I’ve had two Fabia estates and now have a 2019 Scala that I’ve had from new. Apart from one electrical meltdown a few years ago the Scala has been a good car.

I’m thinking about its replacement. My wife is disabled so we have to have a car with a low easily accessible seat. Not an SUV. We also need a large boot for a wheelchair and other bits and pieces.

I think that I might stick with what I know and get another Scala. But I am tempted by the Octavia and its bigger boot. Also if I decide to have an auto gearbox this time the Octavia has autohold which from the reading I’ve done makes driving easier.

However, I’ve been following this forum for a long time now and I’m being put off the Octavia by the horror stories that some of you have endured with infotainment and electronics problems. Having to dismantle screens and volume sliders to get them to work!

So, are there any happy Octavia owners with recent cars? Have Skoda sorted out the problems on newly built cars? I would be most grateful for your opinions.

I’m getting on a bit now and this may be the last car I buy so I don’t want to make a mistake.

We looked at the Corolla estate but the distance between the sill and the seat edge is larger than the Scala and my wife's disabilities made it hard for her to safely access the seat. The choice of cars that suit our needs is limited.

Moderators. So sorry, I’ve put this post in the wrong forum. Could you move it to the Octavia one please. Thank you.

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by Josdad
Poster error!

Have had two MK2 octavia and no major electronic problems although they arent nearly as complicated electronic wise as the newer versions. Have an elderly mother in law that struggles to get out of the octavia but find the fabia my son has is easier for her. Folks had a fabia estate mk1 for years and they really liked it. It had more boot space than the scala but I think they stopped making it a few years back 2021 ??. Maybe take a trip to the dealers and try getting in an out etc. You could also look at VW golf estate if your looking for more boot space although I think they have just stopped that as well.

Alasdair

Moved to the Octavia section as requested.

The boot in an Octavia is massive. It’s what’s stopping me from finding my next car! I dont want to lose boot space, but I also fancy something different for a change after 7 1/2 yrs with my mk2 hatchback. But there are very few vehicles that come close to the boot of an Octavia tardis.

Golf estate has been discontinued, it’s all bloody SUVs now. Not that I saw a 2026 golf gti hatchback listed at €75k last week, so clearly vw have lost the plot entirely anyway

I’m very happy with my Octavia, a 2020 build mk4 estate. The boot is huge, beaten only by the Superb estate.

Issues with early build mk4s have been sorted through a combination of software updates and some hardware replacements. Newer builds, I understand, are much less problematic and I’d be happy to buy one if in the market today (which I’m not cos I’m so pleased with the one I have I’m keeping it longer than I normally do).

I have a 2020 Mk4 Octavia 1.5 TSI manual and I love it. Bought 2nd hand when slightly under 4 years old, it hasn't been all plain sailing but I have experienced significantly less problems than what some have going by posts made on here.

Not sure the first owner was as lucky, by viewing my digital certificate you can see that the head unit on the infotainment system was replaced as was the telematics module before I got it. My issues were slight software glitches initially, followed by a potentially more problematic software issue relating to the airbag module after flattening my battery. But all sorted thanks to some great advice on here and elsewhere, followed by a trip to see @East_Yorkshire_Retrofits

The car is a fantastic drive, very comfortable and returns great MPG figures too. Of course, having that enormous boot is an added bonus as mentioned.

I have made adaptions to the car using OBD11 in order to make the experience of driving it even less of a hassle. Nothing major, just simple things such as disabling lane assist, adding standard CC, and disabling certain alarms such as driver's door open when the ignition's on etc. I also enabled fog lights to come on with my high beam as I live in a very dark area, just little things as I say that make my experience of the Octavia more pleasurable.

That said, I'm aware that on the newer model (the 4.5) such customisations aren't available, which is what puts me off it. I recently had a brand new (26 plate) Octavia for a day and whilst it was very similar to mine obviously, things such as lane assist by default, speed warnings by default etc I think would bug me if I was to own one.

For that reason my advice would be to look for a good 2nd hand Mk4 (up to 2024) See if you can take a look at the vehicle's digital certificate before purchasing, as that should show any major work done to the car in its lifetime. From there I would insist on making sure all of the software was up to date, if you can't have that done by a dealer then seek out a specialist such as @East_Yorkshire_Retrofits who I mentioned earlier, and they'll be able to help out with that.

Then of course use OBD11 to make the slight changes so that you don't need to turn off lane assist every time you get into the car etc. Might sound like a lot of bother, especially if you have no experience of such things. But trust me, I didn't, yet with a little research on here as well as other VAG forums I was able to figure things out to the point I needed to.

Unless of course the niggly things don't bother you, then of course the Mk 4.5 is probably the safe option as it would seem a lot of the previous software issues have been ironed out during that upgrade.

Good luck whatever you decide, but yes, in answer to your original question, I would recommend the Octavia, and think that because you like the Scala you will love it.