought. It has enough zip for overtaking and relaxed cruising. 50-55 mpg is achievable but expected better.

Worth knowing if you are looking at manuals the gearbox for SE 1.6 TDI is five speed.

They will be rarer second hand but I would recommend the Greenline (more or less SE spec). It benefits from the 1.6 TDI 110bhp engine and six speed manual.

Mondeos are heavy hence why even a 140ps diesel feels quite slow.

Honest opinions....

The 1.6 engine is v good but if you're underwhelmed with the Mondeo's performance cant see you feeling much different about the Octy TBH. There probably isnt much in it but it will still be slower than your current Mondeo.

The standard sound system is pretty pap. It actually sounds OK generally speaking but you have to wang the bass and treble right up to get a good sound and that has the negative effect of it not going very loud at all....there is something in the stereos electronics to prevent the speakers being blown I believe. Its one of the single biggest disappointments about the car for me.

Also spec wise the SE will probably feel a little ill equipped after a Titanuim spec Ford. An Elegance would be the better call.

If you want an improvement all round on what you have now my advice would be to try and find a 2.0 DSG Elegance with the Canton sound upgrade.

thanks for the advice guys

I will have a look at the prices of the 2.0 elegances, but I suspect that may be pushing it. Too be honest I find the mondeo too big and generally only do the commute to the train station (30miles in the motorway) in the winter as I use the motorbike the rest of the time.

the main thing was the issue of the Bluetooth and controlling the phone- anyone??

Bluetooth integration is pretty good, voice control pretty woeful. Only difference with phone control SE v Elegance is the SE doesnt as standard come with steering wheel controls.

If you are an iPhone/iPod user spec the Mitsumi connection to have full control over your device. Whilst I have Bluetooth and Canton (which is compatible to performance upgrades in Volvos, Hondas etc I have owned previously, and in my opinion is a vfm upgrade) this is my single regret.

Thanks guys

the problem I have is I cant spec anything as I am buying secondhand. so I am trying to get an idea of what the Bluetooth integration can do etc.

I am an android user with a HTC one. Even if I cant voice control the phone via the car, will the Bluetooth allow me to access the phones contacts in anyway?

thanks

Thanks guys

the problem I have is I cant spec anything as I am buying secondhand. so I am trying to get an idea of what the Bluetooth integration can do etc.

I am an android user with a HTC one. Even if I cant voice control the phone via the car, will the Bluetooth allow me to access the phones contacts in anyway?

thanks

It will be more comprehensive than the mondeo for sure. Full phone book and audio streaming. I believe you can have two phones connected at once, one for phone calls and one for audio or simply one for both.

Thanks guys

the problem I have is I cant spec anything as I am buying secondhand. so I am trying to get an idea of what the Bluetooth integration can do etc.

I am an android user with a HTC one. Even if I cant voice control the phone via the car, will the Bluetooth allow me to access the phones contacts in anyway?

thanks

I have a HTC one and it works great with Bluetooth. All contacts accessible. Haven't tried voice control with phone yet. I had a little play skipping tracks the other day and it worked fine. I have got Columbus and Canton upgrades though and they are nice. Bluetooth should still perform same on lower stereos though.

Have you considered a petrol? If you're only doing a few miles you may have the diesel doing dpf regens and hampering the performance as well. Love my 1.4tsi dsg, coming from an old 1.9tdi A6.

Edited 31 December, 201411 yr by philwoodphoto

Phil,

thanks for that

most of the cars seem to have the basic Bolero. so not sure if that has voice control on it (I suspect not) Not a huge problem so long as I can access the phone contacts. It would be nice if they were accessible from the steering wheel or stalk rather than the stereo unit itself.

I will have a look into the petrol to be honest I reckon I do between 10-20k a year depending on how much I use the bike

You should have no problems with Bluetooth and searching your phone.

Voice control is pretty good on the whole. Ive never had it as bad as some claim.

 

Honestly, if your worries are Bluetooth and connecting to your phone, then you are fine

Bluetooth (phone calls, contacts, music streaming) is flawless with my android device (an S4). If you keep thinking of the 1.6, I'd agree with Igdos suggesting you a greenline.

Phil,thanks for thatmost of the cars seem to have the basic Bolero. so not sure if that has voice control on it (I suspect not) Not a huge problem so long as I can access the phone contacts. It would be nice if they were accessible from the steering wheel or stalk rather than the stereo unit itself.I will have a look into the petrol to be honest I reckon I do between 10-20k a year depending on how much I use the bike

Basic Bolero in mine (1.6 s), blue tooth for phone does everything except voice control. Has access to all contacts , auto connects to paired phones as soon as you get in the car. Streams music from I phone etc.

Edited 31 December, 201411 yr by classic

Basic Bolero in mine (1.6 s), blue tooth for phone does everything except voice control. Has access to all contacts , auto connects to paired phones as soon as you get in the car. Streams music from I phone etc.

Excellent

one thing though

how do you access the contacts etc? is it via the centre console or via the steering wheel?

Access on mine is through the Bolero head unit touch screen. I believe the steering wheel controls are a factory option (about £100) from SE models upwards. Also I think models with navigation fitted also have voice control.

I am sure all cars with Bolero and SE spec have voice control

...also worth noting if you have any form of maxidot but no mfsw you can still control the phone via maxidot in a primitive fashion using the trip computer rocker switch on the wiper stalk. Only useful for last dialled/received/missed calls...for full phonebook access you have to use the infotainment screen or voice control.

I am sure all cars with Bolero and SE spec have voice control

My wife has a 2014 Octavia SE and it does have voice control, great phone connection and Bluetooth music streaming.

 

To the OP, it's a 1.6 SE TDI DSG, and we usually see 55+ mpg at least, quite often 60, and sometimes over 70 when cruising along on longer motorway journeys.

 

The main thing it doesn't have for me is cruise control and no multi function steering wheel so I'd look out for one which has these features, or as someone has already suggested an Elegance model.

can the cruise control and the steering wheel be retro fitted??

Bluetooth works fine for all Android and iPhone devices my family use. Only negative is that text messages cannot be "read aloud" or even displayed as within recent Fords.

Something to consider is that the 1.6tdi can be remapped to ~135bhp by many tuners. Whilst this will not make it a performance car, it will offer much closer performance to the 2.0tdi.

One final option will be to consider the 1.4tsi (petrol) unit. It offers similar power to the 2.0tdi, is extremely refined, will be cheaper to purchase second hand, and is very economical (almost diesel like).

can the cruise control and the steering wheel be retro fitted??

 

This place retrofits the cruise control http://hazzydayz.com/skoda-octavia-cruise-control-1590-p.asp if you go to the bottom of the page it is listed for the Octavia 2014 onwards. They are probably other suppliers if you do a search on the internet, and I'm sure someone on Briskoda has done it as well.

 

I haven't seen anyone that fits a steering wheel but doubtless it can be done.

 

Have a read of this post http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/288726-retrofitting-cruise-control/?hl=+retrofit

 

And here for MFSW, the last post has a useful link http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/306924-retrofit-mfsw/?hl=%2Bretrofit+%2Bsteering+%2Bwheel#entry3667299

Edited 31 December, 201411 yr by cnc

Bluetooth works fine for all Android and iPhone devices my family use. Only negative is that text messages cannot be "read aloud" or even displayed as within recent Fords.

Something to consider is that the 1.6tdi can be remapped to ~135bhp by many tuners. Whilst this will not make it a performance car, it will offer much closer performance to the 2.0tdi.

One final option will be to consider the 1.4tsi (petrol) unit. It offers similar power to the 2.0tdi, is extremely refined, will be cheaper to purchase second hand, and is very economical (almost diesel like).

Texts are read aloud from my Galaxy S4 by using the SMS+Car app in conjunction with the Amundsen unit. But not all Android devices may be compatible. Dont know about Apple.

+1 for the 1.4 TSI. I now have one of those after a 2.0 TDI and prefer the TSI. But I do a lot less mileage now.

Last car that I had was a 55 reg Mondeo diesel estate, I really did like that car but when I had to change my car suddenly last autumn, I chose not to get another Mondeo largely because the still current model was already obsolete everywhere in the world except for Europe and Ford were not offering any good finance deals on the Mondeo. i did look at a pre reg car the local Ford garage had, silver Titanium spec 2 litre diesel estate, great looking car, only ten miles on the clock, good price but pretty bleak inside and zero luxury to be seen anywhere, unless you count air conditioning, leather steering wheel and a single disc CD player. Checked out what real life mpg was likely to be and it came out somewhere around 40 mpg at best, worse than my old Mondeo which was circa 43/ 45 mpg, not very impressive and car tax circa £200/ year. Hence my reason for choosing the Octavia as a brand new design, with much more up to date engine technology offering better mpg, sat nav included and no road tax.

The steering wheel controls on the Elegance spec cars do allow very easy bluetooth phone calls, so if that is important to you best try to get this spec over the SE. You can access music on your mobile phone too also via Bluetooth or connect a flash drive with music on it, only thing I find is that the stereo organises all tracks in A to Z order by track name, so not too useful that way. The Elegance model also has a CD player hidden in the glove box, works fine but not too handy to change a CD!

My Mrs has still got my old ST tdci (07) and it's still a revalation how good the steering feel is compared to the vrs.

Other than the steering, everything else on the Octavia is excellent.

Steve

Edited 1 January, 201511 yr by StevenB