What 2 car solution...Octavia vRS and Saxo VTR?
Discussion
I'm considering changing my fleet in the next few months as my wife is pregnant and I am conscious of our outgoings! I currently drive a 2004 Impreza WRX Estate (70k) and my wife a Fiat 500 1.2. I love driving the Impreza but it's not exactly cheap to run and my wife hates it as it's quite heavy to drive (steering, clutch, stiff gearbox - fair enough) and she says difficult to park as it is too long (which I don't really agree with) and because it hasn't been as reliable as I would have liked (it has needed a new alternator, ECU and catalytic converter in the last 6 months). The Fiat we have owned from new, my wife loves it (apart from the lack of power), I enjoy driving it occassionally and it has been both reliable and cheap to run. When we have the baby, she would need a bigger car as the Fiat isn't very baby friendly (3 door and small boot) and it wouldn't be practical to swap for the above reasons.
I have always admired the mk1 Skoda Octavia vRS and I thought it may meet our requirements (big boot, fairly quick and economical, reliable?) and it appears that you can pick them up for about £4k but I would be reluctant to "change up" to an older, higher mileage car (I believe these were available up to a 55-plate but most of them seem to be high mileage). I am reluctant to shell out significantly more but looking at the classifieds, mk2 Octavia vRSs seem to be available with reasonable mileage for about £6k. I'm less keen on the looks (a bit bulky) but the boot is even bigger and it is more powerful/economical and safer. My only reservation is that I believe the Octavia is both longer and wider than my Impreza (although parking sensors may solve this problem). I have tried both engines in Golfs but how do the Skodas drive? Will I be disappointed after an Impreza? Is the mk2 worth the extra money? Should we be considering anything else? I think mk4 Golfs are too old now and I like the Leon Cupra R but it is smaller, significantly more expensive and Seat owning friends have had lots of electrical problems.
That leaves me with the Fiat 500, which I am happy to run for a few more months but then the balloon payment will become due and it will not be feasible for us to buy it. Besides a red Fiat 500 with a red and white interior is not exactly a manly car! I fancy a sporty 3 door hatch (but not something too expensive to run). Something like a Fiat Panda 100HP, Suzuki Swift Sport or Lupo GTi would be ideal but realistically my budget would be about £2k. It just needs to be cheapish to run, fun to drive on my 6 mile commute and up to the occassional longer journey and small, as parking is at a premium around here and it would need to fit in our small garage (the Fiat 500 fits in lengthways with about a foot to spare). For the money, a Saxo VTR or Ford SportKa would seem the best value. Possibly an old Mini Cooper (but it would probably be a bit manky for £2k) or maybe a Peugeot 106 GTi (but it would be older and more expensive to insure - I don't believe that there was an equivalent 106 to the Saxo VTR) and an MG ZR is probably too big! I know that Saxo VTR is a bit of a dirty word on this forum but surely it's not a bad little car for the money in standard form? I'm not a big fan of Fords but I like the look of the SportKa and my mum used to have a 1.3 Ka which she still insists is the best car she ever had! Are either the Saxo or SportKa any good or are there any more sporty little cars that I have overlooked for under £2k?
I have always admired the mk1 Skoda Octavia vRS and I thought it may meet our requirements (big boot, fairly quick and economical, reliable?) and it appears that you can pick them up for about £4k but I would be reluctant to "change up" to an older, higher mileage car (I believe these were available up to a 55-plate but most of them seem to be high mileage). I am reluctant to shell out significantly more but looking at the classifieds, mk2 Octavia vRSs seem to be available with reasonable mileage for about £6k. I'm less keen on the looks (a bit bulky) but the boot is even bigger and it is more powerful/economical and safer. My only reservation is that I believe the Octavia is both longer and wider than my Impreza (although parking sensors may solve this problem). I have tried both engines in Golfs but how do the Skodas drive? Will I be disappointed after an Impreza? Is the mk2 worth the extra money? Should we be considering anything else? I think mk4 Golfs are too old now and I like the Leon Cupra R but it is smaller, significantly more expensive and Seat owning friends have had lots of electrical problems.
That leaves me with the Fiat 500, which I am happy to run for a few more months but then the balloon payment will become due and it will not be feasible for us to buy it. Besides a red Fiat 500 with a red and white interior is not exactly a manly car! I fancy a sporty 3 door hatch (but not something too expensive to run). Something like a Fiat Panda 100HP, Suzuki Swift Sport or Lupo GTi would be ideal but realistically my budget would be about £2k. It just needs to be cheapish to run, fun to drive on my 6 mile commute and up to the occassional longer journey and small, as parking is at a premium around here and it would need to fit in our small garage (the Fiat 500 fits in lengthways with about a foot to spare). For the money, a Saxo VTR or Ford SportKa would seem the best value. Possibly an old Mini Cooper (but it would probably be a bit manky for £2k) or maybe a Peugeot 106 GTi (but it would be older and more expensive to insure - I don't believe that there was an equivalent 106 to the Saxo VTR) and an MG ZR is probably too big! I know that Saxo VTR is a bit of a dirty word on this forum but surely it's not a bad little car for the money in standard form? I'm not a big fan of Fords but I like the look of the SportKa and my mum used to have a 1.3 Ka which she still insists is the best car she ever had! Are either the Saxo or SportKa any good or are there any more sporty little cars that I have overlooked for under £2k?
Edited by white_goodman on Tuesday 20th September 19:10
The Mk 1 vRS is a good car. I've had mine from new and it's now 7 years old with 76000 miles on the clock. Nice to drive with good performance and excellent brakes. Good economy - it can do over 40mpg on a long run (worst was 7.8 mpg round Knockhill)
Reliable? Apart from consumables it has needed 2 front wheel bearings and a coolant sensor. That's all.
Mine was ordered with most of the toys - xenons, ESP, cruise and rear parking sensors. All are nice to have, but I wouldn't be without the parking sensors.
Boot is huge - even more so on the estate. Only down point is that rear legroom can be tight.
Reliable? Apart from consumables it has needed 2 front wheel bearings and a coolant sensor. That's all.
Mine was ordered with most of the toys - xenons, ESP, cruise and rear parking sensors. All are nice to have, but I wouldn't be without the parking sensors.
Boot is huge - even more so on the estate. Only down point is that rear legroom can be tight.
Edited by matchmaker on Tuesday 20th September 19:59
Hi
Had a similar dilemma to you two years ago. Our daughter is now two years old.
May not help you but we went with the following solution (similarish budgets)
Family wagon : alfa romeo 156 2.4JTD SW. Dynamically not great, but economical (44 mpg), smallish (so wifey can park it and fit in our small driveway entrance), sounds good for a diesel, can pack in enough for a two week holiday in France.
My fun car : mazda eunos. 1991, cheap parts, easy to work on, fun, dynamic, slow, reasonable 30mpg.
Slight change of circumstances means the eunos is SORNed for a while, and now have a cooper s clubman, but that is probably outside budget.
Mike
Had a similar dilemma to you two years ago. Our daughter is now two years old.
May not help you but we went with the following solution (similarish budgets)
Family wagon : alfa romeo 156 2.4JTD SW. Dynamically not great, but economical (44 mpg), smallish (so wifey can park it and fit in our small driveway entrance), sounds good for a diesel, can pack in enough for a two week holiday in France.
My fun car : mazda eunos. 1991, cheap parts, easy to work on, fun, dynamic, slow, reasonable 30mpg.
Slight change of circumstances means the eunos is SORNed for a while, and now have a cooper s clubman, but that is probably outside budget.
Mike
I've had a subaru, currently drive a Vrs and I have two young kiddies so I'm probably in a good position to chip in my 02p.. 
Personally I'd go Mk2 Vrs - its a bigger car, mpg just as good as the earlier car, but Golf Mk5 based where the Mk1 Vrs is based on a Mk4 Golf (which never had much of a rep for handling). This makes a great family car - mine is the wagon but the hatch is almost as big boot-wise. Lots of aftermarket options if that's your bag (suspension, re-maps, brakes etc) so you can make it go/handle better than stock although it'll never match your impreza on a damp twisty b-road.
Never had a vtr so I can't comment.
Our 2 car combo when baby #1 arrived: Hers: bmw 3 series touring, His: Mk5 Gti.
After baby #2 arrived, Golf replaced by Vrs wagon for most of the family duties.
Now aged 4 and 2 yrs old (kids, not the cars) we have the Vrs and an R56 Mini cooper. Vrs does all the family hols/weekend duties, and the Mini is just enough for local trips with just the kiddies and no/ minimal luggage needed.
HTH.
Personally I'd go Mk2 Vrs - its a bigger car, mpg just as good as the earlier car, but Golf Mk5 based where the Mk1 Vrs is based on a Mk4 Golf (which never had much of a rep for handling). This makes a great family car - mine is the wagon but the hatch is almost as big boot-wise. Lots of aftermarket options if that's your bag (suspension, re-maps, brakes etc) so you can make it go/handle better than stock although it'll never match your impreza on a damp twisty b-road.
Never had a vtr so I can't comment.
Our 2 car combo when baby #1 arrived: Hers: bmw 3 series touring, His: Mk5 Gti.
After baby #2 arrived, Golf replaced by Vrs wagon for most of the family duties.
Now aged 4 and 2 yrs old (kids, not the cars) we have the Vrs and an R56 Mini cooper. Vrs does all the family hols/weekend duties, and the Mini is just enough for local trips with just the kiddies and no/ minimal luggage needed.
HTH.
mike9009 said:
Hi
Had a similar dilemma to you two years ago. Our daughter is now two years old.
May not help you but we went with the following solution (similarish budgets)
Family wagon : alfa romeo 156 2.4JTD SW. Dynamically not great, but economical (44 mpg), smallish (so wifey can park it and fit in our small driveway entrance), sounds good for a diesel, can pack in enough for a two week holiday in France.
My fun car : mazda eunos. 1991, cheap parts, easy to work on, fun, dynamic, slow, reasonable 30mpg.
Slight change of circumstances means the eunos is SORNed for a while, and now have a cooper s clubman, but that is probably outside budget.
Mike
That's not a bad combo. I like the Alfa 159 Sportwagon but that's too expensive. I like the idea of the 5 cylinder diesel but aren't they quite rare and has the 156 been reliable? I've had an MX5 and they are a lot of fun but I would like something that I could put the baby in if I had to. I've always fancied a big bumper mk2 Golf GTi (preferably a 16v but an 8v would do). Not sure how nice an example I could get for £2k though. It's not my favourite all time hot hatch (that's the 205 GTi 1.9) which would probably be more fun but the Golf would probably be easier to live with day to day and having written my 205 1.6 GTi off at only 20mph, there's no way that I would put my child in a Peugeot 205!Had a similar dilemma to you two years ago. Our daughter is now two years old.
May not help you but we went with the following solution (similarish budgets)
Family wagon : alfa romeo 156 2.4JTD SW. Dynamically not great, but economical (44 mpg), smallish (so wifey can park it and fit in our small driveway entrance), sounds good for a diesel, can pack in enough for a two week holiday in France.
My fun car : mazda eunos. 1991, cheap parts, easy to work on, fun, dynamic, slow, reasonable 30mpg.
Slight change of circumstances means the eunos is SORNed for a while, and now have a cooper s clubman, but that is probably outside budget.
Mike
white_goodman said:
mike9009 said:
Hi
Had a similar dilemma to you two years ago. Our daughter is now two years old.
May not help you but we went with the following solution (similarish budgets)
Family wagon : alfa romeo 156 2.4JTD SW. Dynamically not great, but economical (44 mpg), smallish (so wifey can park it and fit in our small driveway entrance), sounds good for a diesel, can pack in enough for a two week holiday in France.
My fun car : mazda eunos. 1991, cheap parts, easy to work on, fun, dynamic, slow, reasonable 30mpg.
Slight change of circumstances means the eunos is SORNed for a while, and now have a cooper s clubman, but that is probably outside budget.
Mike
That's not a bad combo. I like the Alfa 159 Sportwagon but that's too expensive. I like the idea of the 5 cylinder diesel but aren't they quite rare and has the 156 been reliable? I've had an MX5 and they are a lot of fun but I would like something that I could put the baby in if I had to. I've always fancied a big bumper mk2 Golf GTi (preferably a 16v but an 8v would do). Not sure how nice an example I could get for £2k though. It's not my favourite all time hot hatch (that's the 205 GTi 1.9) which would probably be more fun but the Golf would probably be easier to live with day to day and having written my 205 1.6 GTi off at only 20mph, there's no way that I would put my child in a Peugeot 205!Had a similar dilemma to you two years ago. Our daughter is now two years old.
May not help you but we went with the following solution (similarish budgets)
Family wagon : alfa romeo 156 2.4JTD SW. Dynamically not great, but economical (44 mpg), smallish (so wifey can park it and fit in our small driveway entrance), sounds good for a diesel, can pack in enough for a two week holiday in France.
My fun car : mazda eunos. 1991, cheap parts, easy to work on, fun, dynamic, slow, reasonable 30mpg.
Slight change of circumstances means the eunos is SORNed for a while, and now have a cooper s clubman, but that is probably outside budget.
Mike
I did go into Alfa ownership with some trepidation. However, apart from a couple of small things (rear wiper motor, a new electric window switch, airbag light on (must get round to fixing that!!)) it has been perfectly reliable. Routine maintenance is all that has been needed. Never left myself or wife stranded and we've almost done 25,000 miles in it. Maybe I was just lucky??
Fitting a baby and buggy in the MX5 is possible! The smaller stroller buggies fit in the boot, along with a picnic if needed!
Only downside is the missus cant come - but if she insists on going shopping in the Alfa then needs must.....
My first car was a mark II golf (1.3L). It was dire - but cant really comment on the GTI variant. TBH, I bought a dog so don't take any real notice of that!
Mike
mike9009 said:
Hi
I did go into Alfa ownership with some trepidation. However, apart from a couple of small things (rear wiper motor, a new electric window switch, airbag light on (must get round to fixing that!!)) it has been perfectly reliable. Routine maintenance is all that has been needed. Never left myself or wife stranded and we've almost done 25,000 miles in it. Maybe I was just lucky??
Fitting a baby and buggy in the MX5 is possible! The smaller stroller buggies fit in the boot, along with a picnic if needed!
Only downside is the missus cant come - but if she insists on going shopping in the Alfa then needs must.....
My first car was a mark II golf (1.3L). It was dire - but cant really comment on the GTI variant. TBH, I bought a dog so don't take any real notice of that!
Mike
Sorry for the hijack but what car seat is that?I did go into Alfa ownership with some trepidation. However, apart from a couple of small things (rear wiper motor, a new electric window switch, airbag light on (must get round to fixing that!!)) it has been perfectly reliable. Routine maintenance is all that has been needed. Never left myself or wife stranded and we've almost done 25,000 miles in it. Maybe I was just lucky??
Fitting a baby and buggy in the MX5 is possible! The smaller stroller buggies fit in the boot, along with a picnic if needed!
Only downside is the missus cant come - but if she insists on going shopping in the Alfa then needs must.....
My first car was a mark II golf (1.3L). It was dire - but cant really comment on the GTI variant. TBH, I bought a dog so don't take any real notice of that!
Mike
Getting a Z3 next week and need a set for my 3yr old son..
Dino D said:
mike9009 said:
Hi
I did go into Alfa ownership with some trepidation. However, apart from a couple of small things (rear wiper motor, a new electric window switch, airbag light on (must get round to fixing that!!)) it has been perfectly reliable. Routine maintenance is all that has been needed. Never left myself or wife stranded and we've almost done 25,000 miles in it. Maybe I was just lucky??
Fitting a baby and buggy in the MX5 is possible! The smaller stroller buggies fit in the boot, along with a picnic if needed!
Only downside is the missus cant come - but if she insists on going shopping in the Alfa then needs must.....
My first car was a mark II golf (1.3L). It was dire - but cant really comment on the GTI variant. TBH, I bought a dog so don't take any real notice of that!
Mike
Sorry for the hijack but what car seat is that?I did go into Alfa ownership with some trepidation. However, apart from a couple of small things (rear wiper motor, a new electric window switch, airbag light on (must get round to fixing that!!)) it has been perfectly reliable. Routine maintenance is all that has been needed. Never left myself or wife stranded and we've almost done 25,000 miles in it. Maybe I was just lucky??
Fitting a baby and buggy in the MX5 is possible! The smaller stroller buggies fit in the boot, along with a picnic if needed!
Only downside is the missus cant come - but if she insists on going shopping in the Alfa then needs must.....
My first car was a mark II golf (1.3L). It was dire - but cant really comment on the GTI variant. TBH, I bought a dog so don't take any real notice of that!
Mike
Getting a Z3 next week and need a set for my 3yr old son..
We are using a Kiddy Infinity pro. Which? seem to rate it - but some reviewers claim that if a car rolls, there is a risk of the child falling out. To be honest, I do not share those views as the car seats are extensively tested - and also if you are driving that fast to roll the car with your child in the car you ought to have your head tested anyway.
It can be a little fiddly to attach the seat belt across the front of the chair - but you will quite quickly find a technique for doing this. I would recommend but I don't have any experience of 'other' seats.
Mike
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