Hi All,

New guy to the Skoda world here,

I'm foolish enough to own a 2002 Land Rover Discovery which, as it turns out, is rotting away infornt of my very eyes!

While I find the cash to get that sorted I'm in need of some transport for the next year or so, which is what has brought me here - I've got a budget of about £2000 give or take and am looking pretty seriously at an 2009 Octavia VRS with the Diesel CR engine.

 

Is it realistic to expect to get into a higher milage (150k+) example that appears well looked after and properly serviced and not have any issues? Ideally I'd want to just do regular servicing and put fuel in it and thats about it

I wanted to check in with the forum and get some opinions on whether I'm being an idiot or not from people in the know.

Any thoughts / advice is much appreciated
James

Depends a bit what you want from your 2 grand. My personal rule for bangernomics is spend half your budget and keep the other half in reserve for stuff going wrong. 

 

Were it me in that price range, I'd probably dodge the VRS and aim for something lower specced. There's nothing in particular wrong with the VRS, they're a nice car, they just tend to lead harder lives, that and the more basic Octavias tend to be owned by old people who are more likely to take stuff to a garage and get everything done that the garage quotes them for. 

 

Also, the more basic mk2's are tough old buses that don't mind getting used for things that would probably be more suited to your landrover. I dragged some heavy stuff with mine, carried all kinds of stuff, camped in it, hit some pretty big potholes and even had a couple of fun times doing a bit of fording. 

Edited 17 August, 20232 yr by StevesTruck

You make a good point, there are some pretty tidy looking 'OAP' spec ones floating around

 

How much emphasis should I put on common rail vs PD? From what I've read the CR diesels have fewer niggling issues but is it enough to be a deal maker / breaker in your opinion?

 

I'll try to ovoid the temptation to take it through fords and mud but I'll make no promises!

Early CR weren't great, although not sure if that's limited to the 1.6.

 

I'd just get one of the last 1.9's

Neither ones perfect, nothing is. I'd avoid the 1.6tdi just because there's no real reason to go for one over a 1.9 or 2.0.

 

The later 1.9's aren't as good as the early ones, my 56 plate had head gasket failure. I still drove it for ages and it died at about 195k. The 2.0's tend to just have a lot of niggly problems.

 

They're a tough old car, but VAG build quality isn't anything like what it was.

Avoid a 1.6 TDI CR Euro 5 because of VW's / Skoda,s Defeat device and cars that went in for the voluntary recall that was to benefit VW group and nobody else got new Software and a airflow device installed.

There will be good ones about, probably that a Dealership never got to touch, or that someone had the new map rolled back and remapped.

(Proof of that is the issue.)

6 hours ago, StevesTruck said:

Neither ones perfect, nothing is. I'd avoid the 1.6tdi just because there's no real reason to go for one over a 1.9 or 2.0.

 

The later 1.9's aren't as good as the early ones, my 56 plate had head gasket failure. I still drove it for ages and it died at about 195k. The 2.0's tend to just have a lot of niggly problems.

 

They're a tough old car, but VAG build quality isn't anything like what it was.

 

So you didn't look after your car and it still managed to do 195000 miles? Sounds like owner, not car, being "not as good".

Give it another few more weeks there should plenty of good non ULEZ cars up for grabs from London.  Go for something with good service history preferable with annual oil changes rather than variable servicing.  I ran my 2.0pd 140 to 215k before I sold it and it was still going strong.  Can't beat the old PD engines as long as you avoid PD Vrs as that came with DPF.

11 hours ago, Taz1983 said:

 

So you didn't look after your car and it still managed to do 195000 miles? Sounds like owner, not car, being "not as good".

 

Pretty much. My daily's have a hard life, my toys get looked after. I'd love to have a preened, polished car that I drive every day, but the reality is they carry tools, materials, do 100 miles most days and get parked in public car parks. 

 

That aside, my point is I never heard of a head gasket going on a 1.9TDI or early PD. I've heard it happen on a few of the later ones.