Estate cars: Octavia or golf?

[Carsblummincars]

DC2 is on the way and we’ve realised we need a bigger car. Currently trying to decide between an Octavia and Golf estates, love to hear anyone’s experiences or other suggestions. It’ll need to fit an ERF car seat and baby seat, and comfortably fit our pram (bugaboo fox) and several suitcases in the boot. We don’t travel light and I’m a bit worried the golf estate might be too small!

Superb estate is massive. Have you looked at those? You can NEVER have a big enough boot with children

We have a 2021 Octavia, purchased just before our second arrived, and it’s fabulous. Can easily fit pram chassis, bassinet, bags of the usual kit, overnight bags, etc… or a weekly shop on top of the above. Our ERF seat (Axkid Move) sits behind driver and it’s not fully reclined, but it does limit the driver’s ability to move back fully. If you’re a long legged driver it might be an issue, though only for another year or so for us as we’ll get DD a forward facing seat once her brother goes into her seat.
from what I’ve read limited room with ERF seats is common for many cars unless you’re getting into large SUV territory.

in terms of drivability, it’s a fabulous car, and doesn’t feel large at all, despite being long. We’ll likely upgrade to another newer Octavia or another Skoda when the time comes.

I had Octavia estates for years when I needed big but sensibly priced cars and I LOVED them. Lovely to drive, reasonable to mend, really reliable.

My last one got rear ended by a lorry last year, I moved to a Kia Ceed as I wanted automatic and they have a good reputation but tbh I still miss my Skoda!

I have to say I'm a fan of estate cars for this reason - ie kids! I've just bought a VolvoV60 which is awesome, but think the 2 you're looking at are freer. DH has a Honda Civic estate which also great!
I checked the boot size, comfort, space in the back as my children are both almost 6 feet now albeit still children - good luck !

Just get the superb instead of the octavia.

I have an Octavia estate with two ERF seats in and you'd have to be really quite tall before there wasn't enough leg room in the front. We can fit a buggy and a dog crate in the back, along with various other luggage items, though we do find if we are going away for a whole week with both children and the dog, we've had to get a roof box. Anyway, as PPs have said, it doesn't feel too big when driving and parking, even though it's quite spacious inside.

Also, if we're desperate (i.e. we need the kids not to fall asleep in the car) I can actually fit into the middle back seat in between the child seats. In case that's useful. I've got quite a small bum though.

I had a Skoda (albeit a kodiaq) and have sworn I’d never buy one again. It just felt very cheap and was constantly breaking. It’s the most I’ve ever spent on car repairs. So on that basis alone, I’d go with the golf. But definitely go drive both.

The best car I had when my dc were small though was an ancient Volvo V70. They are hard to find now because everyone holds on to them, but the boot was huge. I could fit my massive off road pushchair in there plus a week’s worth of shopping plus everything we needed for a day out, plus big ERF seat, with plenty of space for Dh and I up front and we’re both very tall. So don’t discount some of the older estates rather than buy new.

Thanks for all the advice so far, hopefully space with the ERF seat won’t be too much of an issue as we’re both quite short! I’ll have a look at the superb too, but I think it may be just out of budget

We've got a 2022 Octavia estate and it's bloody brilliant. The most practical car I've ever owned, so much spaaaace. No problems with it at all.

One of my neighbours has a Superb and I was surprised when looking it up to see that it's not that much bigger and wider than the Octavia, because it looks like a bloody tank. Anyway, I'd say that the Octavia estate has plenty of space for day to day stuff, and I actually prefer just having a small roof box for the occasions when we need more luggage rather than having to drive a bigger car all the time. And actually it would be plenty big enough without the roof box if we didn't have a dog taking up half the boot.

Im a huge fan of Skoda and have been for decades. I've had Octavia's in the past and now have a top spec Superb Combi (estate) which I absolutely love driving. It's boot is huge and the leg space front and back is incredible. My brother borrows it when he's going on holiday with his family (2 teenagers and a toddler). Octavias are great cars and I'd highly recommend them. Best thing is to go and test drive a variety, I was tossing between an Audi A6 estate and the Superb so I drove both, one after the other and knew immediately I wanted the Skoda.

My last Skoda carried on going without a hitch for years and years, without ever getting anything wrong with it. Remember that if you are choosing between a VW and a Skoda, they are made by the same company and many share the same engine, so it's just the chassis you are comparing, really. Skodas have masses of room in them though, far more than any VW I've travelled in, and they seem to have very high roofs. I think they are great cars and would go back to one next car around.

Octavia- you get a lot more for your money on a Skoda than you do on a VW as well.

I've had both. I currently have an Octavia estate, previously had a Golf estate, previously had a Golf estate, previously had a Fabia estate, during which time DH had 2 Octavia estates.

They are very, very similar cars and none has ever given us any problems. The Golfs were a TDI and a petrol BlueMotion, the Octavia's have been TDis and the iv hybrid. One of the Golfs got rear ended twice and we were unharmed inside. I'd certainly buy again!

The Octavia is a bit longer in length; this space is in the boot, so the boot is a bit bigger. The cabin space is pretty similar, but I don't have the measurements to hand. This might be something to check out for ERF seats (we didn't have them, my dc are just a bit old for when the law changed).

Both cars have been great. I only changed because my car came with my job, and I'd happily replace it with the most similar I could each renewal.

We've been camping for a week with bikes (on the outside) in both... but the kids were pretty small then. They are great workhorses for heaving around kids, teens, cricket kit, work stuff (construction site), motorways, not too big to park... There's really not much to choose between them. And they were all serviced by the same VW dealer.

You do get more for your money with an Octavia, but the Golf estates hold their value really well and have a lot of stuff as standard.