Drive: Which car should I buy?

[aslsw]

"Geoff is looking for a car to replace his much-loved Pulsar SSS. "

The shortlist?

Alpha 147 - not enough grunt, tightish backseat and boot.

BMW 320i Touring (2002-2006) - short on muscle, won't be dependable or cheap to put right.

Mazda 6 Diesel - swish exterior, great road manners, roomy cabins and punchy, flexible diesel engine. It’s a quality package with typically Japanese (read: bulletproof) reliability prospects, ever-present road noise and turbo lag could annoy over the long haul.

Skoda Octavia - comfortable, practical and upmarket, safety top-notch and the petrol and diesel drivelines state-of-the-art, rock-solid drive, could be quieter, petrol models need premium ULP and it won't be quite as dependable or cheap to maintain as a Japanese car over the long term. [not sure why they put "2007" before SKoda name]

End result - Geoff gets to choose "a sober, solid and supremely classy European or a sporty, involving and slightly more dependable Japanese?"

At least the Skoda is now directly comparable to a Mazda... I guess it's a start.

[EDIT] The article is here >=== Drive

[Inego]

Seems a pretty fair review to me - at least the Skoda is getting into peoples' minds. As for the "2007", that's when the current model was released, with a facelift in 2009.