Faults:

Leaking rear washer pipe caused burnout of tow electrics module (not Skoda part!), which affected main lighting module. £200 repair!

No other faults.

General Comments:

The car is a comfortable, roomy, fast and incredibly economical. Normal long journey at legal speed mixed roads: 60+ MPG. Towing a light caravan: 45 MPG.

Road holding is excellent, though road noise on some surfaces with Michelin tyres can be intrusive.

Service costs are average, though I recommend having the computer switched from variable servicing to fixed interval if your mileage is average.

When you get to around 80,000 and have the cam belt changed, make sure all the pulleys AND the water pump are replaced at the same time.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

We had an Octavia Mark 1 and were generally satisfied, but the Mark 2 is an enormous improvement in a number of areas.

There is much more rear seating room - the old one was very cramped. The load area in our estate is vast.

The 2.0 TDi engine is quieter and has much more oomph (though I had extra soundproofing fitted). Fuel economy is 41-42 mpg, but that includes a fair bit of town driving (the Mark 1 1.9 gave 47 mpg with more long runs).

The DSG automatic gearbox is generally smooth, though can be caught out on occasion, giving slight jerkiness.

The build quality seems as high as ever, with absolutely no creaks or rattles.

Our intention was to run our Octavia for a decade, so we bought an L&K with all the bells and whistles - depreciation becomes pointless over such a long period. Present indications are that our Octavia will do just that - serve us well into our 70s.

Faults:

Fault with airbag light kept coming on, reset by dealer and on third time they replaced the slipring.

Fault with wheel alignment, mainly rear, scrubbing the tyres severely on the very inside edge of the tyre, leaving the rest of the tyre almost untouched. There is a bulletin from Skoda on this fault, so worth checking if you have the option of the sports suspension and slightly bigger alloys.

Seems to be a slight hesitation from the throttle under certain conditions, almost as if it doesn't know what position it's in. This isn't really a fault more annoying when it happens.

General Comments:

For the money, it's great value, if you can stomach the badge snobbery, at the end of the day it comes from the VAG parts bin - so on the whole it's well put together.

Being an estate it has plenty of room, on paper it has greater capacity than my old Passat Estate, but in practice I could get more in the Passat than I can in this. I guess the false floor (Elegance has this option fitted as standard) in the boot has something to blame for this, but without it the boot wouldn't be flat. I should say flat-ish as the seats don't actually go completely flat. Also the lump under the load cover housing (which is for umbrella storage, accessed from above), eats into the boot area below it, reducing the height of objects which can fit under. My old Passat had a much neater arrangement - at the end of the day this is only because of the type of equipment I have to carry, most owners probably won't notice. Going back to the false floor in the boot, I have to say that it is a very useful area underneath and has pretty much stopped all the little odds and ends from floating around in the boot - so it's not all bad.

I wouldn't say that there is anything special about the interior, but it is well thought out and well put together, I'd say it does it all about right. The seats are comfortable with plenty of adjustment, the cruise control is a good option, the rear parking sensors are a great help, especially when the boots loaded up and I can't get a clear view out of the back. Not sure why any manufacturer fits dual zone A/C in the front only (seems to be the in thing at the moment) but hey it's there and it all seems to work well enough. For the money it does have plenty of standard kit, as above plus headlight washers, auto dimming rear view mirror, auto wipers and cooled jumbo centre arm rest box. The easy load cover, one touch and it opens, is superb - great idea, no more trying to release the cover equally so it doesn't jam at an odd angle, plus it rolls away very neatly.

The only option I had was the sports pack, which includes slightly lower suspension and 17 inch alloys. Not sure it adds too much to it's handling capabilities, but I think it adds something to the look and stance of the car.

The 2.0L Diesel engine isn't the most refined unit I've driven, but I like the gruffness of VAG engines, they sound like they are actually doing something. It's pretty quick off the mark when required and has no problems lugging a fully loaded car up and down the motorway. So far fuel economy has either been to the book or better, but it does depend on how you drive it - only criticism is that the fuel tank could have been a bigger capacity, to give more range.

In my experience so far, I have used two different dealers and they are at both ends of the scale. A large one (which is a Landrover, Skoda and Chevrolet dealer), was rude, lazy and basically I won't ever go back there again. The other was a smaller dedicated dealer who sorted everything out with no problems at all.

I have only had the car for just over a year and so far, excluding the airbag light coming on, it has proved reliable, comfortable and usable - everything that would be needed from an estate. So don't be put off by the badge, it's a bargain motor.