After seven years of ownership, my current 10 year-old large automatic diesel estate, which has done 176,000 miles, is telling me that it’s time for it to be replaced. It’s a lovely car to drive but it seems to be suffering from a number of issues related to Euro 6 emissions and the complexities involved in trying to create a Euro 6-compliant diesel engine, including EGR and EGR cooler issues, swirl flaps etc. The end result is lots of carbon gumming everything up, worn pistons and rings, and high oil consumption.

 

In short, I must either spend over twice the best private sale value of the car to replace the engine block and deal with lots of carbon around the place, or it has to go.

 

So…., I’m now looking at replacing it, and an eight or nine year-old Skoda seems to be one of the options open to me with my budget.

 

The cars that I’m looking at are the Octavia and Superb, either as a hatchback or estate.

 

Putting driving impressions to one side, one thing that I need to know is whether or not 2016 and 2017 Skoda diesels also struggle to provide long-term reliability due to emissions-related gubbins or even just plain simple high oil consumption.

 

I’m also considering petrol versions as they ought to be less maintenance-heavy and ought also to handle more short journeys without any issues. But are the petrol engines any good?

 

I also need to know how reliable DSG transmissions from that era are as (obviously) I don’t want to be landed with any massive bills related to the gearbox. My current feeling, possibly fear-based, is to go manual but, with the Superb, that seems a harder thing to achieve as, if I have understood correctly, they came with DSG as standard.

 

In 2016, I briefly owned a 2009 170bhp Superb 2.0 TDI Elegance with a DSG gearbox but found it to be noisy and harsh riding, in part because of the big wheels and thin tyres, and in part because of poor sound insulation. I also found it hard to get the right driving position because the relation between the steering wheel, the pedals and the driver’s seat seemed not quite right for me. Also, the stereo was poor and died after a few weeks. Not a good experience, really. It did handle Superb-ly, however.

 

So, working backwards through that lot: -

 

 1)      How does the Superb Mark 3 compare with the Mark 2 in terms of NVH, driver’s ergonomics, and in-car entertainment? Reviews have been good, but are they honest?

 

 2)      Is the DSG still a potential wallet-emptier and, if so, at what age and mileage does it tend to go wrong?

 

 3)      Are there particular petrol and/or diesel options that I should consider, and are there others that I should avoid?

 

 4)      How does the Octavia from that era compare with the Superb in terms of quality, comfort etc. I owned a 2007 manual Mk 2 Octavia with the 2-litre PD engine, and it was noisy and a bit cheap-feeling. Is the Mk 3 a better car?

 

That’s all for now (as if that isn’t quite enough!).

 

Finally, if you have gotten to the end of this post, then many thanks for your patience. 😊

Edited 23 January, 20251 yr by Sotosound

Bump.

1 hour ago, Sotosound said:

Bump.

Stop shouting!

Given your experiences I would buy older to get an EU4 emissions diesel, EU3 even better but thats probably an age where reliability other than the engine is an issue and it would lack the features that you have probably grown accustomed to and appreciate.

10 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Given your experiences I would buy older to get an EU4 emissions diesel, EU3 even better but thats probably an age where reliability other than the engine is an issue and it would lack the features that you have probably grown accustomed to and appreciate.

Many thanks.

 

 

No problem, take no notice of the other poster, he sometimes has bad days.