2018 Skoda Octavia 1.0 TSI

villej

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
658
Location
Finland
Car(s)
'03 and '06 Renault Megane
At the beginning of the year I ordered my first new car. A Skoda Octavia hatchback with the smallest petrol engine you can get. This is the Style variant, which has all the necessary equipment plus some not so necessary. Only extra option I would have liked to get is an adaptive cruise control, but in my mind it needs an automatic to accompany it, so I didn't check that box on the order sheet.

It was scheduled to be delivered at April or May, but for some reason it was ready two months early. I did not complain, and went and picked it up today. Here's some pictures fresh after a 200 km drive in pretty horrid conditions:


It was clean at the dealer, not so much anymore. I'll take more pictures when the weather gets better and I can wash it.

First impressions are good, although I did not have time to find a perfect seating position yet. But at least the steering wheel and seat have both a very broad range of settings. Will be interesting to see how much this consumes in reality. Trip computer said 5,2 l/100 km for the 200 km trip, which had a bit of city driving too, but I'm not sure if I should believe it.

And here's a proof pic:
 
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I saw your post in the forum thread, strangely this shows up in the latest thread section on the main page despite not showing up in the PYC section.

Anyway I've always liked Octavias and I think this generation is pretty good looking. Careful you don't lose it in the snow. :D
 
Now this finally seems to be visible on the right section. :D

Regarding the looks: I quite like the clean lines of Octavias. In this current model those lights certainly divide opinion, but I don't mind them. I like this full led light look more than the halogen/led combo in cheaper versions, which was one reason why I went for the Style specification instead of a lesser Ambition option. This is also a good car to have if you don't want to stand out, as this was the most sold passenger vechile in Finland last year.

The reason why I bought an Octavia was, that it was one of the few cars that met my criteria for cabin quietness, while still being cheap enough. Skodas also maintain their value much better than many other cars here. I probably would have bought a new or slightly used Megane if I didn't care about that. Also in my experience VW engines are more frugal than most of the competition, which was a deciding factor too.

I first looked at used ones, but after seeing that 4-5 year old ones with 100k km on the odometer still go for 16k euros, I saw no reason to hesitate in buying a new one for around 25k. With a new one I was able to get a warranty (of course), a great financing deal (no financing costs at all, allowing me to not have a massive amount of money tied to something that loses its value really fast), and a service plan for next three years for free. I thought it was a no brainer really. Well, other option would have been to still go with the 3k euro car route as with the Meganes, but I thought I wanted something a bit more carefree.
 
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1.0???? How few horsepowers does it make?
 
I know, It's a three cylinder unit, and having that small engine in car this size sounds ridiculous. But in reality it makes 85 kw (116 hp) and 200 nm. This car feels much faster than a Megane with regular 1.6 litre (82 kw, 152 nm) unit, I think mainly because of its much better torque curve. It also has a second faster (9.9s vs 10.9s) 0-100 km/h acceleration, and I bet many seconds faster 80-120 km/h acceleration.
 
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Congrats to your new car (Octavias are always a good choice imo), would be interested in an update about the satisfaction with the power level after a couple of months of experience.
 
Congrats :) I think the Octavia offers some of the best value of any car in Europe. I wasn't a fan of the new front lights to begin with, but I don't really mind them anymore.

The 1.0 l is alright, but I think the 1.4 l is worth every penny of the extra price. It makes it come much more alive and since it is a surprisingly light car gives it pretty decent ompf.
 
Yeah, I test drove both 1.0 TSI and 1.4 TSI engines, and the 1.4 certainly is an lively engine for its size. It was a purely financial decision for me though to get the 1.0. 1.4 litre one would have cost 2.5k more. For me It wasn't so much better that I would have been willing to pay that much more money for it, as even the 1.0 is more powerful than anything I have owned before. :lol: Also, if money was no object I probably would have ordered the car with a DSG gearbox and whatnot, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

I will update how satisfied or not I'm with engine when I get some proper summer driving done. In current weather traction seems to be the limiting factor for acceleration even with this engine. :)
 
Trip computer has been showing quite low consumption figures, and I have not been entirely sure if I should believe it. I did one 300 km stint with cruise control on (90 km/h average speed), and the computer reported a consumption of 4.8 l/100km.

Now I was finally able to fill the tank up second time, and I could check if these figures have anything to do with reality. For reference, the trip computer reported following consumption for the tank:



The real consumption was 5.6 l/100km, so the computer is not that much off. Not a bad figure, considering this includes a fair bit of city driving, and many cold starts too.
 
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Can you spec the car on the screen? You need new alloys to match it.
 
villej;n3547560 said:
Yeah, I test drove both 1.0 TSI and 1.4 TSI engines, and the 1.4 certainly is an lively engine for its size.

If that 1.4 is the same as what’s in base model Jetta’s here in the states, it really is an impressive engine for its size.

1.0 sounds tiny but, if you’re happy, that’s all that matters. Personally, I’ve had a 2.4L Patriot that is just as slow. So, not for me. :)
 
All has been going as expected for the past few months with the car. Also changed those Seat winter alloys to the summer tires and alloys that come with the car. Now my alloys match the screen. :p The car on the screen apparently can't be specced.

Fuel consumption still amazes me. The lowest I have been able to do on a trip has been 3.9 l/100km. That was done almost completely on a small paved country road at about 70 km/h. Average for the last 4444 km is 5.3 l/100km. Our blue Megane does about 7 l/100km according to the trip computer. https://www.spritmonitor.de/de/detai...html?cdetail=1

So far I have also been very pleased with the engine power. It accelerates better than any car I have owned before. It is really easy and relaxed to drive. The power is there always when you need it, and I have not noticed any turbo lag. I don't really need anything faster.

Only the gear ratios have taken a little to get used to. The second gear is longer than a third gear on the Megane, and it is sometimes too long a gear to use if you have to slow to crawling speed, and you have to drop to first gear a little more often that I'm used to.
 
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5.3 liters is better than anything I've ever achieved in any car. :D Granted I live in town and my drive to work is 4km or so, but my 1.4 TSI Octavia (2012, previous gen) averaged 8 liters or so.

I'm pretty satisfied getting the same kind of figures in my Insignia CT, btw. A 2-ton barge with AWD and a torque converter auto and a driver that doesn't give a fuck about economy. :p
 
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11500 km on the odometer now. Just did a 5500 km road trip though Sweden and Germany to Switzerland.

I am still a bit amazed by the tiny engine and its versatility. Had no problem keeping up constant 170-190 km/h on the German autobahns, and there was still power on reserve. And the car was still quite comfortable at those speeds too. Wind noises were the only negative thing I noticed. Around 200 km/h it started to feel a little more uncomfortable.

What amazed me more still was the consumption. I did two longer autobahn stints. Other was about 600 km, and the other 800 km. My driving was most uneconomical I could think of: on unrestricted areas I drove at constant 170-190 km/h. There was many braking moments too, so a lot of energy just went to heat my brake discs. Of course there was restricted zones and some constructions and traffic jams too, and some time was spent standing still. Yet on the 600 km trip I averaged 6.0 litres /100 km, with 105 km/h average speed. On the 800 km trip I averaged 6.3 litres /100 km, with average speed of 115 km/h.

I have never driven my 1.6 Megane at such speeds, but my intuition says it would have consumed over 8 litres /100 km easily.
 
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