Skoda Octavia or Seat Ibiza for first car.

[ditdot9]

Hi this is my first post on this forum so apologies if this is in the wrong place. Basically i am 17 years old about to turn 18 in 2 weeks. I already have my license but i'm waiting until i am 18 to get a car so i can pay monthly. As the title shows i cant decide on which car to get. I'm stuck between a 2005 1.4L Seat Ibiza Reference and a 2004 1.4L Skoda Octavia Classic. Insurance cost really isn't an issue as I've managed to get 'relatively' cheap quotes for a 17/18 year old, £1960 for the Seat and £2159 for the Skoda. So what do you guys think will be the best car out of the two as a first car?

[amusingduck]

Are there any other choices?

I had a 1.3 2003 Fiesta for my first car. Slower than both of your choices, but at 12+ seconds to 60 I wonder how much difference a few more seconds makes.

Mine was £1600 for the first year of insurance, which was one of the cheapest I found.

Out of those 2, I'd go for the Ibiza if you don't need the extra room of the Octavia. Cheaper insurance and faster too.

Saying that, I have an Octavia and I wouldn't want to live without the massive boot now!

[ditdot9]

I haven't got any other cars in mind but i would consider different cars. I think the reason i chose the Ibiza and Octavia is because they're different, pretty much every under 20 driver in my city has either a Vauxhall corsa or a Peugeot 206 but i haven't seen any in Ibiza or Octavias. Im not really bothered about the speed of the car i get because im not like most young drivers, i will be sticking to speed limits and so on but i don't want a car that feels like its struggling to pull the weight of its self which ive heard the 1.4 Octavia can feel like? Also space is kind of important as ill be doing college runs with 3-4 passengers so i want to make sure there's enough room for those people and myself to sit comfortably as its a 45 minute drive to college one way and i probably will also be going on the occasionally weekend trip with friends so will need a reasonably sized boot. I've got to say i do prefer the Octavia a lot more than the Ibiza but im just not sure whether it will be good as a first car due to the size of it considering i did my test in a new Vauxhall Corsa and apparently there's limited visibility out the back so reverse parking can be hard?

[kambites]

I'd have thought it would depend on how much space you need - there's a class and a half difference in size between the two. The Octavia will certainly be a lot more comfortable for four adults, but the Ibiza will take them if comfort isn't really a concern. Five adults in an Ibiza really would be a squeeze.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 25th September 14:34

[amusingduck]

ditdot9 said:

I haven't got any other cars in mind but i would consider different cars. I think the reason i chose the Ibiza and Octavia is because they're different, pretty much every under 20 driver in my city has either a Vauxhall corsa or a Peugeot 206 but i haven't seen any in Ibiza or Octavias. Im not really bothered about the speed of the car i get because im not like most young drivers, i will be sticking to speed limits and so on but i don't want a car that feels like its struggling to pull the weight of its self which ive heard the 1.4 Octavia can feel like? Also space is kind of important as ill be doing college runs with 3-4 passengers so i want to make sure there's enough room for those people and myself to sit comfortably as its a 45 minute drive to college one way and i probably will also be going on the occasionally weekend trip with friends so will need a reasonably sized boot. I've got to say i do prefer the Octavia a lot more than the Ibiza but im just not sure whether it will be good as a first car due to the size of it considering i did my test in a new Vauxhall Corsa and apparently there's limited visibility out the back so reverse parking can be hard?

I wouldn't worry about the Octavia being bigger. It's not a massive car, and you'll adjust pretty quickly.

It gets to 60 faster than my old fiesta, which i'd say wasn't /painfully/ slow. For 3-4 passengers it's definitely the better car, and the boot is huge too.

Can't comment on parking, my octy has parking sensors. Visibility isn't amazing, but I think you could adjust. Failing that you could retro fit some parking sensors for not too much money.

Give it a test drive and see what you think, it's the only way you'll know.

I'd try some insurance quotes for loads of different cars, you may find something interesting for similar money.

Volvo V70/S60/S80, Saab 9-3/9-5, Honda Accord may be worth a look.

[kieranblenk]

If you like the Octavia, what about a Fabia? Okay I'm biased as I have one for my first car, but it is roomier than an Ibiza (only just, but there's an estate if you need the extra room) yet is a similar size. My 1.2 54bhp model is in insurance group 1, although it's quite sparse kit wise (windy windows, no central locking).

[ditdot9]

I think my minds pretty much set on an Octavia now Ill probably just get some parking sensors for it as suggested. I did have a look at the other cars suggested but they are all in pretty high insurance groups because they all have 2.0L+ engines. Thanks for the help guys but i do have one more question. Manual or automatic? Bare in mind the city i live in has traffic lights everywhere and bumper to bumper to traffic at rush hour which is the time ill mostly be driving. Because of this im pushed towards getting an automatic but ive heard they can be really boring to drive especially when on a motorway or long trip and feel like you have lack of control over the vehicle but on the other hand ive heard shifting gears every few minutes in traffic does get tedious very quickly so i dont know which would be best.

[Geekman]

I'd imagine a 1.4 engine in a car the size of an Octavia coupled to an auto box would be painfully slow - I'd go for the manual.

[lufbramatt]

Rear legroom in a mk1 Octavia is pants, all the extra length of the car is in the boot, so don't get the octy if you just want extra room for 4 people. The hatchback ones are a bit of a pain to park as well as the rear overhang is huge- although my dad's one has the VRS spoiler on the back which doesn't help rear visibility. Having said that, if you can master parking something like that as a first car you'll be sorted for life

Edited by lufbramatt on Thursday 26th September 16:54

[ditdot9]

Alright thanks for the help everyone, manual it is Im going to come back on here more often, this is one of the nicest and most helpful forums ive ever come across