Faults:

Cambelt, water pump, ABS, wheel bearings, exhaust and suspension components, etc.

Alternator.

Door handles feel very worn.

Various fuses and relays failed.

General Comments:

Octavia S - the most basic model you can get. Very dull looking with wheel trims. Mine is silver.

Inside pretty dull also, grey plastic everywhere. It is all functional though, and the seats are comfortable, and visibility is good.

Ride is smooth and quiet. 1.9 TDi is probably the best engine, decent performance and good economy (I regularly get over 50 mpg).

Nothing to get excited about, but it is just a good workhorse of a car, no wonder they are popular as taxis, it wears high mileage well.

Faults:

Spent a lot on preventative maintenance - cam-belt and oil changes by the book. The car was looked after.

Suspension caused the biggest expensive at MOT time, usually something to fix; I blame the poor condition of our UK roads. Definitely hard on the suspension.

Alternator sounded noisy but did not stop working, probably on its way out.

Electric windows a bit slow to move, but nothing else failed.

General Comments:

The Octavia of this generation is a very functional car. That is, boring, but reliable enough if you look after it.

1.9 TDi is a famously dependable unit, genuine 55 mpg with good reliability. A bit noisy and unrefined however.

Basic "S" model does not have much, but the interior was still comfortable and the seats were OK for longer journeys.

Massive boot/hatch space, easily get plenty of luggage in.

Not terribly exciting to drive, but a solid workhorse. Recently sold and replaced with a slightly more modern Ford Mondeo, a much better car to drive, but just hope it is as reliable as the Octavia was long term.

Faults:

Broken driver's electric window mechanism, 15,000 miles.

General Comments:

Another reliable car from Skoda with build quality on a par or better than VW. Driven carefully, this car is miserly with fuel, yet is a great load lugger. I have loaded it with over 15 cu' of oak boards, and this made no difference to the suspension or performance. At motorway speeds, it is quiet and refined, and the seats are comfortable for long journeys.

There are a few downsides. Firstly the heating and ventilation system is very slow to start up. It takes around ten minutes driving to get really hot air, and this means defrosting/demisting the windscreen is an arduous experience. In general I found that condensation inside the car was difficult to remove; perhaps the whole system just isn't up to dealing with what is a large car in estate form.

The only other problem is the gearing. Part of this is endemic to small engined cars nowadays, and that is a lack of torque at low engine speeds. The Octavia is easy to stall in first and second gear, and city driving is arduous because of this. A lower second gear ratio would help, but much of the problem lies with the small engine with little inertia.

Faults:

The steering wasn't correctly aligned when I collected the car, and it took three visits to the selling dealer to try and resolve. Eventually went to another dealer in another city to get it sorted, and many discussions with Skoda UK.

Purchased the bluetooth for £480.00, which is only compatible with really old model mobiles, so have to mess about swapping my SIM card to an old phone that Skoda UK supplied after many complaints. Selling dealer didn't advise what phones the system would work with.

General Comments:

The car is great once all the niggly bits were sorted.

I went for the diesel for the economy, and it has loads of torque, and the DSG box is great for ease of driving, but I am a petrolhead at heart, and wished that I had bought the petrol version with a manual gearbox, which is far more exciting to drive.

Overall, the car does everything right, but it doesn't get me as excited as my previous VW R32, but it does it at half the running cost of the VW.

Generally a great car; massive boot, ideal for swallowing two sets of golf clubs with electric trollies, well equipped good stereo.

Optional items I went for include rear park sensors, full leather, coming home lights, proper spare wheel, bluetooth (waste of money, should have purchased an after market item).