... Skoda surges forward on a wave of torque and guess what? The Audi has dropped well back . Not bad for an ex - taxi that's fast approaching 154,000 miles!
A word of warning - indulging in this addictive behaviour on a frequent basis is potentially dangerous - you might laugh so much you ... Read review
Advantages: performance, economy, reliability, value for money, rarity value, looks, handling, comfort, boot space Disadvantages: rear leg room
...the 'gas'. My 'S' reg. Skoda surges forward on a wave of torque and guess what? The Audi has dropped well back . Not bad for an ex - taxi that's fast approaching 154,000 miles!
A word of warning - indulging in this addictive behaviour on a frequent basis is potentially dangerous - you might laugh so much you lose concentration. Ease off just a little and 50mpg is easily achievable - giving a tank range on the 55 litre (12.1 gallon) ... ...paid £2850 for my 1998 Skoda Octavia GLX (90bhp) 1.9TDI in April 2003.
£100 for a 'tuning box' which squirts 20% more fuel into the engine for a given throttle opening (DON'T pay £400 for one of these - just look on a certain very well known Internet Auction site instead) and £45 for a free - flow airfilter - make a BIG difference to the performance and smoothness of the motor - taking it to at least the level of the SLX 110bhp version. more
I'm in the outside lane on my regular motorway commute to work, the late model Silver Audi looms large in the rear view mirror, the driver apparently desperate to justify his car's overblown price tag. Stuck to the tail of the Audi is a late model Silver BMW - sound familiar?
The motorway is just two lanes, with the inside one crammed with HGVs and the traffic in front of me down to 65-70 the Silver streak behind will have to wait. The outside lane clears so I press (fairly) hard on the 'gas'. My 'S' reg. Skoda surges forward on a wave of torque and guess what? The Audi has dropped well back . Not bad for an ex - taxi that's fast approaching 154,000 miles!
A word of warning - indulging in this addictive behaviour on a frequent basis is potentially dangerous - you might laugh so much you lose concentration. Ease off just a little and 50mpg is easily achievable - giving a tank range on the 55 litre (12.1 gallon) tank of 600 miles!
I remember being astonished at the official fuel figures for the Audi 80 1.9TDI back in 1994 - one of the first cars to have this Direct Injection engine. 10 years on and it still appears to have better economy than most other circa 2.0 turbodiesels and is now a very well proven unit. I also read years ago of an earlier Golf diesel that was still running strong on its original engine at well over 400,000 miles!
I paid £2850 for my 1998 Skoda Octavia GLX (90bhp) 1.9TDI in April 2003. £100 for a 'tuning box' which squirts 20% more fuel into the engine for a given throttle opening (DON'T pay £400 for one of these - just look on a certain very well known Internet Auction site instead) and £45 for a free - flow airfilter - make a BIG difference to the performance and smoothness of the motor - taking it to at least the level of the SLX 110bhp version. If you can find an SLX and fit the same mods you'll get performance on a par with the 130bhp PD versions. You can get tuning boxes for the PDs too!! - in which case you will get easily more torque than a Porsche Boxster!
My Octavia was 4 1/2 years old and had racked up over 130,000 miles when it came into my possession - the full Skoda service history providing total peace of mind. The last (cabbie) owner had been forced to sell because Cumbria has a 5 year age limit on taxis - so he did the obvious thing and part exchanged it for another Octavia TDI. Having rang up about numerous Octavia TDIs at this end of the market and finding them all sold - as soon as I put down the phone to the seller I was on my motorbike riding from the Midlands to Carlisle to see it. Some very minor cosmetic damage explaining the bargain price. Same age and mileage Mk 4 Golf TDIs (on which the Octavia is heavily based) were going for £5000. Yet the Octavia offered more space & greater rarity than the Golf (although post facelift 2000 X on Octavias are getting common now) for £2000 less!
20 months and 23000 miles on and I've NO intention of selling the Octavia any time soon. Despite the miles it is a great car to drive - good driving position (seat is height adjustable and steering wheel adjustable for height and reach) great comfort, very responsive engine, nice steering feel, excellent positive gearchange and stable responsive handling all make for a good drivers car. The suspension can feel a little 'loose' if driving VERY hard on country roads - I would expect a factory fresh car to feel better under these circumstances.
Equipment - my early GLX comes with electric windows x4 / electric tilt & slide sunroof / heated electric mirrors / central locking / immobiliser / driver & passenger airbag / split folding rear seat / trip computer / front fog lights. Late98 and all 99 on GLX models lose the sunroof and get air con. The SLX gets the sunroof AND air con, alloy wheels, side airbags and 8 rather than 4 speaker stereo system. The LX specification was not offered with the TDI engine, the range was fully revised in late 2000 - Ambiente and Elegance being the GLX and SLX new respective equivalents. I'm not a big fan of cars loaded with gadgets (the eagle- eyed / those who should get out more amongst you may have noticed I've added this section in) eyeing them suspiciously as more stuff to go wrong. My years riding motorcycles make a clock and heater luxury in themselves.
Easily my favourite toy is the Trip computer. If you're on one of those roads where overtaking is a near impossibility, dawdling along behind an HGV at 40mph - just put the car in 5th and with a light touch on the accelerator watch the spectacular average mpg figures. It's alot more satisfying than just getting wound up at going nowhere fast. I think my best ever was something like 71mpg!
If you fit a tuning box, the mpg over-reads by about 20%, because it doesn't know that there is an extra 20% of fuel going into the engine - i.e. 80mpg on the trip is a true 64 (80 - 2x8) and 60mpg is a true 48 etc.
A few words on Practicality:
1) Open tailgate and remove rear parcel shelf
2) Remove rear seat cushions & fold down backrests
3) Grab full size adult bicycle and throw it in
4) Shut tailgate
Reliability has been excellent as expected , the only problems being with one (electric) rear window, the drivers lumbar support collapsed and the windscreen wipers occasionally have a bit of a fit and refuse to work for a few secs - before starting again.
All very minor stuff.
I have read about the lumbar support problem on other cars - it was easily fixed on my car by pulling the seat backrest fabric up from the base to expose the lumbar support. The support is made up of some stiff wire (like a coathanger) that hooks into the side of the seat frame - this had become unhooked on my car, just wind the adjuster knob right out and you can hook the wire back in - simple. The rear passenger window actually dropped down inside of the door. As I didn't want to spend half a day trying to fix something I never use (the car does virtually all its miles with a maximum of two people inside) I just removed the door trim panel to gain access and then wedged in a suitable piece of wood(!) to support the window from underneath.
As you may have worked out by now, I don't go anywhere near Car dealerships if I can possibly help it - although I'm sure the Skoda ones are far more reasonably priced than most. The last two services (just oil and various filters at 10000 mile intervals) were all done by me. I also fitted new discs and pads on the front (got the lot from Halfords - same set as for a Audi A3 & Mk4 Golf - for about £65 all in) and new brake shoes on the rear. Doing the front brakes was easy enough - just follow a Mk4 Golf Haynes manual if you're not sure (no Octavia manual available yet). The rear shoes are more fiddly and these are an Octavia only part - the Golfs are discs all round - well they had to find some way of justifying the price difference.
Doing the front brakes, I couldn't help noticing the VW/Audi stamp on the front suspension wishbones - you got the idea yet?
Just remembered I put BMW quality in the title - that is not a mistake. Sure a BM may drive a bit nicer for the real purists and enthusiasts (rear wheel drive and 6 or 8 cylinder engines do make for a bit more of an Ultimate Driving Machine), but I doubt most of the people who own them would ever notice. So, a BM (or Merc) may have a higher specification - but are they any better engineered? I seriously doubt it because as most people know there is a third German marque that is generally considered to be right up there with the other two - Audi, which as we all know is just a VW with a slightly posher badge.
Which means that an Audi is just a Skoda with a posher badge!
Advantages: comfort, value, economy, boot space, warranty, power, safety, appearance Disadvantages: Skoda Uk with those stupid adverts
...I'm now a VERY proud SKODA owner and I can only offer sympathy to those fools out there that still feel that having Skoda has any drawbacks. Oh by the way I've been driving for over 30 years, in many different cars, so I know a good thing when I drive it for long periods in my job.
Go get one soon before Skoda realise that the stupid adverts are holding back sales and they put the price up. ...
testemall 07.02.2003
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Skoda Octavia 1.9 Tdi Hatchback
Advantages: Specification, economy and price Disadvantages: Still has the "Skoda" badge
SKODA OCTAVIA
~ ~ Does anybody remember the old Skodas that used to be the butt of many a joke in the days before this Czechoslovakian car manufacture become part of the Volkswagon empire?
For certain there are few, if any, jokes or snide remarks made these days about anyone driving one of these fine pieces of engineering.
~ ~ As regular readers of my opinions will be well aware, I review cars on a regular basis for the “Irish Taxi-Driver”, ... ...heard on the grapevine that Skoda were giving it a bit of a “facelift” for its 2001 appearance, so popped in recently to one of the local dealers for a quick preview.
~ ~ Based on the same platform and with the same running gear as the more expensive Volkswagen equivalent, the “Passat”, the new model Octavia has been “jazzed up” a little both outside and in.
~ ~ The model I inspected was the very top of the range ...
the_mad_cabbie 19.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Skoda Octavia 1.9 Tdi Hatchback
Advantages: Great price, Good drive, Driving comfort, Economy Disadvantages: Name, No rear wiper, some dealers
...replace it - a new Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDI .
So after 5 years what was good and bad?
Good,
Performance, reliability, bodywork, fuel economy
Alright it had a few scratches and scrapes but nothing major.
Engine still as responsive and still feels pretty good to drive.
This car will make an excellent car for someone - I can't imagine it stayed in the dealership long. Octavias make good taxis apparently.
Bad - not much to be honest
Outlays /Costs
... ...the climate control is worth having and means a sun-roof is superfluous.
Word of warning - choose your service agent carefully, I've had some bad experiences with supposed Skoda main dealers.
A good one is worth their weight in gold - and they fix the problems - see above. ...
petergee 06.12.2000 (20.06.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Skoda Octavia 1.9 Tdi Hatchback
Advantages: No-one wants a lift anymore. Disadvantages: Keeping pot holers out of the boot .
...1.9 TDI Ambiente From Lightcliffe Skoda in Halifax. The Focus had devalued from 12,000 to just 6,000 pounds in just 3 years of ownership and 30k miles (sold with just 44k on clock)! I loved the readups on the skoda, but mistakenly thought that the Skoda would stuggle to match the legendary handling characteristics of the Focus. This was the only mistake I have made, as the Octavia outclasses the Focus totally as concerns every handling aspect. OK, ... ...the Focus, but confidence at cornering at speed is still far superior. The car feels as though on rails. As others have stated, the octavia feels as if hewn from solid rock. The post 2005 models are COMFORTABLE. Yes, the seats initially feel very firm. This however translates as support during long journeys (I felt very stiff after 150 miles in the Ford, but totally rested after the same distance in the Skoda). The same later models have masses of ...
paw3847 06.09.2007
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Skoda Octavia 1.9 Tdi Hatchback
Advantages: Economical. Fast, Reliable, Best in Silver, Cheaper than most of its rivals. Graet Big Boot Disadvantages: Name, Road noise,
...was the view of my Skoda & Lada hating son. I have had the car for 6 weeks now and I have cut my fuel consuption by up to 45%. I used to use up £120 per week, now the bill is more in the region of £80 or less. I cover 40,000 miles a year and like speed. This car is 110bhp and lifts very quickly from a standing start. My heavy right foot means that I have only managed 43.1 mpg over 3,400 miles (mostly around town). Immediate savings though from my ... ...advert from Skoda/VW. The car performnance is quick, very responsive, although a little road noisy but don't let that put you off. The 110bhp SLX TDi was the only one for me. I did test drive a 90 bhp car a year earlier but I opted not to buy, mainly because of the name, I must admit.
Not exactly the executive cut about the interior, in fact it looks almost like the inside of a VW Passat. The boot is massive. Most people make comments about the ...
mcfly 13.11.2000
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Skoda Octavia 1.9 Tdi Hatchback
