Hello folks,

New here so please be gentle, I've joined up to use this site once I've bought my new skoda but first I could do with some help/feedback to help me with choosing what to go for.

A bit about me first that may help. Married with one kid, not planning anymore as far as I'm aware lol. Also got a dog, a labradorite cross so not huge. Two main hobbies that would potentially require car use would be golf and fishing. Work is a 50 mile round trip, at the minute I share lifts but that could always change but it does cut those runs down for now to just a couple of times a week at most. Other than that it's short stuff other than odd occasions of distance but nothing regular. Currently I've got a mk3 Mondeo hatch and other than taking the parcel shelf out for the dog it does what I need, but it's getting G on so time for a new motor.

A skoda octavia mk2 is top of my list but there's a few options out there. Based on your own experience and/or what I've posted above what do you think on these three options:

Petrol or diesel?

Estate or hatch?

Manual or dog?

Trying to stay as close as possible to a 12k budget but there is wiggle room. Looking to go max 4 years old with average mileage.

Thanks for reading,

James

Clearly that should say manual or dsg, the dog is staying.