Hi

 

I’m looking to come back to the fold and get another Octavia vRS. My job’s changed since I last had one (which as a company car). Since I’ll no longer be using it for commuting I’m planning to get an older petrol one.

 

I want to get one of the pre-facelift cambelt  models – with a budget around £6k.

 

Searching on Autotrader I’ve found a few:

 

This one http://tinyurl.com/plbac8v caught my eye as it’s a good spec and looks in good condition. But is it over priced?

 

My contrast. this one http://tinyurl.com/qx5trcj is a bit older but a lot cheaper, even allowing for budgeting for maybe needing cambelt doing.

 

Appreciate any advice! Want a decent one, but don’t want to pay OTT for it.

 

Cheers

Couldn't get your links to work so have fixed

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201502050714457

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201501150185406

 

Prices look reasonable. I traded in my 07 TFSI hatch with 83k for £4200. they put it on the forecourt for £5800 and it sold in about 10 days.

 

Mine was mechanically sound but having issues on the bodywork. Pre-FL cars have rust issues on the sills just above the stonechip paint. It wasn't put on high enough.

Sawtoothing rear tyres is an issue with some brands even after alignment.

 

07/57 and earlier cars will be due/overdue their second cambelt change. A 4yr service is also a biggie anyway without the belt.

 

07 car onwards should really have 18" alloys, jumbo box, dual climate and rear e/w. They were 'options' but fitted to pretty much every car. Any VRS would be a bit odd without them.

Edited 11 February, 201511 yr by Aspman

Thanks for the advice (and fixing the links)

 

I'd pay a premium for the black one, given the spec, history and slightly lower mileage. £7k just seemed like quite a lot for a 2007 car. Will try and get down to see it at the weekend,

Personally I think they are overpriced but someone is buying them.

If it helps, the black one used to be mine!

 

It is in very good condition, as the ad says. I was a bit OCD with keeping it clean, polished and waxed and the paintwork is in great condition overall. The interior is also in great condition, though I was considering cleaning the grey parts of the seats as they were getting a little grubby. Nothing major, just not as clean as I would have liked. There is no rust and it has the 18" Zeniths.

 

The add says it has front and rear parking sensors - well, that's half true. It has the rears but not the front unless they've fitted some since I traded it in (3 weeks ago).

 

It has got a Columbus which is excellent and xenons, which are also awesome. I had an amplifier fitted (Audison SR4) and upgraded the speakers in the front (Rainbow C6.2) which improved the sound quality no end. That alone cost £800 but I was told it added nothing to the value when trading it in so I wouldn't pay anything extra for it!

 

It has recently had a coil pack changed and so may need the others doing at some point though it has run incredibly smoothly apart from that in the 4 years I owned it. As you can see, I left my Briskoda sticker in it as I hoped it would eventually get purchased by someone on here. The service history is full and I passed on all of the receipts from my years of ownership. It was serviced locally by a reputable VAG specialist. It has 4 Goodyear F1 Assymetric tyres and they've got some wear left in them (the rears were replaced at the end of last year).

 

It was (is) a lovely car and if I hadn't needed to get a diesel, I'd still have it. 

 

If you want to know anything else, PM me and I'll let you know.

Hey, that's great info to know. Would feel a lot more comfortable buying it with some known history. Thanks so much for sharing.

Just to let you know, the cambelt and water pump were changed - but that was when I got it so it will be due to be changed again soon. That should give you some negotiating room. It should also have just been serviced - the light had come on two days before trading in.

 

Finally, it has been remapped. I mentioned it to the garage I traded it in to, but it's not guaranteed that the info has been passed on. It was done by a very reputable company local to where I live and is very good. Again, it's never caused me a second's worry. It does make the car ridiculously rapid though and actually improved the MPG on a run.

Thanks for the info - the advert inferred the belt had been been done recently, not nearly due to be done again.

 

It does look a really nice car. Hopefully will get a chance to view Satuday.

 

Did you trade it into the garage that are selling it?

 

Cheers

No, I traded it in in Clevedon, Somerset. They did say they would be sending it out to trade.

 

They may have done the cambelt since I handed it over. Its worth asking. If not, you could ask them to get it done or take £300 off the price. The price is considerably more than I got for it at trade in...

Yeah, sounds as though someone's making a fair bit of money on it!

 

In one of your other posts you mentioned something about a few largish bills on the horizon. Other than the cambelt, is there anything else I might need to be mindful of?

 

The car's probably only going to be used at weekends, or the occasional off site work meeting so can't see the mileage being more than 8-10k per year.

 

Thanks agaIn

Nope - it was the cambelt and potentially the coil packs. As it also needed a service, that needed to be taken into account. 

 

To be honest, I think I was trying to justify chopping it in! I don't regret selling it as I really like my new car, but I would have been happy to have kept it and paid out some money on it if I was looking to keep it longer term. Because my mileage was going to increase considerably in the next few months, a diesel made financial sense. 

4yr service has a lot of filters, brake fluid, plugs etc. Nothing special it just all comes around at once. Plus the belts / pump makes for a big one.

 

Car with history

 

Mark up is a lot on these. For some reason values of older VRSs are holding up really well. I was only offered £4700 as a trade in at 4yr old and Got £4200 at 7. £500 depreciation in 3yr wasn't bad.

 

If you get the car I'd suggest you factor in getting the stone chip paint raised up to the bottom of the door the same as the FL models. About £400 seems to be the rate. If the car is without sill rust it's a rare one and you'd want to keep it that way.

Edited 12 February, 201511 yr by Aspman

Yeager

               Have you seen this one ?? http://www.burnagemotors.co.uk/used-cars/skoda-octavia-2-0t-vrs-5dr-stockport-201412179691449 had a quick look see while I was there seems a very clean motor, don't know where you are based but these guys are in Stockport. I got my 2009 FL from them a fortnight ago, good lads & very helpful.

 

                             Paul

^ They haven't spotted the xenons (power wash on lights).

Thanks for the heads-up, looks a good one (and realistically priced) but too far to travel to view - I'm based near Reading.

Did you get the chance to go and see the car in Fleet?

Hi

 

It ended up being a really busy weekend, so unfortunately run out of time car hunting. Will view next weekend, if it's not been sold in the mean time...

 

Spotted another black vRS in a garage nearer me as another alternative - slightly mileage higher and lower spec, but has just had belts changed and is a fair bit cheaper. It's got some nasty after market wheels though that would have to go!

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201501160219799/sort/locasc/make/skoda/saved-search-id/2c929af54b920ebc014b9281c6a10006/model/octavia/fuel-type/petrol/usedcars/postcode/rg48ta/radius/100/keywords/vrs/page/1/price-to/7500/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew?logcode=p

Well it's mine! Viewed it this afternoon and it was certainy in excellent condition with no signs I could spot of any rust. It drove really nicely too; didn't really open it up as roads were wet, but could feel it had loads of torque.

 

The guy was unwilling to budge too much on the price, but did take a bit off and also are going to service it and replace the belt & water pump (he initally claimed belt wasn't due!)

 

Contary to the advert, it doesn't front parking sensors but I'm not too bothered about that. The only only other thing I noted was the front tyres were fairly worn - looked about 3.5mm left.

 

Hopefully pick up next weekend, depending on how when they can get the service done.

 

I asked the sales guy about the amp in the back, just to see how much he knew about the car. He reckoned "it was something to do with the satnav" :-)

 

Will post pics when I collect. Thanks again for all the advice Bigman

 

Cheers

Glad its gone to a good home!

 

It really is a good car and know it'll do you well. I hadn't picked up about the front parking sensors - no, they were never there! It's not a difficult car to park, but the rear sensors are useful. 

 

I hope to see you on the forum to find out how it's doing! Hopefully they've left the Briskoda sticker in the rear windscreen....

Cheers for that. Knowing about the car's history is worth a lot for buying a 7 year old car.

 

I'll certainly stay on the forum. The Briskoda sticker is still in the window!

 

Just one question - I did notice what looks like a sensor sensor on the windscreen (half way up near side) - what's that for?

 

Thanks

That is the old aerial for the DAB radio which I had fitted. I removed that head unit before selling the car as I had the Columbus waiting to go back in. It therefore serves no useful purpose and could be quite easily removed if you're handy with a trim removal tool.  If you're not, it won't do any harm staying there.