Looking for a replacement Octavia vrs tdi

Hi my Octavia mark2 vrs tdi was recently wrote off. I’ve kept the salvage so have tons of spares if I buy another mark2/mark2 facelift. 

my question is was the mark2/mark2 facelift Octavia vrs the best one they made? 
 

I’ve seen a few of the later models for sale pretty cheap is it worth shelling out for a later model does the later mk3/mk4 have a lot of improvements and still retain the reliability as the previous earlier models?

pros/cons on the models or any advice would be great?

thanks