Hi all. Hopefully I will be a skoda driver soon.

Hi all,

I love the site and have read loads of interesting topics.

I am aiming to upgrade my car soon and have a major skoda itch that needs scratched.

I currently drive a 2008 2.2cdti Honda civic. It has been faultless and i have enjoyed owning it the past 6 years. But I am ready for a change.  I need something reliable, thats a bit bigger (but not too big that my wife wont drive it) and has a big boot.  So I am thinking  Octavia.

My civic is a diesel but I only do about 6k miles a year and I fancy somehting with a bit more go so I am thinking of a MK3 Octavia VRS  TSI.

I have a budget of £13k and have been seaching (Autotrader, motors.co.uk, gumtree etc) for the past few months but no luck yet. 

I would be happy with hatchback or estate.  I would like sub 40k miles, in good condition, with full service history.  It must have cruise control.  I was seriously shocked to see some of the early mk3 VRS cars come without cruise.  To me that is something I would expect on what is supposed to be a top of the range car.

Any advice on anything else I should look out for would be helpfull?  Or things that are a must have on the spec sheet?

If anyone has any suggestions of suitable cars or knows anyone who is thinking of parting with theirs?

I am in Northern Ireland but would be happy to cross the channel for the right car.

Thanks,

Mark