Hi all.

 

Could I have a bit of advice please?

 

I've got the chance to buy a 06 Octavia Estate for less than £1000, maybe £700, but only got a limited time to say yes or no.

 

It's been well looked after for most of it's life, except for it's last owner who's done about 4000 miles in it since buying it.

 

1st and 2nd owner was the same person. He bought his company car.

 

It's a 2.0 diesel, and it's done about 190,000 miles.

 

I've not driven it, but as a passenger it's seems to be ok, and never seen any problems with. Doesn't feel like what I'd expect a 190,000 mile car to be like, feels better than my 120,000 focus.

 

Now for the but!

 

The current owner has told me it's got a sensor going on the front of the engine, something to do with the manifold, and the engine goes into limp home mode if it's under a lot of load. The only time it's happened to him is when he was towing a large trailer, and had a boot full of tools. Trailer was empty, but the back end of the car was quite low with the weight in the boot! 

 

The other problem is that the air con is not working. He's had it re gassed, but no luck. 

 

Anything else I need to look out for?

 

Could this be a bargain, or unreliable money pit?

 

I don't do many miles a year in my car, as I've got other transport, but hopefully it'll start when I need it!

 

 

Limp mode when under load could be a gunked up turbo causing overboost especially at that mileage. Air con is likely to be compressor, depends if you can live without it or not as it can be a good few hundred to fix.

Id personally take the punt on it, £700 or less sounds better, 190k my old Passat 09 reg 2.0 TDi 140 has over 300k on it, serviced every 10k, started to feel sluggish and would also go into limp mode if you tried to boot it while loaded with punters, a terraclean solved the issue

A/c, on a car that old/cheap I could live without

My recommendation would be, check history, if it needs a T/Belt, do it, sort boosting issue and run it, service every 10k

G

Thanks for the input Guys, it's been a real big help.

 

It's been Skoda serviced right up to 178,000 miles, but I'll double check the history to try see what I can pick up on.

 

I'm going to have a look at it over the weekend, and then have a really good think about it. I really am in 2 minds about it, as it's a lovely car, but the problems it has put's me off a bit. The good side about it all is that I knew about the problems before he decided to sell it, but he's offered it to me for £650. I don't need a new car at the moment, but at the price it's opened my eyes a little bit!  Even if I don't buy it, the Octavia is certainly on the list for my next car, I'm impressed by it.

 

He bought It a few months ago as the family car, but his van went bang so he's been forced to use it as his van since. :(

 

He's only towed the trailer once, and after the problems he's not done it since. But as the car already had a tow bar on, I'd guess it's been used for towing at some stage in it's life, and the bar does show signs of use. "Someone" has had a look at it after he had problems with the trailer, and he came back saying was a something to do with front of the engine,and it might need replacing. He's not that great with cars! Could it be the Egr? Don't know this engine at all. :(

 

I've been a passenger in it a few times and I don't think I've heard any noises from the turbo. But I'll test drive it myself and see what happens. Might see if I can borrow it for the weekend.

 

As for the Air Con. I'd agree that it's likely to needed a new compressor, previous experience is possibly talking here! 

 

After typing the above out I think I may have talked myself out of buying it! LoL. On the face of it, my hand will certainly be in my pocket right from day one. Plenty of things to go wrong compared to my '03 Focus.

Problem solved. 

 

Just had a text. He had a friend from our local VW/Audi/Skoda/SEAT indie garage round last night. 

 

'the box of tricks' has said it's got turbo problems. I'm ok with a spanner, but turbo's are well beyond my spanner skills.

 

His friend offered him £500. Told him it's likely to be a good offer. 

 

Oh well, plenty more fish in the sea. Seen a nice '09 model.

 

Thanks for your help guys.

Edited 2 October, 201510 yr by Siran