Hi All!
So, I currently own a 2012 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 (I swear it does eventually reach 60mph!) and I've had it for 2 years (since getting my license) - I'm now looking at bigger cars (had a baby 7 months ago and the polo kinda doesnt cut it for space)

To be precise I'm currently looking at getting a Skoda Octavia VRs and have a few burning questions before taking the leap into ownership.

 

The Car in question is a 2014 Octavia 2.0 TDI CR vRS 5dr Diesel Estate

 

Questions:

1) Whats it like to live with / park / drive etc

2) Typically, how much does a service cost?

3) Typical cost of tyres for the car

4) Road Tax Cost?

5) Any issues with the octavia (typical failures etc...)

 

Thanks guys

Tax is 30 quid a yr. Tyres anything fro  50 to 150 depending on brand. Check if the timing belt has been changed along with the water pump. The vrs is a great car and very easy to live with imho. Hiw many miles is on the car you have in mind?

Just now, donny1972 said:

Tax is 30 quid a yr. Tyres anything fro  50 to 150 depending on brand. Check if the timing belt has been changed along with the water pump. The vrs is a great car and very easy to live with imho. Hiw many miles is on the car you have in mind?

The ones im looking at has anything from 30k - 50k

It won't fit in the living room, other than that it's a great car, to me and many others say the same, it just dies everything well, it's no sports car, performance car, people carrier but it progresses nicely, cheap to run, fit three adults and a bootful comfortably. I have a 3yr old, 1yr old and a dog and we load our estate up and everything fits....Just.

 

Servicing costs Depends On if car in long life circa every 18-20k or fixed every 12 months/10k. 

Most dealers do fixed servicing, oil and filter £99, interim £169 and major £279. You can knock money off those at any decent independent garage.

 

Tyres, assuming your on 225/40/18. Ditchfinders can be had for £54 each. A mid range Avon ZV7 £ 80 and premiumstuff from Goodyear/Michelin from £95.

 

Tax for your diesel is £30 a year.

 

Not to sure on big things specific to the tdi but water pump failure was one to look out for. Think his may be related to plastic impeller used.

 

Do a quick search on here for problems as I'm a petrol man so not clued up on tdi specific probs. 

4 hours ago, Gaza1994 said:

Questions:

1) Whats it like to live with / park / drive etc

 

 

I went from a MK1 Fabia Estate to a Mk3 Octavia Estate and it's noticeably less easy to park.

 

Obviously a fair bit longer, and a little wider, which I'd expected, but it also seems to me that the steering won't turn the wheels at as big an angle, so it's more awkward getting in and out of confined spaces.

Water Pump and coolant issues are common on the VRS diesel. Aside from that it should be a massive step up and is fairly inexpensive to run.

Just to add to the above, tax is only £30 on the manual diesel. The DSG is £120. If it’s a DSG you want (and I recommend that you give it some thought as they are an awesome box) it’ll need the oil doing every 40k miles. If you have one with 19 inch wheels the tyres can get quite expensive but it’s worth it because Xtreme’s are awesome (non biased opinion ofc, though I have a set of Superb Vega’s on my eBay watch list and I am watching them very carefully!). If you want smartphone integration on the radio you will need to change the radio if you are looking at pre MY16. Skoda did a woeful job of phone integration in the earlier cars. If you have a Bolero or Amundsen (the 5.8 inch screen units) then the USB isn’t made for iPod so you can’t plug an iPod or iPhone in and browse. You can stream via BT or have hard music on an SD card but even my 08 Volvo C30 had an MFI USB port! If you want Apple CarPlay or Android Auto then the radio needs to be changed which is quite easy but some people find it a faff to get the bits and have the coding sorted. I’ve had 3 radios and 5 screens in my car now so it hasn’t put me off haha. Watch also for subframe creak, my car makes a creak from the front subframe and this isn’t overly uncommon, it does happen and Skoda can’t seem to fix mine. It happens at low speed over something like a speed bump. Otherwise if you have a specific set of options in mind, be prepared to wait as stuff like the full leather, winter pack with heated screen, KESSY, pano roof and power bootlid can be hard to get. I highly recommend a reverse camera, I fitted one to my car and it’s the best optional extra I didn’t know I needed! It’s really handy even though I’m very used to big cars and tight parking spaces, the camera helps me get the car into even smaller spaces!! That you can get them from a tenner on AliExpress and fit at home with an OBDEleven to code it in (something else I recommend buying) it just makes it a great project to tackle. My car is on 102k miles now and it’s been perfect, only one thing has ever gone wrong and it was a dpf pressure sensor which felt the pressure of life and burst into flames, but no other damage was left. It was replaced and I’ve otherwise had 14 months and over 32,000 miles of trouble free motoring.

Tax on my estate is zero? 

bit of a female dog to park, but very glad I have sensors and display 

mines ‘only’ a SE L 65 plate, but it’s packed with gadgets galore!

Congratulations on the baby and I understand your decision to move from a Polo to an Octavia.

 

Not trying to be cheeky here but am assuming that you are lucky enough to be in your 20s? - have you run through some insurance quotes to see what you are dealing with cost wise (vRS is a high grouping)?  All part of running a car.

 

All the best.

 

 

If 1994 is the OP’s year of birth that is the same year I was born. I find the vRS very cheap to insure. Your postcode impacts it more than age does really. I live in a good postcode so I get the benefits of cheap quotes

4 hours ago, BA Baracus said:

Congratulations on the baby and I understand your decision to move from a Polo to an Octavia.

 

Not trying to be cheeky here but am assuming that you are lucky enough to be in your 20s? - have you run through some insurance quotes to see what you are dealing with cost wise (vRS is a high grouping)?  All part of running a car.

 

All the best.

 

 

 

I'd have to echo that. I'd have thought Scottish borders would be a low insurance risk, but if you've only had your licence for two years then insuring a Vrs may come as a shock. I'm a wee bit further up the country than you and in a low insurance group area. I have a 1.4 (150) estate which is plenty fast and it's one of the cheapest cars I've ever insured - it costs the same as my previous 0.9litre Clio. (It's also more economical on fuel).  I think the insurance industry see non-go-faster-strip Octavias as low risk. Might consider that.

 

Octavia is almost the perfect family car, and I'm not saying that with any bias - estate is especially easy to park etc. I'd knock off marks for road noise, but any other critisism is just my personal preference. 

Hi guys, correct '94 is indeed the year i popped oot!

25, 2 years driving, 2 years no claims, 3 points ( :( )

I done some insurance quotes on a '14 plate Octavia VRs Estate and it was £100(ish)/month, which is not far off what im paying now for the polo, which fine considering my polo when i got it 2 years ago was £186/month (robbing ******)

4 hours ago, BA Baracus said:

Congratulations on the baby and I understand your decision to move from a Polo to an Octavia

Thanks

Once the pram is in the car the missus has to squeeze in the glove box haha !

Insurance is one of those costs that we all have to take into account. The early years of motoring are so expensive these days but sounds like you're on top of it and willing to pay the premium for a nicer car.

I would echo the water pump comments. Mine went 3 weeks out of used car warranty but the cam belt was coming up due so had it all done at the same time. Worth checking on a car 4/5 years old and 30-50k miles. Prime suspect.

 

As no one else has said it I will; what mileage are you doing a year? If it's not considerably above average then maybe consider a petrol rather than the VRS-lite option? You're asking sensible questions about running costs so you might want to factor in the massive depreciation that might be the case if the market for diesels falls even further by the time you come to sell. And in the meantime you're going to have a hell of a lot more fun in it

Edited 18 February, 20197 yr by timmys

6 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

If 1994 is the OP’s year of birth that is the same year I was born.

 

1 hour ago, Gaza1994 said:

Hi guys, correct '94 is indeed the year i popped oot!

 

You're both a year younger than my Son and a year older than my Daughter.

 

I feel old! 

 

Gaz

My Dad says that. He is 31 years older than me though haha. To him 1994 was only about 5 years ago 

2 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

Insurance is one of those costs that we all have to take into account. The early years of motoring are so expensive these days but sounds like you're on top of it and willing to pay the premium for a nicer car.

I would echo the water pump comments. Mine went 3 weeks out of used car warranty but the cam belt was coming up due so had it all done at the same time. Worth checking on a car 4/5 years old and 30-50k miles. Prime suspect.

 

Yea - way on top of it, i basically had comparethemarket open as i was browsing different cars, the Octavia VRs seemed reasonable for what you get (insurance wise)

 

 

1 hour ago, timmys said:

As no one else has said it I will; what mileage are you doing a year? If it's not considerably above average then maybe consider a petrol rather than the VRS-lite option? You're asking sensible questions about running costs so you might want to factor in the massive depreciation that might be the case if the market for diesels falls even further by the time you come to sell. And in the meantime you're going to have a hell of a lot more fun in it

Currently in my nugget of a Polo im doing 10-15k /year (insured for 20k)

 

 

1 hour ago, V6TDI said:

 

 

You're both a year younger than my Son and a year older than my Daughter.

 

I feel old! 

 

Gaz

age has its perks right, RIGHT?! haha!

Hiya. We bought a second hand 2014 Skoda Octavia 1.4 TSI petrol with 35000 miles in January 2018. Just done 2000 miles since then and had two very big problems with it. Last october we had to replace the catalytic converter (£1300) and now the turbo is failing and have been quoted £1800 to replace it. So a 4 year old car with 37000 miles has needed £3100 in repairs. As you can imagine, I wouldn’t recommend you to get an Octavia. I got an Octavia because of the same reason as you, but very unhappy with it. Really stressful time since we bought it just a year ago. 

34 minutes ago, YOYOHEY said:

Hiya. We bought a second hand 2014 Skoda Octavia 1.4 TSI petrol with 35000 miles in January 2018. Just done 2000 miles since then and had two very big problems with it. Last october we had to replace the catalytic converter (£1300) and now the turbo is failing and have been quoted £1800 to replace it. So a 4 year old car with 37000 miles has needed £3100 in repairs. As you can imagine, I wouldn’t recommend you to get an Octavia. I got an Octavia because of the same reason as you, but very unhappy with it. Really stressful time since we bought it just a year ago. 

Christ, I hope you didn't buy RK14CNE

 

Cos, that one is F'd, I know, I drove it like I'd just stole it everywhere for 3-1/2 years

Edited 18 February, 20197 yr by themanwithnoaim

2 minutes ago, themanwithnoaim said:

Christ, I hope you didn't buy RK14CNE

 

Cos, that one is F'd, I know, I drove it like I'd just stole it everywhere for 3-1/2 years

RK14CNE doesn’t seem to be on the road anymore according to my car app, suggesting it’s been written off 

 

1 hour ago, Gaza1994 said:

Currently in my nugget of a Polo im doing 10-15k /year (insured for 20k)

 

If you’re not doing more than 15k a year, don’t insure it for more than that as it will add to the cost. Might not make a world of difference but every little helps at your stage. If you haven’t already check out MSE for an excellent guide on keeping your insurance costs as low as possible e.g. tweaking job names, adding names drivers etc. Very helpful https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/car-insurance/

 

1 hour ago, Gaza1994 said:

age has its perks right, RIGHT?! haha!

Yes, insurance usually comes down quite a bit!

 

Just as an aside, I got an Octavia (mk2) just before my daughter was born (9 years ago tomorrow in fact) and it was a fantastic family car for a new baby and many years beyond that. So much space! You can’t go wrong with it really. 

Just now, maffyou said:

If you’re not doing more than 15k a year, don’t insure it for more than that as it will add to the cost. Might not make a world of difference but every little helps at your stage. If you haven’t already check out MSE for an excellent guide on keeping your insurance costs as low as possible e.g. tweaking job names, adding names drivers etc. Very helpful https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/car-insurance/

 

Yes, insurance usually comes down quite a bit!

 

Just as an aside, I got an Octavia (mk2) just before my daughter was born (9 years ago tomorrow in fact) and it was a fantastic family car for a new baby and many years beyond that. So much space! You can’t go wrong with it really. 

 

In my first year i done 25k miles ! so I'm still in the territory of trying to find how many i actually do a year haha!

 

And yea, i've seen all those guides - i noticed a huge drop in cost per month when i changed my old job title (Web Developer) to what i am now (Project Manager)

Guess im less likely to bin it doing that job!

and yea, i just need a bigger car that can be a little more fun - and a little quicker so i dont struggle up hills etc haha

Fair enough with the mileage although  you can always call up your insurer after 8-9 months if needed and say your circumstances have changed so you’re going to be doing x miles more per year. Worst case scenario they’ll increase your premium, best case scenario you save a few hundred pounds. Just found this on Compare The Market:

 

”Our recent data shows the average top premium for 12,001 to 14,000 miles is £829.69**. For 14,001 to 16,000 it increases to £1,076.97**”

 

Play with the figures a bit and see what happens. Don’t intentionally lie as that could invalidate your insurance, but if you expect to not exceed 15k then go with that. As I said if it looks like you might go significantly over then get in touch - that isn’t breaching your insurance as you’re being honest and upfront about a change in your circumstances that could impact your insurance. 

My insurers didn’t seem to care that the car is insured to do 35k miles a year, didn’t make it any more than it was 20k. I’m paying £610 this year which is more than last years original quote, but on a specialist policy with all the mods declared. I’m 24, 7 years driving, 5 years no claims, no accidents, no points and own another car. I have fun with my job title because they’ve just never heard of it, technically I’m a company director these days but it stings to admit that! In the end we found something to suit that is accurate to what I do.