Evening all! I have recently had my vehicle written off, a trusty but boring Honda CRV. A deer decided to jump out in front of it causing catastrophic damage to the vehicle.

The insurance pay out is dismal and have left me with a small budget of 5K for my next car. I've always liked Skoda and have reserved a Skoda Superb Estate 2.0tdi DSG 2012 with 110K miles. The vehicle has been part exchanged at a Skoda Dealer, who are selling it with 12 months warranty, the cambelt, water pump will be replaced and the vehicle serviced alongside the overdue DSG service. The vehicles first few years of its life have little history but the last 8/9 years are very well documented and it's been serviced yearly with no MOT advisories.

I do approximately 15K miles a year, my commute is a 90 mile round trip. 

 

Any advice on preventative work, anything to look for when I go view it next week? 

Will it last me 3/4 years without huge bills? 

I've never bought a vehicle with such mileage on, though the CRV it is replacing had 109K miles and was still like new.

 

Any general advice? Or am I better off buying a Octavia that's newer and less mileage but will likely be the 1.6tdi? 

 

Any advice would be brilliant. 

 

1.6 may have issues. Superb is a very large car especially estate. Will fuel and other filters be changed has it had the emissions fix applied might reduce EGR life although they can go without fix. Check for vibration and labouring at low speeds couid be DMF for clutch 

I love my superb elegance estate but it’s had its fair share of common issues. You have had Japanese might have been very reliable and low maintenance 

It's the 2.0tdi 140hp so should be ok!

It's having a full service including cambelt, water pump and DSG service.

 

Not sure tbh, I never asked and until you've mentioned it here and didn't know the emissions fix was a thing on these.

Will do re labouring. 

Yes I've had a few Japanese cars and despite the last one having 109K miles it still drove great and never visited the garage other than general serviceable items.

The 140 engine is a nice one. Get those other filters changed especially fuel. The pollen and air you can change yourself very easy. Make sure all electrics work on all doors as the wiring loom can break in drivers door. 
what spec is it elegance ?

elec tailgate 

heated front screen

sound system  upgrade 

Columbus stereo 

self parallel park 

heated front and back seats Inc front electric and if leather 

L&K gets most of above standard 

 

Fantastic! Thank you! It's SE but has extras such as pano roof, Columbus, heated front seats 

SE plus I think we’re well spec’d 

sounds like a good one. 
Keep those sunroof drain holes clear if it’s one that opens. 
Listen out for wheel bearings and check for broken suspension springs mot should spot this. 

SE plus I think we’re well spec’d 

sounds like a good one. 
Keep those sunroof drain holes clear if it’s one that opens. 
Listen out for wheel bearings and check for broken suspension springs mot should spot this. 

The pano roof is often vilified and can indeed be the source of problems, but I suspect that’s because people don’t maintain it.

 

Check the roof works, and get it serviced by a specialist once you’ve got it - lubricated with the correct grease, and get them to check the drain holes and tubes for blockages.

17” wheels hopefully makes for a better ride. Check carefully around tailgate number plate lights for any signs of galvanic corrosion and get it resolved as it ruins the car. 

If it has xenon headlights they are great check for dance on startup and nice white light on both. When start going pink means new bulb. Drl fog lights change bulbs to non error LED looks better once purchased. 

2 minutes ago, gav_is_con said:

If it has xenon headlights they are great check for dance on startup and nice white light on both. When start going pink means new bulb. Drl fog lights change bulbs to non error LED looks better once purchased. 

I may be mis-remembering, but I think it depends whether it’s a facelift or not. Facelift already has LED DRLs I think? Mine is a pre-facelift, and I agree it looks much better now I’ve upgraded the DRLs to canbus-compatible LEDs.

 

The xenon bulbs are D1S on pre-facelift and a doddle to change (accessed from the back of the headlight units), but they’re D3S on a facelift and I believe it’s a bumper-off job.

4 minutes ago, Dr_Mike_Oxgreen said:

I may be mis-remembering, but I think it depends whether it’s a facelift or not. Facelift already has LED DRLs I think? Mine is a pre-facelift, and I agree it looks much better now I’ve upgraded the DRLs to canbus-compatible LEDs.

 

The xenon bulbs are D1S on pre-facelift and a doddle to change (accessed from the back of the headlight units), but they’re D3S on a facelift and I believe it’s a bumper-off job.

Those DRLs built into headlight itself yes noticed that. I think it may have come in after 2012 IMO. 

@Dandan00

Seen the car advised at Keith’s looks very nice. Will they refurb those alloys in the price or are you pushing too far, you gotta ask or you don’t get!

 

@Dandan00 Take your time with the DSG. When putting it into drive and pulling away release the brake wait for the pull or roll before accelerating. It’s not a torque converter auto so behaves different. They are very keen to change up quickly so labours a bit if you don’t press on. 

Gents thanks very much for the tips here! I'll definitely get the drains checked!

That's the one! I thought I was being cheeky with the cambelt and DSG but you never know!

 

 

On 01/02/2025 at 09:32, gav_is_con said:

@Dandan00 Take your time with the DSG. When putting it into drive and pulling away release the brake wait for the pull or roll before accelerating. It’s not a torque converter auto so behaves different. They are very keen to change up quickly so labours a bit if you don’t press on. 

This is a great. Thank you, I've recently bought a mk2 L&k auto and noticed this exact thing. Though it was a little strange but it behaves exactly as you have described. That's actually put my mind at rest a bit 👍

On 01/02/2025 at 09:32, gav_is_con said:

@Dandan00 Take your time with the DSG. When putting it into drive and pulling away release the brake wait for the pull or roll before accelerating. It’s not a torque converter auto so behaves different. They are very keen to change up quickly so labours a bit if you don’t press on. 

 

What engine types are we talking here ???

 

I never had to bother with that with my Octavia DSG ............ PD 105 ......... 6 speed wet ........

 

I sometimes used left foot on brake with right foot ready to accelerate if I suspected the person next to me wanted to embarrass me, Lol.

Not many people embarrassed me even with only 105 horses.

 

(As an aside ..... My Saab was terrible if trying to accelerate whilst moving slowly whilst in 2nd gear .......... CR engine not great at low revs, this was with a manual box whereas a DSG would have put it in 1st..)

My only concern with the worth of the warranty would be the lead time of the garage ............

 

Seems a lot of Major garages have quite long lead times ...... I couldn't get my 1 series in for about 3 weeks and then they wanted me to leave it with them for who knew how long, so I decided to take it to my usual local that I have used for years. Luckily nothing serious though.

Superb mkII is a fab car and the 2.0cr diesel engine is one of the best in the model. Make sure DPF is present and working correctly.

 

On my 2014 face lift I found a potential future rust trap behind where the front wheel arches meet the sill. I removed a few screws holding the wheel arch liner in place in that area and it revealed a huge amount of debris in that area. I cleaned out and rust proofed thoroughly although to be fair there was no evidence of rust. Easy quick job though. Check drain off points into that area from the plenum chamber. I checked other area including where the rear wheel arches meet the sills to be sure and they seemed ok but they still  got rustproofed whilst I was in there. On the facelift there are no drain bungs under the sills but I found the drain points at the bottom behind the above wheel arch liners so I check they were clear, one was blocked but quickly cleared with a thin knitting needle. I also rust proofed along the sill whilst I was at it using Dinitrol Rust Proofing Cavity Wax with extension wand. All messy but satisfying. Eventually I also injected door, boot lid & bonnet bottoms. Sadly I sold mine last year an it was still fabulous with little signs of decay.