Hello all, long post but bear with me!

 

After 8 years abroad in Singapore (where  even judicious application of man-maths cannot justify car ownership / leasing on cost grounds as alternatives are ludicrously cheap and convenient!), my wife and I are planning our repatriation next year - Having the opportunity to plan your life in a place from scratch with no ties is a wonderful opportunity; I have a job lined up and we know where we want to live so naturally my attention has turned to vehicles / working out our projected finances.

 

I need some help from you all:  We will need a car each, both of which should be nearly new (2/3 years old) and that we intend to keep for at least 7/8 years (or until maintaining is unviable) - I’ve settled on the skoda range due to reliability reports and the practicality of them for the price. Our requirements are:

 

One vehicle for me that should be capable of weekly commuting economically and comfortably from our village in rural Devon to West London (150 miles each way), it should also have a fair amount of luggage space as we will be doing home improvements to our property there and I like the idea of an estate or some other old-lugging solution. I was thinking Fabia estate for economy but also as I have off-street parking in london, perhaps a Superb estate?

 

One for my wife (who will be a housewife for a time at least) and hence will need one for more local errands / school runs etc. We have two children with a third on the way so she needs a lot of space for buggies / bags and most probably a lot more! That said she doesn’t want a very large car, she’s open to something up to medium size - I was thinking a Karoq as she is not very tall and for the Devon lanes the higher driving position would be useful?

 

We should have about £25 - 30k to spend in total (we could push this a little if needed) and as said, we’re thinking of 2 or 3 years old as the reliability vs. depreciation / cost sweet spot.

 

Additionally, we plan to take regular long family camping trips away so one of these vehicles will need to be capable in this regard.

 

So there’s a download of our situation; opinions please: What models and spec should we look out for? Small economical mile-muncher for me and the bigger car in the family for the wife? Or just go big for me and the wife and enjoy the space?!

 

Very long and rambling post - Hoping to get some input from those that have sampled a variety of the Skoda range! Feel free to ask questions.

 

Thanks for reading.

Hi all, anyone here have experience of the various models mentioned (or that of others I should be looking at), who can hence weigh in with thoughts?

@DJ_EFK I am assuming although you are doing long journeys it is just one return a week to London, not daily.  The Fabia estate is good, try and get one of the later 1.0tsi engines.  The slightly older 1.2tsi is also pretty good.  Ignore the mpi engines, not really strong enough for eating up the miles on A303 and M3

 

Not sure where in London your weekday bolthole is, but if it is within North and South Circular Road, don’t buy a diesel unless it is euro6 (earlier ones are banned from October 2021) within North and South Circular (already applies to a small central London zone). Euro5 petrols are ok for ULEZ (ultra low emission zone).

 

You are not going to get a Karoq that is 2-3 years old, it is too new. The Kodiaq is older, but if your wife doesn’t like big cars that is out (and Superb probably also too big).  The discontinued Yeti had some late models badged Drive with extra equipment, but they are rare, but if you can find a 1.2tsi Yeti it’s ideal for lots of local journeys.

 

Not sure what your budget is, but maybe an Octavia estate, for your wife and family (but it is quite a big car nowadays, much longer than the mk 1 version) The 1.4 engine is good, the latest 1.5 has problems, the 1.0 (110 or 115) good for local work.  Since you went away 8 years ago, diesels have been lumbered with all sorts of emissions stuff and no longer suitable for lots of local journeys, they need periodic long journeys to avoid clogging up.

 

If you get the estate for the family, you might get away with a Fabia hatchback, or possibly the rare Rapid (discontinued, but worth seeking a bargain).   A bit of a fringe suggestion for you is one of the last Roomster (hideously practical, we once bought a small chest freezer and slid it in), but maybe too old now as will be nearer 4 years old.

 

Not exactly sure of your timescale, but the Karoq has a smaller brother coming out at end of year called Kamiq which is new (completely different to a model of same name sold in China).  However if you have been abroad for 8 years might not be eligible for the deals if your credit history is blank.  Without the deals going to be expensive cash purchase.   However VW group has a sister to Kamiq called Seat Arona and oldest are end of 2017 which might work instead.

 

Specs vary, although Skoda tends to use S (basic), SE (mid) SE-L (upper), then Monte Carlo Or Sportline (more sporty look) and L&K (luxury) there are no set standards and the smaller cars come with less equipment for same designation.  

 

S spec maybe adequate for a second car, although might prefer to move up to SE.  Obviously the higher the spec, the more it costs, but some extra items might never get used.  If you are buying a car and keeping it until 10 years old then extra equipment is just more to go wrong, or possibly need expensively fixing.

 

Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

Edited 25 August, 20196 yr by SurreyJohn

@SurreyJohn,

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. To clarify:

 

- Yes, one return trip per week to London - My base there is right next to the North Circular (on the non-ULEZ side), but as all Diesels sold in the UK from Sept 2015 comply with this and I'm only looking at a 2/3 year old vehicle this isn't a concern.

- The first Karoqs  would be 2 years old by the time we land mid next year, so that's why I'm considering one

- I've already shown my wife a pic of a Yeti and got a "that's hideous" back, so that's a non-starter! Looking at the Roomster I see it's fairly similar in profile so likely to elicit the same response (don't shoot the messenger here, I just have to run with it!).

- The Rapid I discounted from the running as it seems to have pretty poor reviews and hence there are better cars in Skoda's range - I'm open to being challenged on this though.

- We'll have £25 - 30k to spend in total (we could push this a little if needed but I think we should be able to work with this as a good budget, it'd be great to come in at under this of course).

 

I guess to paraphrase my thoughts - There are three main types of driving / usage we'll be needing from the two vehicles:

 

1) My round trip of 300 miles to London and back each week;

2) My wife's school run duties & shorter family errands during the week;

3) Long journeys to see relatives at the weekends or for family holidays (which we are planning to do a lot of on long weekends as well as the traditional week-or-two holidays) - I would be doing most of the driving.

 

Therefore, to meet these needs, it comes down to one of the following:

 

a) Go with a frugal Fabia Estate (the most powerful version of the 1.0 TSI with the 6 speed manual) for my weekly commute, with the wife going for the Karoq for during the week and then we use that as weekend family transport (is it big enough for a 3 child family for this?); OR

b) The wife gets the Karoq or Fabia estate whilst I plump for a Superb estate (in which case the latter does all the long distance work).

 

I guess the answer comes to down to test drives and see what works best for each of us. Option B would dictate either a diesel (which is good as there are shed loads of diesel Superbs coming off lease plans at 3 years old ad hence it should be easy to find a good one with the options I'd want such as heated windscreen and rear camera etc.) - or possibly if I decide I don't like the diesel, a 1.4 or 1.5 TSI manual (non-kangaroo one if I can find one!) - I could even get it converted to run on LPG as there are plenty of places to fill up on it near me / on my route to London and I've calculated I'd cover the cost of the conversion within 3 years at my projected mileage of around 17 - 18,000 miles (this is worthy of a thread all of its own however).

 

I'd be interested to hear yours / others' experience of these three models with the usage I have in mind as the context...

 

 

Sorry, didn’t realise timescale was next Spring.

 

Go for Karoq, (oldest ones will be near 2 years old) but avoid the 1.5 petrol manual.  The 1.0 tsi is good, but due to weight of car requires fair bit of gear twirling if you get the manual, but the 1.0 tsi DSG is perfect for school runs.   I would look for SE spec (or above).

 

Shouldn't really need 4x4 versions, (I have spent a Christmas week at Sidbury, I know it is hilly, gets muddy field run off, frost etc).  So budget £500 per car to change to good all season tyres.  (The default factory fit are Eco biased summer tyres, often poor in winter cold rain/sleet/snow).  Tyres may be worn anyway.

 

For your other car, go for a estate, either a Fabia, Octavia or Superb.  If the Fabia  try and get one after engine range was changed, and get the higher powered 1.0 tsi.  For either of the others, 3-4 years old any engine is ok.  The most important thing is check it has been serviced properly, skimped servicing will come back to haunt you if keeping the car to 10 years old (but person who saved money has got rid of it, so not their problem anymore).  The Fabia misses out on some equipment even in its SE-L and Monte Carlo specs.  But Octavia SE-L is well equipped.  Superb gets even more.

 

Would defo avoid the Yeti if your looking for something with load lugging capabilities, boot is miniscule.

 

I had one from 2012 to 2015 and it had to go when our twin daughters came along, even after fitting a luggage/dog type guard so that the boot could be loaded to the roof it just wouldn't do. 

 

Don't get me wrong, from a drivers point of view the Yeti was a decent car and had good passenger space but as I said the boot was very small. Also I had rust issues on my one at less than 3 years old all along the lower portions of the doors (skoda weren't interested, just said it was fair wear and tear and not their problem). 

 

I'm certainly not skoda bashing as I think they have an excellent range of vehicles that are good value for money and have just taken delivery my third new skoda, a kodiaq sportline and am very happy with it. I have also owned in the past an octy vrs which was fantastic. 

 

Based on what you are saying I would suggest staying out of skodas' SUV range of vehicles and going with a fabia estate for you commute and load lugging needs and an octy estate for the wife and all the kids paraphernlia. Lots of engine/trim options to chose from and even 4x4 possible on the octavia if you desire. 

 

Hope you have a successful car hunt whatever you chose in the end. 

4 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

.Go for Karoq, (oldest ones will be near 2 years old) but avoid the 1.5 petrol manual.  The 1.0 tsi is good, but due to weight of car requires fair bit of gear twirling if you get the manual, but the 1.0 tsi DSG is perfect for school runs.   I would look for SE spec (or above).

 

Shouldn't really need 4x4 versions, (I have spent a Christmas week at Sidbury, I know it is hilly, gets muddy field run off, frost etc).  So budget £500 per car to change to good all season tyres.  (The default factory fit are Eco biased summer tyres, often poor in winter cold rain/sleet/snow).  Tyres may be worn anyway.

 

For your other car, go for a estate, either a Fabia, Octavia or Superb.  If the Fabia  try and get one after engine range was changed, and get the higher powered 1.0 tsi.  For either of the others, 3-4 years old any engine is ok.  The most important thing is check it has been serviced properly, skimped servicing will come back to haunt you if keeping the car to 10 years old (but person who saved money has got rid of it, so not their problem anymore).  The Fabia misses out on some equipment even in its SE-L and Monte Carlo specs.  But Octavia SE-L is well equipped.  Superb gets even more.

 

 

I was thinking the 1.5 due to the hilly countryside around the village here we will be living, with a full complement of kids and associated paraphernalia I thought the 1.0 might struggle. That said, again I may be surprised: I hear they are punchier than you might imagine! Out of interest, so you say avoid the 1.5 due to the kangarooing? Surely that issue could just be avoided by carefully test-driving the example I’m looking at if so?

 

No 4wd needed for sure, but totally agree with you on all-seasons. I did some serious geeking on tyres with the help of tyrereviews.co.uk and concluded for souther England’s weather, Michelin’s CrossClimate+ will be going on both vehicles come October, regardless of whatever they’re wearing at purchase!

 

For my personal needs (long-distance cruising with comfort, space and economy), again agree I would want an estate rather than Karoq or other SUV / crossover - anyone have any experience of similar usage across the three models?

 

Agan, I am grateful for your thoughts @SurreyJohn

@Gmac983 thanks for the input - as mentioned a Yeti is out purely on appearance anyway!

 

Could I ask what’s the rationale behind the suggestions you’ve made? I assume Fabia for me base in the need for frugality(?), however why not a Karoq for the wife for example?

 

An Octavia estate would most likely be too large for her to feel comfortable driving around the Devon lanes, hence why I was thinking the Fabia estate for her (smaller externally but bags of space inside for kids and their gear), or else the Karoq as I was assuming they’re bigger inside(?), not much bigger externally and of course she’s now seated higher up which is better for those sorts of roads with their high hedges.

 

Would be interested to hear an alternative point of view.

Just to be clear, the kangaroo seems to be reported in manual cars with electric handbrake.   Other VW group cars eg Arona with conventional handbrake don’t seem to ever feature 1.5 kangaroo stories.   I don’t have a Karoq so cannot advise but from memory someone said turning off auto brake hold stops the kangaroo (which suggests it is some dubious interaction between this and engine)

 

The DSG seems to be interfaced with the engine so not a problem.

 

I was assuming the Karoq was for Devon lanes, not the London commute where any estate car will be more streamlined than a SUV

Correct the Karoq I was only considering for the wife and perhaps as our main weekend / holiday car, not for my mad London dash and back each week. Perhaps the 1.0 would be fine, else as said I’d just very carefully test any 1.5 example I’m looking to buy.

 

Alternatively and just to confuse the issue further - having just seen a review on the new Scala, we would probably have enough cash in the kitty to swap out the Fabia Estate for the slightly more grown-up Scala (the first of which will be a year old by then and should be available for around £14/15k secondhand with a decent spec)!

 

Sorry, I know I’m like a kid in a sweetshop here! I think the answer really is multiple test drives of all four models for both my wife and I!

Edited 27 August, 20196 yr by DJ_EFK

19 hours ago, DJ_EFK said:

@Gmac983 thanks for the input - as mentioned a Yeti is out purely on appearance anyway!

 

Could I ask what’s the rationale behind the suggestions you’ve made? I assume Fabia for me base in the need for frugality(?), however why not a Karoq for the wife for example?

 

An Octavia estate would most likely be too large for her to feel comfortable driving around the Devon lanes, hence why I was thinking the Fabia estate for her (smaller externally but bags of space inside for kids and their gear), or else the Karoq as I was assuming they’re bigger inside(?), not much bigger externally and of course she’s now seated higher up which is better for those sorts of roads with their high hedges.

 

Would be interested to hear an alternative point of view.

 

You may find the karoqs' boot a little on the small side (although the 2wd boot is larger than the 4wd due to having a lowered boot floor) when loaded up with the pram/buggy or whatever kids travel system it is you use + plus the weekly shop or you mentioned camping trips as well. Of course you could always fit a rooftop box for some extra capacity. I might add that passenger space is excellent. The other reason I suggested an octy over the Karoq is perception that it's a "normal car" rather than an SUV (octavia has the same wheelbase as a Golf, the car its based on, all be it with larger front/rear overhangs). My sister in law went from a Ford Smax and her husband's Ford ranger to an octy estate because it was a mind over matter issue for her as she "could never park the damn things anywhere" and is much more content in her "car like" octavia. Of course you guys may find the complete opposite when you test drive the vehicles. Really you need to start looking at vehicles in the flesh and test driving to see what's right for you as everything else here is just opinion. 

I would suggest for the London commute a seat leon fr estate, that would be my choice, with the 1.5tsi engine, automatic over manual

nice looking cars and lots of kit as standard

 

the fabia estate is just too small and the superb estate is too big imo

Edited 3 September, 20196 yr by BigJase88

Right it looks like we're going for the third child as I indicate in my thread in the Karoq forum - so assuming three kiddie seats will go in the back of a Varioflex Karoq (and as the seats slide forward a bit, it would free up some more boot space), that would be the car we go for as daily family driver and weekend / holiday trip mile muncher as a family of 5.

 

I think for my weekly commute I'll go with either the Fabia estate (or possibly the Leon estate, I haven't checked that out yet, but thanks @BigJase88 for the shout), or else I may also see what is good value on the secondhand market outside of the Skoda range to compare.

 

The left-field option would be to go with something older, larger and LPG powered with under 100k miles on it for the best combination of comfort / cost / reliability (potentially). Not sure how much longer LPG will be available, but it's plentiful on the main trunk routes I'm likely to drive on for now!

22 minutes ago, DJ_EFK said:

assuming three kiddie seats will go in the back of a Varioflex Karoq

 

Could be pushing it... Very much depends on the types kiddie seats you are going to be using. Non isofix seatbeltable ones may work 3 abreast as they give you wiggle room. However if you are using isofix in the 2 outer seats (particularly the newest larger category rear facing) there will be no danger of fitting a 3rd seat in the middle. As really the karoq has as most cars have, 2.5 seats in the rear. If your requirements are to have 3 child seats in your car you may have to rethink your whole strategy and go for a 7 seater or at least something with 3 isofix points (3 equally size seats) in the rear like a citroen c4 picasso/space tourer or something similar mpv-ish. Or you could go for a multi-Mac which are very expensive and may not be available for the karoq yet is its a fairly recent car on the market. 

A SEAT Alhambra / VW Sharran will do the job. Manuals or DSG as used cars. only 1.4 TSI manuals now as a New Build.  (still 1.4's note.)

1.4 TSI or 2.0TDI. 

3 seats in the rear and luggage space if not using it as a 7 seater.

High driving position and you are not aware of the length as not as long as many.

Sliding rear doors dead handy for loading kids and adults.

 

Handy in van mode with rear seats flat.   Not too wide.

Edited 18 September, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

Yes I think you’re right now having slept on it and reading this - Thanks for the thoughts and for the pictures, which are helpful.

On 19/09/2019 at 01:52, DJ_EFK said:

Yes I think you’re right now having slept on it and reading this - Thanks for the thoughts and for the pictures, which are helpful.

Touran, Sharan or Alhambra for you! I like the Citroen Grand C4 spacetourer

If you are thinking of a Fabia, I had a 95ps TSI 5 speed manual as a loan car recently. 

 

Drove it on the M11 a bit and slow traffic. It's not bad and gave good economy at over 50mpg over 60miles I had it. 

 

If you want an older car with LPG conversion, you'd need one without direct injection. A popular choice is a Lexus LS430. However that won't give you the load lugging capability. Some sort of Volvo estate should be perfect. Also looking at your total expected mileage over 3 years, it won't be a significant difference between say a diesel at 60mpg versus petrol at 40mpg.  

 

IMO, I love the idea of an older LPG car + Karoq for the wife. Otherwise an Octavia or superb estate + fabia estate for the wife.