Octavia - Up for the long haul?

[Socceroo]

Hi Everyone,

My car is coming off lease and I'm considering taking out a new lease or keeping my current 08 Octavia Elegance Manual 2.0TDi (the latter is more cost effective).

She currently has 144k on the clock and hasn't had any major issues - aside from an air con issue covered under warranty. The car still drives brilliantly, and my friends often comment how comfortable the car rides on long road trips (not to mention getting near 1000km off a tank).

Just checking to see if would be a wise move to keep it for a few more years. What is everyone's experience with long term ownership/high milage examples?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

[Antiplastix]

May as well drive it until it goes "BANG" big time. I m guessing the value of it is far bellow its value to you. If its going well now no reason why it shouldn't for another 100k with proper maintenance .

[brad]

I have a Jul 2008 complied '07 Elegance 1.8tsi M6 with 157,000km that "cost" me $30k new.

The payout on the lease was about $12k after 3 years, so it was a no-brainer for me to buy it and keep it going as the novated lease seemed to mainly benefit the finance company. There was a tax benefit for me but as I normally pay in full, up-front for cars I couldn't see the financial benefit (people that take out a personal loan probably see it differently).

The car has only "depreciated" another $1k/year since then and has been reliable. The only reason I'd change is because I want something different, not because of issues with the car.

It's really cheap (and safe) motoring for what it is.

[bobski]

If you are happy with the car you are likely to be miles ahead financially keeping it. If you look after it, service it on time etc, its pretty unlikely to go bang. The paint will probably start to have problems before the mechanicals do.

I sold my RS at 90000ks (quite a bit of that on ****ty country roads) and getting into it after test driving replacements, I couldn't get over how it still felt new. They really are quite well screwed together.