Hi all,

 

New to the forum here so hello all.

 

After around 10 years or so as a company car driver with little choice of vehicle I am finally dropping out of the scheme and looking to buy my own car.

About the only initial thoughts I had is that I want to remain with an Estate car given that I have two young children so we often get out and about with a boot laden with a stroller or bikes etc, and also we have done a few holidays in Europe now where I have driven my car over (via ferry of course) to the likes of the France, Holland, Italy etc. Commuting for work used to be considerable but this has reduced dramatically in the last 6 months and will continue to be a lot less going forwards which has made a petrol option more viable than previously.

 

Not wanting to spend any more than £17.5k really either for a car that is around 2 years old if possible (wanting to hold it for say 3 or 4 years in all likelihood). 

Have already driven / test driven cars such as Focus, Mondeo, Golf, Avensis, A3 and a Octavia VRS. Current favourite to buy from those is the VRS although still wondering whether I should try out some of the BMW's / Mercedes in that price range that are another year or two older.

 

There are a couple of VRS Estates close to where I live that are priced in the same sort of bracket that fall within my requirements

 

VRS 2016 Reg - £17,500

 

VRS 2016 Reg - £17,000

 

Does anyone have any views on these two cars in terms of whether they are good deals for a VRS? Also, anything in particular worth looking out for / checking when going to test drive them? Seems that 18 inch alloy wheels are fairly standard on most VRS cars of this age which will mean cost of tire replacements a bit higher.

 

Also any other general views / hints / tips that may help in my quest as it quite daunting having to make a choice after 10 years of just having a small selection to choose from with all services/repairs etc covered (obviously paid for via my tax bill)

 

Thanks 

 

 

 

Edited 6 September, 20187 yr by SkodaST
Update links

Out of the two posted, I’d be more interested in the second one. It looks to have a few options (winter pack, leather?, black design pack) where as the first one just looks like a bog standard vRS. 

 

If the the second one checks out WRT history and condition then it’s definitely the one I’d pick. 

As above the 2nd one has a bit more spec so I'd be inclined to look at that one. From my limited experience with Evans Halshaw their used cars can be a bit hit and miss when it comes to history and condition though so do your homework.

 

18" wheels were standard but the tyres are fairly cheap really. A decent Goodyear will set you back about £80/90 a corner. The 19" are considerably more expensive to replace.

If you want a diesel I would look for one with 4x4 ... not sure if you can find one in that pricerange

11 hours ago, SC03OTT said:

Out of the two posted, I’d be more interested in the second one. It looks to have a few options (winter pack, leather?, black design pack) where as the first one just looks like a bog standard vRS. 

 

If the the second one checks out WRT history and condition then it’s definitely the one I’d pick. 

 

Thanks for the response.

 

Excuse my naievity but what is "WRT" history?

10 hours ago, ahenners said:

As above the 2nd one has a bit more spec so I'd be inclined to look at that one. From my limited experience with Evans Halshaw their used cars can be a bit hit and miss when it comes to history and condition though so do your homework.

 

18" wheels were standard but the tyres are fairly cheap really. A decent Goodyear will set you back about £80/90 a corner. The 19" are considerably more expensive to replace.

 

Could you expand on the hit and miss view with Evans Halshaw?

And when it comes to doing homework on the history and condition what would you be looking for (I'm no expert on cars as you may be able to tell)? I would obviously have a look at the paintwork, interior and around the engine for anything obvious.

10 hours ago, ahenners said:

18" wheels were standard but the tyres are fairly cheap really. A decent Goodyear will set you back about £80/90 a corner. The 19" are considerably more expensive to replace.

 

Great bit of advice and worth adhering to, IMO.  The one major drawback of R19 is tyre prices, in some cases double (or slightly more) than the equivalent R18.   Nearly £800 for a set of PS4's 

40 minutes ago, SkodaST said:

Could you expand on the hit and miss view with Evans Halshaw?

And when it comes to doing homework on the history and condition what would you be looking for (I'm no expert on cars as you may be able to tell)? I would obviously have a look at the paintwork, interior and around the engine for anything obvious.

 

I've looked at a few cars in the past at Evans Halshaw dealerships in the past and just wasn't impressed.

 

One was a 3 year old Octavia advertised as having full service history, but on inspecting closer it didn't.

 

My brother was looking for a Leon Cupra last year and we went to look at one that was 2 years old and £17k. All it's alloys were scuffed to the point of them being completely ruined, yet the EH dealer wouldn't really budge on price or replace the wheels. The salesman was giving it the whole "it's a good car hand on heart" yet the wheels and a few other bits about its general condition (bearing in mind a 2yr/17k car) left me and my brother unimpressed.

 

Perhaps the above isn't reflective of Evans Halshaw used cars as a whole, as I mentioned I can only go off my limited experience. Perhaps I'm overly OCD and picky, my last 3 cars have been bought from Manufacturer Approved schemes and in my opinion these generally (but not always) have top condition cars.

 

With homework, I simply meant that it had been serviced according to schedule, and that you might want to consider any near future bits it needs; Brake Fluid at 3 years, MOT, how much tread left on tyres etc.?

Edited 7 September, 20187 yr by ahenners

1 minute ago, penguin17 said:

 

Great bit of advice and worth adhering to, IMO.  The one major drawback of R19 is tyre prices, in some cases double (or slightly more) than the equivalent R18.   Nearly £800 for a set of PS4's 

 

I love the look of the 19" Xtremes but I can't justify the cost difference, especially when I cover nearly 16k a year. I bought 4 Goodyear F1 AS3 fitted earlier this year for £312 after a Gift Card rebate.

10 minutes ago, ahenners said:

 

I love the look of the 19" Xtremes but I can't justify the cost difference, especially when I cover nearly 16k a year. I bought 4 Goodyear F1 AS3 fitted earlier this year for £312 after a Gift Card rebate.

I love the aesthetics of them too, particularly on a big car like the Superb but the price difference between R18 vs R19 is totally disproportionate to R17 vs R18.  

 

4 x GY Eagle F1 AS2's are £717.92 on Blackcircles.    I'm glad I'm no longer doing 23-25K miles a year, that's for sure! 

Edited 7 September, 20187 yr by penguin17

If you are only going to keep your vehicle for 3-4 yrs then have a good look at depreciation figures. You might find that getting a slightly older BMW, Merc or Audi may well end up being a sensible option by holding more value during your ownership.

 

Also, consider sticking with diesel. The prices are excellent at the moment, and if the milage is sensible, and you don't cover a big milage either then you won't run into dpf replacement worries at 150,000+ miles, and you'll have the benefit of lower fuel costs here and on the continent.

53 minutes ago, ahenners said:

 

I've looked at a few cars in the past at Evans Halshaw dealerships in the past and just wasn't impressed.

 

One was a 3 year old Octavia advertised as having full service history, but on inspecting closer it didn't.

 

My brother was looking for a Leon Cupra last year and we went to look at one that was 2 years old and £17k. All it's alloys were scuffed to the point of them being completely ruined, yet the EH dealer wouldn't really budge on price or replace the wheels. The salesman was giving it the whole "it's a good car hand on heart" yet the wheels and a few other bits about its general condition (bearing in mind a 2yr/17k car) left me and my brother unimpressed.

 

Perhaps the above isn't reflective of Evans Halshaw used cars as a whole, as I mentioned I can only go off my limited experience. Perhaps I'm overly OCD and picky, my last 3 cars have been bought from Manufacturer Approved schemes and in my opinion these generally (but not always) have top condition cars.

 

With homework, I simply meant that it had been serviced according to schedule, and that you might want to consider any near future bits it needs; Brake Fluid at 3 years, MOT, how much tread left on tyres etc.?

 

Thanks for that.

 

Looked at a VRS in early August at a Motorpoint (again, non-approved dealership) and did have a good look around most of the things that you have mentioned especially the alloys and the tread left on the tyres (although I didn’t measure them just a check of how much they had roughly). Wasn’t sure if there were any other things that are easy for a complete car novice to check over other than the basics. I didn’t check the service history though which is a good point although on these cars there should only be 1 or 2 services at most given the age and mileage.

 

25 minutes ago, amwphotos said:

If you are only going to keep your vehicle for 3-4 yrs then have a good look at depreciation figures. You might find that getting a slightly older BMW, Merc or Audi may well end up being a sensible option by holding more value during your ownership.

 

Also, consider sticking with diesel. The prices are excellent at the moment, and if the milage is sensible, and you don't cover a big milage either then you won't run into dpf replacement worries at 150,000+ miles, and you'll have the benefit of lower fuel costs here and on the continent.

 

Unfortunately, don’t really want to buy anything older than 2/2.5 years old (due to a few contract conditions I have to stick to) which is kind of ruling out most of the options for a Mercedes or BMW as whenever I have looked the price bracket I am in means I have to go older.

 

Also, impression I get with the VRS is that not to many of them come to the market and when they do they seem to sell fairly quickly so would’ve thought they were relatively reasonable on the future value (deprecation) aspect.

As with all Octavias you should drive the actual one you are going to buy to make sure that it doesnt suffer from the "BOOM" issue from the rear of the cabin.

If you are tempted by diesel then you should check that the Electronic Water Pump has been replaced before buying.

 

Having driven a 320d BMW for 18months I would steer well clear. I was so relieved to get back into my Octavia...

26 minutes ago, Gabbo said:

As with all Octavias you should drive the actual one you are going to buy to make sure that it doesnt suffer from the "BOOM" issue from the rear of the cabin.

If you are tempted by diesel then you should check that the Electronic Water Pump has been replaced before buying.

 

Having driven a 320d BMW for 18months I would steer well clear. I was so relieved to get back into my Octavia...

 

Checked the forum for what you meant on this - will make sure I listen out for it on any test drive now. Thakns

interesting that the second one theres no pics of the front seats

As mentioned, if you go <MY15, then make sure the water pump is replaced. MY15 and newer have much better audio than the previous years in my experience, as well as stuff like carplay/android auto.

 

Make sure you drive with the radio off, and at a decent speed. I test drove, but never got up to 70, therefore missed the fact both rear wheel bearings needed replacement. An expensive mistake :(

 

If you have the diamond cut wheels, they kerb really easily, and soon after will start to go cloudy. Try and get them refurbed before you get the car, then see if you can get alloy kerbing insurance.

The wheels only kerb easily if you drive into kerbs. They’re no worse or better than any other wheel. 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, SkodaST said:

 

Unfortunately, don’t really want to buy anything older than 2/2.5 years old (due to a few contract conditions I have to stick to) which is kind of ruling out most of the options for a Mercedes or BMW as whenever I have looked the price bracket I am in means I have to go older.

 

Also, impression I get with the VRS is that not to many of them come to the market and when they do they seem to sell fairly quickly so would’ve thought they were relatively reasonable on the future value (deprecation) aspect.

 

Where I bought my Octavia elegance, Sinclair Skoda Swansea, they seem to have more vRS than 'normal' Octavia's, they are everywhere! The vRS is the common model! They also seem to be much better on price than our other 'local' Skoda dealer Fred Rees in haverfordwest who seem expensive in comparison.

56 minutes ago, SnailUK said:

As mentioned, if you go <MY15, then make sure the water pump is replaced. MY15 and newer have much better audio than the previous years in my experience, as well as stuff like carplay/android auto.

 

Make sure you drive with the radio off, and at a decent speed. I test drove, but never got up to 70, therefore missed the fact both rear wheel bearings needed replacement. An expensive mistake :(

 

If you have the diamond cut wheels, they kerb really easily, and soon after will start to go cloudy. Try and get them refurbed before you get the car, then see if you can get alloy kerbing insurance.

 

MY15 - what reg would I have to buy to get this model? And how can I check that the water pump has been replaced other than asking (cynic in me doesn't like the thought of believing a salesman)?

 

Funny enough, the driving at 70mph is something that I have thought of in terms of the location of this dealership. Its all predominately 40mph max roads in the main vicinity so would have to make sure I have time and request a longer drive to get to a 70 mph road.

 

35 minutes ago, SkodaST said:

 

MY15 - what reg would I have to buy to get this model? And how can I check that the water pump has been replaced other than asking (cynic in me doesn't like the thought of believing a salesman)?

 

Funny enough, the driving at 70mph is something that I have thought of in terms of the location of this dealership. Its all predominately 40mph max roads in the main vicinity so would have to make sure I have time and request a longer drive to get to a 70 mph road.

 

Model year changes are around week 22 of the year I believe. So anything built (not registered!) after week 22 in 2015 is MY16 etc. In other words the cars you posted are already newer than MY15.

Edited 7 September, 20187 yr by ahenners

1 hour ago, SC03OTT said:

The wheels only kerb easily if you drive into kerbs. They’re no worse or better than any other wheel. 

 

 

Like it.      But we all get caught out now and again and it's never a good idea to have alloys that are flush or proud of the tyre wall. Even less of a good idea to have machined alloys (are extremes machined? Dunno) as they cost more to repair - assuming of course a repair is possible.

Edited 7 September, 20187 yr by Guest

3 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

 

Like it.      But we all get caught out now and again and it's never a good idea to have alloys that are flush or proud of the tyre wall. Even less of a good idea to have machined alloys (are extremes machined? Dunno) as they cost more to repair - assuming of course a repair is possible.

 

Xtremes 19" and Geminis 18" have a diamond cut machined face. They hold up well if you don't kerb them. 

3 hours ago, Gabbo said:

Having driven a 320d BMW for 18months I would steer well clear. I was so relieved to get back into my Octavia...

 

Sorry to jump on thread, but why steer well clear?  Had a couple of petrol BMW's in the past, both were fantastic cars. It was my intention to buy a 320d auto when I decided on an estate last year but any car I found which fell within my definition of a good price, didn't have the spec I was after. ( that's not to say they weren't well spec'd, the cars I looked at were very well spec'd it's just that most of it was pointless for my purpose). From just a driving point of view, the 320d was untouchable by any other car I test drove.

Edited 7 September, 20187 yr by Guest

6 hours ago, penguin17 said:

 

Great bit of advice and worth adhering to, IMO.  The one major drawback of R19 is tyre prices, in some cases double (or slightly more) than the equivalent R18.   Nearly £800 for a set of PS4's 

Agree just spent £720 on four Michelin PS4's 235/35R19 tyres but they are the best tyres I have ever had on any car. Doesn't matter whether the road is dry or wet traction is incredible and whereas the traction control light would light up in 3rd gear even in the dry (on standard Pirelli P Zero's) have never seen it flicker once. Yes they are expensive but you get what you pay for and the are SIMPLY AMAZING!