Hi, 

 

Looking for some advice on buying a 1.6TDi Elegance.  I'm going to view one tomorrow evening, it has 86k on the clock with full Skoda history and new clutch and EGR valve at 83k, priced at £7,300.

 

I have a fair bit of experience buying and selling cars (no, I'm not a trader!) but know very little about Octavias.

 

Any advice on what to check / look for would be much appreciated... 

Just buy it, nothing much to go wrong with it if it's had a new EGR & Clutch.

£7300, no bad price, I got a SE with 83k on it for £6500

G

I had a premature water pump failure.

Drive it like a gas model.

Thanks for your help. Went to see the car, unfortunately it wasn't a good example at all.

Spotted another one, which we are viewing tomorrow/Friday. One company owner from new etc. Has done 90k but hasn't had the clutch/DMF replaced.

How much does a clutch replacement cost? This one is a 2.0 CR TDi, rather than the 1.6. Anything else to be aware of or look for/check?

One Company owner = quite possibly driven by a lot of people.  When I bought one, they kept saying "one owner", but it was a Lease Car, and I suspect had a few 'drivers' as the clutch was changed at 30k miles according to the service history!

One Company owner = quite possibly driven by a lot of people. When I bought one, they kept saying "one owner", but it was a Lease Car, and I suspect had a few 'drivers' as the clutch was changed at 30k miles according to the service history!

Not always the case, mines was 1 genuine driver from new, company owned, electrician who traveled the UK..... Guy stays in my street, I bought car from the auction & the guy who previously drove it chapped my door and basiclly told me the history of the car. Couldn't believe my luck

G

Thanks, I've spoken to the owner and he has been the only driver (with his wife). I'm calling the Skoda dealers today who have serviced it to get more information on the history.

How much am I looking at for a new clutch and DMF (fitted by an Indy, not a main dealer)?

I am getting the parts for myself £330 and a garage fitting for £225 but he is also doing the cambelt. Thats a 1.9tdi, imagine it to be pretty much the same price though. I,d hazard a guess at £150 - £175 labour + price of parts

Thanks, so approx £500 for a new clutch, fitted.    Viewing the car this evening, it has done 87k miles, how likely is the clutch & DMF to be needing replacement?   I know it varies according to driving style, usage etc, but what's the average expected lifespan of the clutch?  (2.0 TDi CR)

So many variables to dmf failure, luck being one of them it would seem. Some go on for years some are barely fitted and implode. Driving style plays a part I believe, changing up to early and I imagine lots of town driving. Thats why taxi drivers go for the smf conversion I think. Feel for a pulsing through the pedal and vibration pulling away often accompanied by a metallic sound (mine sounds more like grating but release bearing is shot too) if it feels dodgy either walk away or haggle the price down and fit one later.

No Mike couldn't get a complete kit of branded parts so decided on a full sachs setup dmf from Euro car parts. After the ebay fiasco I decided the only way to guarantee genuine and new parts was to use a big company. I found an online code (extra5) and it came to 303 all in. Hopefully any failure is covered if it's short term as it's a decent garage fitting it. Been a lot of work just trying to find the correct parts that are new genuine and reasonably priced.

Thanks for all the advice. We negotiated a deal on the car last night. Clutch feels fine, no judder or vibration, nice light action. I appreciate that it could start to deteriorate at any time though, given the fact it has done 87k miles.

One thing needing attention is the gearshift - specifically it isn't re-centering in the gate whilst in neutral (I.e. It has lost it's 'spring'). The shift action is very smooth and precise but clearly it's easy to select the wrong gears, when you're used to it springing across e.g 6th to 5th etc. Would this be a relatively easy fix? My thinking is that it's so etching that just needs regreasing or something in the linkage.

Good spec for just over £6k - Elegance 2.0TDi CR Estate, 1 owner (was his company car), full Skoda history, and approx £2700 of factory options fitted - Columbus Nav, 10 speaker audio upgrade, Bluetooth, MFSW, Maxidot, Heated seats, tyre pressure monitor. No accidents/paint repairs at all.

Great honest one owner car. Hoping it proves to be reliable!

Edited 24 April, 201511 yr by daveb99

Great honest one owner car. Hoping it proves to be reliable!

 

It will have its problems I imagine Dave, most used cars do. The thing is on this forum there are so many folk with extensive knowledge they can usually point you in the right direction and keep costs to a minimum. When I first joined I was full of new car paranoia most of which proved to be unfounded and any problems that came up were resolved with the help of the site and its members. I'll be honest there is nothing more satisfying than ticking off a "to do list" one item at a time and knowing you are improving a car, especially if you intend on keeping it long term. 

Indeed, thanks. It's actually my cousin and her husband who have bought the car, I have been helping them find one basically, so I'll shortly be suggesting that they use Briskoda as it's clearly a great resource as you say.

Edited 24 April, 201511 yr by daveb99