thinking of early retirement next year and looking to purchase either of two vehicles. Another Honda CR-V or coming back to Skoda and getting a Vrs estate.

I know most of the pitfalls round the Honda, but wanted a bit more info on the Vrs if anyone can assist please?

I assume they are still cambelts, rather than chain drive, so do water pumps still need changing at same time, and what sort of intervals between these?

Are the DSG as economical as manual as I`d like to give one a go but not if there`s a vast difference in fuel consumption.

Also, I believe the 2.0 l were £30 road tax upto 2017, is this correct or did it go on after that?

cheers in advance for any help guys....

Andy

Love my VRS estate Diesel... MPG around 45MPG and £30 tax per year. Water pump does need replacing after 5 years, mine is a DSG though... My advice is buy one I love it

hmm, had hoped the mpg might be a tad better than that. getting more than that out my current CR-V....

If you can buy a manual diesel VRS, it is possible to get 55mpg from it quite easily. Please note that MPG during winter months is considerably worse below 7C (typically down to 45 to 48mpg). If you are doing long journeys, then the diesel is excellent value for money.

Do you need the diesel? The 230 / 245 petrols are capable of 40mpg+ when driven right, no DPF issues, smoother, quicker. Pretty much just better in every way 

 

And both are (imo) better than a CRV. Unless you have a bad back.

Hi @scubasad, 

What sort of annual mileage do you anticipate in your possible post covid, post brexit, retirement world?

Are looking at buying new or second-hand? I'm assuming second hand since you posted in the mk3 section and a new model Mk4 is out

Have you driven a VRS to know whether you like it or not? Same for DSG transmission?

There are other possible factors that you don't need to share here but will influence your decision like personal health, grandkids, dogs, elderly dependants, partner's preferences etc.

Not to mention possible UK diesel exclusion zones??

 

The DSG box in the VRS is very efficient, when compared to traditional torque converter automatics, comparable economy to a manual but the manual will usually have the slight edge in the right hands.

DSG boxes are brilliant 'on-the-go' swapping pre-selected gears almost seamlessly and instantly. Some people have some issues in stop/start traffic and pulling away quickly at roundabouts. I think this latter may be an issue with stop/start features, a bit of turbo lag and driving mode selected. If the preselected gear is different to what is suddenly needed then there may be a hesitation.  Some also report 'delays' engaging reverse gear and reversing up slopes. Can't say I have witnessed issues with any DSG I have driven although I don't own one. Something for you to investigate on any test drive though.

The clutch packs in the more robust 'wet' DSG (above 250Nm) sit in an oil bath, are very robust and suffer little wear even when stressed by towing or fanging, but that oil must be changed at recommended times and is not cheap. I believe CVT's have similar maintenance requirements though.

 

The water pumps on VAG group diesels are a known weakness and may need replacement at anything from 20k to 60k+ miles. It is not a catastrophic failure there usually being plenty of warning as the temp gauge starts to fluctuate, plenty of threads on it.

 

Personally if I were only going to do low annual mileage and lots of short trips then I'd strongly consider petrol.