Category: Cars

I’ve been to the IAA in Frankfurt yesterday. The trip was organized by the VDI, the association of German engineers, and sponsored by ZF, a well-known maker of auto parts, especially transmissions, steerings, and axles. I went there with Mona’s father. She couldn’t attend herself, because she needs to learn for her written exam next week.

As always — I’ve been there for the third time already — it was a very thrilling experience, but at the end of the day you also know what you have accomplished kilometer-wise. 😉

Some photos I’ve taken are available from my photo gallery.

As you still might remember from one of my previous posts, I look into buying me a Skoda Octavia, but I will only buy a diesel model that comes equipped with a diesel particle filter (DPF.) So this was my first question when I arrived at the Skoda stand. The hostess seemed to be quite well informed, and she told me that the Octavia with the 2.0 litre diesel engine will be equipped with a DPF starting in November, and the smaller 1.9 litre engine will be available with a DPF in January, 2006. The charge will be 565 EUR.

I hope that Skoda will finally make it. Until then, I will keep my old car and continue to commute by train. 🙂

…but also a great car is the Octavia, a great car built by Skoda.

It plays in the same league as the VW Bora/Jetta, VW Passat, Audi A4, BMW 3 series, Toyota Avensis, Peugeot 407, and many more.

What is so special about the Octavia is that it offers the most value for your (and my ;-)) money. You hardly miss anything compared against the Passat (I can tell because I drove most of the above mentioned cars myself, at least I studied the brochures,) but you pay 3,200 EUR less for the Octavia than for the Passat.

So why am I telling you this? I will probably buy myself a new car some time late in 2005, and if not something very strange happens, it will be an Octavia Elegance with the 105 HP diesel engine. The thing that is still keeping me from buying it now is that you can’t yet order it with a diesel particle filter. Considering that a diesel car without a particle filter is not exactly something I would call “environmentally friendly,” I don’t even think about getting myself one without a filter.