Passat Vs Octavia

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Omega

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Help!
I'm looking at a 2004 Passat with 50,000 miles for about e18,500 and a 2004 Octavia with 37,000 miles for about e16,250 (both 1.9 diesel).
The Skoda has better economy and is a bit cheaper; The VW has a towbar, higher mileage, will need the timing belt done at 60,000 miles (not cheap) and costs more but the image/badge is better. I've spoken to the former owner and the car wasn't crashed or pulling heavy loads. I'm not a badge snob and will probably keep the car for as long as possible, so re-sale value is not a huge consideration. Any advice, please? Thanks.
 
pgf5312 said:
Help!
I'm looking at a 2004 Passat with 50,000 miles for about e18,500 and a 2004 Octavia with 37,000 miles for about e16,250 (both 1.9 diesel).
The Skoda has better economy and is a bit cheaper; The VW has a towbar, higher mileage, will need the timing belt done at 60,000 miles (not cheap) and costs more but the image/badge is better. I've spoken to the former owner and the car wasn't crashed or pulling heavy loads. I'm not a badge snob and will probably keep the car for as long as possible, so re-sale value is not a huge consideration. Any advice, please? Thanks.
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Simple really the Skoda is a VW under the skin just cheaper it all comes down to image and what you are happy with yourself really if you are happy to pay an extra 2k for the VW that needs a TB change then go ahead I'd be more inclined to go for the Skoda thats needs no work done.
Also if you are buying the VW from a dealer you can negociate that the timing belt change be factored into the purchase price, I know people that got a free timing belt change because they were buying the car from a dealer...worth asking anyway just in case you prefer the look of the Passat.

Good Luck ;)
 
remember the passat is a bigger car - the equivalent size in the skoda range is the superb - keep this in mind as well - are you buying for internal cabin and boot size ?
 
I'm not buying for size - as long as it's reasonable. Its' mostly for driving to work - with wife/1 child as occasional passengers..... The seller (VW dealer) won't do the timing belt as part of the deal, so I'm probably inclining towards the Skoda.....
 
nai said:
remember the passat is a bigger car - the equivalent size in the skoda range is the superb - keep this in mind as well - are you buying for internal cabin and boot size ?
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The Skoda is based on the Golf platform, but having said that there's very little difference between both the b5 passat and the skoda, the newer passet looks bigger. The superb is more like an Audi A6 size car TBO.

2004 skoda's
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&MakeID=28&xMakeID=28&ColourID=&xColourID=&ModelID=248&xModelID=248&Doors=&BodyID=&Engine_Min=1800&Year_Min=2004&Engine_Max=2000&Year_Max=2004&Price_Min=&Price_Min_integer=Minimum+price+entered+was+not+an+integer.&CountyID=&xCountyID=&Price_Max=&Price_Max_integer=Maximum+price+entered+was+not+an+integer.&BusinessID=&xBusinessID=&IsPrivateSale=&FuelID=2&SortBy=MakeAsc&MaxRows=100&InsertPeriod=&ResultFormat=&submit=Find+%3E%3E

2004 passats
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&MakeID=32&xMakeID=32&ColourID=&xColourID=&ModelID=283&xModelID=283&Doors=&BodyID=&Engine_Min=1800&Year_Min=2004&Engine_Max=2000&Year_Max=2004&Price_Min=&Price_Min_integer=Minimum+price+entered+was+not+an+integer.&CountyID=&xCountyID=&Price_Max=&Price_Max_integer=Maximum+price+entered+was+not+an+integer.&BusinessID=&xBusinessID=&IsPrivateSale=&FuelID=2&SortBy=MakeAsc&MaxRows=100&InsertPeriod=&ResultFormat=&submit=Find+%3E%3E

its up to you in the end,
both cars are good.
one is cheaper
one has a better badge
 
pgf5312 said:
I'm not buying for size - as long as it's reasonable. Its' mostly for driving to work - with wife/1 child as occasional passengers..... The seller (VW dealer) won't do the timing belt as part of the deal, so I'm probably inclining towards the Skoda.....
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Typical VW dealer very stingy I'd call his bluff and walk away if he wants to sell it hell concede if not tell him you'll supply parts is he takes care of the labour if he has a garage that doees servicing and repairs then it's not really costing him anything bar the price of the belt and maybe tensioners if required. You have to be cheeky if you want a bargain.

Good Luck ;)
 
I have experience of the Octavia, Superb and Passat. If size doesn't matter then I would plump for the Octavia. If you want size then the Superb is massive. Much bigger than the Passat and better equipped too.

All in quite simply the Octavia will be cheaper to run. Timing belt on the Octavia will be much cheaper to change. Better fuel consumption figures. Even changing the front light bulbs will be easier on the Octavia.

A friend has a 03 Passat and he has had to replace both drive shafts on it in the 70k it has covered. My wifes Octavia is at 90k and has bnot had to have anything like that replaced.

I would go Octavia for tooling to work.
 
Did you consider a Mondeo- very reasonably priced due to numbers and shown on stats to be reliable
and Toyota Avensis?
 
We operate a Skoda Octavia 1.9Tdi as the factory car. It has covered 177,000km in 3 years and the ONLY problem we've had with it is that the relay in the hazard lights went once. 60 Euro to fix.

Although I personally also own a VW I really have to credit the Octavia as being bullet-proof and a joy to own.
 
I'm looking at an Octavia and have done a bit of research on them. The only bad things I could find were that the timing belt change is expensive (about €1000, and the rear wiper wash hose can come off, spraying water into the boot). Engine would be similar to the Passat, hence similar costs for timing belt when it needs doing. The rear seat space is small - smaller than a passat.

As far as I can tell, 03/04 Octavias only came with 1.9 TDI 110 bhp engine, whereas the Passat range includes the 1.9 TDI 130 bhp engine (red DI).

Equipment levels seem to be similar, but it depends on what spec you compare with.

I will probably but an Octavia myself.
 
If a car has 50k miles I would insist the timing belt is changed as part of the deal.

Look at spec levels on both drive both and then decide.
 
Timing belt on my Octavia cost €440 to replace; it's recommended to be done at 60k mileage. Older models don't have a rear windscreen wiper as standard. That's the only thing I've found to quibble about.

With seats down, the amount of space available in the back is quite something. Have carried a entire suite of garden furniture, camping gear for a cub pack, even a dishwasher at one point (don't ask!).
 
Thats the worst of a saloon sometime the opening into the big boot is very small, the passat doesn't have a hatchback option.
 
TruthTeller said:
Got my Timing belt fixed on my Skoda for €120!! :)
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??? that doesn't sound right ,unless you did it yourself, parts alone surely would cost that? ie belt, pulleys,tensioners, and the following is also recommended to change while your in there: thermostat, water pump

if it was a garage that did the work, ask them for a breakdown of what they replaced.
 
Is the octavia a saloon or a hatchback? A hatchback can be very useful, and allows you to get significantly larger items into the boot.
 
Octavia is hatchback or estate only.

Loads of room, as was mentioned before the small opening for the big passat boot can be a huissance sometimes.

Although thats where my Dads vectra estate comes n handy sometimes.
 
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