So looked at both these cars and the Leon is

The Leon is, IMHO, a better looking car too as the octavia looks awrkward on its standard suspension/wheels and modifying these results in a loss of ride quality.

A colleague has the Leon Sport. A great car on all accounts, but I dont like the styling inside... but I could live with it.

I'd still go for the Octy PD140 though, as despite being disappointed and let down, i still have a Skoda "thing"

Yep but i am asking from an objective POV as £3.5k cheaper is a lot of cash.

The options i was looking at such as climate and curtain airbags are a must to me and are included in teh Leons price. That plus the Xennons on the Leon if you get them are bi-xennons and also go around corners a la citroen DS

Sounds like you've already decided, mate

Not at all, if the Octy II offers something over the Leon then i'm all up for an octy.

I have an octy I, and I like it, i am not a fan of the orange illumination in the seat, but at the same time, 3.5k is a lot of cash.

Don't suppose anyone know how the Octy II, Leon and Focus compare on depreciation for the TDI/TDCI's on current models.

I sadly have to say the Leon, you get more for less, + same floorpan, engine etc, etc.

If you can live with a smaller boot then why not, + check out on Cupra.net how good the local dealer is.

It will probably be my choice next time round.

Just my 2p's worth

why have seat suddenly become the budget brand?

are they having to cut prices to increase sales?

why have seat suddenly become the budget brand?

are they having to cut prices to increase sales?

Are they cutting prices or are Skoda capitalising on their success and raising prices?

Chris

Good point, CHris.

there have been a few posts here lately with people commenting on how the new Octavia is no where near as good value for money as the MK1.

That is what got me, MKI was a great buy, the MK II is just stupidly expensive.

I mean what else can i buy for £20k that includes things like side airbags and isn't a skoda. The answer is a lot. Is a shame mind as i still quite fancy the VRS estate.

I've jus spoken to local dealer and will bew taking the FR out for a drive to compare.

With that difference in price I'd vote with my wallet, but then I rarely have more than one passenger and a bootload of anything bulkier than 2 sets of "woman lumber" to move [meaning I can use the back seats most times I need luggage volume]. Don't tell my mum and sis I said this!

Took the leon FR for a test drive.

The car had about 8k miles on it, but i was pretty disapointed with the interior. The light switch was tacky and the buttons are all where the arm rest would be :S.

I could probably live with that, but what did get me was that when i got out i left the full beam on and the lights buzzer didn't go off, but when i put it to side lights it did go of.

Oddness.

I couldnt live with a car where you had to be carefull where you put your arms in case I pressed a button.

I like the look of the leon, but having driven a few seats as hire cars I wouldnt buy one as I just couldnt live with there oddities.

The MK2 octy is leaps and bounds better than the mk1 in both build quality and feel. My estate I consider good value for money, and you cant get a leon estate IIRC.

Nope, but the reason i would get the octy vrs tdi estate would be the sleeper effect and that estates hold value better as a second hand car whenit comes to dervs.

I should clarify the buttons are not exactly where the armrest is, but next to the handbrake and up that piece of plastic. The build quality is solid, just quierky and a couple of really nasty bits of time, eg light button, just degrade it.

I'll be thinking about costs and other things, but oddly enough the focus seems to be sitting in the middle ground. That or an elegance PD140 with sports suspension prehaps.

Not that the Leon FR is bad, far from it, it's just a little disapointing.

if you do an autotrader search the cheapest leon fr tdi i could find was about £16k iirc. i know it's the 2.0T but the vRS can be had for as little as 14k if your willing to have about 10k miles on the clock.

As I said, the interior really lets the Leon down. Massive extents of plastic, cheap feeling buttons that all illuminate in gash red (huge displays look silly so brighly illuminated). The climate isn't as nice as the Octys as you have to repeatedly tap a button to change the temp. The dials are really nice though.

RE: the light switch, if you leave it on dipped beams, they will turn off with the engine, thus allowing you to leave them on the on position all the time a'la Volvo.

Ahhh ok so that explains the wierdness, i assumed they were just going to side light.

You are right about the low rent plastics, and the red looks awful on the radio. Black with red text not red with black text could be a software fix and would look 1000 times better.

Hellfire if you speak to scoobychris, he will explain my like of dervs, a petrol car is a complete no go, however nearly new or up to a year old is not a problem

I understand cheezemonkai, i've owned 1 petrol and 3 diesels in my driving career, and i'm happy to continue driving diesels for many years to come (only 22 mind!)..

Chris.

I recently had to make the decision whether to get the Skoda Vrs Tdi or the Seat FR Tdi and i went down the Skoda route in the end because altough i like the look externally of the Seat i couldn't live with the dashboard design and the plastics they have used, in my opinion (i know some people won't agree and that's fine) they are no better than my old mark 1 Fiesta that i had back in 1989, it is no doubt better built than that but even so.

I also like the image Skoda has, i enjoy it when people say urgh it's a Skoda because it just emphasises that in most cases they don't actually know what it is they are talking about and generally they aren't voicing their own opinion, just what they think should be said, i've always been a keen advocate of not following the herd.

Hellfire if you speak to scoobychris, he will explain my like of dervs, a petrol car is a complete no go, however nearly new or up to a year old is not a problem

No-one could explain you're insane addiction to derv :P

Chris

No-one could explain you're insane addiction to derv :P

Chris

But but the torque spike. Mmmmm

Have to say, that I still love the 170's torque spike. I had some real fun going from a 30 to a 60 zone and was doing under 30 to build up a nice gap between me and the cars infront.

If you turn off the ESP in the wet you can have a real bundle of laughs, and no torque steer either. Not something I would do day to day mind

Excuse me going off topic for a second but this torque steer business, is it when you put you foot down in the low gears and you have to hold onto the steering wheel for dear life otherwise you would end up in a bush somewhere?

Just wondering

Excuse me going off topic for a second but this torque steer business, is it when you put you foot down in the low gears and you have to hold onto the steering wheel for dear life otherwise you would end up in a bush somewhere?

Just wondering

Pretty much yes. Curiously, it seems to be encountered much more by the membership of the "Guild of Muttering Rotters" than by real people, even when they have company cars!

Pretty much yes. Curiously, it seems to be encountered much more by the membership of the "Guild of Muttering Rotters" than by real people, even when they have company cars!

Although torque steer is caused by unequal length drive shafts so in many cases what people believe is torque steer, isn't

Chris