Hi again, some more questions sorry.  What Car gave the Octavia its family car of the year award this week but confusingly pitted it against the new Astra in the issue before where it then said the Astra edged it out.  Just some questions around the review:

 

• It describes the touchscreen as "not particularly sharp and the screen is often sluggish to the touch."  Have never seen this said anywhere else - is it accurate?  (It also says the touchscreen is 5.8in when the brochure says it's 6.5in)
• It also says the mpg for the 1.6 isn't particularly great, puts it at 51.3 which is a fair bit lower than the "real mpgs" for the 1.6 Octavia I've seen elsewhere.

 

It measures the space in the back of the new Astra and the Octavia as being basically the same, exactly the same for rear legroom apparently, although sat in the back of an Astra yesterday after a test drive, and got in the back of an Octavia last night (a cab) and the Octavia felt way bigger.  More confused than ever  :|

Interesting.

I have never found the touchscreen sluggish.

The economy seems a little low as with care, I can get 50 out of mine. You don't however mention the type of engine / transmission that was tested.

As for space, I would be surprised if the Astra was the same, front seat positions etc. Can create the feeling of more space etc., I would guess the Octy is more spacious.

Buy an Octy and sit back knowing you will be in great company.

Edited 17 January, 201610 yr by Mence

The infotainment systems have been updated with the new models. Even the old one can be improved via a firmware update.

I'm not sure about the mpg sorry.

Front seat position has a major impact on the leg room in the rear. My wife insists that her friend's Fiesta has more room behind the driver than my Octavia. Her friend is 5'1" and I'm just under 6' - her friend also likes to drive sitting right up to the steering wheel (with her elbows almost beside the steering wheel) and I like a more relaxed position.

I have driven the latest version of the Octavia vRS CR and intend to soon have a test drive in the latest Astra SRi diesel. The Octavia is a larger car than I now need. I am most likely to end up with a Leon FR.

Thanks for those replies, reassuring!  It was a 1.6 diesel manual they tested.  In terms of the touchscreen, the review was only published last month so presume it is the latest software they were using (but again they don't seem to have the size of the touch screen right which is slightly worrying).

Screen size they quote is for MIB 1 units which are the earlier ones. The latest MIB2 units have larger screens 6.5 inch, greater resolution and I'm told "refresh" quicker. My 15 plate VRS has the MIB2 and its faultless. So they must have had use of an earlier model to test I would say.

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Edited 17 January, 201610 yr by Skodev

I have a 15 plate octavia VRS and and a 13 plate astra SRI and can comfortably say the octavia has much more room in the back then the Astra. Unless the new model is significantly bigger I can't imagine it having more room in the back with the front seats in a comfortable position for the driver and front seat passenger.

 

regarding the touch screen I have never found it sluggish but do find it near on impossible to use when driving. No matter how steady I think my hand is I seemingly always end up selecting the wrong thing.

As said the Octavia has more rear legroom and boot space.

Its a 6.5" touchscreen. What car get quite a few things wrong.

Touchscreen can be a bit sluggish when it boots up searching for the SD card music. 99% of the time it's great.

The old 5.8 touch screen was horrible. Slow sluggish and nav was a pain. I swapped to a new car last week and the new 6.5 is such an improvement. Sat nav and Bluetooth Audio both come on straight away and it's quick to respond !

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My main gripe with the 2013 infotainment system is that the screen resolution isn't great by any mans but that's about it.

How can What Car? compare the boot size with the Astra? It must be miles bigger! It's comprable with the Passat!

To be fair they do acknowledge the boot is a lot larger, my wording sorry!  But yeah does look like they're using an older model Octavia for the test drive which is odd since the Astra is barely out.

MPG depends a lot on driving style. Wife's late 2014 1.6 TDI combi returns about 48 mpg on mixed driving. I can readily get it into the mid fifties with relaxed driving. My Octavia II VRS TDI averages 44 MPG or thereabouts even with a bout of city driving during the daily commute from the sticks.

 

I can't fault the touch screen in our Octavia III to be honest, but then I don't really have anything to compare it to. Resolution is hardly 4K quality, but then it doesn't need to be.

 

[Edit] Meant to add, the boot in the Octavia III combi is cavernous. Even my Mk 2 hatch has a massive boot. Can't imagine an Astra would get close

Edited 17 January, 201610 yr by deemack

The boot floor on the Octavia is actually the same size as a B6 Passat estate. I know this because I took the rubber floor mat from one to the other an it fits almost exactly. It's huge.

FFS, three quarters of an inch of touchscreen.

On a run with 4 up and luggage, mixed roads 67mpg. Overall average with a lot of local town stuff 54/56 mpg.

 

I am not a slow driver but not a boy racer either.

Touchscreen is generally OK, I have a feeling it may be resistive rather than capacitive on both MIB1 and MIB2 units....certainly the screen isnt entirely solid and feels as though it might have a capacitive layer in there. Its plenty good enough for the task in and though....I just dont think touchscreens are the safest way to control an infotainment system but thats the route VAG chose with these cars.

I honestly wouldnt get to hung up on MIB1 v MIB2. I have MIB1 in an Octavia and MIB2 in a Golf...yes the extra (frankly minute) screen real estate is welcomed...more so the vast increase in resolution but from my own experience the MIB1 unit on my Octavia is generally less buggy day to day...very rarely mucking about or failing. The MIB2 in my Golf was that bad it went in for a firmware update and whilst its improved it still farts about a reasonable amount.....coming on with a black screen or no sound being the common issues with it. Buying new you have to have MIB2 and it is better overall for sure but I wouldnt let it totally dictate a used purchase.

MPG.....they frankly get nothing near the official figures but this is nothing new. 51.3mpg given current conditions and switch to winter fuel is pretty good...my GTD is getting 43mpg long term by comparison and is supposed to be capable of 67.....

I would cry if a 1.6D gave me 51mpg.

Fuel economy is 90% dependant on drivers style & the type of journey you do.

 

My vRS TDi gives a Fuelly recorded average over 55k km of 51/52mpg.

I drove a 1.6d for a week as a hire car & calculated I had mid-60s mpg.

Others I'm sure will tell you they struggle to get much above 40mpg in the same car.

 

Its my own personal opinion but I wouldnt go near a Opel/Vauxhall even if it cost a conciderable amount less than the Octy.

 

For the touchscreen, dont expect the anything like the responsiveness or resolution of a tablet or phone.

Having said that, as you only need to press a couple of buttons or type in an address it is perfectly adequate for these tasks.

However, I'm sure there are better units out there & the sound quality from the audio is not amazing.

On a run with 4 up and luggage, mixed roads 67mpg. Overall average with a lot of local town stuff 54/56 mpg.

 

I am not a slow driver but not a boy racer either.

 

Pretty much the same in mine. Mid 2014 1.6TDi. Car has only done 17K and is supposed to improve with age.

The infotainment system touchscreen in my '13 Octavia Elegance is by far the weakest point in an otherwise excellent car. When trying to select radio stations it is frequently impossible with the touch screen no matter how hard I tap or push it (mainly on the most left-hand stations) and I have to resort to changing stations using the multi-function wheel menu. Sometimes when selecting a track off the IPod it will select the wrong track repeatedly.

Why do I get the feeling that the comparison has been made based on a previous, older test drive and article of the Octavia vs. recent test drive of the Astra. Lazy journalism! [emoji57]

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Touchscreen is generally OK, I have a feeling it may be resistive rather than capacitive on both MIB1 and MIB2 units....certainly the screen isnt entirely solid and feels as though it might have a capacitive layer in there. Its plenty good enough for the task in and though....I just dont think touchscreens are the safest way to control an infotainment system but thats the route VAG chose with these cars.

I honestly wouldnt get to hung up on MIB1 v MIB2. I have MIB1 in an Octavia and MIB2 in a Golf...yes the extra (frankly minute) screen real estate is welcomed...more so the vast increase in resolution but from my own experience the MIB1 unit on my Octavia is generally less buggy day to day...very rarely mucking about or failing. The MIB2 in my Golf was that bad it went in for a firmware update and whilst its improved it still farts about a reasonable amount.....coming on with a black screen or no sound being the common issues with it. Buying new you have to have MIB2 and it is better overall for sure but I wouldnt let it totally dictate a used purchase.

MPG.....they frankly get nothing near the official figures but this is nothing new. 51.3mpg given current conditions and switch to winter fuel is pretty good...my GTD is getting 43mpg long term by comparison and is supposed to be capable of 67.....

Pretty sure you're correct on resistive - you can use it with gloves. Frankly that seems like a good thing to me although I find the screen a bit awkward to use on the move. (Yeah yeah I know ;)c- Mazda's choice of using a navigation wheel or touchscreen is better)

Doesn't the MIB2 have smartlink capability, if it does that'd be a big plus. Also I don't think it needs ami/mdi/Mitsumi cables to connect an iPod for admundsen/bolero - again a massive plus especially if you didn't spec mdi.

As to mpg. My vrs tdi is pretty much exactly the same 42mpg AV.

The infotainment system touchscreen in my '13 Octavia Elegance is by far the weakest point in an otherwise excellent car. When trying to select radio stations it is frequently impossible with the touch screen no matter how hard I tap or push it (mainly on the most left-hand stations) and I have to resort to changing stations using the multi-function wheel menu. Sometimes when selecting a track off the IPod it will select the wrong track repeatedly.

My experience exactly. I've bored everyone on here to death with my frequent posting about the MIB1 Amundsen... http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/383952-amundsen-quirk/

 

I've now had a play with an MIB2 unit and it's like chalk and cheese. Faster, noticeably bigger (it 'feels' bigger than the actual size difference) and a billion times the resolution.

 

I wish I'd spent extra and gone for the Columbus when speccing the car - however if I was speccing one now the MIB2 Amundsen would be perfectly fine.

My experience exactly. I've bored everyone on here to death with my frequent posting about the MIB1 Amundsen... http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/383952-amundsen-quirk/

I've now had a play with an MIB2 unit and it's like chalk and cheese. Faster, noticeably bigger (it 'feels' bigger than the actual size difference) and a billion times the resolution.

I wish I'd spent extra and gone for the Columbus when speccing the car - however if I was speccing one now the MIB2 Amundsen would be perfectly fine.

My MIB2 Discover Nav on my Golf GTD has proven less stable than the MIB1 Amundsen in my Octavia. I think the Octavia is running the same firware it shipped with too...the Golf has already been upgraded once and still has its quirks.

Its a nicer system overall though.