As promised in another thread a few days ago, some thoughts on the past 30,000 miles - almost all positive thoughts. Not really a running report, as nothing's gone wrong (so far of course).

This is my third vRS estate - the first was a diesel manual, the second a petrol DSG, and this one a petrol manual. This isn't just me being fickle: I did 20,000 a year when I went for the diesel, following several other diesel cars. Mileage decreased to about 12,000 and the next one was fine except that I always felt that the DSG (although totally reliable) was holding the car's acceleration back. That certainly isn't the case with the current manual, which has the 217 bhp GTI engine and goes like a bomb.

As many of us have commented on here, the torque on this engine is superb. Although it's great to be able to use the performance from time to time (not least when joining a motorway or doing a quick overtake), the designer was well aware that the great majority of one's driving is spent pootling.

The 30,000 mark came up in the middle of the last 2 weeks' trip to Scotland: I did two lectures in Glasgow after which SWMBO and I made a holiday of it and stayed with friends near Aberdeen, then a couple of nights each in Plockton, then the Lodge by Loch Lomond, then Langdale in the Lake District, then Symonds Yat. The Skoda never missed a beat and averaged an excellent 40 mpg (the car computer is accurate and I believe the odometer is also). And of course we didn't have to travel light, for which SWMBO as you can imagine was thankful.

The miles have happened in only 18 months, more than I expected to do: moving to north Dorset meant a lot of barrelling up and down the A303, and still does, two or three times a month. Reliability excellent once again.

So it's a Golf GTI with space (and cheaper to buy and insure). It's surprising how often, even in semi-retirement, one needs that space, so I'm glad I went for another Octavia rather than being seduced by the GTI itself.

I'd give it 8.5 out of 10: half a point off for restricting the colours you can have a vRS in (mine is red but I'd rather have had the very pleasant light 'denim blue' metallic that is available on lesser Octavias). And the other point off is for the excessively hard ride, partially caused by the 225/40/18 tyres which are too low-profile for my taste (and particularly SWMBO's, although her Mini Roadster is just as unforgiving).

If I find I can't afford a new car next year, this is one I'd be happy to keep. But if I can, something a little higher off the ground and more softly sprung might beckon.

A final thought, with which some of you will disagree. The more I read of tales of woe on here from people incurring expensive repairs on middle-aged cars, most likely due to abuse or neglect by previous owners, the less I wonder (as I have each time I buy a new car) whether I should have had a used 'premium brand' for the same money as a new Skoda.

The logical choices seem to me to be (1) buy a new car if you can afford it, or (2) buy an old quality car and cherish it, like GB's Mercedes, or (3) go the bangernomics route. And don't buy a used diesel.

Edited by Avant on 24/05/2015 at 09:45