Skoda Octavia starting issue

I had a similar issue with my Octavia. The poor starting and electrical weirdness does sound familiar. I am no expert, but did you check for a parasitic draw on the battery? Maybe something is draining it while the car is off. Could be a faulty module or even a short circuit somewhere in the power supply. Did you rule out a bad ignition switch?

A parasitic draw, you say? Can you give me more details on that? How would I check for such a thing? I did have a look at the ignition switch, but visually it looked fine. I assumed the starter motor was at fault.

A parasitic draw is when something in your car is using power even when it's switched off. You can check it with a multimeter, but if you're not comfortable with electrics, I suggest taking it to a workshop. They can diagnose it properly and check the power supply. Better safe than sorry.

Thanks for the input. It turned out to be a heavily discharged battery, likely defective as suggested. I had it replaced, and it seems to have solved the starting problem. The final repair cost came to around 290€. Hopefully, this will also help someone else.