Which car would be a better buy?

pitkin2020

A review snippet I found on the engines, I was wrong the 1.4 is the most frugile for MPG but not enough in my opinion compared with the sturdy 1.9TDi.

"With such caveats in mind, the 1.9 does begin to look like a more sensible choice, though you might like to compare all three diesels' official combined fuel figures: the 80bhp diesel is the most frugal, with a combined 61.4mpg, the 69bhp option returning 58.9mpg and the 1.9-litre a not-so-abysmal 57.7mpg. The bottom line is that there's little between the options - and consequently little penalty for choosing the 1.9. And on real tarmac, this is the most confident and capable drive, whether cornering briskly, zipping along a country lane or overtaking at top motorway speeds. "

Might sway you either way

Exemplar

Having been in the trade my money would be on the Fabia. Fab car, great ride, etc etc. The Octavia is still a good car but does not have the residuals of the Fabia.

intranix

Taxi drivers swear by Octavias...

My mate has done nearly 300,000 miles on the original engine in his 56 plate octavia. Good cars!

Contessa

Thanks so much for all your replies! As it happens I looked at both and test drove them six years ago-loved the Octavia. At the moment I drive about 16Ka year, mostly motorways. Usually just me, but I do need large load carrying capacity a few times. I wondered if the low mileage for the Fabia might be bad for a diesel?

intranix

no, low mileage is never a bad thing. Just remember that some service items are replaced at a certain mileage AND/OR age.

goldspanners

Contessa wrote: »

Thanks so much for all your replies! As it happens I looked at both and test drove them six years ago-loved the Octavia. At the moment I drive about 16Ka year, mostly motorways. Usually just me, but I do need large load carrying capacity a few times. I wondered if the low mileage for the Fabia might be bad for a diesel?

octavia it would be for me then in this case.

gsmmad

for 6k you can get much better cars, have a look on autotrader or ebay.

You can get a 1.9tdi golf, which is much more comfortable. Very economical. The 1.9tdi in this and the skoda is probably the same as it is produced by the same company at the end of the day. Do not get near the 1.4 i had a 1.4S golf a few years back. The body was very heavy the engine was too small. So overtaking was horrible, if im overtaking a corsa 1.2 and he decided to step on it, i would be screwed!

[Deleted User]

go for the 1.9, the other one will be far to underpowered

harveybobbles

goldspanners wrote: »

the 1.4 tdi engines are ok power wise, not as bad as you would expect. thats if it is a tdi anyway. do they still do the sdi?

We recently had a 55 plate Golf 2.0 SDi in and I must say it was a bleeding joke to drive! Think it was 75 bhp but it felt like 7bhp...

The Octavia estate's are brilliant! We get loads in. Infact we have one in now. Think its 06 plate for about 6000. 1.9 tdi Elegance done 78k.

We did have a Fabia 1.9 tdi 105 estate and that was brillaint! I managed well over 60mpg on a Manchester/Liverpool run.

The 1.4tdi is ok in small cars like A2, Polo, Fabia etc.