Need advice: Keep my Octavia or switch to a Yaris - serious

[ZiZiTopp]

Hi everyone, I’m trying to decide whether to keep my current car or move to a smaller, newer one.

Here’s the situation:

To keep (?) Option 1 – Škoda Octavia 2013 74000miles

Needs one-off repairs: ball joints and cam belt work (~£1,000)
Warning light on - due to the reverse cam being connected to the reverse light
Service history only for the last two years (dealer never provided earlier records)
Bigger than we really need, mostly sits idle.
Familiar, reliable, but ageing and wife never liked it.
I’m worried about selling it: pricing around £4k and there is the risk of sitting unsold for months and losing value

Option 2 (to buy?) – Toyota Yaris 2015

Price: £5,500, ~80,000 miles
Minor work only on MOT
Smaller, cheaper to run, easier parts, cheaper maintenance etc.

My questions:

Would you keep the Octavia or sell it and move to a Yaris?
Any hidden pitfalls I might be missing with either option?

Not trying to jump for Yaris and get myself in £5000 debt if I am going to have Skoda sitting there and effectively being -£9000

[Whataguy]

Keep the Skoda, the cost to change between the two cars covers all the repairs you need plus it's a much better car.

I've owned a 2013 Yaris hybrid and driven newer ones as well as the non hybrids - they're fine cars but a different class to the Skoda.

[ZiZiTopp]

Whataguy said:

Keep the Skoda, the cost to change between the two cars covers all the repairs you need plus it's a much better car.

I've owned a 2013 Yaris hybrid and driven newer ones as well as the non hybrids - they're fine cars but a different class to the Skoda.

I agree that Octavia is very comfortable and greta on the motorways, however:

1. I only do 4000 miles a year
2. Mostly city driving
3. I live at a dead-end location with cars tightly parked everywhere and the parking here is the bane of my existence
4. My wife doesn't like the Octavia and keeps moaning about it - althogh she is not the most practical and grounded person in the world....

i was hoping that Yaris is going to give me a bit of a ligh-ride feeling on daily basis by being cmaller, nippier and well.... cheaper in a long run to maintain - chyeaper parts, chain instead of the belt, cheaper tyres etc tec.

[spikeyhead]

ZiZiTopp said:

Hi everyone, I m trying to decide whether to keep my current car or move to a smaller, newer one.

Here s the situation:

To keep (?) Option 1 Škoda Octavia 2013 74000miles

Needs one-off repairs: ball joints and cam belt work (~£1,000)
Warning light on - due to the reverse cam being connected to the reverse light
Service history only for the last two years (dealer never provided earlier records)
Bigger than we really need, mostly sits idle.
Familiar, reliable, but ageing and wife never liked it.
I m worried about selling it: pricing around £4k and there is the risk of sitting unsold for months and losing value

Option 2 (to buy?) Toyota Yaris 2015

Price: £5,500, ~80,000 miles
Minor work only on MOT
Smaller, cheaper to run, easier parts, cheaper maintenance etc.

My questions:

Would you keep the Octavia or sell it and move to a Yaris?
Any hidden pitfalls I might be missing with either option?

Not trying to jump for Yaris and get myself in £5000 debt if I am going to have Skoda sitting there and effectively being -£9000

No advice on the car, but I need to be more careful when skim reading posts

[POIDH]

"My wife doesn't like the Octavia and keeps moaning about it - althogh she is not the most practical and grounded person in the world...."

What's her issue(s) with it?

Small, economical, nippy etc - we've a Yaris, Fabia and a Swift in the household. While the Fabia is the normal choice, the swift is more economical, faster, much more character and so far much cheaper to run on maintenance.
The newer (2021) Yaris is not as good as I thought. It's my sister's car and it's not as good on mpg as the Swift, much slower and has a couple of creaks. I'm disappointed as we had MK1 and MK2 Yaris's in the family for many years and they ran on fumes, never went wrong and handled like week skateboards.

[ZiZiTopp]

POIDH said:

"My wife doesn't like the Octavia and keeps moaning about it - althogh she is not the most practical and grounded person in the world...."

What's her issue(s) with it?

Small, economical, nippy etc - we've a Yaris, Fabia and a Swift in the household. While the Fabia is the normal choice, the swift is more economical, faster, much more character and so far much cheaper to run on maintenance.
The newer (2021) Yaris is not as good as I thought. It's my sister's car and it's not as good on mpg as the Swift, much slower and has a couple of creaks. I'm disappointed as we had MK1 and MK2 Yaris's in the family for many years and they ran on fumes, never went wrong and handled like week skateboards.

Thanks for your reply.
I am going for Yaris MK3 2015 - these apparently were still good.
I had Suzuki Alto previously - and I loved that car - just too small and a bit tin-y. I looked at swift but the boot seems tiny, it's almost price matching Toyota but doesn't have the same level of durability and the body yends to be weaker.

What my wife doesn't like about Octavia - 'it's too big, looks old (even though it's the 2013 facelift), is difficult too park and we don't need this much space inside'

[trevalvole]

ZiZiTopp said:

3. I live at a dead-end location with cars tightly parked everywhere and the parking here is the bane of my existence
4. My wife doesn't like the Octavia and keeps moaning about it - althogh she is not the most practical and grounded person in the world....

All other things being equal it sounds like something smaller would suit you better.

What engine does the Octavia have?

[ZiZiTopp]

trevalvole said:

All other things being equal it sounds like something smaller would suit you better.

What engine does the Octavia have?

1.2 TSI, petrol, manual

[trevalvole]

ZiZiTopp said:

1.2 TSI, petrol, manual

And it definitely has a timing belt, as they changed from chain to belt around 2013 (or perhaps a bit later)?

[Jamescrs]

To me there is no good objective reason to move from the Octavia to the Yaris, there's every chance the Yaris could need money spending on it at any time being 10 years old so I see no cost benefit there, at least you know where you stand with the Octavia.

That being said if you want to change for the sake of changing then do it, I would keep the Octavia though, the Yaris isn't really going to save you anything and for me the Octavia isa better car

[ZiZiTopp]

trevalvole said:

And it definitely has a timing belt, as they changed from chain to belt around 2013 (or perhaps a bit later)?

Definetely a belt. The issue is the lack of clarity from VW on intervals. last I checked it says 15 years and 180 000 miles but I also found info stating: every 5 years no matter what (and I only do 4000 miles so it would be nelt change every 20 000 miles which sounds crazy)

[ZX10R NIN]

Keep the Octavia.

[Blue_star]

Does your wife like the Yaris at all?

[chip*]

It was revised to 15 years/ 180,000 miles back in 2023, so no cambelt required until 2028 for your Octavia.
See post below for details:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

As all Skoda service records are held online, worth popping into your local dealer and ask nicely (may need your V5) to check for past service history, if so, get a copy printed! The printout will show what types of services, date, miles, etc...but no personal details to comply with GDPR. Worth digging out so you can say FSH on your for sale advert

[POIDH]

Blue_star said:

Does your wife like the Yaris at all?

This is the deciding factor imo.