REBONJOUR and questions about the YETI and OCTAVIA Estate

Good morning, everyone

I've been a very happy Skoda owner since 2002, having owned from new a Fabia 1.9 tdi (2002 - 2012), Octavia tdi (2008-2012), bought in the UK  and a Yeti 2.0 tdi 'Ambition' (2012 - ) , bought in France.

I'm a semi-retired teacher/lecturer and reckon on doing 12-15,000 miles a year, commuting to and from University and, especially, on trips to the UK (Hampshire)

Skoda is not a particularly popular brand here in France.  Although they are more numerous now, the Dacia is a not dissimilar offering - essentially a Renault, manufactured in Romania (and probably elsewhere, now), which was initially the subject of jokes, but has become one of the absolute best sellers here, with countless models seen on every drive.

Although I'm very happy with my Yeti, which has done only 100,000 miles, I'm quite keen to buy a new Octavia Estate ('Combi' here)

For me, it HAS to be diesel, but, beyond that, I'd be very glad to hear of

1. your experiences - direct or known via friends/family etc - of reliability, any common niggles etc
2. model(s) you have chosen and/or avoided and why
3. manual or automatic?

The last question reflects the fact that I have never ever had an automatic car, although my son keeps urging me to buy one, saying that they're almost as economical as manual, just as reliable and a pleasure to drive;  I have hired them, usually because manual were not available. and enjoyed the drive, although this will have been for very short periods of a week or less and, of course, different brands and models.

I would welcome any comments and thank you in advance.  As this may not be the best sub-forum in which to get info about the Octavia, I may copy this to a model-specific one later.