I am considering buying either a 1.6 or 2.0 Octavia Elegance, hatch. I am wondering a) how and where to get the best deal which model to choose.

I'd be grateful for any assistance from you experienced folk.

You probably get the best deal by going via a discount broker. However you will need to go via he dealer to test drive your chosen model assuming they can get it in for you (I never did manage to test drive my chosen spec but different engine sizes with different specs). You might be able to negotiate with the dealer to meet the broker's discount price depending on how good your negotiating skills are and whether the dealer is interested enough in your purchase. Octavia's are the main cars used by taxi drivers where I live so my local dealer has no real incentive to sell!

As regards 1.6 or 2.0 that depends on where your priorities lie. If you like tearing around, acceleration etc then the 2litre might be your choice as the 1.6 might be slightly underpowered when accelerating along motorways. The 1.6 however is more frugal on the fuel consumptionand the insurance costs are lower. I personally am driving a 1.6 as my mileage is quite low, drive in a conservative manner etc even so I find the car much more powerful than the car I have a replaced which was a 1.6 Cavalier.

As has been said get a price off the net which will give you a bench mark when negotiating, www.broadspeed.com are one broker who give good prices but there are others.

Then start talking to dealers, you should be able to match or even beat the internet price, I matched with an Octavia 3 years ago & have just beaten it by a couple of hundred on a Superb.

The pricing strategy seems to be different for each dealer, it will take too long to try & explain but suffice to say talk to many dealers & not neccesarily local ones. Weve got the superb for a price that our local dealer cant believe.

Ring Skoda & if you ask nicely they will give you a list of all UK dealers. I use the story that I am looking for a car in a specific colour to have a look at before ordering as I want to see the car in the flesh as they say rather than order off a brochure, something that I always do anyway.

As for which model that is best decided by several test drives & dont be scared to ask if you can try a car again, Skoda give dealers demo cars at a discount for that very use. If you do a lot of miles also consider the Diesels, these will also have a higher resale value

Thanks very much, guys. I have driven a 2 litre pertol and found it frighteningly quick and difficult to keep an eye on the speed, on the motorway, so cruise control will be essential, for me, hence the Elegance model! I must try the 1.6.

I found the seat slightly uncomfortable after driving 170 miles, but maybe that was my physique at that time. Presumably the seats become a little more comfortable as the 'bed' in?

Has any one any experience of the Xenon headlights and how much headroom one loses with a sunroof?

Final question (sorry, guys!). My wife seems anti the estate. Presumably the driving experience is just the same as the hatch?

With the old Octy the Estate & saloon were a similar driving experience (we have both) I found the estate however much easier to reverse, with tho old Octy hatch gauging the length was a bit hit & miss (only hit once so far !!)

Xenons are def better that the std lights but if the stds are no good they can be upgraded with better bulbs, Even to the extent of running rally bulbs

Cant coment on the sunroof as the Mk2 Octy is bigger than the Mk1

If you start up speccing the Octy also look at the superb, these come with a lot more toys as std, we started looing for an L&K octy but by the time we added all the toys the Superb was a better buy

With the old Octy the Estate & saloon were a similar driving experience (we have both) I found the estate however much easier to reverse.

I agree - we test drove the estate before we bought it (delivery on 24th) and it's an absolute doddle to reverse, SO much easier than my old Vectra.

The side vision is superb!

I found the seat slightly uncomfortable after driving 170 miles, but maybe that was my physique at that time. Presumably the seats become a little more comfortable as the 'bed' in?

I, sadly, had to discount the Octavia because of seats. SWMBO found the cushion was too long for real long distance comfort. She could compromise when passengering but that is not wise and it was just not on for driving. We were really surprised because her physique is not extreme in any way and she has no problem in either of our Audis. I measured the seat cushion and found it was about a centimetre longer in the Octavia than in my A6 which came as a bit of a surprise as te A6 seats look big.

On getting a good price I endorse what StuartJ has said.

The problem with buying from a broker is their dealer is very likely to bid low or not at all for your trade-in. If you do source thru' a broker deal only with one who leaves all the formal paper work and money handling to the dealer (Broadspeed and Carfile are well-established examples) and pay the deposit by credit (not debit) card if at all possible. If you do all those things you have taken the right steps to protect yourself financially (apologies if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs ).

I have sourced a new Passat Sport TDI, factory order, June delivery. I visited five dealers within a 50 mile radius. Costs to change varied by £1250. Key points were that the best deals were offered by the smaller, family dealers and of those the two best came from dealers who clearly wanted my A6 for their forecourt. I went back to the dealer I felt happiest dealing with and asked him if he could do better and he obliged with another £300 so I dealt.

Don't forget to focus on the cost to change. I'm paying list for the Passat :eek: but I'm getting £1900 over book for the A6

What are you going to be using the Car for mainly. A to B short trips, or 20K+ Miles a year up and down Motorways, for the family, as a second car etc?

Most of my journeys will be local, with longer trips for holidays. We do about 9,000 miles a year. I do a 350 mile round trip every couple of months mostly on the motorway.

Having driven the estate and hatch on test drives, the estate probably had slightly better rear visability because of the side windows over the boot area being bigger and also the rear window also being larger. I however prefer hatch to estate model and so got the hatch. It has rear parking sensors which are fine as far as they go but when you get the instantaneous beep you still have a foot to go until you hit something. As the car is longer and wider than my previous car I'm still having a bit of difficulty getting in parked straight first time - havn't tried reversing into a car parking space along a road yet.

I found the seats a bit unsupportive right at the bottom taking the car for a two hour or so drive. I went for the L&K which has leather seats and whilst they seem to suffer from the same thing don't seem to be so bad. Having said that the most I have driven is about an hour's journey in one go. I think if you go for leather with the Elegance then you don't get the electric memory setting with the option - didn't seem to be the case when I looked at one with leather seats in.

I had xenons put on as an option and so far I am quite pleased. They are quite a lot brighter than halogen. You can see the difference if you have dipped and main beam on at the same time (main is not xenon).

Can't comment on the sunroof as didn't have that put in as an option. Didn't think it was necessary with full air con.

A thing to watch on the speedo which my boss pointed out to me (he recently bought the VRS) is that after 70 or so in his car the speedometer suddenly jumps by 20 - he thought he was doing 80 in fact was doing 90. In my car it goes up in increments of 10 to 80 and then jumps to 100. I have the speed warning set to 71 so havn't reached these giddy heights...