So having owned a MKIII Octavia Estate for just over a year now, we have gotten around to thinking about changing our 8 year old 3 door VW Polo.

Our first thought was to go for a Fabia but as the new model hasn't been around for too long we started looking at the Rapid. We would be in the market for one a similar age to the Octy, so around June/July 2014 model with 12-14K miles, probably the Spaceback and most definately the 1.2 TSi (I think that would be an 85ps last year?).

 

Would be most grateful if any of you existing owners could highlight any issues with the earlier models or are they pretty similarly matched up to the June 2014 Octy I already own?

 

At what spec does cruise control come into play is also of interest, although I mostly see S's, a handful of SE's and a rare Elegance kicking around at the moment.

 

Thanks in advance. Any info advice greatly appreciated.

Edited 5 September, 201510 yr by airscool

Get a Fabia.

To add to that - the Fabia Combi (either the latest Fabia III or one of the pre-reg remained stock of Fabia II Combi units) is well worth considering.

The Combi is pretty much the same size as a Spaceback in terms of length and width, but with a much bigger boot and a higher, more comfortable driving position (and rear seats that fold properly). I would also argue that the Fabia is better screwed together with more robust interior trim materials.

Get a Fabia.

 

LOL yes. I should have said, we do not have the budget for the latest model and are not fans of the old shape.

As someone who owns both a Spaceback and a Fabia II Combi - I would strongly encourage you to look beyond your dislike of the shape (though I too like the styling of the Fabia III). The Fabia II Combi is significantly more practical than my Spaceback, and the boot layout is, in my opinion, better than the Fabia III which has been cluttered up with more moulded plastic side panels.

There are stunning deals on the Fabia II Combi right now from both main dealers and car supermarkets.

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As someone who owns both a Spaceback and a Fabia II Combi - I would strongly encourage you to look beyond your dislike of the shape (though I too like the styling of the Fabia III). The Fabia II Combi is significantly more practical than my Spaceback, and the boot layout is, in my opinion, better than the Fabia III which has been cluttered up with more moulded plastic side panels.

There are stunning deals on the Fabia II Combi right now from both main dealers and car supermarkets.

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I will take a look!

What are your 'needs' for the car? ie big boot, fuel economy, air con, alloys, cruise control.

What are your wants? In a dream world I would have auto wipers and auto light.

What's your budget... Most you can afford and what you'd rather spend? For me the most we could afford was £9500 but what we wanted to spend was £7500-8000.

Then pick a colour and test drive as many cars as you can. For us we went for a rapid 5dr (not the space back) as it has a huge boot, good fuel, cheaper tax than what we had, remaining warranty and most of the features from our last car (the needs and most of the wants). It also has a great safety record and I didn't realise how important that would be!

We're now on our second rapid! Last one was white (which we loved... This one is black, which I'm learning to love.

Anyway there is loads of choice out there... Personally we went for a 2013 rapid 1.2 elegance (105) greentech which was a lot harder to find, and be careful on the eary models as it appears to be pot luck as to what spec they have! We had a look at the new fabia estate and the previous version, I also considered the superb. Superb would have been a year older (2012) and diesel with 35k SE plus. The new fabia estate was smaller in boot size so didn't cut it. Hope you find the right car for you

I would personally go for a MK3 Fabia as they're doing better deals on them now.

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I would not believe that it's true beforehand, but the subjective opinion of the external appearance of a car is playing a great role in making a car choice. In the end, what you see with your eyes every single day matters. Of course, utility value is also important but you may be able to get used to not having AUTO lights for example. Parking the car, however, and having to look back to admire it, this is priceless.

 

Of course some people may see things differently, but I sensed that the OP is like me so here's my two cents

Thanks all.

And yes sorry I should have stated a budget, 8-9K is the ball park figure we had in mind (reduced a bit by the Polo trade in), hence moving from looking at the New Fabia to the new shape Rapid in our search. We don't want finance to buy a newer car as we already have finance on the Octavia.

We have a 6 month old daughter who will eventually move to a larger car seat so we want 5 doors and ISOFIX so we can easily swap between whatever it is and the Octavia. It will also need to fit the pram in for now and a buggy later. We might also want to put a detachable towbar on it to take the bike rack we use on the Octavia. It will be used for 4 days urban and then 3 days 50 mile round trip commute at a max of about 60 mph, so were eyeing up the 1.2 TSi. We have the 1.6TDi Octavia for really long runs.

 

I appreaciate the Fabia might be a better car, but is the Rapid such a bad option?

 

Edited 6 September, 201510 yr by airscool

I would have a Rapid (well Toledo) over a Fab 2 - it seems to tick more of your boxes.

 

I don't know if a Fab 3 will be in budget.

A Fab 3 is definitely outside of the OP's budget, but a Fab 2 Combi isn't.

We bought our Combi in January - it was 2 years old, from a main dealer, immaculate with 12k on the clock. Cost was £7k OTR.

The deals are even better now.

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Im not entirely sure the Fabia III is any better screwed together than a rapid. I knew someone that got one of the very very first Fabia IIIs which I thought was a very smart looking thing but they rejected the car after many (and when I mean MANY I really mean it) faults! It broke down on them completely once (was told the dash lit up like a christmas tree) and they had numerous niggly faults with the seat cushions, dashboard controls and rattles. I think if anything Skoda seem to be going backwards in terms of build quality. I just hope the new Superb bucks the trend!

Glad somebody else thinks they're going backwards. The quality is terrible.

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Glad somebody else thinks they're going backwards. The quality is terrible.

As I've said before all manufacturers are building to lower production costs and with that they all have peaked (apart from some of the Korean late entry's to the marked) even the prestigious brands are going down hill but any of the cars should be built to high enough standard for most to be happy.

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My Swift is a very well built car. Not a creaking leaking electrical mess like the Skoda was. It puts them to shame.

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My Swift is a very well built car. Not a creaking leaking electrical mess like the Skoda was. It puts them to shame.

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How big is the boot on the swift... My rapid is 550 litres and I use as much of it as I can. How much is the road fund license? It's £30 for my 1.2tsi that has 105ps?

Cheap to run and roomy for a family of 4

 

Not to mention crashworthy with your babies in.

Edited 7 September, 201510 yr by camelspyyder

How big is the boot on the swift... My rapid is 550 litres and I use as much of it as I can. How much is the road fund license? It's £30 for my 1.2tsi that has 105ps?

This is about build quality. You can't compare a Swift against a Rapid in terms of size etc.

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It's horses for courses again.

 

Jon may not have wanted his kids in the back of something as little as a Swift when the lorry hit.

 

He certainly has confidence in their safety in another Rapid.

We are really pleased with our rapid sport. The stereo sound is not very good, but that's about it ☺️

It's horses for courses again.

Jon may not have wanted his kids in the back of something as little as a Swift when the lorry hit.

He certainly has confidence in their safety in another Rapid.

I will say that, for all the issues with the Rapid (and issues with Skoda UK) there is no question it is a very safe car to be in. Jon's smash - and the fact everyone in the car waked away from it - showed the car is one of the ones you would rather be in when someone else on the motorway runs out of driving talent.

It's horses for courses again.

Jon may not have wanted his kids in the back of something as little as a Swift when the lorry hit.

He certainly has confidence in their safety in another Rapid.

I know that.

Anyway fair play to the Rapid for saving lives. My kids are grown up now and left home so I don't need a biggish car and boot.

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My question is what has 

airscool 

 

gone for?

Reason I got my Rapid was for the boot space, that the Swift doesn't seem to have.