blimp Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Long time lurker here, after a bit of advice - does anyone know about the reliability of first gen Skoda Octavia TDIs (2002ish) - in particualr their gearboxes? I am looking for a new car, and like these, but my local mechanic has said that the gearboxes are particularly weak, and fail 'quite often'. I would be really grateful for any advice, as I am going around in circles trying to pick a replacement for my 309 TD which has developed a leaky waterpump and I am not sure I want to throw anymore money at it.. As a way of thanking any responders, some local spottings: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.welfare Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Welcome!Waterpump on a 309TD will only be a tenner for the part, but the labour is quite intensive @ garage rates - 3.5hrs is the book time, and you might as well splurge another tenner on the cambelt at the same time as it has to come off...All I can say on the subject of Octavia TDIs is yes, there have been some rumours of gearbox failures, but if I am right in my assumption (and given the car is based on the Mk4 Golf), it will be the 6-speeders that fail more than the 5-speeds. A million minicabbers can't be wrong, I'd personally go for a 90 or 110bhp one and then you avoid the 6-speed which I think is standard fit on the 130.Having said that your mechanic could actually be referring to the rivet that fails on the differential which seems to be a (modern) VAG weakness, certainly my in-laws Fabia has suffered. They are quite old now though, and tend to be heavy on the clutch (and revs) as they are going deaf! My wife ran a 1.4 16V Fabia with the 5-speed for 62k miles over 3 years and that gave no issues with clutch or 'box.When my 405TDs die I will probably get a Mk1 Octavia TDI estate, so will be interested in how you get on if you decide to go for one! May I also recommend buying "Car Mechanics" magazine as they are currently featuring a 110bhp Octavia TDI as a project car, a 53-plate ex-taxi with 199k miles.Also might be interested to hear more about the 309 if it goes begging, particularly if you are anywhere near Trowbridge where I often have to go for work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2_craig Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I am delighted to see that Metro in such remarkable condition, although our resident Biggleswade shite connossieur will likely be along shortly to say that it should be strapped to the side of a Chinese rocket and fired square into the sun.Starlet is presumably an import job? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashmicro Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 That Metro is sweet!On the subject of earlier Octavia TDis, quite a few of my mates are taxi drivers, and I recall 2 or else 3 of them telling me about transmission issues around the 100k mile mark, CV issues on 1 or 2 and a diff issue on another.Interestingly, the Octavia has fallen out of favour around here as a taxi of late - there's a good deal more W202/W203 Mercs about now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blimp Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 I had been quoted £340 to get the Pug fixed, as a new cambelt kit would need to be fitted. I couldn't have the old one refitted, as there would be no guarantee on it, which is fair enough. Unfortunately, I have fallen out of love with the car slightly, as I had intended to keep it forever (or until all the worlds diesel runs out), and had spent a two huge bucket loads of cash on it last summer having a new cambelt fitted (!) and having the creaky rear beam sorted. Then the clutch went before Christmas, and I was forced to spend an even bigger bucket of cash to keep her going. Now though, with the latest prospective bill, and the MOT being up mid November, I am looking to cut my losses and change. Just looking for a replacement car - one that will give me 50+mpg in traffic and A road driving on my 10 mile commute into work that I currently get - is proving a bit of a nightmare. More modern diesels seem to have many faults which can get very very expensive to sort - but then I could be lucky and buy a perfect car. And if I change, the car will be up for grabs - seems a shame to scrap her. I am about 10 miles from Trowbridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VWPowered Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 go skoda, shares many parts with vw golf, audi A3 and seat leon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2_craig Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 What's the story behind the Kavalier? I wonder if that's an ex Vauxhall press car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blimp Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 Dunno what the story is - its been around town for a while. Looks good from a distance, and understandably a little scabby close up. Some more spottings from me: I found Cedric! and on the only sunny day this year, I found this in Morisson's car park... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blimp Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 And my very own tractor: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milford Cubicle Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Your 309 looks great! Dunno why you'd want to replace it. The stuff you've replaced on it could just as easily fail on a 6 year old used car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew e Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 50 mpg in the worse kind of economy driving? Give Unigate diaries a ring..... Joking aside pick up the car mechanics (this months and last months). I saw the Octavia in the flesh saturday at the CM Ace cafe do, and its very clean, could easily hide its miles, oh and the daz non bio definately cleared the cooling system as Peter told the crowd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2_craig Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Your 309 looks great! Dunno why you'd want to replace it. The stuff you've replaced on it could just as easily fail on a 6 year old used car.Seconded. Better the devil you know and all that.The 304 though!... What a sweetie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blimp Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 Your 309 looks great! Dunno why you'd want to replace it. The stuff you've replaced on it could just as easily fail on a 6 year old used car.Seconded. Better the devil you know and all that. The 304 though!... What a sweetie!This is what is driving me mad at the moment. Part of me wants to fix the car, but I need to find a bits to make her good and water tight, and scrappies are no help around here. Only two 309s and they were next to useles for yielding anything useful. At the moment I seem to have cured the dribbling water pump with a dose of radweld, but it is still a case of what will be found come the MOT in November. Looking at replacement cars is also annoying me, as the web seems to be full of horror stories of gearbox failure and dual mass flywheels breaking and offering up stupidly huge bills. While I am tempted to fix my Pug, the thought of a new car is also very appealing. I seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place, and there is currently a battle between my heart and head, and niether can decide what they want. Heres a coach for y'all: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.welfare Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Personally I'd punt the 309 in for an early MOT - up to a month in advance; then if it passes you have 13 months, and if it fails you've got a month's grace to find something else. If it's like any other Pug of the era, you shouldn't worry about rust, although things like brake/fuel lines might be marginal if still original. But then again they should have been picked up as advisories last year if they are suspect...Having the cambelt already done recently is a bit of a bugger - I must admit that, on the advice of my friendly local mechanic, I always do the waterpump at the same time as the incremental part cost is low and it only takes an extra couple of minutes' labour to change it once the belt's off, anyway.Actually, £340 sounds a bit steep - you could get a belt (you don't need the whole kit - the tensioners are metal and therefore don't need to be changed each time like a "modern") and a waterpump off of eBay for a tenner each - and that's for decent makes (Continental/Gates/Goodyear for the belt, and Motaquip for the pump). So if you supplied the parts to the garage I'm sure the price would drop, if you know his labour rate x 3.5hrs...So - if you have done the rear beam and there ain't much else wrong (per "early" MOT) - stick with it, I'd say.If it has to go though, do you really need something "modern"? Howsabout a Passat TDI (88-96), 405 (I would say that ) or 406 2.1TD, prefacelift? I wouldn't recommend a 1.9TD 406 as it's really too heavy for the engine, and the later 1.9TD has a cat and EGR which robs power and the latter causes all sorts of problems when the car gets older. The Xantia mob may also recommend one of those too, of course. Having said that, I've ploughed a fair amount of £££ into both my 405s over the last 12 months and I assumed they were good cars to start with - stuff like aux belt tensioners and radiators mainly - so something newer might be a better bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtd2000 Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Regarding the Skoda gearbox issues, I thought that it was the SDi's that had the dodgy gearboxes and not the TDi's?What do I know though - I'm an SE Asian car buyer generally speaking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Sounds like you’re in a similar position to me with the Camry, with that I’ve decided to stick with it unless January’s MoT reveals anything truly horrendous. Exactly what you and others have said, unless you’re going to spend a lot more than what the 309 will cost to fix you’ll still have the possibility of things going wrong.Given what you’ve already had done, keep going with the 309 I say.Great spots BTW. Imported Starlet and Sunny are both interesting, but that Cedric?! From the wheels and wing mirrors it appears to be an import. Lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlo Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Love that 304 coupe, reg looks familiar as well. I'm sure it featured in a classic car mag a while back. Nearly all the coupes were cannibalised in the eighties and nineties to keep the cabrios on the road, although the bottom seems to have dropped out of that particular market at the moment. My mum had a 304 coupe in the same colour which has been sitting in a garage in Finchley for 20 years with a 95% completed bottom end rebuild. May post a thread about it soon, as something needs doing about it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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