Thinking of trading Octavia for bigger car

[pologti18t]

Have you looked at a Commodore Wagon?

[candy_wagon]

May try and sit tight and prep myself to owning a commodore or falcon

Please don't! Many years ago the Falcodore was the only solution for many Aussie families, but there are too many other options out there now to make this the default choice. And this won't help with your quality and fuel saving hopes either - let alone reliability and re-sale. Another thing to consider is if you're looking at a Commonwhore Sportwagon, the boot is no bigger than the Octy. So while people might fit, their stuff might not.

[joele]

I have had no problem with Hyundai (i series) they perform fine, I owned a new Honda before the Hyundai I bought then gave to my wife and the diesel hyundai is more than fine power wise, only problem compared to euro cars is the diesel noise is worse, though honestly from friends and family owning euro cars service is cheaper for the hyundai and the hyundai seems to have less problems (but that is anecdotal I guess).

Also owned a renault megaine premium most recently which performed fine but sucked fuel like it was going out of fashion and eletrics played up on occasion that said service was great at Waverly Renault.. Only reason I didn't buy the Santa Fe is I like the shape of the Octavia boot better than the santafe (which has a bigger boot but more in height than in length) plus the octavia is big enough for me whilst providing better fuel economy. Down the track I will probably get the santefe for my wife when the standard factory 5 year unlimited km warranty runs out on the i30cw slx diesel...

[Mysticality]

Take a look at the Kia Sorento with the 2.2R CRDi!

EDIT:
I traded a MY10 Sorento for the Octy vRS.
I got out of the Sorento, got into the Octy and thought "This feels the same" ... Went for a test drive in the Octy, got back into the Sorento, looked around and thought "This still feels the same!" ... I don't know what that says for either Skoda or Kia, but they are both very nicely built cars!!

In saying that, the Sorento had a bit of a hard life. It went off road, it towed a caravan and a camper trailer, it did a lot of k's in a relatively short time. Never missed a beat, and the only thing I ever broke was the plastic underbody guard.
Twice.
But again, off roading.

INB4 "Softroader can't go offroad" - It followed a Nissan Patrol (stock TD42TI) down a huge rocky unstable hill. Would have followed it right back up again, if it weren't for the highway tyres!

[zach]

If you thinking about the Korean cars make sure you do extended test drive and read as many reviews as possible before you buy one. They don't perform that well as it looks from their advertising materials. Asking the Hyundai owners could be misleading too, because many of them jump into Hyundai from 15-20 year old cars and never even been as a passenger in Euro car.

my dad has a i45 and to be perfectly honest it's a solid car a bit vanilla in the ilk of a Camry but does all that is asked. also it's is a large car compared to the true mid sizers. what I did notice is the engine has taken some time to open up. the new car was completely different to the demo and now he has approx 30k on it, it now drives like the demo. like all NA 4cyl just lacks the torque.

shame there aren't any fun large cars to drive but that is the reflection of demand or lack thereof.

[zach]

Take a look at the Kia Sorento with the 2.2R CRDi!

if I could afford it then I would have something like this as family car and something fun for me

[Sword_Dude]

I don't want to state the bleeding obvious, but have you considered narrower child seats.

Safe n Sound offer narrower seats that open up a pile of space. this equates to a much cheaper changeover than buying a new car!!

[benandelissa]

The drama in the Octavia is that the seat back has bolsters at the outside edges which push the booster seats toward the centre of the car. We have more rear seat room in an Xtrail with it's flat seat back than the Octavia...although I know which one's WAY more fun to drive!!

[Mysticality]

You can remove the ends of the rear seat, if you wanted to go that far.
Fold the seat backs forwards, and then pull the top of the remaining sections towards the front of the car. They should just fold forwards.
There's a clip at the bottom that you have to play around with to get them out, but it is doable.

[pologti18t]

Another thing to consider is if you're looking at a Commonwhore Sportwagon, the boot is no bigger than the Octy. So while people might fit, their stuff might not.

The problem he has is width... the commodore would be one of the wider cars out there.

[BluChris]

Back to the OPs original post - trade in value. I didn't trade a 118, I traded a pre-fl TDI DSG. I found the offers varied by $4,000 plus. The worst were all consistent and clearly reflected either don't want the car or don't care about the sale 'cos we're selling tons anyway. The best wanted the deal and gave me a fair price as far as I'm concerned. Best case I could have come close to what I'd have sold it for privately on a new car that was also competitively priced. Bear in mind I was buying new though; used could be tricky.

Be prepared if you do trade - unless you have kept up with how trade in values have changed across the board in the last several years you may be horrified. If you can, private sale at a 'bargain price' but still above trade in value is the best way to move it quickly at the best price. This may not be an option for you though.

As for the XR5, nice ride. Good choice if you want a Euro feel but big car space.

[zach]

Back to the OPs original post - trade in value. I didn't trade a 118, I traded a pre-fl TDI DSG. I found the offers varied by $4,000 plus. The worst were all consistent and clearly reflected either don't want the car or don't care about the sale 'cos we're selling tons anyway. The best wanted the deal and gave me a fair price as far as I'm concerned. Best case I could have come close to what I'd have sold it for privately on a new car that was also competitively priced. Bear in mind I was buying new though; used could be tricky.

Be prepared if you do trade - unless you have kept up with how trade in values have changed across the board in the last several years you may be horrified. If you can, private sale at a 'bargain price' but still above trade in value is the best way to move it quickly at the best price. This may not be an option for you though.

As for the XR5, nice ride. Good choice if you want a Euro feel but big car space.

trade in is my concern but one way to find out.

[roshea]

Hi all. I'm new here because I'm in the opposite situation to Zach - looking for something a bit smaller than my 99 Magna. I'm leaning towards the Octavia at the moment, but some other options I'm looking at include the Mazda 6 and the Skoda Superb. I haven't had a proper look at rear seat width in any of these - just throwing out some ideas.

[zach]

i went to a few local dealerships and as suggested our kid seats are the culprit more than anything. even in a commodore/falcon there wouldn't be much room for a 3rd person. this is also due to the location of the anchor points so whilst you might fit 3 adults they can wriggle for a perfect fit. the seats need to align to where the anchor point is located. there are bugger all dealer xr5s in victoria as well.

so i may just end up with what is the most fun to drive (even the fabia managed to fit the kids in comfort though the pram took up the whole boot and more.

[joele]

I was looking at this problem before buying my scout, the problem is unless you go for 7 seats an adult will never be 'comfortable' between two kid seats..