Skoda Octavia TDi.

tomstickland

My quest to find a tidy TDi estate car for around £2.5K has been rumbling along.
I've given up on Mk3 Golfs because they're too rare. Audi A4s are OK, but I reckon an Octavia from the early 2000s can be had for the price range I'm looking at.

The 110BHP TDi seems to give quite respectable performance figures. I suppose I should go and look at a few.

I want to find the newest car I can in the price range. £3K tops.

Eg: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2003-SKODA-OCTAVIA-AMBIENTE-TDI-RED-ESTATE_W0QQitemZ160335258067QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAutomobiles_UK?hash=item160335258067&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

But it's the 90BHP model and I'd want 110.


Edit:
I've just put my requirements into Autotrader but not set a manufacturer or model and loads of Focus TDis are coming out in the results.

harveybobbles

Get it chipped then? I had my A4 1.8T petrol chipped from 150 to 180

JonathanA

Having owned the Octavia TDi (90bhp) I'd say go and take one for a drive, it isn't a sluggish car by any means, though obviously it couldn't keep up with something like a 3 litre BMW diesel! It can certainly hold its own though.

They are chippable and that may solve your dilemma. You may of course drive one and decide the 90 is good enough for what you want to do.

If you're looking at the Focus, for goodness sake make sure you don't get the 1.8TDDi - you would get a shock in that, but the 2.0TDCi is quick!

tomstickland

I've been doing some research into Diesel engines and chip swaps and larger injecors don't cost all that much.

AdrianHi

There are loads of 110 bhp TDi Octavia's around, that can also be re-mapped (best technical solution) or have tuning boxes added.
I can recommend a very good tuning expert for re-mapping and a tuning box option if your interested. A "good" re-map does not increase fuel pressure, just timing and duration of injection, this means no additional strain on fuel pumps and supply system or injectors. They also keep power and torque within the limits of the rest of the drive train to avoid transmission rumble and excessive heat build up.

tomstickland

Hmm, another 20 minutes on Autotrader and Parkers. Looks like for £4.5K I get onto the 130BHP PD TDi cars, about 5 years old too.

tomstickland

I was looking at the Diesel Bob website.

anewman

Might be worth a browse through https://www.briskoda.net forums if you haven't already

judderman62

I've got a 2005 140bhp 2.0 Tdi saloon - love it to bits and defo no slouch - getting about 46/47 mpg - commute to work is 15 miles (soon to double to 30 - thank god I have a diesel) which is about 70% motorway - M60 crawling traffic in rush hour.

AdrianHi

tomstickland wrote: »

Hmm, another 20 minutes on Autotrader and Parkers. Looks like for £4.5K I get onto the 130BHP PD TDi cars, about 5 years old too.

If you were to break down the cost of the younger car for a year and do the same for the older car you will find that there is almost nothing in it, you just have to find the higher £4.5K purchase price for the younger one.
I have heard that the older pre-2004 EU4 emmission controlled versions of the TDi's give much better fuel consumption than the younger ones despite what "official" consumption figures say.

Also if you get the right "performance" tuning done (i.e. re-map) on the car - to remove compromises put in to account for worldwide variable weather conditions and variable diesel fuel quality - and get it optimised for the european climate and higher fuel quality, you get fuel consumption and performance improvement.