Octavia VRS 126k miles...?

[Rallyfab7]

Interested in a mk3 petrol vrs estate dsg. It's done 126k miles. A 126k car is all my budget can get me. Seller says everything is all good- all dsg services, full service history and the 126k mileage is mostly motorway miles. (He says lol). However he says there is an intermittent misfire and his mechanic is changing timing chain as he reckons it may be stretched...

I said could it be coil packs, he said it wasn't that. So 3 questions -

1. What else could a misfire be if its not the chain or coil pack. Something simple as a plug? (You'd think the mechanic would figure that out though)

2. How many types of wheels came with car originally? This car has some pretty basic spoked wheels on (2 long spokes with a thin spoke in-between) and look smaller than the others Ive seen - (the striking looking hexagonal ones and the other sort of similar 'elongated' hexagon ones).

3. Is a 2013 petrol dsg 126k vrs a car that I can rely on and worth buying? (if its been looked after). Don't want to buy the car and have some nasty surprises in 3 months time!

[varaderoguy]

It will all be about the servicing and maintainance.  If that's all good and the car has been well looked after, then its a sho-in. 

 

It won't hurt for a new set of spark plugs and coil packs.  The coil packs at higher mileage can occassionally be tempremental of damp mornings - for peace of mind, I suggest you get them replaced.

 

What size of wheels do you have (17" or 18"??) 

 

 

[Rallyfab7]

26 minutes ago, varaderoguy said:

It will all be about the servicing and maintainance.  If that's all good and the car has been well looked after, then its a sho-in. 

 

It won't hurt for a new set of spark plugs and coil packs.  The coil packs at higher mileage can occassionally be tempremental of damp mornings - for peace of mind, I suggest you get them replaced.

 

What size of wheels do you have (17" or 18"??) 

 

 

Ok cool. Thanks for the info. Not sure on the wheel size. Haven’t seen the car yet. But they ‘look’ smaller than the other wheels I’ve seen in photos. Did they come with 3 different wheel options from factory? I guess I could buy car and then source myself some different wheels. 

[Rallyfab7]

Could be the car is the basic vrs package. What was the spec options in 2013 cars?

[Kenai]

The wheels sound like the Pictoris wheels that came on the very first of the Mk3s.

[CFB]

Ours is a 2012 and has the standard wheels. They are 18” as the pic below.

 

 

[Kenai]

That's a Mk2, not the same as what the OP is looking at and not the same wheels.

 

Mk3 with Pictoris, below:

 

Edited 20 September, 2021 by Kenai

[Rallyfab7]

Just now, Kenai said:

That's a Mk2, not the same as what the OP is looking at and not the same wheels.

 

 

That’s the ones. 

[Kenai]

1 minute ago, Rallyfab7 said:

That’s the ones. 

 

As far as I know, they're 18s, the same size as the Gemini wheel that you see more often, with the Xtreme being the larger 19" offering with the hexagonal diamond cut pattern.

[Rallyfab7]

2 minutes ago, Kenai said:

 

As far as I know, they're 18s, the same size as the Gemini wheel that you see more often, with the Xtreme being the larger 19" offering with the hexagonal diamond cut pattern.

Ah ok. Is a car with the pictoris wheels an indication of lowest spec model?

[Kenai]

Just now, Rallyfab7 said:

Ah ok. Is a car with the pictoris wheels an indication of lowest spec model?

I don't think so, those were the standard wheel offering when the car was first launched, though they changed to the Gemini fairly soon into the lifecycle (maybe not even a year after release? not 100% sure), so all it's really an indication of is that it's a very early Mk3.

 

I don't know off the top of my head if the earliest cars had any other standard spec differences to slightly later cars - you could try searching out a 2013 PDF brochure and a 2014 equivalent and see if there any key differences.

[Rallyfab7]

Anyway not massively hung up about the wheels. I can change them to the other style if I want a more aggressive look I guess. Still concerned about it being a 126k mile car! Just hope it’s all ok and been looked after. Apparently that’s mostly motorway miles. Is the dsg box good long after a mileage like that as long as it’s looked after?

1 minute ago, Kenai said:

I don't think so, those were the standard wheel offering when the car was first launched, though they changed to the Gemini fairly soon into the lifecycle (maybe not even a year after release? not 100% sure), so all it's really an indication of is that it's a very early Mk3.

 

I don't know off the top of my head if the earliest cars had any other standard spec differences to slightly later cars - you could try searching out a 2013 PDF brochure and a 2014 equivalent and see if there any key differences.

Cheers. I’ll have a look. 

[Rallyfab7]

Can’t find a pdf of the 2013 brochure. Can anyone post a link if they know where to find it? Also the car has grey colour highlights on the seats compared to the red highlights I’ve seen in other cars. Is that just aesthetics or does it indicate a spec level?

[Kenai]

Grey or red was simply an option based on preference when ordering the car

[grantcolborn]

Hi mate, I previously owned a very early mk3 2013 VRS estate, it had the Pictoris wheels. They were definitely 18”, I quite liked them as they were different to all the Gemini wheels. The car won’t have sat nav or cruise control as standard, they were options. It did have rear parking sensors as standard.

[Gerrycan]

As mentioned above, servicing is very important.

Unless you misquoted them then you are being fed some BS.

There is no timing chain, it is a belt, so they do not stretch but they can break. A break can be disastrous but not something I have heard of in this forum.

With the age and mileage the belt should have been changed at least once already. Seek proof this has been done otherwise other maintenance claims may be suspect.

Fuel system on this car is a dual port and direct injection. A good system that reduces carbon build up on inlet valves but a probably a more complex system to repair of things go wrong.

DSG system is a wet bath for the clutches and is very durable IF the oil is changed as scheduled. However the oil change is not cheap and a thing likely 'missed' after the warranty finished. Watch for issues with gearchanges and pull aways on test drive.

Issues can be expensive to fix.

Tend to agree that a misfire would be electrical or fuel feed.

Great car if you get a good one.

Good luck.

 

Edited 20 September, 2021 by Gerrycan

[OldAndyMac]

Im pretty sure the EA888 gen 3 has a timing chain not a belt, so agree that it would more likely be fuel or ignition.

[Rallyfab7]

Ok so can someone confirm whether this engine is chain or belt? 2013, Octavia vrs mk3 petrol. 
the garage definitely said they were changing the chain not a belt. 

[Breezy_Pete]

camshaft timing chain; slide rail - Octavia(OCT) [EUROPA 2013 year] (7zap.com)

 

[Gerrycan]

Whoops it seems I was wrong.

My apologies

[Rallyfab7]

22 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

Whoops it seems I was wrong.

My apologies

No worries. 

[srh007]

On 20/09/2021 at 09:33, Rallyfab7 said:

Could be the car is the basic vrs package. What was the spec options in 2013 cars?

Hello, hope the impeding purchase goes smoothly and will be interested to hear how you get on.

 

I was just going to share that another thing we noticed when looking for our car, was that earlier launch year vRS models had a traditional fully round steering wheel, the slightly later models had a flatter bottom to the wheel. 
 

I did find the following link to a 2014 model PDF brochure (which ours is) and hoped it may help you see the trim and options available at this time.

 

https://www.onlymanuals.com/index.php/skoda/octavia/skoda_octavia_sales_brochure_2014_2014_2

 

Best of luck in the search!

[jimbojames]

One thing I would add to this is regarding the turbo. I have a 2013 petrol vrs dsg on 129k miles, and the actuator on the turbo seized at around 90k I think. This is an issue to a small extent on the early model turbo's, and is a recall item for the US on VAG cars, but not in UK/Europe for some reason. There are horror stories of the actuator sticking when fully open, causing the turbo to overspin and destroy itself into the engine. Thankfully mine stuck only partly open.

I battled with Skoda to get anything out of them but was ultimately unsuccessful. Cost for a replacement was £1300 (keeping the car till it dies, so worth going for genuine parts I thought). Here's some reading for you

That said, this is really the only issue I've ever had with the car, but it was a big one!

Edited 29 September, 2021 by jimbojames

[Rallyfab7]

Thanks for everyone’s help on this. Because of budget constraints I’ve ended up getting a mk2 facelift Octavia vrs dsg. Drives great. Very happy with it.