31st Jul 2015, 21:41
Excellent review on a great car - you only have to look at the other reviews on here about this car to see now, that even as they get older, people are still running these cars to crazy mileages and beyond.
Shame about the turbo problem you had, but maybe it was a one off - I've had 2 of these cars and known many taxi drivers with them, and they have never had this problem. There were a couple of diesels, both 1.9 TDI, a 90bhp one and a 110bhp one. Both are excellent, and the 110 is the one to go for - still gets mid 50s MPG and decent performance.
Almost every taxi you see is an old shape Octavia, and all the taxi drivers in the UK can't be wrong!
25th Oct 2016, 16:36
I have a 1.9 Ambiente also; it's a 2002 model. I have had it for just over a year. Part exchanged it from a Nissan Terrano auto which was a brilliant car, but got old and needed the retirement yard.
The Skoda has been brilliant, but at the moment I am having trouble with starting it. I had the starter motor taken off and tested, and apart from a bit of dust inside, it was said to be OK. Wrong, it was still the same, but getting worse; you go to start the car and sometimes it starts first time and it can be like that for 2 to 3 weeks, and then all you get is clicks, wiggle the key and it starts. In the handbook it says put your foot on the clutch to start. Sometimes it does, but then you try and when it won't, put it in neutral and foot off the clutch and it will start. Garage said they checked the switch under the clutch pedal and it was fine, so went and put on a new ignition part; still the same.
Now discarding the advice of the starter motor test and have a new one fitted. Failing that it looks like the old 10lb hammer test. Shame because I love Skodas; had a Skoda Coupé saloon for my first car too; 7 years and never had a mechanical problem; the front wings rusted owing to the fact that the engine was in the back and there was no heat to dry them out after it rained. Apart from that I would have it back tomorrow if it still existed.
29th Oct 2016, 14:31
Not sure if this will help, but I only recently got rid of my Octavia due to water ingress on the ECU after a windscreen change (obviously not fitted properly and leaked water on the ECU, which is located directly below the screen/wiper motors). Wouldn't say a common problem, but perhaps a silly design in regards to the ECU's location - saw some talk on forums about Skodas and VWs from the same years talking about the same thing.
It had the same symptoms as yours mate, sometimes it would start, sometimes it would not. Only dawned on me when I noticed it was worse in damp - usually diesels are not affected by damp so that's why it was something obscure like a water logged ECU. I'd check it out and see if it helps. ECU is not much to replace, but it is costly to reprogram and you have to make sure it's water tight afterwards.
A shame really as the Octavia was a really good car for me up till that point as many comments and reviews on here say - I ran mine, a 2001 model to 300,000 miles without any serious issues. Can't say fairer than that; 15 years and a lot of mileage, it had a good life.
4th Sep 2012, 16:57
Good for you!