I have been driving my year old 1.4 TSI SE Estate for 2 months, 2000 miles and thought I'd share my thoughts. I bought the Octavia after a bad experience with a new shape C-Max. I needed something spacious, cheap to run and reliable. I spent a day visiting loads of dealers, looking at lots of different cars. Here is a taste:

Renault - Megan Sporthatch. Massive new discount (35% ish) After driving it I could see why! Definately built to a price and felt like it wouldn't last 5 minutes. Dealer very average

Seat - Leon. Dealer was so apalling & car just didn't feel right for me

Peugeot 308 SW - Dealer crap & didn't have a petrol car I could drive

Citroen - Dealer crap so walked away without talking to anyone

VW - Golf Est - Lovely thing but too expensive

Toyota - Auris est' - Crap dealer but persevered and drove a 1.4 diesel as didn't have a petrol one. Nice car - tempted

Skoda - Octavia est' - Brilliant dealer. All sales people busy so Sales Manager looked after us. - Bought a car!

So how is the car? Well, I actually look forward to driving it every time I get in & that's not something I've done in years! The reason is that it feels so light, taught and nippy. The small petrol engine keeps the weight off the front and it's character is so perky. I still can't quite believe that it is only 1400cc. There is masses of low-down torque although it does trail off when revs rise. I very rarely need to rev it anywhere near the red line to make brisk progress. I do lots of short journeys and the engine warms up so quickly.

Economy is amazing for such a big car. Knocking about with lots of short jouirneys I average about 42mpg. Over 1000 miles in France with a mountain of luggage and 4 people it managed an indicated 43mpg. Road tax is £30.

It does have it's faults: Wind noise around the screen shouldn't happen on a modern car; teeny bit firm on the suspension; teeny bit too much road noise; lacking a power socket between the seats ofr rear passengers; engine can feel just a little bit rough when under load.

It's not perfect, but as a cheap, well made family estate that does lots of short journeys, it'd be hard to beat. Feels lightyears newer than my old C-max

Simon

Edited 10 August, 201510 yr by usedit67

Couldnt agree more with that.

I have a 2.0 TDI Elegance estate and have to say other than not being the 1st word in excitement to drive (its quick for a big barge but not particularly fun) it represents an awful lot of large family car for the money and really is about all the car one needs.

Its enormous and compared to a Mk7 Golf hatch (I also have a GTD company car - I ran the Octavia for just over a year but its now my wifes car) its a night and day difference in practicality. The Golf feels very small with limited rear legroom and takes little effort to fill the boot. I am not sure I have had to load the Octavia to the point I havent been able to pull the cover shut!

Had the 1.4 been cheaper to PCP than the 2.0 TDI, Id have probably gone for it. I havent driven one but a very good unit by all accounts.

Mine has also bar a dodgy boot bulb been faultless over nearly 28k miles amassed over 18 months (and most of those in the past 9).

The Golf suffers from road noise but wind and mechanical noise supression are notably better on the Golf...the Golf is perhaps a little better bolted together and uses some better materials here and there but not light years difference.

Renaults and anything from the PSA group just do nothing for me....just not into french cars. Peugeots have improved of late (308 is quite handsome and think the 208 GTI is kinda cool) but to me they are on the most part poorly built and engineered trading on lots of standard spec, overstyled looks and give-away finance packages to sell across the board.

Mother in law has a newish C Max....v good car but seems rather utilitarian rather than of good quality....dare I say it a bit tinny?.....but then not a big fan of Fords either......

Edited 10 August, 201510 yr by pipsypreturns

I have to agree that the Mk3 1.4tsi estate is a good combination with good low down power, light weight for its size and consequent good economy.

Frisky around town and especially nimble around those small urban roundabouts. It is fun watching the all-too-common small SUV (in Australia) in the rear view mirror, wallow around as they attempt to repeat my manoeuvre.

I do not find it quite as stable as my old diesel Mk2 at highway speeds, especially in strong crosswinds, but of course that was much heavier and slower accelerating but a great economical long distance cruiser.

I have been driving my year old 1.4 TSI SE Estate for 2 months, 2000 miles and thought I'd share my thoughts. I bought the Octavia after a bad experience with a new shape C-Max. I needed something spacious, cheap to run and reliable. I spent a day visiting loads of dealers, looking at lots of different cars. Here is a taste:

Renault - Megan Sporthatch. Massive new discount (35% ish) After driving it I could see why! Definately built to a price and felt like it wouldn't last 5 minutes. Dealer very average

Seat - Leon. Dealer was so apalling & car just didn't feel right for me

Peugeot 308 SW - Dealer crap & didn't have a petrol car I could drive

Citroen - Dealer crap so walked away without talking to anyone

VW - Golf Est - Lovely thing but too expensive

Toyota - Auris est' - Crap dealer but persevered and drove a 1.4 diesel as didn't have a petrol one. Nice car - tempted

Skoda - Octavia est' - Brilliant dealer. All sales people busy so Sales Manager looked after us. - Bought a car!

So how is the car? Well, I actually look forward to driving it every time I get in & that's not something I've done in years! The reason is that it feels so light, taught and nippy. The small petrol engine keeps the weight off the front and it's character is so perky. I still can't quite believe that it is only 1400cc. There is masses of low-down torque although it does trail off when revs rise. I very rarely need to rev it anywhere near the red line to make brisk progress. I do lots of short journeys and the engine warms up so quickly.

Economy is amazing for such a big car. Knocking about with lots of short jouirneys I average about 42mpg. Over 1000 miles in France with a mountain of luggage and 4 people it managed an indicated 43mpg. Road tax is £30.

It does have it's faults: Wind noise around the screen shouldn't happen on a modern car; teeny bit firm on the suspension; teeny bit too much road noise; lacking a power socket between the seats ofr rear passengers; engine can feel just a little bit rough when under load.

It's not perfect, but as a cheap, well made family estate that does lots of short journeys, it'd be hard to beat. Feels lightyears newer than my old C-max

Simon

Is it manual or DSG?

Manual

I feel the same way about mine.

What tyres have you got? I've read that the Dunlops are very noisy. I have Pirellis and I find tyre noise to be reasonable. I've also read that swapping the rear shocks for mk7 Golf stockies (I'm assuming from torsion beam models) really improves the ride.

I'm also planning on wiring in a 12v and maybe a couple USB charge ports for the rear, but only if I can make it look stock. Maybe wired from the luggage 12v socket so as to not overload the front.

Enjoy.

Edited 12 August, 201510 yr by hobbie2k

I have 17 inch alloys  with Dunlops fitted to my Mk3, they were part of the upgrade package from 16 inch steel rims and some Korean tyre fitted to the basic Ambition model.

My reaction when I found out about the Dunlops was "Oh no, not again". I had them fitted as originals to my old Mk2 and while I found they gripped like a limpet around corners and were initially quiet the problem was that the fairly course tread developed a scalloped profile and they became extremely noisy. To the point that I had to replace them prematurely (rotating/reversing tyres did not seem to help) with Yokohamas, these were not so grippy but definitely quieter.

 

The good news is the Dunlops on the Mk3 are wearing well and have not got any noisier since new. The Mk3 is far quieter than my Mk2 for road noise even on course chip surfaces. When I get on very smooth tarmac at our legal maximum speed (110kph) the car is eerily quiet, then you can hear some of that wind noise from the wing mirrors that has been mentioned. I would hardly call it a problem though having experienced far worse on other cars (if you can call SUVs a car).

 

Even though I have the torsion bar rear suspension I do not have a any problem with road noise or ride so the shocks fitted to my car must be ok (the wife agrees, so I cannot be wrong) 

The fact that some find theirs unbearable suggests that not all shocks fitted are working properly, and those who have made changes to either Golf equivalent or non OEM claim vast improvements. I believe them but I am still suspicious that the original shocks were defective in those cases.

 

The floor of the boot area on the Mk3 is a relatively thin but very high tensile/strength steel. it is broadly unsupported and if you give it a thump it is a natural drum which is strangely difficult to supress.

I can quite easily imagine that malfunctioning rear suspension units on a poor surface could excite a loud rumbling sound from this 'drum'.

I had a bit of a rumbling problem initially but found that adjusting the tightness of the locking nut for the spare tyre (and a bit of foam chocking around it) reduced it considerably.

 

I find my Octavia wagon an entirely practical vehicle, capacious, pretty good looking without resorting to stupid rising window lines that spoil external driver/passenger views (and compromise safe driving in my opinion), economical to purchase and run, and above all fun to drive.

I am pretty mercenary and if someone made a better car (by my criteria) for the price then I would have bought it

I feel the same way about mine.

What tyres have you got? I've read that the Dunlops are very noisy. I have Pirellis and I find tyre noise to be reasonable. I've also read that swapping the rear shocks for mk7 Golf stockies (I'm assuming from torsion beam models) really improves the ride.

I'm also planning on wiring in a 12v and maybe a couple USB charge ports for the rear, but only if I can make it look stock. Maybe wired from the luggage 12v socket so as to not overload the front.

Enjoy.

I have Continentals on. When they need changing it will be Yokahama Blue Earth all day long. I put them on my Verso and the difference in comfort and noise was night and day. They were amazing! Great price too; around £55 each.

I drove the 1.4TSI for 2 days as a loaner a few weeks ago when mine was in for service. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of power you get from indeed such a modest engine (in terms of capacity) but I found the ride too firm / jittery for a non-sports suspension. It basically gave me all the downsides of a sports rig without the upsides. Besides that it was a rental and they are always cheaply kitted out (Amundsen Nav, basic audio, crappy seats). That being said I drove the 1.6TDI Eco one too, some time ago and that was even worse in terms of engine drivability. Felt like the whole engine/gearbox setup was put together with rubber bands - very distant and not fun to drive at all. That said I find the electric steering on all normal models far too powerful, no connection with the road. The vRS does this slightly better but still miles behind my late 320d e90, which still had hydraulic power steering. 

 

I do have 220v between the seats because I had it fitted by the dealer upon delivery, as well as sound insulation for all doors and the boot and that makes a hell of a difference vs. stock Octavia's.