vectra, octavia hatch, superb? legroom/ boot space

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Hi guys, curently looking for a new car, was going to get a xtrail but to much of a risk with potentialy expensive repairs, however from talking to a taxi driver he rates skoda octavias realy highly. My main question is, i currently have a vectra hatch wich is fine for rear leg and boot space, even though the octavia is shorter is seem to hold more (60 litres more space in boot than the vectra) does this have a bad effect on rear legroom? mainly becaulse it is quite important for family (baby seat access) and less able grandparents access. I have also looked at skoda superb mk1 love the rear space however from reading reviews is it true the rear seats dont fold down? any advise or oppinions welcome, thanks
 
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Octavia is a hatch, and the Superb is a saloon, or the ones I've seen are.....I may well be out of date, of course.
Both will go to the moon and back but the Octavia is more competitively priced - I think Skoda overpriced the Superb in the first place, but only my opinion. Both are excellent cars.
John :)
 
Have a look on Parkers guide, they give an in depth test on them. Which? also reckoned the Skoda's were good.

Peter
 
i have had a look, thats why im struggling, both skodas lookes good, both with good boots, most seem to say the octavia is the most practical, but most legroom in back is the superb, my main issue is does anyone know if the back seats fold down in the superb? some reviews say not, others do. and is the boot space in the octavia a trade off to rear leg room? also been offered a octavia for £2,000 with 155,000 miles on, 1.9 tdi 105 hp, with service history, does this sound a decent buy? cause i have heard of the 1.9's doing silly high milage.
 
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If you need the extra room why not go for an estate, they are always useful, I have run estates for many years and would not go back to a a hatch or saloon now.

Peter
 
had a couple of estates, always liked them just not many around within my £3000 budget, or ones that are cheap enough seem to cost a fortune on insurance.
 
You could get a good Peugeot 406 Hdi for less than half of that, probably the last really good car they made and relatively cheap to repair. Mine has done 233.000 miles and is still mostly original including the clutch and DMF, no DPF to go wrong and 60mpg driven carefully. Get the 2.0. not the 2.2.

My insurance is about £145 but I am old and live in the country.

Peter
 
i have had a look, thats why im struggling, both skodas lookes good, both with good boots, most seem to say the octavia is the most practical, but most legroom in back is the superb, my main issue is does anyone know if the back seats fold down in the superb? some reviews say not, others do. and is the boot space in the octavia a trade off to rear leg room? also been offered a octavia for £2,000 with 155,000 miles on, 1.9 tdi 105 hp, with service history, does this sound a decent buy? cause i have heard of the 1.9's doing silly high milage.

They will do silly mileages if looked after so good history is a must.
We have 2 in the family with 200 k and 180 k on them both running like a swiss watch, i believe both of them are still on their original turbos too which is down to regular oil changes with good quality oil.
 
We've sold a variety of Octavias to the taxi trade and they seem to stand up very well. Typically about 300,000 miles before they start to fall apart. Not sure if it's still true but the other reason the taxi drivers love Octavias is that they have the best rear legroom in their class.
 
i'll have a look into them 406's and see what insurance is like on them. Only thing that puts me off peugoet is that my mate had a 206 petrol (52 reg) and it was shocking, realy bad comfort and poor reliability. My main thing is comfort and reliablilty due to working all over country.
I like the durability of the octavias and the boot seems very good, what are the bolt on bits like for lasting? even if the engine does 300,000 miles, willl the altenator, turbo, power steering all fall to bits around 150,000? or do thease tend to last as long? Thanks.
 
The 406 is a completely different animal, its comfortable, especially if you get the GXL with electric seats, they have so many adjustments. They give an excellent ride but at the same time have sharp handling, they are also very quiet and roomy especially the estate. You can get them from about £500 so £1500 should buy you an mint one.

For the last 25 years I have run big Citreons, CX's and the for the last 15 years or so XM's which are very comfortable cars, I then graduated to a C5 but I must confess I prefer driving the 406. The C5 has a better ride but doesn't handle nearly as well as the 406 which has an adequate ride. The best thing to do is go for a ride in one, if you can see one for sale go and try it out.

Peter
 
Just regarding the longevity of the engines ancillaries, it's a difficult one.
Turbochargers rely on oil maintenance and driver sympathy but are definitely a weak link; clutches and their DM flywheel will be on borrowed time at 150k, unless the car has spent all it's life on motorways.
The gearbox should be ok so long as it's been treated kindly.
Alternators, power steering pumps and the like will have probably been replaced and are cheap enough anyway.
Suspension will be crashy somewhat, as will squeaks and rattles.
Electronic fuel injection will always be an issue.
As Peter says, the XUD lump was always one of the best......apart from the odd blown head gasket they were superb. Not far behind was the BMW 6 cyl diesel, again with the unbeatable mechanical injection. Both of these vehicles had remarkable fuel consumption which to me means if you aren't burning the juice, you aren't polluting either......that's got lost somewhere today.
John :)
 
The 8 valve 2.0. Hdi is even better than the XUD John in that the head gaskets don't fail. These engines are based on the XUD. There are quite a lot for sale with 200k+. In my experience they just don't go wrong.

There are injectors for them on ebay for next to nothing because they don't fail - that can't be said of the post 2004 engines though sadly.

Peter
 
Interesting post, Peter.....presumably the Hdi head is a bit meatier where it joins the block?
Diesel electronic injection terrifies me - if the injectors need to come out, often that's impossible due to electrolytic corrosion.....a massive bill beckons!
I have to say, I reckon the days of the small car diesel are numbered due to emission requirements......Audi now fit AdBlue tanks to some of their cars.
I notice the trend towards small (1 litre) petrol engines, producing upwards of 120 BHP.....I haven't driven one, but wonder what the torque is like.
John :)
 
Had a look on autotrader eariler, loads of 406 estates going with around 100,000 and less miles for around £2000-2500. Had a read at some reviews and not many say anything about the mechnicals apart from some issues on front suspension that can be costly? and electronic issues mainy with the tyre pressure stuff. So from whats been said on here, the 406's are mechanical fuel injection? not more modern/ unreliable electronic?
I think the way cars go now are getting to be to technical and unreliable/ stressed with silly small engines in meduim- large cars, was talking to my mate, a mechanic for over 50 years and hes had a few focus 1 litre's in for repairs and he reckons they may do 100,000 miles but would struggle to get more due to the high tuning/ technology liable to fail unlike the older simple bigger engines.
 
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