I have owned my VRS Octavia for close to 4 years and have been very happy with it so far. You can see the small mods I have done to it at the bottom of the page. Trouble is, I fancy a change, but not a bad change. I would like to buy a MK3 230 Octavia VRS next, spending around £17k. It would have to have low mileage, as I do around 20k miles a year and want it to last. My car at the moment is on 103k miles, but I look after it so well, it looks and goes great. My sensible head says, keep my car longer and it will not depreciate too much more, or at least not too fast. Or buy the newer model and enjoy it before I get too old, I am 66years old. Newer cars of course depreciate fast, especially doing the mileage I do. It would mean dipping into my ISA, as I don't like credit, but i am still working, so I could top up the money again anyway. I really want better headlights, more useful gadgets etc.  Of course a remap, taking the new car to over 300bhp would be nice, not that old yet!! I know it's my decision, but I would like some informed opinions please.

If it ain't broke.... 

 

From personal experience, as much as I love my Octy Scout, it has been no way near a pain free ownership experience; poor reliability, dealerships and manufacturer that require a dictionary to understand Customer Service. Prior to it I had a 2003 Honda Civic SE Executive , which gave me 90,000 miles (40k of which driving around Spain) of stress free motoring. I only got rid of it because I fancied a change. And as much as I enjoy the Scout, and it does everything I have asked of it, I wish I'd kept the Civic for just a wee while longer. Possibly until the MKIII Octy Scout came out. 

 

The Civic is still on the road, but according to the MoT advisories it looks like the current owner is just going to run it into the ground, which is a shame as it was the car that took myself and my then girlfriend (now wife) on our first Roadtrip around France and Spain. 

 

As always, the Final Decision will be yours. 

I'd keep it until it needs lots of money spending on it.

 

I do ~30k a year in my Octavia and it's been more or less flawless over the last ~115k miles (~164k in total). Aside from services and fuel, it's really not needed much else - it's only had two sets of tyres so far! I'm hoping to keep it for another 2-3 years and take it up to 250k. The DPF looks like it'll do the distance so I'm hoping the EGR, DMF, clutch etc will too...

All sound advice guys. I am already trying to resist the urge to change the car, but it is so hard when you get that itch, no not that itch, but the itch for a change.

A point you may wish to take into consideration, as it is one that crosses my mind every time there is an issue with my vehicle, or a near miss whilst on the road is this; my Octy Scout is the first car I have owned since new, all my previous vehicles have been second hand.  My circumstances have changed since I bought the Scout and this has raised a few questions and concerns as to what to do if I had to replace it. 

 

As it currently stands purchasing a new vehicle is out of the question.  This leaves second hand, and this in itself raises a major issue for me.  WIth the introduction of extremely cheap leasing deals, cars have been reduced to White Goods; choose, use and abuse.  You only have to read some of the comments on the newer model threads on Briskoda where people question why they have to fork out £170-£250 to service a £30,000+ vehicle.  If they object or wish to avoid paying for the maintenance for the vehicle, what else are they not doing to keep the car running as it should?  Another sentiment that crops up a lot is the ignoring of issues with the vehicle as 'that'll be for the next owner to worry about.'

 

If your vehicle is running fine, I would hold onto that, the last thing you want is take on someone else's problem.

 

From one pensioner to another.

Resist the itch to change.  The more often you change a car,  the more depreciation kills your piggy bank. I’m a year older than you with a 2010 Audi A3 Quattro which is well looked after as well and I’ll be keeping that for a few years more, better the devil you know.

You should be spending your spare money on travel and hobbies at this time of life, you only live once.

 

16 hours ago, Fin69 said:

A point you may wish to take into consideration, as it is one that crosses my mind every time there is an issue with my vehicle, or a near miss whilst on the road is this; my Octy Scout is the first car I have owned since new, all my previous vehicles have been second hand.  My circumstances have changed since I bought the Scout and this has raised a few questions and concerns as to what to do if I had to replace it. 

 

As it currently stands purchasing a new vehicle is out of the question.  This leaves second hand, and this in itself raises a major issue for me.  WIth the introduction of extremely cheap leasing deals, cars have been reduced to White Goods; choose, use and abuse.  You only have to read some of the comments on the newer model threads on Briskoda where people question why they have to fork out £170-£250 to service a £30,000+ vehicle.  If they object or wish to avoid paying for the maintenance for the vehicle, what else are they not doing to keep the car running as it should?  Another sentiment that crops up a lot is the ignoring of issues with the vehicle as 'that'll be for the next owner to worry about.'

 

If your vehicle is running fine, I would hold onto that, the last thing you want is take on someone else's problem.

 

I can sure see your point Fin69. If I did change the car, I would be looking at a VRS with less that 15k miles on the clock. So I guess there would not be any services missing at such low mileage. Not too long for it to get abused either, oh I really don't know for sure what to do. 

19 minutes ago, Soot1e said:

From one pensioner to another.

Resist the itch to change.  The more often you change a car,  the more depreciation kills your piggy bank. I’m a year older than you with a 2010 Audi A3 Quattro which is well looked after as well and I’ll be keeping that for a few years more, better the devil you know.

You should be spending your spare money on travel and hobbies at this time of life, you only live once.

 

Hi Soo1e. Don't worry, I do spend money on travel and hobbies. Me and the good lady scuba dive all over this country regularly and have just had a good holiday in Cyprus, diving there as well. Gym membership as well, although it's worth it, as I do make good use of it 3-4 times a week. Us old fellas have to keep in shape eh! At the moment I scan autotrader just to see the cost of change. I am trying to hold back, as all the advice given so far is spot on. I may be swayed though, if the perfect car in the perfect colour and  the right spec, comes up local, but otherwise stick with what I have for at least another year. The missus does remind me, that I promised her I would keep this car for at least 5 years.

I have had my 2010 vRS from new, 90k now on the clock but planning on keeping it as long as I can.
Timing tensioner was done a few years back, and uses a little, but not too much oil, which I buy from tesco when they half the price of it.
I have another 4 years of paying off the loan I needed to pay off the cheating ex-wife (dont ask, poxy courts) so i'm hoping it will last until that time.
It helps that I love the car! :-) 

ps - I had my previous 52 plate vRS for 8 years too
Am I close to being the longest running vRS driving member?? (17 years in a vRS)

Just now, sdwilliams72 said:

I have had my 2010 vRS from new, 90k now on the clock but planning on keeping it as long as I can.
Timing tensioner was done a few years back, and uses a little, but not too much oil, which I buy from tesco when they half the price of it.
I have another 4 years of paying off the loan I needed to pay off the cheating ex-wife (dont ask, poxy courts) so i'm hoping it will last until that time.
It helps that I love the car! :-) 

ps - I had my previous 52 plate vRS for 8 years too
Am I close to being the longest running vRS driving member?? (17 years in a vRS)

Hi sdwilliams72

Yes I also have had new chains and tensioner a couple of years ago too, as a preventative measure. They do seem to use a little oil don't they, but as you say, not much. Ex wives, been there done that. Now as they used to say, I have been living in sin with a good un for the last 25 years.