Faults:

Nothing so far, its been faultless.

General Comments:

This is one of the best value for money cars you can buy. Don't be fooled by the Skoda badge, or worry about what people will think, Skoda are owned by Volkswagon, and the Octavia is built out of bits of Passat and Golfs. This gives it the bomb proof reliability and excellent performance without the VW price tag.

Even though its the entry level model, the car feels very comfortable and the performance very good. It has a lot of pull for a 1.6, especially for a car of this size. The handling feels responsive. I've driven this car through wales on many occasions and it always gives me total confidence in the tight twisting corners.

The space inside is adequate to seat 4 grown adults in comfort. The boot space is phenomenal, and with the back seats folded down will give you more space than you could ever need. On more than one occasion I've put the back seats down and actually slept in the back, fully laid out. And I'm 6 foot 3! Perfect for those who like to take the dogs out for a walk.

Economically the Octavia will give you a surprise. On my daily trips to work down the M6 I average 40 miles per gallon. Driven conservatively you could achieve even more. All this from the petrol engine. Car insurance is be cheap due to the skoda badge as well.

The interior cabin isn't much to shout about, but its such an improvement on old Skodas (i used to drive a Skoda favourit estate where the interior was made up of right angles!). There is plenty of storage space in the glove box and lots of little storage spaces around the cabin.

I've had no problems mechanically with the car at all. I took this car on a 1,235 mile round trip to the Orkney islands and back in 5 days and the car never let me down once. You can expect this car to go on and on and on.

Overall this car is a beauty. Track down a second hand one with decent mileage and you won't regret it. The car will go on and on and on due to its Volkswagon roots. Many people still give Skoda a bad press, but you can feel satisfied with yourself when you pull up at the lights next to a Passat a Focus or Mondeo, safe in the knowledge that you've got just as much car for nowhere near the cost. A better car than ANY of its rivals.

Faults:

Trapped wire on the ignition caused the car to cut out or lose power. 4 trips to the dealer to fix.

Split turbo hose, replaced under warranty, blew off again 2 miles from the dealer!

Clutch burnt out whilst at dealer, would not admit fault. Offered to replace for a discounted £500. Got it done at a specialist for £300.

Rattles from roof, creaking from off side rear.

General Comments:

Took me two months before I got the seat position right. It gave me terrible back ache at first, I thought I was going to have to sell it.

After all the negative things I have said, I still think this is the best car I have owned. That includes a WRX wagon and a Civic VTi.

It is quick enough to see off most cars on the road, but I still managed 47mpg on a 35mile trip! forget that in the WRX or VTi.

It also has climate control (but in a stupid place) parking sensors, cruise control 6CD changer, electric everything and all for half the price of a similar spec used A4.

Compared to the WRX it is less than half the running cost, and it doesn't feel that much slower in normal driving.

Huge boot, but little rear leg room.

Looks nice with the 16 inch alloy wheels and green metallic paint.

Very disappointed with the dealers though, can't compare to my Honda dealer.