[Closed] Has anyone owned V70 and Golf or Octavia Estate?

Not had any of the above, but the Mrs has got the 1.5 TSI DSG in her Kamiq.

She gets 28mpg around town, but she’s got a heavy foot, she doesn’t drive fast but it’s all throttle / brake, if you smooth out a bit it’s easy to average 40mpg in mixed driving. It might do a little bit more than that on a long 70mph run.

Ok so not “new” new but, Octavia was great at sinking bikes. The outright winners in terms of space were; Skoda Superb,Toyota Avensis, VW Passat.

We're at that stage where often there's only 2 of us. Commonly 4 of us. Unusual to have all 5.

We've two cars, so if needed we can take a second car. We are doing this for holiday this year. It's cheaper than running a massive car. But we do need a big car for kit, weekends away etc.

I'm genuinely interested in the 1.5 or 1.4 petrol. But I'm concerned about efficiency and about how much ooomph when we have bikes on the roof or canoes...

Skoda Superb,

Great size - but odd back seat being so curved it's not great for 5. Next door has one and we looked when we bought the V70.

Toyota Avensis,

Hateful gearbox, awful screen/operating system. Other than that it was a good car - we had one as holiday rental for a fortnight.

VW Passat.

Just seems so much more expensive than Golf for a couple of cm width and length, same boot size.

Older version but.

Diws the octavia has what I like to call the ****ing boot lip or have I imagined that?

They're also a right bastard to reverse.

My golf estate was great though.

I have none of those cars! But I have a Skoda Karoq with a 1.5tsi. Takes 2 canoes and a load well.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtD08ivYWR_joGVHGV_lz1hl6_zr

Previously had a V60 with the D4 engine which didn't even notice there were canoes there. With the petrol 1.5 you know there is a load. Its a little more sluggish and I noticed having to change down on steep roads instead of just pushing my foot down which worked in the Volvo. Not a big issue and probably more mechanically sympathetic.

I went for the 1.5 petrol as most of the time its just me and 40+mpg is easy. For the few times a year I'm fully loaded I honestly don't care too much about mpg as its the holiday/trip which is important to me.

I looked at the Golf and Octavia but preferred the driving position in the Karoq. Plus its normally just 2 of us these days and in the Karoq you can remove all 3 rear seats giving a large space for luggage.

Maybe this helps

1.5tsi/DSG Octavia here, just got 50mpg (according to the dash) on a long motorway cruise, mid 40s is normal for my commute but it gets thirsty if you want to 'make progress'. I looked at the Golf estate as well and the height of the rear opening was considerably smaller on the golf - on longer trips we carry the bikes standing up inside with both wheels off (using some home made stands that mount using the rear axle) so that was the decider for us.

Some Octy models have an adjustable boot floor too so it can either be flush with the tailgate or dropped by about 10cm, the dropped position is better for carrying bikes but more of a faff for every day use.

Anyone got the 1.5tsi with dsg, and if so what’s the real world mpg?

Yip, 1.5 DSG here in estate form. I get around 45mpg average. With no bike on the roof I can get mid 50s on long motorway runs. When I travelled to the Lakes a couple of weekends ago with one bike on the roof and a car full of camping gear, two humans and one dog, I got 44mpg. I wasn't in a hurry though. Around 25% of that was on slow, windy Lakes roads.

Cheers folks - that is helpful.

Nothing useful to add but I'm amazed that the V70, Golf and Octavia estates are a comparable size, I'd always thought the V70 was a class up in size.

I have an '08 plate Octavia 2.0 TDI vRS (the old PD one, not the CR) and it is great at swallowing tons of stuff and driving a long way easily. Bikes go in well, I can get my 26" HT, gravel and road bikes in there with all wheels still on. Have to drop the front wheel off for my SolarisMAX but that is a looooonnnngggg bike
I get 55 mpg (600+ miles out of a tank) and it has passed 9 MoTs in a row for me!
As mentioned above the back seat is not great for 5 due to the shape, also the bodyshell was designed for 4wd which means there is a transmission tunnel restricting the middle person's footroom/legroom
But highly recommended nonetheless

I’m genuinely interested in the 1.5 or 1.4 petrol. But I’m concerned about efficiency and about how much ooomph when we have bikes on the roof or canoes…

Ooomph wise the 1.5 is a good engine, if you've not had much experience of these new downsized and turbo'd engines or, like me are giving up the diesel after years, you need to try them.

It's 150bhp in all cars (I think) which is a decent amount for anyone, and you can 'give it some' if you like. Power wise it's the same as the Mk4 Golf GTI had at one point, but it's got a lot more torque (250nm v 210nm) couple that with a seamless DSG and it'll never feel slow or strained, well unless you hit the kickdown when it'll often just make a lot of noise and not much else.

IME it can be very efficient or pretty fast, but unlike say a Turbo Diesel, if you boot it, it will drink fuel, but if it's like the Wife's car, it will coast if you lift and run on 2 cylinders on light load, it took me about an hour to get in tune with it, sadly a trick my wife is yet to learn.

I haven’t tried any of the OP’s options, but i will echo P-jay above, re: downsized petrol turbo engines, they’re terrific.
I recently had a 2019 corsa as a courtesy car while mine was being looked at.
1.2 turbo with 100bhp.
Didn’t feel fast, (at all) but had absolutely no trouble keeping up with traffic and averaged 53mpg in mostly motorway driving.
Just for reference, my diesel forester manages 43mpg when driven in the same manner.
A 150bhp tsi engine will have plenty of power imo

I’d always thought the V70 was a class up in size.

It was. But since they stopped making it in 2015, having designed it back in 2005(?) it seems all cars keep growing.

I also need to recognise that the extra cm or so here and there does add up to more space, plus some brands seem to be able to package things tightly.... An example- the Golf is 6cm narrower overall, but rear seat is only 3cm narrower...

Interestingly the Octavia 'massive boot' oft referred to in reviews is only 5litres more than the Golf...I am pessimistic that measurements such as this alone are a real reflection of size - I know the V70 boot is smaller than our old Galaxy, but it is squarer and wider, and swallows some things better.

Had Octavia estate 2.0 TDI, lovely car for carrying things and family, bits on roof bikes on back, rear seats better for 2 than 3. Then V70 estate, much comfier seats, boot appeared bigger but never actually measured against each other, not do good round corners, in a straight line a super comfy car, but 2.4d not the most efficient, felt huge with 4 bike carrier in back. Currently Leon estate 1 5 TSI, great for 4 of us, I get over 50 mpg on a 30 mile run of a roads with 2 of us in. Much lighter engine and this is noticeable in the feel ( I know lighter car than others) have done to Alps in it with 4 of us and 4 bikes hanging off back never felt underpowered. Quite good fun when only me in it and I want to go a bit quicker

A question to those who are putting bigger ‘enduro’ bikes in the back of the bigger estate cars.
Do you put them in vertically with the front wheel off and strapped to the side?

My Ford s-max is starting to die and it looks like people carriers are very expensive at the moment, so I’m looking at getting an estate. The bikes will need to go vertically as I’ll also be sleeping in the car on weekends away riding.

I’ve got an XF estate which is pretty big, but I doubt either of my bikes would go in upright with just the front wheel on - even with the dropper slammed. Maybe some estates have a deeper boot than others - probably better with a front wheel drive car with no 4x4 options as the rear axles should take up much less room.

Interestingly the Octavia ‘massive boot’ oft referred to in reviews is only 5litres more than the Golf

I was looking at these a couple of months ago:

Golf 611 up to 1642 with seats down
Octavia 640 up to 1700 with seats down

So not massively bigger but it did feel bigger when I was poking my nose around.

@hairyscary I've not managed upright bikes in estates since forks went over 140mm, wheels over 26" and droppers became everyday. Something van based for upright bikes.

Back to the OP, boot shape makes a massive difference to usability and I suspect the V70 will have the squarest, cleanest load area. An extra couple of litres between a wheel arch and back seat aren't that useful. Mk3&4 golf estates were useful shapes. In my old Octavia every piece of trim was expendable which helped gain space.

Cheers @timber. I thought it would be a struggle to get a modern bike in one. Looks like I’m going to have to dig deep for another MPV or van type of thing.

I've had my 2l 148bhp Leon ST (diesel) since October 16. Its not put a foot wrong, only just had front discs and pads this year and front shocks last year. My only complaint is the suspension can feel a touch soft but coming from a Civic with crashy (and then replaced with coil overs) suspension it's still a very balanced.

I have a towbar and rack but for solo missions the bikes always in the boot

The best thing about the V70 is that it's a big, flat boot area with no wheel arches getting in the way. Not an exciting car, but proper comfy for long cruisey drags.

I've just been in a similar dilemma and bought a seat leon estate its the 1.0 tsi 115 version, it's very nippy tbh, and good on the motorway much to my surprise but I don't drive to make progress as they say lol, I just did a drive the other day to a race part on m1 part on hilly a roads and it was abe of 66mpg for total drive, ive also just got back from camping, boot full with 2 adults 2 teens and a roof box all on a roads and it was showing 51mpg fully loaded, very impressed with it it also has better mpg than my wifes little 900cc twingo :), I looked at loads of estates but this one just seemed the nicest, it's based on a vw golf estate chassis but the boot is a bit bigger

For those questioning manufacturer's capacity claims in litres, don't forget they also make mpg claims that are all but impossible to match so I'd take their numbers with a pinch of salt.

Yes the numbers might be theoretically accurate but when they're taking into account the capacity of the ashtrays to get to the magic number, not all that practical... Obv joke for comedic effect but you get the picture. Try before you buy.

For those questioning manufacturer’s capacity claims in litres, don’t forget they also make mpg claims that are all but impossible to match so I’d take their numbers with a pinch of salt.

Yes the numbers might be theoretically accurate but when they’re taking into account the capacity of the ashtrays to get to the magic number, not all that practical… Obv joke for comedic effect but you get the picture. Try before you buy.

Yep, plus shape and access are usually more of practical benefit than outright size.

I was planning to get an estate last time around, ended up with a Superb Hatch, almost didn't look at it, but as soon as I saw the boot I knew it was going to be bigger than I'd ever need, it's huge.

And with good timing as I consider a new car, the Ovlov breaks down today....