Skodas, these new fangled front engined ones

[garethj]

What's the story with the Skodas about 10 years old? I might get one for the work commute and they look better value than VWs.

 

New ones have a 2 litre Tdi but I think I'd go for a 1.9 Tdi for mingebag purchase price. I think they're popular with minicab drivers so that should be a good sign.

 

I believe there's a little hatchback and an Octavia which can be a hatchback, saloon or estate. What should I know about them?

[nacho man]

2.0 tdi's have a bad reputation for oil pump problems and many and many other problems from certain years while the 1.9pd and cr tdi's are pretty good. I may be talking out my arse and cant be bothered to research my claims but I am sure thats right. I had a passat with the old 1.9 tdi engine code afn which was mega relaible sold it with 197 odd thousand on it, originally clutch and turbo still drove fine wish I never sold it as did omgmegampgs.

[Pillock]

1.9 are much more reliable. Especially if you go for the mechanical injection jobbies, pre-common rail - the later PD engines are OK but started to get a bit sensor-happy and can throw their toys out the pram a little more effectively. The only thing that was uneconomical to repair on my 1.9TDI was when it threw a big end bearing and #4 piston started trying to beat the living daylights out of the head.

 

2.0 have issues with the injectors (some VWs were recalled for this, but other VAG models with the same basic engine were not - go figure) which is a four-figure repair job at a main dealer. They're also much more prone to getting upset with poor servicing, the 1.9PDs need a bit of looking after but the 2.0s will just KNOW if you use cheap oil, or stretch a service interval out for another thousand miles, and you'll pay.

 

You're looking at the Fabia which is the "little hatchback" and apart from the vRS which is beloved of skinflint boy racers (130BHP 60mpg diesel) are all fairly cheap. Older Octavias are dropping out of minicab fleets now so plenty of high mileage ones around. Early quality control wasn't brilliant, for example the estates around 51/52 plate just love to rot around the rear window, and interiors get creaky quite quickly.

 

I think Skodas swapped to PD engines around 2002. If it's a 90bhp or 110bhp it's likely mechanical, the PDs were usually 105bhp, 115bhp and 130bhp. Look for the diesel pump on the front left corner. Or at that age, older engines had the oil filler on the left and PDs had it on the right (then 2.0 models moved it back).

[Junkman]

Thou shalt have as much phun in thees life as you can

Thus thou shalt not commute with dismal dreary newfangled shit

Since having to work is burden enough

If thou decide to commute with a Skoda, buy a 100MB

And thou shall be blessed with a little vacation twice a day

 

Junkman, Psalm 19:86

[Junkman]

Though as you are blessed with being born as a man

And not one of the womanfolk

Thou shall do as men shall do

And drive a V8 whenever you can

Hence if it must be Czech

Further blessing will come your way

If you forfeit the evil temptations of a Skoda

And get yourself a Tatra instead

 

Junkman, Psalm 19:86 II

[Sigmund Fraud]

Amen, father* Junkman !

 

Gareth, have you thought about a Felicia diesel ? It is the best of both worlds, combining VW diesel power* with traditional Skoda shite-iness !

 

[garethj]

Good point, and I've already had two Tatras.  Don't know how I'll live it down, driving a proles car

[Junkman]

OMG what happened to them?

[garethj]

I owned them, drove them, loved them and sold them.  I believe Sam Glover has my 613/4, my 603 was bought to race and did Silverstone and Goodwood.  Probably oversteering all the way from one circuit to the next in one glorious lap

 

If life's competition is to have the largest collection of workshop manuals when you die, I'm in with a shout.

[Albert Ross]

Go for the Sdi. Slow as a house and mind numbingly bland/grey inside.

[dollywobbler]

Small one is the Labia, I mean, Fabia. Don't know much about them.

 

The Octavia is hatch or estate - no saloon, though the hatch looks like one and some didn't have a rear wiper. I've driven a 200,000 mile Octavia diesel and it felt pretty good. The seats are entirely German, which means rather firm and entirely uncomfortable. Couldn't fault it really, but it was so horrifically dull that I don't think I could ever consider owning one. Even duller than a Golf.

[Hendry]

Go for the Sdi. Slow as a house and mind numbingly bland/grey inside.

Exactly what I was going to suggest, slow as fuck, but dirt cheap to run, and more reliable than the TDis

 

Don't get an ex taxi, mechanicals may be bullet proof but the interior / exterior don't wear we'll at all if the 05 plate base model taxi I got a few weeks ago is anything to go by (headlining was yellow like its been owned by a smoker, trim had gone all brittle and snapped and it was all scraped on the trim, and outside it was rusting on the door bottoms, sills and arches - badly, made my old mans old 240K mile Vectra ex taxi look like a brand new car)

 

Failing that the Superb is a nice place to be IMO, its like a LWB Passat but less dull.

 

Ps what year of 2.0 TDi VAGs had the injector and oil pump issues ( my dads now got an 09 Jetta 2.0 TDi Sport as a taxi - not sure whether its PD or CR)

[garethj]

SDi is a non-turbo isn't it?  I would be overtaken by a bloke pushing a piano

 

Would a Seat be slightly less dull than a Skoda?  I imagine both are pretty tedious, especially as my current daily driver is a Porsche 924

[Junkman]

SDi somehow sounds like a Russian nuclear programme. Don't just avoid, run like f00k.

[Pillock]

Ps what year of 2.0 TDi VAGs had the injector and oil pump issues ( my dads now got an 09 Jetta 2.0 TDi Sport as a taxi - not sure whether its PD or CR)

 

Injectors are on the 170bhp 2.0 TDI, 2007-2010 or so.

Might be worth a call to the dealer, especially if it's changed hands or not been dealer serviced as it was only flagged up during routine servicing, not a safety issue.

[Rocket88]

Pre 2002 tdi for DA WINZ Pretty indestructable, although autos snuff it about 140k miles.Rest of it will outlive a giant tortoise

[Joey spud]

The late diesel stuff 2007 on do indeed have injector woes..

 

They live inside the cam cover and are peizo units and can fail,also the wiring loom that swiches them on/off also runs inside the cam cover and gets brittle and causes no end of grief.

 

If a short or open circuit occurs with it just for a few seconds then the ecu shuts the whole lot down.

 

VW were doing foc repairs on stuff that had proof of servicing.

[Wilko220]

Surely, if we're talking front-engined Skodas, there can only be one viable choice...

 

[dollywobbler]

Good call. Favorits are ace. 35-45mpg possible too and petrol is cheaper than diesel.

[Faker]

We have some skodas in work and they are pretty good. Skoda Superb 2.0 tdi 170 bhp is an awesome machine. Car goes like the clappers, handles, stops and steers real well. Has a tendency to bring the hooligan out in you! Can't help with reliability though, it's only got around 40 or 50k and hasn't spat it's dummy out yet.

 

I have a mate who owns a Fabia VRS (1.9 tdi pd) and its the bollox. Enough said.

[sco14]

I thought the sdi's suffered from gearbox problems!

[Faker]

They all suffer from gearbox and diff problems! Dual mass flywheels and clutch systems to on later cars.

[Hendry]

Injectors are on the 170bhp 2.0 TDI, 2007-2010 or so.

Might be worth a call to the dealer, especially if it's changed hands or not been dealer serviced as it was only flagged up during routine servicing, not a safety issue.

Pretty sure my old mans is a 140bhp, does this mean no injector issues?

[Lacquer Peel]

VAG SHITE.

[garethj]

VAG SHITE.

I know

 

This one is in Tamworth, fucking miles away

 

This one looks agreeably beaten but it's in Merseyside, even further!  That's a long drive if it's ropey

 

This one's a bit more local

 

Any thoughts?  I miss the Porsche already

[Pillock]

Pretty sure my old mans is a 140bhp, does this mean no injector issues?

Yes, 170 are the only ones with the piezo injectors supposedly/apparently/allegedly.

 

Although visit a dealer for a less vague answer....

[garethj]

167,000 miles but cheaper for this Octavia

 

And some Passat Shite, this one is calling for a friend I think, like an injured kitten. Awww, look at it's misty eyes

[dollywobbler]

To be honest, if I wanted cheap, miserable dizzler motoring, I'd be looking at a Mondeo Mk1 or 2, or a Focus. I'm not sure the VAG collective can really deliver shite motoring any more satisfactorily. From Vauxhall, I'd ignore the Vectra entirely, but an Astra Mk3 or 4 would get my interest.

[garethj]

I thought Fords have issues with injectors, as well as dual mass flywheels & clutches?

 

I know nothing about Astras.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

[forddeliveryboy]

I thought the sdi's suffered from gearbox problems!

I think they sorted this pdq. certainly by 2001 from what my friendly Motty man says..

To be honest, if I wanted cheap, miserable dizzler motoring, I'd be looking at a Mondeo Mk1 or 2, or a Focus. I'm not sure the VAG collective can really deliver shite motoring any more satisfactorily. From Vauxhall, I'd ignore the Vectra entirely, but an Astra Mk3 or 4 would get my interest.

No matter how good modern Fords are compared with what went before, if I wanted a dull economical diseasel it would be an Octavia not a Mondeo or Focus. Not least because most Octavias pre 2005 use the good ol' fashun injection system without CR or PD - both venereal - and are all the better for it. Just because the later system saves an asthmatic (living with cats, a smoking partner and industrial pollution) from another dose of cash for the pharma cnts, I still see no point when the opposite side of the equation is so utterly expensive too.

 

A 90hp Octavia is relatively harm-free, and don't (quite) have the associated stigma allotted to Vdubs and Audiyadoos.

 

It makes me laugh when people are nibbling their nails as to whether a car is eco-friendly at the exhaust end but go home and eat a dead cow which has consumed more energy (including dirty tractor exhausts) than Drax on heat. Then they light their open fire, drawing great quantities of centrally heated warm air up the chimney. Ha!