Hi all,

 

Its a while off yet, but I am thinking of buying my VRS TDi from Skoda at the end of my PCP.

 

What do we think the reliability of the MK3 Octavia will be? Looking at things like the high mileage threads, there are plenty of MK2 Octavias in there.

 

I guess my biggest worries would be things like the DMF and DPF, but I don't think I drive it in a way that would kill the DMF, and the car has at least been designed with the DPF in mind. I'm just aware that modern diesels are fairly complex, and if stuff goes wrong with them it tends to be expensive!

 

So what do we think (I appreciate it may be early days)?

IF, my Mk3 is as good as my Mk1 VRS was it's a no brainer, I sold that at 140K and I never "HAD" to put a spanner on it, ok I did a lot of preventative work but that usually involved upgrades at the same time.

So far ten months in and I've had no issues what so ever.

 

Andy.

I have never had any DPF problems with my previous Fabia or current Polo. I do a mixture of journeys but the cars have a week of 30 mile a day journeys to work when I do nights. Rest of the time I travel by train and drive to the station which is only 3 miles. I'd cycle but have to go up a whacking great hill and I'm not fit enough for that!

Mines a June 13 registered 150CR fast approaching 70k, had it from new, not had any DPF issues but it's had the gear selector mechanism replaced due to it sticking in reverse gear and a new Dual Mass Flywheel both fitted at around 50k plus it has more rattles inside and out than Mothercare, definitely not built like my MkII Superb was or SWMBOs MkII Octy for that matter which we only recently traded in after nearly 7 years of ownership.

It has a relatively easy life mainly on motorways, and I'm still not convinced the DMF replacement was a correct diagnosis as the rattling on idle is still present, but its got 80k of warranty so I'm keeping it until the summer then I'm trading it in for something more up market!

Edited 11 February, 201610 yr by Matt Pez

Our Mk3 is a fairly early one, registered Sept. 2013, it's a vRS TSI. 

 

We had a door controller failure which meant SWMBO couldn't get in or out of the car! We also had to have the headlight washers adjusted as they kept sticking.

 

The engine also completely died on us at random, leaving the car stranded in the road.

Reloading the ECM's software seemed to cure that one. Not sure if it was updated software because they point blank refused to tell me.

 

Now we are having problems with the A/C compressor - possible borked regulator valve or the compressor itself - and the rain sensor has also packed up. 

 

The rear door seals also came apart and needed to be superglued.

 

I attribute all of these to the early build of the car. That aside, no one should really have to put up with these issues on what was a pretty expensive car. 

 

The car is low mileage for its age (11,000 miles over almost 2.5 years) so can't comment on high mileage related issues. 

If I'm honest I don't think the reliability will be too bad. Just wanted to see people's thoughts. Mine is an April 2014 registered car and I'm about to tick over 30,000 miles. Have had no issues so far.

 

There are one or two niggles - doors holding water, frozen Bolero on cold mornings, but the doors don't bug me, and the dealer has said they can sort the Bolero if I get a video of it.

 

I am not overly worried about the DPF as I've had no warning lights so far despite often interrupting a regen, but I don't do short journeys so that must help. I know the older PD engined Octavias with DPFs didn't work too well!

 

Preventive maintenance isn't a worry to me, I do on the missus' car. I'm also getting it serviced every 10,000 miles as I think 20,000 miles is too long, so I'd like to think it'll be kind to me!!

May 13 build, probably one of the first MK3 estates in the UK, have just hit 50k miles.

No issues apart from a rogue airbag warning light and centre caps replaced due to corrosion - that last one's just a design fault and will happen again.

Door trim and some of the lower dash trim doesn't feel solid - e.g. closing doors with windows down sounds worrying - but mechanically it's faultless.

The thought of owning one of these vag cars out of warranty worries me. Not so muych picking on skoda, my experience of the leon and seat forum is that these things have problems over and over (complicated cars I guess) and I dont see them being future loved classics. Like everything, its a gamble, I hate my current cars build quality and issues with a full warranty so the idea of running it in my own out in the wilderness is more than a little scary!

They seems to be popular among the cabbies here, so one should think it can take some milage.

My brother has a VRS TDI which had a fault which when the start stop kicked in the engine would not restart. It took 3 visits to a workshop to get fixed.

My VRS TSI has had a number of issues, drivers side headlight that goes on and off at random, sticky headlamp washers, terrible rattle from the sound generator, petrol smell in the cabin when the engine is started from warm or after start stop.

Although that hasn't stopped me ordering another, I had one of the first VRS hatches in the country so is expect initial issues have been sorted in production and from what other owners have written and those I've spoke to, i was just really unlucky with my car.

Although that hasn't stopped me ordering another, I had one of the first VRS hatches in the country so is expect initial issues have been sorted in production and from what other owners have written and those I've spoke to, i was just really unlucky with my car.

Totally agree with that, I also think most of the trim issues with my car are either due to it's Apr 13 build date (it was ordered on launch weekend!), or it's Torsion Beam Suspension. The gear selector issue seems to afflict various MQB cars, but not widespread afaik. We haven't been put off from buying SWMBO a 2013 Leon FR 180TSI but we made sure it had the proper suspension, just hope the DSG7 does not give us any trouble!

A vRS 4x4 DSG Hatch or a Berb 3 is very tempting!

I honestly dont think the MQB architecture cars are generally speaking as well made as the same cars of earlier generations.

Also all the extra tech whilst nice in some cases doesnt seem overly robust and I wouldnt want to be paying to investigate/fix random infotainment/electronic bugs etc outside of warranty.

My Octavia is v good to be fair....my 4 month old Golf GTD whilst a lovely little car has gone wrong more than Id expect and its developed some v annoying interior rattles which I just dont expect of a brand new VW.....really glad its a company car and not being financed off my own back.

Like any mass produced product that is complex, there will always be a few lemons. They key word being 'few'. I've had no problems with my 64 plate TDi VRS, in fact it is the best car I have ever owned. Sometimes the head unit screen takes a few seconds to come to life in cold weather, the dial sweep at switch on is random, but both of those, seem to be traits rather than faults.

It's inevitable that one or two will slip through the net. You've only got to watch them build the cars to realise that they can't be perfect every time. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkfWTtyVpg0