After being shocked at the price of used Octavias, I’m looking seriously at buying new. 
 

I’ve had a decent quote for a 1.5TSI estate but my preference is diesel. I have a ten year old 1.6TDI hatch that consistently gives me 55+ on motorway/a-road driving. 
 

Anyone got real numbers for the 1.5TSI? Is it a good engine?

I’ve got a Mk4 1.5TSI 150 EVO  manual Estate, to be honest I am very impressed with the fuel economy. Over the last 9500 miles I’ve averaged 54.2mpg (brim to brim calculations in Excel). Best I have had is in excess of 71mpg for a trundle along the M3/M27 from near Eastleigh to Hayling Island and back - OK, speed limits on the M27 were set to 60 & 50mph for lengthy stretches but even so I was very impressed. At more normal motorway speeds it’s returning in the region of 55mpg upwards.

 

Subjectively I’d say the engine is pretty good. It’s not as flexible at low revs as my old 14-plate 1.4TSI (125PS) Superb Mk2 which is a shame - but I am comparing a fairly new 1.5 engine (~12k miles) with a well run-in 1.4 (75k miles).

 

For comparison, prior to the Superb I had a 12-plate Mk2 Octavia Estate 1.6TDI manual. Over the  65+K miles I had that I averaged 59.3mpg.

 

Driving style and journey type differences will clearly make a big difference but given that I had a similar age 1.6TDI to yours, you can draw some parallels I guess.

 

That’s really helpful, thanks. As it happens, most of my driving would be on the M27 as well. I guess the 60 limit helps. 

5 hours ago, jaykyu said:

After being shocked at the price of used Octavias, I’m looking seriously at buying new.

I felt the same way looking at the price of, for example, a low KMs Golf R 7.5 one year ago.

 

Maybe, if those are the previous generation Skodas, they are worth paying for because they do not some with the unreliable and unergonomic infotainment system.

 

6 hours ago, DaveFromSydney said:

Maybe, if those are the previous generation Skodas, they are worth paying for because they do not some with the unreliable and unergonomic infotainment system.

 

Been reading up on this. I can’t believe the issues some people are facing. 

7 hours ago, DaveFromSydney said:

Maybe, if those are the previous generation Skodas, they are worth paying for because they do not some with the unreliable and unergonomic infotainment system.

And it is worse than it sounds there since when I say "Infotainment system" it is not just about entertainment.

When it fails it removes your ability to:

• Turn off auto-stop/start
• Change driving mode: comfort/normal/sport etc
• Make phone calls
• Use SatNav
• Change aircon settings, fan, temperature etc.
• Change radio station/media/track etc

and many other things.

 

And when it doesn't outright fail - which luckily is most of the time for me -  the reliance on accessing a touchscreen, and with one's left hand, and navigating through multiple levels, makes it a danger to use while driving. I often do without a desired change unless I have a passenger to delegate that to. And then you have UI features that don't really work, like swipe gestures to move from screen to screen. And there is the noticeable lag on many functions, so it is necessary to keep watching the screen instead of the road to ensure that your action has been performed. And the voice control which could have saved you from all of that is so laggy and inaccurate that I just give up on it.

 

 

Edited 25 April, 20224 yr by DaveFromSydney

Real world; Hatch; 12K miles; anywhere between 55 to 58 brim to brim. Not a lot of nose to tail traffic, though. Swiping and poking is pants but you get used to stabbing at the bits you need. It's impossible to have buttons for the level of functionality it offers - you end up with zillions of tiny buttons. By the time yours is delivered the early horror stories will be sorted - or there'll be more knowledge in the dealer chain of what the faults are. Interestingly the Golf has just released a major infotainment upgrade with a better chip at the heart of it - this might be on Octavias in a year.

Edited 25 April, 20224 yr by inspectorman
added hatch

Think my car is nearer low 40's mpg from my home to workplace, which is a mixture of a bit of town driving to country driving at the other end, getting closer to 50mpg on motorway if driven carefully. Pretty similar to my mark 3 car with the same engine, after its software update wrecked its fuel economy and torque.

2 hours ago, inspectorman said:

It's impossible to have buttons for the level of functionality it offers - you end up with zillions of tiny buttons

In our 2015 VW Golf Alltrack (a Golf 7.5 and very similar to the Octavia Mk3 wagon) you have physical buttons/knobs for all of these that are missing on these Octavias Mk4s:

• Auto Stop/start 
• Drive Mode
• A/C On/OFF
• A/C Temperature
• A/C Sync (hardly needed since it defaults to on, unlike the Octavia)
• A/C Fan speed
• A/C Auto mode
• Phone: Ready to press a big button to call one of your favourite contacts
• Radio: Ready to press a big button to switch to one of your favourite stations
• Sat/Nav
• Trip meter
• Steering wheel navigation through all info displays in front of driver that is so simple you can do it from muscle memory.
• Consistency of design and navigation of all screens

With the Octavia I expected to get all of that plus a few extra features and I would not have minded if those extra features were buried a bit deeper.

Edited 25 April, 20224 yr by DaveFromSydney

14 hours ago, jaykyu said:

That’s really helpful, thanks. As it happens, most of my driving would be on the M27 as well. I guess the 60 limit helps. 

When I commuted on the M27 (before the 'smart motorway' fiasco) between Southampton and Portsmouth or Southampton and Romsey I counted myself lucky to get to 40mph, so maybe the 60mph limit is of academic concern?

2 hours ago, inspectorman said:

 It's impossible to have buttons for the level of functionality it offers

The previous Octavia 3 managed it, and it wasn't confusing to use?

Obviously in forums such as this there will be a disproportionate number of people with issues, either looking for answers or having a moan - myself included.

 

Mine, since September ‘21, is almost fault free, a few niggles remain which I don’t need to peruse till it goes in for service. The dealer is aware and on alert from Skoda should there be a relevant update released. I bought it in March ‘21 but soon noted a few key errors and reported/escalated to Skoda Uk. They asked me to leave it at teh dealers for investigation/fix and provided a loan car (1.0eTec SE FE Estate) - which I ran for five months until the fix in September. That car was 100% fault free.

 

Why am I blathering on about this? Well, whilst there are real issues with some cars, there are many out there that have none.

 

As for the infotainment system, yes, I’d like buttons but as @inspectorman mentioned, so many functions would leave a wall of buttons. The voice control is surprisingly good at what it does - for example, I never use a button to control the radio or media other than the knob on the steering wheel for volume & pause/start. And with CarPlay and Siri all those functions are easy too.

People sadly require Social Media and forums to vent on or just to ask questions and get answers because the Main Dealership & Customer Services and the actual manufacturers are not giving the information required.

Lots of people end up on forums but many many more will not get to a forum to learn of issues, or to say how free of issues their vehicle is and how good a service they receive & Dealers.

Many might not join a forum or post on it and just try to get information reading what others have posted giving their experiences or opinions.

 

The Internet has caught out VW Group over incompetence and part of their failing is Software and the Motoring Journals seem to be far to easy on VW Group over this. 

Edited 25 April, 20224 yr by roottoot

Note these are from the computer not brim to brim calculations...

Day to day is mid to high 30s - but that has A LOT of stop start town traffic and often quite short journeys, and it's quite hilly here as well (good EV territory...)

Motorway runs get comfortably into the 50s. I have a regular journey 20 mile from home up to a pretty high bit of the M62 (then down into a town in the valley). That comes out at c.50 overall if I'm not late!

On a longer journey a few weeks ago I got up to an indicated 58+ travelling up the M1/A1 at a steady 70 - or less depending on traffic. Whether another 20 miles would have got me to 60 I don't know...

Thanks all. I must admit the touchscreen is something I already had concerns about before even posting here. They seem to have just stuck a massive tablet on the dash!

 

Maybe I’m just getting old but some recent car innovations don’t feel like progress. 
 

Thanks for setting my mind at rest on the economy though. 

11 hours ago, PetrolDave said:

When I commuted on the M27 (before the 'smart motorway' fiasco) between Southampton and Portsmouth or Southampton and Romsey I counted myself lucky to get to 40mph, so maybe the 60mph limit is of academic concern?

It’s a lot better now. Lower traffic volumes and fully open motorway means you can do the whole stretch at 60.

Travelling 11 miles to my wife's work to pick her up I was getting 57mpg. That's doing 50mph on an A road. 

 

Long term mpg is sitting at 47 mpg. 

 

When I got the car 2 weeks ago the long term was sitting at 36mpg. I suspect it had only been used around town. 

 

Driving economically it's easy to get 50+mpg in this model. Can't complain too much with that. 

I like pretty much everything about this car and can't find much to complain about after 7 months of ownership. Performance and fuel economy from the 1.4TSI petrol is on par with my previous 2015 Golf mk7, ample power and very frugal depending on driving conditions. I've had as good as 4.9l/100km (57mpg) on the open highway. The 8sp single clutch auto is also much smoother and more responsive at lower speeds than the pervious jerky 7sp DSG - tick!

 

Minor niggles for me:

 

1. The perennial annoyance with VAG making certain functions default to a standard 'factory setting' rather than remembering your last chosen setting each time the engine is switched off e.g. ride/drive and stop/start. At least ride settings are accessible through the Mode shortcut button. 

 

2. I'd like to be able to fully lift the wipers without opening the bonnet (who designed that??!)

 

3. Stop/start is about the only thing I miss having as a console button.

 

4. The thumb shifter is novel but gimmicky. I'm a bit over it really, give me a stick please....

 

Other than that, rock on! Thumbs up for this Skoda...

 

For point 2: use "wipers service position" with confidence - I always do... I actually rarely clean my windshield using the wipers (unless I'm on a long trip and don't have time to stop).
Most often I'll stop at the first gas station (when needed) and clean the windshield using wipers service position and lifting the wipers. And don't bother with the tablet menu - just pull down the wipers lever for a few seconds after you turned the engine off.

Thank you. Had no idea that 'feature' existed. If anything it adds one more niggle to my modest list i.e. so much information seems hidden!

Yep, I think all cars with "hidden wipers" under the bonnet have this option available - service position; it makes life a lot easier.
Just remember: this option of holding the wipers lever down for a few seconds to lift the wiper arms - it's only available for about 10 seconds after you switch off the engine (it's written somewhere in the manual). If you'll try 1 minute later or let's say the next day when you unlock the car - it won't work. So the workaround is: ignition ON (no need to start the engine), then ignition OFF, then pull down the wipers lever for a few seconds.
Wipers will go back down if you hold down again the lever for some time, but there's also an automatic mode (that I prefer) - they will park themselves once you start moving and go above some 10 km/h.

On 04/10/2023 at 08:39, SouthernComfort said:

I like pretty much everything about this car and can't find much to complain about after 7 months of ownership. Performance and fuel economy from the 1.4TSI petrol is on par with my previous 2015 Golf mk7, ample power and very frugal depending on driving conditions. I've had as good as 4.9l/100km (57mpg) on the open highway. The 8sp single clutch auto is also much smoother and more responsive at lower speeds than the pervious jerky 7sp DSG - tick!

 

 

The transmission on the Australian 1.4tsi mk4 Octavia (and current Golf) is an Aisin sourced torque converter unit so there is no clutch as such and why it is comparatively smooth.

It is a good unit and also used on the Peugeot 208/308 and equivalent Citroens.

 

Consumption would not be quite as good as the DCT transmission around town but on the highway when the torque converter locks up there would be little to no difference.

I would expect you to get better consumption on a highway run than I do with my 2014 mk3 1.4tsi because your mk4 has better aero and would also run a higher top gear.

 

Not far behind the best of the reported consumption for the 1.5tsi but at least 'our versions' seem to have appreciatively fewer issues than are bobbing up for the 1.5tsi?

7 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

 

The transmission on the Australian 1.4tsi mk4 Octavia (and current Golf) is an Aisin sourced torque converter unit so there is no clutch as such and why it is comparatively smooth.

It is a good unit and also used on the Peugeot 208/308 and equivalent Citroens.

 

Consumption would not be quite as good as the DCT transmission around town but on the highway when the torque converter locks up there would be little to no difference.

I would expect you to get better consumption on a highway run than I do with my 2014 mk3 1.4tsi because your mk4 has better aero and would also run a higher top gear.

 

Not far behind the best of the reported consumption for the 1.5tsi but at least 'our versions' seem to have appreciatively fewer issues than are bobbing up for the 1.5tsi?

My consumption is just about identical to the old 7sp DSG Golf across the board, even though the mk4 Octavia is slightly larger and heavier (both being wagons). I almost went for the Golf again, and yes they share the same 1.4tsi engines and 8sp trans. Octavia has the larger load space and is a better looking car imho, though local pricing now is right up there with Golf. Certainly seems to be few issues in the UK/Europe region judging by this forum, but theirs is a much larger market, larger sample of vehicles. I have noticed many of the 'problems' cited by owners in here relate to earlier mk4's ('20-'21), not seeing as many issues reported with '22-'23 models. Problems often get ironed out after the first year or two production runs, one reason I resist buying a newly released model in its first year...

On 25/04/2022 at 08:53, inspectorman said:

Real world; Hatch; 12K miles; anywhere between 55 to 58 brim to brim. Not a lot of nose to tail traffic, though. Swiping and poking is pants but you get used to stabbing at the bits you need. It's impossible to have buttons for the level of functionality it offers - you end up with zillions of tiny buttons. By the time yours is delivered the early horror stories will be sorted - or there'll be more knowledge in the dealer chain of what the faults are. Interestingly the Golf has just released a major infotainment upgrade with a better chip at the heart of it - this might be on Octavias in a year.

I done a round trip of 640 miles and I got over 64 mpg.car was a octavia vrs 4x4 diesel estate car mk 4 and I was not sparing the horses either.imo that is very good mpg 

On 24/04/2022 at 18:07, jaykyu said:

After being shocked at the price of used Octavias, I’m looking seriously at buying new. 
 

I’ve had a decent quote for a 1.5TSI estate but my preference is diesel. I have a ten year old 1.6TDI hatch that consistently gives me 55+ on motorway/a-road driving. 
 

Anyone got real numbers for the 1.5TSI? Is it a good engine?

There is no 1.6 diesel anymore but the 2.0 diesel is actually more economical.