Skoda Octavia 2.0 Elegance

The Skoda Octavia 2.0 Elegance is comfortable to drive, quite roomy, economical for its size and powerful. Bought new 2.0 in June 2008, my first impressions were good.

HOWEVER, in the 6 months that I ' ve owned the car there a couple of problems that have detracted from my enjoyment. There is an annoying creaking/rattling that comes from all doors on the most minor of road imperfections. The car has been to the dealers three times and I'm told that ' all Octavias are the same '. I believe it emanates from the double door seal that has been fitted to the later models. Below 30mph you have to put up with a constant rattling noise.

Secondly the radio reception awful. If you like Radio 5, or any other AM station you can forget it as the sound quality is appalling. FM is not much better as it suffers terrible interference. Skoda customer services tell me that this should not be the case, yet my local dealer tells me that ' all Octavias are the same ', and told me that they have replaced the unit for some customers, but it made no difference. How can the dealer say it is a common problem, yet customer service know nothing about it? Don't think I'm being over fussy here, I'm comparing the radio to the one fitted to my Hyundai Getz, which gives a far superior sound, from a car costing one third the price of the Octavia.

For both issues, I don't care if ' all Octavias are the same '" it is still annoying to me.

For these reasons I would not have another, and would not recommend them to anyone else.

I'm very satisfied with the look and driving capabilities of the Skoda Octavia MPI 4x4 Elegance estate offroader.

My expectations have even been exceeded when I found out that the car is not so thirsty as others claimed.

I can fully recommend the 4x4 Haldex system Skoda implemented in this Octavia-it is amazingly helpful if snow sets in. I can only recommend the xenon lights which fall into the extras as well as the ESP and side airbags. I tried the ESP system on an abandoned parking lot with icy and snow patches and it makes a big difference thus your life safer. It is a must to have the base metal shielded agains road dirt and stones (also an extra). In a nut shell, it is a very nice toy.