Evening all

 

I’m looking to by a petrol Octavia vRS over the next couple of months.

 

I’ve had a 2007 company car diesel Octavia vRS and have since had a few other marques but a change of job means I can now get a car cash allowance.

 

My initial budget was about £14k, which looking on Autotrader should get me a 2012 facelift model (hopefully late enough build to have the modified cam chain tentioner). However, if I borrowed a bit of money and stretched the budget to £18-£19k I could get a nearly-new mk III.

 

So my dilemma is, does the new model warrant an extra £4-5k? The model is better equipped, better fuel economy, cheaper road tax etc. but is that worth it over buying the older model outright?

 

Appreciate your  thoughts!

It depends on your prime driver for the purchase.

 

In theory the MK2 will have depreciated more than the newer MK3 and the same money will get you a higher spec and you'll have less depreciation loss on the car in the future.  I guess you could get a Mk2 vRS or Elegance for the same, or less, money as a newer S or SE.  Mileage will most likely be higher but if you can source a privately owned, well maintained low mileage car then it would be worth a look.

 

However, most Mk2s will have at most maybe 12 - 15 months of warranty remaining (or will be out of warranty) unless they were registered after the Mk3 was released. A Mk3 will have a minimum of 15 months warranty (maybe up to 4 years in your price bracket).

Beaware the last 6 months of the Mk2 were sold new as VAT free ie. -20%.  This should follow through to their second hand price, Glasses Guide certainly shows this, ensure you are not paying over te odds for the last of the Mk2's, do you have any friends whom can access the Glasses Guide for you, its a great bargaining tool with dealers words like "Nice though it is Glasses Guide says its worth that and not what you're asking"

If you haggle hard you can get a Mk3 for much less than £18-19k. Cheapest I've seen one was a white one with no options 13 plate with about 20k miles for £16k at a main dealer.

3 months ago I got a 63 plate estate in race blue with sat-nav and DSG. Was up for £18k and I paid £17k. Only 16k miles and transferable service plan too. 2nd service just completed on the house :-) Awesome car, comfortably better than my old Mk2 in every respect.

Having owned both, I would say yes, although I can only speak for the petrol VRS variants.

 

The MK2 was a great car but the MK3 is a natural evolution in all areas, the biggest area of improvement being the engine.

Just coming from a great MkII petrol VRS, the answer is still yes. I think you answered your own question in your last paragraph. It is more expensive but there are some good reasons for the price hike, which a lot of MkII owners, brought up on very good value MKII, are finding hard to come to terms with.