Octavia Diesel or Petrol

B

Birroc

Registered User
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Hi,

Thinking of buying a 2004/2005 Skoda Octavia. I do about 12000 miles a year. Should I go for the 1.4 petrol model or the 1.9 TD diesel model ? I was given advice that only people with big mileage (>15k pa) should pay the extra (1500-2000) for the diesel model.

The 1.4 seems like a small engine for such a big car too.

Any advice appreciated.
 
Both engines are deeply average tbh. Petrol 1.4 is gutless and 1.9TDI is an unrefined dog rough boat anchor
 
The overworked 75bhp 1.4 is best avoided. The 102bhp 1.6 performs adequately, but the 115bhp 1.6 is smoother and much perkier. The 105bhp 1.9TDi is a bit rough compared to the silky 140bhp 2.0TDi. The 150bhp is lively, but the 170bhp 2.0TDi and 200bhp 2.0 turbo in the RS are genuinely fast.
Performance
Score: 8/101.4 is slow: 0-100 in 15.5 seconds. 102bhp 1.6 is better (0-100 in 12.3) but 115bhp 1.6 is livelier (11.2) and more economical. 1.9TDi pulls hard (11.9) but is rough beside the quick 2.0TDi (9.6). 2.0 is nippy (9.4) but lacks TDi torque. 2.0T RS is fast (7.3), but 2.0TDi RS isn’t far behind (8.5).
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Thats fair enough but I am a safe driver and I am not too concerned with speed. Is there any particular reason why doing 0-100 in 15 seconds is a bad thing ? I suppose over-taking could be an issue.
 
Its not always about speed.

Ability to overtake / get up to a motorway cruising speed for safe merging is a more important consideration.

The Diesel every time.

Try and get a 2.0 tdi
 
It makes it easier and more pleasent but in fariness its not hard to get up to speed or merge even in a 1.0L car unless you drive like a granny. IMO the only place it really makes a difference is faster overtaking non motorways to get around someone whos driving at 60~80kmph or if you regularly have a full car. That said if I was doing 12000 I'd get the diesel.
 
My mother has a petrol, and my brother a diesel. Both 04/05 models.

Diesel is way better in my opinion. More power, heavier on the road, I just prefer it.
 
The 1.9tdi is the one to go for, when it comes to sell it, no one will want to know if its not a tdi
 
Depends on who's buying it tbh. I've found dublin dealers often prefer smaller petrol cars as trade in (before the current downturn) as most of their customers aren't doing much mileage an so the extra expense of a diesel isn't worth it. Basically they can turn around a petrol quicker. I'd prefer the diesel, but we do so little mileage, and usually at low speed around the city that the smaller petrol would work just as well.
 
Import a late 2006 2.0 TDi vRS (saloon or combi) from the UK. Better specified car, best engine, better price. Lots of car, lots of toys, small enough money.
 
What prices are we talking? On Carzone...
2004/2005 1.4 5k~14k
2004/2005 1.9 TDI 8k~18k
2006 2.0 TDi vRS (n/a)
2007 2.0 TDi vRS 22~26k
 
2.0 TDI vRS Combi (170 bhp) UK prices Sept to Nov 2006 £10k to £12k, depending on mileage (53k miles down to about 15k) and OEM spec. These are Skoda UK prices and would be at the high end.

Carzone prices - I can't really comment as recently they seem to be aspirational rather than real.
 
mathepac said:
Import a late 2006 2.0 TDi vRS (saloon or combi) from the UK. Better specified car, best engine, better price. Lots of car, lots of toys, small enough money.
Click to expand...

Agree with this post. Also remember that the diesel has a small vrt and a low annual road tax. A 2005 Octavia diesel attracts only about €1600 vrt; I know somone who brought one in a month ago from NI. He had it on the road for around €7500 with everything paid. Low mileage car, cheap motoring.
The dealers in the Republic haven't taken account of the real world and are still looking for silly money for cars. With Sterling so low, if you import a low CO2 emissions car you're laughing.
 
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