Our Holden Commodore S (supercharged V6) was 14 years old and getting expensive to keep running. We did not want to downsize to a compact car because we have elderly parents to drive around. The Octavia was awarded the best mid-size car under 30K for 2014 by RACV Auto, so that was the starting point of our research. Test drove the Camry and the Mazda 6 but for our budget (under 40K), the base models are under-powered for our tastes. Reliability of the Octavia is rated high by UK drivers. Much better fuel economy than the old Commodore around town. Ended up buying a 18 month old RS (just 9K on the clock) because we like sporty cars with good acceleration, and the RS certainly has plenty of that.