Faults:

Differential 'whine' when cornering.

Many interior rattles.

Engine management - cooling system and turbo system showing up fault codes.

Rear brake binding.

Wiper linkage seizing up.

Cold-start issues.

General Comments:

Too much power for the - frankly average at best - chassis. Not very adjustable through the corners for a so called 'hot hatch'. Previous car, a bog-standard 1.6 Ford Focus was a lot more fun to drive.

Comfortable and reasonably economical over long distances, when driven sensibly can see 38-40 MPG.

Seats very adjustable, and look very good.

Speaker system pretty bad for a top-of-the-range model, standard equipment is pretty much as expected.

When it all worked properly, it did feel like a pretty competent car, but the rest of the time I was left feeling disappointed with the driving experience, reliability and build quality. VWs on this platform around this age do not seem to live up to the perceived reliability - watch out for hefty repair bills.

Faults:

90bhp Tdi engine is perhaps a little under powered for the size and weight of the car, but has a good amount of torque, especially at 60+ over taking speeds.

Nothing else to report so far.

General Comments:

Very impressed with its refinements. Golf chassis is brilliant for road handling. Interior comfort is plain but functional (which is no bad thing)

Changed to the Octavia from a Fabia 1.4 8v - what a difference in quality, speed, mpg, road handling - I could go on!

Consistently getting 60mpg out of it - has been 70+ on long runs.

My only hope is that this isn't the honeymoon period, and long may I be pleased with the car!

Faults:

Air mass meter needed to be replaced.

Water pump needed replaced at 71500.

Gearbox had to be replaced at 72000 miles. (Clutch also had to be replaced due to the gearbox being changed)

Have been advised that complete wheel hub on both drivers and passenger side will need to be replaced at some point.

General Comments:

About a year ago I submitted a review on this car and spoke in glowing terms about its virtues. These virtues no doubt still apply to a good running example unfortunately mine has not been a good running example.

When we bought it the car was a one owner example with just turned 60000 miles on the clock all of which seemed very positive. The first six months of ownership passed uneventfully and we went on holiday using the car to cover 1400 trouble free miles in a week.

From the six month onward point it has been one fault after another. First the air mass meter of the turbo needed to be replaced. Then the water pump failed and had to be replaced at a cost of 130 pounds. As I write this some three weeks later the car is off the road waiting to be fitted with a replacement gearbox. A new clutch is also required as a result of the gearbox being changed. Our mechanics theory is that a spring from the clutch has went into the gearbox causing the problem. Even with using a reconditioned gearbox this repair will probably be in the region of 800 pounds.

You can get a rogue vehicle from any make or manufacturer and I think this has been the case with our Octavia. That thought however is small comfort when faced with the costs and inconvenience of rectifying the problems. We have had Skoda's before (both Felicia's) and thought highly of them hence buying the Octavia.

In conclusion I would say that we have just been unlucky in getting a rogue car which probably does not reflect the average for this model. A good running Octavia is probably a seven or eight out of ten car. Our example is a three out of ten at best.