Faults:

Injectors - over £550 to fix.

EGR valve - £350.

ABS sensors - £200.

Vibration from clutch/flywheel - has not failed yet, but have been quoted over £850 to fix, and that was from a "cheaper" garage.

Usual wear and tear - brakes, suspension, etc. Most MOT's were expensive, there was always something to fix.

The car was well looked after, bought used in good condition with every service, and I continued to look after it but still had all these problems.

General Comments:

I wanted to like this car after hearing about its "legendary" reliability as a taxi. To be fair when the car was running good it was great - cheaper to tax and insure than most other cars, and it did a solid 60 mpg.

But when things did go wrong it was always expensive, so any savings you did make were spent on repairs, so what is the point?

Anyways, on the plus side the car drives OK, is spacious and comfortable, looks good, and this Elegance model has plenty of electric features.

I have heard this 1.6 TDi engine might be the problem - some have said it is not as reliable as the 1.9 TDi or 2.0 TDi. I can confirm as I had a 2001 Octavia years ago with the 1.9 diesel engine and it was fine, but this updated car with the 1.6 diesel was nowhere near as reliable unfortunately. I sold it last year and probably wouldn't buy another - have since moved on to a Hyundai i40 which has been good so far.

Faults:

Oil + belt changes and consumables.

Air con useless.

ABS sensors replaced.

Alarm developed a fault, just disconnected it.

Lately some rust has appeared, but only a few very small patches here and there. Barely noticeable. It is a 12 year old car.

General Comments:

Had this Octavia SE for a couple of years, and it has been a good car.

SE model looks good, interior is equipped with the usual electrics. Comfortable, if a bit noisy at speed.

1.6 TDi is not fast at all. I'm guessing the 2.0 would be better. This will get you around 57 - 62 mpg though. Cheap to tax and insure. Very economical car.

Drives OK, nothing exciting. Highly recommended if you just want a reliable family car.

Faults:

Basic servicing (oil and belt changes) and wear and tear (brakes and suspension), no real serious faults yet. There are a lot of interior rattles, but nothing has broken. The air con is not as effective as it used to be.

General Comments:

I bought this car to replace my ageing 1999 Ford Mondeo, which was a good car but getting too old. Saw this and got a good deal; I initially thought it to be too small, but the interior is surprisingly large, and seems to be the same size as my Mondeo, despite being in the smaller car segment.

The handling is OK in this 2010 Octavia and the 1.6 diesel is just about fast enough while doing 60 MPG on average. I'd would recommend getting the bigger diesel engine (1.9/2.0) for sake of more performance - the slightly less economy is worth it, and the larger diesel is apparently more reliable than this common rail 1.6. Injectors are typical expensive faults on these. I have not had the exhaust DPF warning light on yet though, but I do drive long journeys so that helps clear it out.

It is a decent looking car in silver, but that is a very boring and common colour now, looks the same as every other hatchback car on the road. I like this car but it is just so dull, compared to my previous Mondeo anyway. The worst about this car is the interior - basic seat comfort is OK, but there no refinement whatsoever, and I have heard other reviews talk about this also - it is a noisy car. Wind and tyre noise is all you hear. Pretty disappointing for a modern car.

Speaking of modern, (You could say this about most modern cars to be fair) one feature I absolutely lament is the climate control/radio. It is a real pain to use; every button you press puts the fan to a different setting that you do not want. The dual heater mixes cold (if the passenger desires) and warm air and never gets the right temperature. Add that to the laggy touch screen for the radio that makes it way too easy to press a wrong button while moving. Even the rear demister is a two button press - to heat the mirrors you have to make sure the electric knob is in the heated position! A small complaint but I know! But every car I have had before done this automatically when the demister was switched on, but with this car you need to make sure all the other settings are in the right place! It's all just weird. And this is the Elegance model which is near top of the range - the lesser models have a better, simpler system in my opinion.

If you live in the UK, you will have no doubt noticed many of these cars as taxis - with the space and economy it is easy to see why, and general reliability is good. But how anyone can sit in this car for hours is beyond me, with its average at best comfort and refinement. Do not get me wrong - this is not a bad car if you are looking for a good family car, but if you like any sort of excitement or a quiet comfortable smooth riding car, then look elsewhere. I do not know if I would buy one again, probably go back to a more modern Mondeo next.