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thewinelake

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    Norf London

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    Skoda Superb MkIII SE Business

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  1. That's helpful (really!). I think part of my problem is that the last time I ever had any bodywork repairs done was over 20 years ago, and so my view on costings is somewhat out of date! But will try to get them to take off the rear bumper scratches, which I think are fair wear and tear....
  2. In case anyone's interested, here's a video of the damage.
  3. Actually the battery is not a problem. Covered by 8 year unlimited mileage guarantee and some have done 100’s of thousands of miles. i think the battery pack consists of bundles of cells like AA batteries....
  4. So I'm returning my beloved Superb as the end of the lease is up. I had traditionally been wary of the inspections as it's a licence for people to make money for nothing in terms of inventing defects. However, a friend who recently returned his VW said that they couldn't have been more reasonable, both in deciding what needed to be done and the rates quoted. So I thought I'd get them to inspect. Sadly, in my case they have been (IMHO) unreasonable. So what I would like to do is get my tame bodyshop man to do the work. He does an excellent job, but is not on the list of Skoda approved repairers (in fact nobody is within 10 miles or so of my home in North London). I'm told that I can't let him do the work, but this is a call centre staff member reading from a script. I would hope that if my guy does a decent job on the scuffs, nobody would even know there had been any damage at all - other than the fact that they took pictures! The question is, will BCA see this as a money-making opportunity - i.e. still charge me the full £500+ or will they cross items off the list that really no longer need doing? I guess one can't be certain with this, and it's down to personal experiences and anecdotes. Lesson learned - always get the work done before inviting the inspectors in. You might get lucky, but you might very well not.... Attached is an example of the rear bumper. They want £130 to put that right. Then there 2 other scuffs at the same price and the one genuine bit of work that justifies itself on the wheel arch - happy to bite the bullet on that (and scratches to the alloys).
  5. Yes, Teslas ought to be cheap to maintain, but their support for and encouragement of third party garages is pretty pathetic. Servicing is not required for warranty, but is required for finance. It consists of very little, but they want £500 to do it. There's a great indie garage in Coventry that owners flock to from all over the country! Repairs of modest damage to the body is ludicrously expensive. I think this is partly down to the aluminium construction. Parts are hard to get hold of and expensive. All teething problems, I guess. I thought I was quite a late adopter, but there's still plenty of exposed "bleeding edge"!
  6. On mine, the build quality appears to be OK. A friend of mine came along to the presentation and felt that the paintwork was substandard compared to the golden age of Mercs last century but thought it was typical of modern cars - so on a par with Skoda. Panel gaps seem OK to me. So I think they've improved quite a lot. However, there are a lot of nice touches that you get with a Skoda that you'll never get on a Tesla. Things like umbrellas and velcro boot supports, pop out torch, etc. It is pretty minimalist for such an apparently expensive car (see my earlier comment on this). A few things take getting used to - both the EV nature and the Tesla nature. Many systems are still buggy (eg. Spotify) and the lack of CarPlay continues to frustrate (funny - I used to be very disappointed by CarPlay, but came to love it in later life). I'm investigating getting an Android tablet + dongle just for CarPlay. There is very much a "fanboi" faction among Tesla owners. Any criticisms tend to be met with "well, yeah, but it's a great car to drive and we're saving the planet" ;-)
  7. 3years 30k 2.0 Business SE (so leather, DSG, parking sensors) with metallic paint and Canton stereo upgrade. Strangely, I suspect ULEZ in London will help it retain short term value as its Euro 6. BTW, the BCA estimate for repairs came in pretty high (a bit over £500) as their panel touch-ups are very pricey (wheels were cheap though)
  8. It certainly is, although nothing similar is as good! Many thanks.
  9. My initial thoughts (in addition to the obvious bonus of being clean) after having had it (Model S 75D) for about 10 days: + Very relaxing to drive the Tesla, whether on short trips or long. Quietness and regen breaking both help. + Incredible responsiveness + Nice to wake up to a full (ish by Superb standards!) tank every morning + Very smooth TACC (=ACC on Superb) and the AutoPilot is nice for the motorway, with hopefully more coming (although one is still required to be alert and have hands on wheel) + No specific requirement for servicing + I think the Tesla will last for a very long time + Compared to other EVs, Supercharging stations make Tesla viable for long trips. Hopefully CCS roll out across Europe will help, but there's a long time to go, and etiquette needs to be established (something most Tesla drivers seem to be very good on). + The Tesla-owning community is very welcoming, even if it has "fanboi" tendencies. - It's width and preciousness make me anxious in narrow roads and some car parks. And forget 6'6 width restrictions until you're VERY comfortable with the car - Lack of CarPlay irritates (the built in nav is not a patch on Waze - Waze coming to CarPlay transformed my opinion of it) - Service Centres are (obviously) more widely dispersed than Skoda garages- - Worry over reliability of some components (door handles, heater) - I think the sound quality of the Canton is marginally ahead of the Tesla Ultra HiFi (esp. while the car is stationary) - Auto wipers are a bit ropey (but getting better) - Various proximity alarms are over-alarmist - Not as spacious as a Superb (what is?) but actually not that bad. - Although the idea is that the fob can be used in proximity unlock mode, the general feeling is that (due to rise of relay theft and the absence of an on/off switch on the fob) this is not a good idea, and furthermore that PIN to drive should be used. Makes me yearn for a good old-fashioned key! I' not really appreciated before that in terms of luxury and refinement, the Tesla should not be thought of as a £70k car, but more like a £45k car with a £25k battery added on. So far it makes me realise how great the Superb is, but the smile on one's face driving the Tesla shows that it's a very different experience!
  10. So my lease is at an end. I did wonder about extending it for another 12 months, but the price would have gone up a fair amount. So I started looking around and have ended up with a Tesla of all things. Only affordable as done as a company car (and even then, the first year or so will be expensive BIK). However, it's very sad to see this car go. It never really put a foot wrong (other than having the chrome trim fall off). Skoda suggested that I might pay £13k for her - which I felt was a little too much. I'm beginning to think I'm mad ;-)
  11. I see there's a thread about rear wipers, but mine's on the front. I told my service centre, so they replaced with new blades (or so they say, I didn't check!) but it's still squeaking. Any suggestions? Presumably cleaning the screen (with what?) might help.
  12. Gosh, another attractive option. No idea if XF's are any good. I know they're thirsty.... https://www.nationwidevehiclecontracts.co.uk/car-leasing/jaguar/xf/sportbrake/2-0i-portfolio-auto
  13. Oh, and I'm told that the maintenance contracts on V90s include tyres - and punctures! Although the psychology of these things are interesting. When they say £30/month, I think "oh, that's cheap", but if they said £360/year, I'd think "Ooooh, pricey..."
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