Hey guys , i 've been planning to buy a Octavia 1.9 elegance for myself but after reading some recent posts on this forum it seems that most of you are really unhappy with your car ...

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/problems-problems-problems/87435/

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/creaking-suspension-octy-ii/66385/

I love the looks and overall feel of the car but the reliability has always been the main criteria when buying a new car and after reading all these threads i am really in two minds whether to buy one or look elsewhere ?

Please advice me what to do ?

Thanks .

I have had my VRS TDI for just under a year other than the glowlamp light coming on in the first few weeks a common fault on the diesel and easily rectified with replacement lead. I have had absolutely no reliability problems with over 17K miles on the clock, All good from my perspective.Hope this helps.

Reliability of a marque is always a gamble. If it was my main concern, then I'd be looking at offerings from the Japanese but the price you pay is a higher purchase price and perhaps not as good to drive.

If you're buying a new car, you'll have a warranty so will reliability be that important?

Chris

As muc has it pains me to say it...and the last two people whom I have did...

go and look at the civic, deceptively spacious and drives like a charm. Might be gremlins too, but SWMBO's and sisters seem ok. But of anything out there at the moment that's the only contender for me and my requirements between octy estate and RS4 and I'm not getting an RS4 this decade.

that said, the rest are petrol and not smokers, eg mazda mps6 and so on.

Oh and also remember that people are far far quicker to complain than shout positives. We represent a small fraction of new octy sales, the bad's are a smaller one again.

You could I guess opt for forewarned forearmed; interrogate the car and dealer pre-purchase, we did on the civi's known issues and got the fixed pre pick up.

Hey guys , i 've been planning to buy a Octavia 1.9 elegance for myself but after reading some recent posts on this forum it seems that most of you are really unhappy with your car ...

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/problems-problems-problems/87435/

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/creaking-suspension-octy-ii/66385/

I love the looks and overall feel of the car but the reliability has always been the main criteria when buying a new car and after reading all these threads i am really in two minds whether to buy one or look elsewhere ?

Please advice me what to do ?

Thanks .

I'm sure if you went on to any other marque forum you'd find people complaining and listing faults as well. People tend to be more vocal when they have a problem than when things are going well. Independent surveys show that Skoda, and the Octavia, are well up there in the reliability stakes, and if that's your prime concern, then consider buying a Toyota or Mazda or Honda. I'm not convinced that that will guarantee you no problems though.

On other criteria, such as comfort, space, cost to buy, cost to run, the Octavia comes out very well.

In my case, the numbers added up and I'm very happy I made the choice. 2 years and 75000 kilometres later, I haven't had any problems that are worth mentioning and would happily buy again.

I'm on my third Octavia in 3.5 years (company cars) and i've been happy with all of them. 121,000, 48,000 and 3000 miles to date

SWMBO has a vRS TDI and she couldn't be happier with it.

The in laws have a Fabia each and they have never had any problems.

Out of the three Octavia's i've had there has been one problem involving a warranty job on the EGR valve and a wheel bearing.

And don't forget (as already mentioned) People don't tend to join this forum just to say "Hi i'm new to this forum and i'd like to say my Skoda is hunky-dory". A majority of people join when they need help with a problem so the ratio of good to bad is hugely exaggerated.

There are of course plenty of other good cars out there to try so it's just a case of going round and test piloting the alternatives to the Octavia and then see if the Skoda is the best car for the job.

My cars for the last 12 years were Citroen Xantias. Quite reliable really except when the Dual Mass Flywheel fails on the HDi diesels they give no warning and exit via the bell housing! - Not that happened to me though. I didn't fancy the C5 so I had a good look around.

I researched all makes and models to find a tow car for caravanning. They ALL have DMF problems and that includes Toyota.

One of the usual gripes on Ford is the common rail pump failing which is big money to replace. I expect it is a small percentage affected but it made me decide that the PD way was better overall for me. That led me to Octavias and to this forum which has been very useful to me. I've only had my Octavia 6 weeks but I am most happy so far.

Really it is a game of chance. I would say that Skoda appears to be better than most but there must always be a percentage of problems - that's how life goes.

Totally Exhausted

Oh and also remember that people are far far quicker to complain than shout positives. We represent a small fraction of new octy sales, the bad's are a smaller one again.

I'm sure if you went on to any other marque forum you'd find people complaining and listing faults as well. People tend to be more vocal when they have a problem than when things are going well.

I did a poll a while back to see what the real situation was, and it pretty much confirmed these comments in that over 90% of members who voted had no regrets about buying their Skoda.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/general-car-chat/do-you-regret-buying-your-skoda/67946/

Hope that helps!

go and look at the civic, deceptively spacious and drives like a charm. Might be gremlins too, but SWMBO's and sisters seem ok.

Hmm... Father in law has one and, having driven it I would NOT go for the Civic. Crappy interior (lots of creaks and rattles from hard plastic dash) and a really harsh ride. Reliability may be good but then again the Octavia has come out extremely well and, I thought, better than the Civic!

We've not had the Octavia long as yet but it is proving very good thus far and we still think the seven year old 115k mls Fabia we have had from new is excellent and going strong (apart from wear and tear items of course!).

I also have a 12 year old Mazda MX5 and, as suggested, the reliability is second to none (nothing significant in 12 years - only a catalyst rattle and a cam oil seal both of which were easy fixes!). But again having weighed up the Mazda 6 estate and the Octavia we still went for the Octavia (for a whole variety of reasons!)

Of the 4 people I know with Civics, three of them have had gremlins (well, one of them had the parking brake release itself while the car was parked - I'd say that's a bit more than a gremlin!).

Admittedly it's not exactly a large sample area to draw any firm conclusions from, but I'd say it does show that buying Japanese is not a guarantee that there won't be problems...

Rob.

There are 3 Skoda's in our family - 2 x Fabia's + a Superb - and a Honda Jazz. Tempting providence, I know, but no probs with any of them. A very close friend had a 2.2 CTDi Civic for a year and was bitterly disappointed with niggly faults and need for a rear suspension rebuild, (but under warranty).

I think yer pays yer money and takes yer chance but Skoda are building good motors. There are probably very few "bad" cars these days; just good and better ones, but you can still get a troublesome one from any manufacturer, (just look at Mercedes in the last few years to see how the mighty can fall).

I've had my Octavia vRS TDI for 4 months now and am perfectly happy.

I drove a Fabia 1.4mpi for two and a half years/45,000 miles before that and apart from typical problems of a car of any maufacturer had no complaint. I've got four other Fabias in our Company's fleet and apart from 'badge snobbery' from some staff they're great.

A point to consider; who came top in this year's JD Power/Top Gear survey?

SKODA - nuff said?

Hey guys , i 've been planning to buy a Octavia 1.9 elegance for myself but after reading some recent posts on this forum it seems that most of you are really unhappy with your car ...

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/problems-problems-problems/87435/

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/creaking-suspension-octy-ii/66385/

I love the looks and overall feel of the car but the reliability has always been the main criteria when buying a new car and after reading all these threads i am really in two minds whether to buy one or look elsewhere ?

Please advice me what to do ?

Thanks .

I'd go for the 2.0TDI over the 1.9 unit, although I managed to get my 1.9 Bora upto 175bhp (mapped)

Thanks guys .

I myself 've read and heard about the fantastic reliability ,build quality ,VFM stories from the Octavia make1 owners but this thread has me thinking ...

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/creaking-suspension-octy-ii/66385/

I 've gone through each one of posts in this thread and barring a few all of them are facing this problem from quite sometime ...

Is this a comman problem in the Octavia , if yes, is there any fix to this probem?

Thanks .

I am seriously regretting my purchase.

Much of the car has been very good but there have been several irritating faults including the suspension that's now had ten visits with no sign of a fix.

Still , if you like driving a wide assortment of hire cars and want to be on first name terms with your dealers and Skoda customer services , by all means buy an octavia but don't expect Skoda to fix it any time soon

Hi octavia 2 I would say that there appear to be more complaints because people only comment on things when they go wrong, the chances are if you buy any new car including an octavia you will join the silent (but happy) majority who have had no problems.

Hi octavia 2 I would say that there appear to be more complaints because people only comment on things when they go wrong, the chances are if you buy any new car including an octavia you will join the silent (but happy) majority who have had no problems.

Nope , plenty of people here comment when things are going well , just as I did about my Mk1 which was a far more satisfying car to own.

There are quite a few people reporting the Mk2 isn't as reliable as it's predecessor

I had to make the choice a few months ago. I took a long time over it.

Reviews are very much biased by the preferences of the reviewer, so I tended to avoid these. With any make, you could get a raspberry, so I looked at the larger surveys, at least to weight the odds in my favour. Japanese cars tend to come near the top, but the Octavia was there or thereabouts, and with the advantage of price.

Needless to say, I plumped for the Skoda and haven't regretted it (yet).

But, however you look at it, it's a bit of a lottery.

stu

I quite agree that any can can suffer from problems but it's not the fact that I've had some that's put me off. I had the odd issue with my Mk1 and at the time it was all resolved in a pain-free fashion

It's the way that on this car it has been handled by two dealers and Skoda themselves that's put me off. Their service has been well below what I'd consider acceptable and while I have no guarantees of anything better if I go elsewhere for my next car , there's no way I'm rewarding Skoda by giving them any more of my money

Hey guys , i 've been planning to buy a Octavia 1.9 elegance for myself but after reading some recent posts on this forum it seems that most of you are really unhappy with your car ...

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/problems-problems-problems/87435/

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/new-octavia/creaking-suspension-octy-ii/66385/

I love the looks and overall feel of the car but the reliability has always been the main criteria when buying a new car and after reading all these threads i am really in two minds whether to buy one or look elsewhere ?

Please advice me what to do ?

Thanks .

I am currently running a Octy II 1.9 Elegance as a company car, I have done over 44,000 (mostly motorway) miles in last two years and it has only let me down once due to Human error (the dealer forgot to replace the seal on the sump drain during a service so all the oil was on my drive in the morning :thumbdwn:) Apart from that the car has been excellent, it is comfortable and economical (lifetime average just over 50mpg) and is as good as the fords, renaults, vauxhalls, Saabs and BMW's I have run in the past whilst being much better value.

Hope this helps

Simon

Don't be put off by the minority of Skoda owners that post their problems on forums. There will be many other owners out there that will be satisfied and have no issues, but you don't get to hear of them because they aren't sad enough to spend their time on forums or maybe don't have a computer.

because they aren't sad enough to spend their time on forums.

OUCH!!:jab:

I previously owned 4 VW Passats and I must admit I did have some nagging fears about switching to a Skoda.

Well, I collected my new 2.0l FSI Elegance on 6th July and have already covered some 1900 miles. So far I have been absolutely delighted and have no complaints whatsoever.

I just thought someone should post some good news!

Last car VW passat from new to 3yrs old ..New cd changer, front discs and pads faullty paintwork, faulty door locks , new fuel line needed, washer jets faulty (must use VAG overpriced screenwash!!).Towbar fitted by VW garage and botched electrics plus a few rattles a squeaks. Car felt tired after 3 years and only 36k miles.

Present Octy 2 2.0tdi elegance estate. 2 yrs, 3months on,problems have been.. Drivers seat adjusted and two rattles (Fixed myself) Car is going better now than when new, Chuffed to bits. Sad how no-one has designed and produced the perfect car yet!! or do we just prefer complaining to praising???

Having gone from a Focus that has the build quality of a paper straw, I'm kind of a little disappointed that the Skoda Octavia rattles from new ( which even the Focus didn't do ) and that the ride is about as comfortable as a wheelbarrow with wooden wheels. It is a nice car but I keep wondering what I could have had for the same money? (Should point out that I life on the Isle of Wight where the Council thinks that road maintenance is something done on a centennial basis. I did notice that one the motorways the car was very comfortable and brilliant to drive, especially with DSG.