Hi All

Due to collect my first Skoda on Monday, a new Octavia VRS Estate (petrol) in race blue.

Went in to settle the 50% downpayment on it yesterday, so feeling poorer today and hoping that I made the right decision. My choice was made based on the many positive reviews and the stonking VAT and interest free finance offers. It seemed like a lot of car for just over £17k. Ordered back in November I specified rear parking sensors, variable boot floor, auto dimming mirror and obligatory spare wheel. I went for the petrol model despite only test driving the diesel version as no petrol versions were available at that time. The diesel was quick but felt like an iron fist in a velvet glove and I wanted something a bit smoother plus I don't really do the miles. So Monday will be my first drive of the petrol version...

In recent weeks dealer has offered paint and upholstery protection (£299), gap insurance (another £300 I think), and various maintenance plans: inc tyres £35 pcm, maintenance £17 pcm, service only £10 (approx). Various forums suggested that the paint protection was not really worth the cash and my understanding is that most insurance companies will replace vehicles with new anyway if they are totalled in the first year of registration. I also did the yearly figures for the maintenance plans and over three years they came to £1000+, £600, and £370 for the different levels of cover. Has anyone got any information on what I'm likely to have to shell out in the first three years at say 12,000 miles per annum? On my last car (a Fiesta) it was virtually nothing apart from scheduled services.

I was also initially told that the petrol VRS could not be put on the long-life service and had to be serviced every 10,000 miles. However, when I discussed the maintenance cover with the salesman I was told that I could only have it if I subscribed to a long-life service plan because I was planning to do over 10k pa (actually between 12k and 15k - how can you be precise about these things?). Can anyone advise me on the best service plan to go for? Should the petrol be serviced every 10k and is the long-life service just for diesel VRS and I was first told? I must say I'm a bit wary about not having the car checked and the oil changed each year.

Are they just trying to sting me for a bit of extra cash or is there some value here? One of the main reasons I went for the Octavia was because of it's excellent reliability and cost effective performance motoring potential - should I prepare for the worse or expect the few years of trouble free motoring I was expecting when I signed over my savings!!! All of these questions when all I really want is to get out on the road and drive the thing.

Any thoughts and advice gratefully received. Cheers.

Welcome, and they are variable as standard on the Octavia vRS

Hiya.

On the insurance point, check with your company, but you can arrange gap cover after one year no problems.

Welcome to the fold Clarky.

Expect to receive a message from Babs telling you that you've picked the right engine.

Obviously you're not too bothered about the petrol engines lack of torque though

Not all insurance companies give new for old on the first year, pretty sure Admiral don't. I got GAP through www.ala.co.uk, but went through Quidco first (www.quidco.com) which gives you 10% cashback from ala.co.uk...from memory I think I paid £275 for 4 years back to list price (whichever option was the most expensive - my thinking being that we're getting the cars heavily discounted with DtD/no VAT, so if it's return to invoice then you may be left with a shortfall), after the quidco cashback that comes down to £247.50...

...also Silbury had a "special offer" when I went in on Sunday, a big stack of the paint and upholstery car treatment packs stamped with "for professional use only" and marked at £99...I don't know whether that includes application or whether they're trying to sell it on for personal use.

Edited 23 February, 201016 yr by IndianaBlues

I too am looking at buying my first Skoda. Went to look at a second hand Vrs at the local dealer and he has (almost) persuaded me to buy new. They are offering me 2 years interest free and a purchase price of £17,400 on a diesel hatchback Vrs with metalic. List is £20,305. This is the first quote that I have had. Is it about right, or should I be looking for more off the list price? Also, what options help in selling in 3 or so years time? Any info would be appreciated. Cheers, Andy.

Just look at Drive the Deal and see what the going rate is.

I'd choose options that you want and will enjoy whilst you use the car rather than focusing on resale value. Options wont make much difference TBH. Yes, they might earn you slightly more at sale time but you will have paid more for the options in the first place.

Check the price you were offered against the drivethedeal price. You will be unlikely to beat that price but the closer your dealer gets, then the better the deal your getting.

I too am looking at buying my first Skoda. Went to look at a second hand Vrs at the local dealer and he has (almost) persuaded me to buy new. They are offering me 2 years interest free and a purchase price of £17,400 on a diesel hatchback Vrs with metalic. List is £20,305. This is the first quote that I have had. Is it about right, or should I be looking for more off the list price? Also, what options help in selling in 3 or so years time? Any info would be appreciated. Cheers, Andy.

Welcome

I too am looking at buying my first Skoda. Went to look at a second hand Vrs at the local dealer and he has (almost) persuaded me to buy new. They are offering me 2 years interest free and a purchase price of £17,400 on a diesel hatchback Vrs with metalic. List is £20,305. This is the first quote that I have had. Is it about right, or should I be looking for more off the list price? Also, what options help in selling in 3 or so years time? Any info would be appreciated. Cheers, Andy.

Welcome. Drive the deal will offer that car for £16200, I easily got a quote from Rainsworth Skoda in Mansfield which was only £100 or so more. The price the dealer has quoted you is simply list minus the VAT, you should push for more discount, or higher trade in value if you are p/xing.

Options - personal choice, but concensus seems to be that full size spare (£50 odd) and maxidot are a must.

Visited skoda dealer today to enquire about a VRS 2.0 TFSI. Was quoted 16000.Thought that was an ok price but dtd price 15248.

Hi Clarky,

I've been going through the same stuff so hopefully i can save you some research time (and money)

In terms of the service deals, i'm not sure. The tyre inclusive one sounds really steep to me.

The paint and upholstery protection @ 299 -- i nearly fell off my seat when i checked this one out -- the pack to do this yourself is £15 on ebay (have a search) for the pukka stuff. You can buy just the interior protection for £5 delivered (i've had the interior bit of the treatment before and it's top notch ).

For gap insurance i found the autotrader.co.uk site for comparisons. For what it's worth i've chosen click4gap.co.uk based on reviews online, they're £131 for RTI over 3 years.

In terms of your first year there shouldn't be anything required other than your first service. You might want to choose to do a bit more (extra oil changes) though.

Have a search for longlife on the web and see what you think, but in the forum posts where people tell their servicing regime, it seems the number of problems with cars on long life is higher than those on fixed scheduling. I'd only be comfy on longlife if i was doing 20k+ but thats just a number i've picked out of the air really.

Hope this helps

EDIT: P.S. nice choice of car... not biased at all or anything

Edited 23 February, 201016 yr by Mute

I got the Skoda GAP to £200 after haggling. Get some Collinite Wax, much better than any of the life shine stuff and much cheaper. When it comes to service time, shop around for the cheapest and then haggle!

Hi Clarky,

I've been going through the same stuff so hopefully i can save you some research time (and money)

In terms of the service deals, i'm not sure. The tyre inclusive one sounds really steep to me.

The paint and upholstery protection @ 299 -- i nearly fell off my seat when i checked this one out -- the pack to do this yourself is £15 on ebay (have a search) for the pukka stuff. You can buy just the interior protection for £5 delivered (i've had the interior bit of the treatment before and it's top notch ).

For gap insurance i found the autotrader.co.uk site for comparisons. For what it's worth i've chosen click4gap.co.uk based on reviews online, they're £131 for RTI over 3 years.

In terms of your first year there shouldn't be anything required other than your first service. You might want to choose to do a bit more (extra oil changes) though.

Have a search for longlife on the web and see what you think, but in the forum posts where people tell their servicing regime, it seems the number of problems with cars on long life is higher than those on fixed scheduling. I'd only be comfy on longlife if i was doing 20k+ but thats just a number i've picked out of the air really.

Hope this helps

EDIT: P.S. nice choice of car... not biased at all or anything

For an extra opinion, I also used click for gap, got it off compare.com and went via quidco for the cashback. I also got some diamondbrite off ebay and did th car protection myself. 2 months in, comes up beautifully every wash.

Thanks All

Really appreciate your responses and the excellent advice.

I reckon I'll be going with the 10k or yearly service despite the fact I'll probably do a few more miles in the first couple of years. If the Skoda maintenance plan wont cover it unless it's on the variable service then I won't be taking it out! On the interior protection what products would people recommend and is it simply a case of spray on and forget about it?

Take the point about the diesel torque, but I'm hoping the petrol versions holds its own charms. Only slight regret on the spec is the lack of bluetooth. From what I could gather at the time I needed to order the MSW and go for the paddle shift if I I wanted bluetooth and the brochure also said it did not support the 3 network. Weird and annoying given the Bolero's touchscreen telephone functions.

Hi All

Due to collect my first Skoda on Monday, a new Octavia VRS Estate (petrol) in race blue.

Went in to settle the 50% downpayment on it yesterday, so feeling poorer today and hoping that I made the right decision. My choice was made based on the many positive reviews and the stonking VAT and interest free finance offers. It seemed like a lot of car for just over £17k. Ordered back in November I specified rear parking sensors, variable boot floor, auto dimming mirror and obligatory spare wheel. I went for the petrol model despite only test driving the diesel version as no petrol versions were available at that time. The diesel was quick but felt like an iron fist in a velvet glove and I wanted something a bit smoother plus I don't really do the miles. So Monday will be my first drive of the petrol version...

In recent weeks dealer has offered paint and upholstery protection (£299), gap insurance (another £300 I think), and various maintenance plans: inc tyres £35 pcm, maintenance £17 pcm, service only £10 (approx). Various forums suggested that the paint protection was not really worth the cash and my understanding is that most insurance companies will replace vehicles with new anyway if they are totalled in the first year of registration. I also did the yearly figures for the maintenance plans and over three years they came to £1000+, £600, and £370 for the different levels of cover. Has anyone got any information on what I'm likely to have to shell out in the first three years at say 12,000 miles per annum? On my last car (a Fiesta) it was virtually nothing apart from scheduled services.

I was also initially told that the petrol VRS could not be put on the long-life service and had to be serviced every 10,000 miles. However, when I discussed the maintenance cover with the salesman I was told that I could only have it if I subscribed to a long-life service plan because I was planning to do over 10k pa (actually between 12k and 15k - how can you be precise about these things?). Can anyone advise me on the best service plan to go for? Should the petrol be serviced every 10k and is the long-life service just for diesel VRS and I was first told? I must say I'm a bit wary about not having the car checked and the oil changed each year.

Are they just trying to sting me for a bit of extra cash or is there some value here? One of the main reasons I went for the Octavia was because of it's excellent reliability and cost effective performance motoring potential - should I prepare for the worse or expect the few years of trouble free motoring I was expecting when I signed over my savings!!! All of these questions when all I really want is to get out on the road and drive the thing.

Any thoughts and advice gratefully received. Cheers.

The interior one is a waste of money my car is vrs race blue petrol and car now 3 and half years old and still looks mint. Car will have long life oil in it already just see how many miles you do and check service indicator in six months time to see how it is doing. Tyres , i get vredstein sessanta ultra for £100 a corner send me a pm if you want to know owt else

Forgot to put, if you buy the diamondbrite "full kit" you get interior protector which is pretty good, though yuo can buy it separatley and there are other products that get good write ups, again its possible to do it via DIY and save £££.

As far as bluetooth is concerned, the Skoda one doesnt pair to many phone brands, Nokia and some Siemens being the main ones. It is as you say also only available on the DSG for some strange reason. Your options are either something like a Parrot kit fitted (I have the MKi9200 and am very happy with it, got it for £150ish and got the dealer to fit it for free, you can see it on the pics of my car I uploaded a while back). The other popular option is a Fiscon kit, don't know too much about it, it integrates behind the scene with the Bolero, theres various posts on here about it but its more money.

Hi,

Firstly sounds like a nice choice of car. I have had mine about a month now (i have the hatch), did the same sort of thing never actually saw a FL VRs before i got my grubby mitts on it and never drove one but i am sure you wont be dissapointed with the petrol engine it is very good and very nippy!

On the offers from the deeler i had the same dilema's £300 is very steep for the Autoglym stuff, you can get it yourself for about £25 on ebay and its easy to "fit" to your car. I got some quotes from some pro valeters and got quotes of £200 and £250 for the same stuff i know which i would have prefered the deeler doing it or a pro valeter!! i didnt go for it in the end brought some bits and bobs and have now got the detailing bug, my advise would be buy some colonite wax and a few other bits and bobs probably at a total cost of £50 or so at the cheaper end of things and do a good detail yourself, lasts for quite a while and in my humble looks very good.

The return to invoice gap insurance i got online, cant remember how much it was but think i used direct4gap.com or something like that and it was about £120 for exactly the same cover as skoda offer (the skoda sales manager told me they get it for £150 so it would never be sold for less than that).

On the servicing not sure on prices etc for the one i have now but i used to have a Mark 1 VRS and as i do about 10,000 a year i put mine on fixed servicing i dont like the idea of variable with a possibility of going 18 months or longer with no service... again just my opinion. I am not sure and i am sure others will tell me if i am right but i cant see the first service being much more than about £180 not sure on the second but then again i have a very good independant garage near me and i dont recon on spending much more than about £250-£300 for the first two years servicing with them.

When the car gets to you i am sure you will love it you have made a good choice ... and of course blue ones are faster!

I had the service plan on my old Fabia, worked out quite well.

And variable servicing is the service plan of Hitler, Satan and the Olsen twins. It is evil.

OH lordy Babs - first diesel and now variable servicing.

OH lordy Babs - first diesel and now variable servicing.

What I really hate is how Babs beats round the bush so much and doesn't really come out with what he means.

What I really hate is how Babs beats round the bush so much and doesn't really come out with what he means.

To be fair, there's been posts from Babs on here being against variable servicing since I joined the forums (and probably going further back too)..

However, I'm sticking with the variable service on mine otherwise I'll be servicing the car 3 times a year and I've not had any issues with my Saabs that had fixed service intervals of 18000 miles (or every 12 months). Last time I checked, the service indicator said my service was due in 15200 miles or 692 days, that was when the car had done 4600 miles so I'm assuming I'll need a service around the 18K mark anyway which at the current rate will be in 3-4 months time. My services will be distance based rather than time based...

I think I got fed a line anyway - servicing every 30,000 or 2 years, well I only do about 10k a year (shock horror and I bought a diesel, only 47,000,000 miles to make up the difference ), Ive done 2.5k and variable says get a service in a little over 15k.....

Hi All

Due to collect my first Skoda on Monday, a new Octavia VRS Estate (petrol) in race blue.

Went in to settle the 50% downpayment on it yesterday, so feeling poorer today and hoping that I made the right decision. My choice was made based on the many positive reviews and the stonking VAT and interest free finance offers. It seemed like a lot of car for just over £17k. Ordered back in November I specified rear parking sensors, variable boot floor, auto dimming mirror and obligatory spare wheel. I went for the petrol model despite only test driving the diesel version as no petrol versions were available at that time. The diesel was quick but felt like an iron fist in a velvet glove and I wanted something a bit smoother plus I don't really do the miles. So Monday will be my first drive of the petrol version...

In recent weeks dealer has offered paint and upholstery protection (£299), gap insurance (another £300 I think), and various maintenance plans: inc tyres £35 pcm, maintenance £17 pcm, service only £10 (approx). Various forums suggested that the paint protection was not really worth the cash and my understanding is that most insurance companies will replace vehicles with new anyway if they are totalled in the first year of registration. I also did the yearly figures for the maintenance plans and over three years they came to £1000+, £600, and £370 for the different levels of cover. Has anyone got any information on what I'm likely to have to shell out in the first three years at say 12,000 miles per annum? On my last car (a Fiesta) it was virtually nothing apart from scheduled services.

I was also initially told that the petrol VRS could not be put on the long-life service and had to be serviced every 10,000 miles. However, when I discussed the maintenance cover with the salesman I was told that I could only have it if I subscribed to a long-life service plan because I was planning to do over 10k pa (actually between 12k and 15k - how can you be precise about these things?). Can anyone advise me on the best service plan to go for? Should the petrol be serviced every 10k and is the long-life service just for diesel VRS and I was first told? I must say I'm a bit wary about not having the car checked and the oil changed each year.

Are they just trying to sting me for a bit of extra cash or is there some value here? One of the main reasons I went for the Octavia was because of it's excellent reliability and cost effective performance motoring potential - should I prepare for the worse or expect the few years of trouble free motoring I was expecting when I signed over my savings!!! All of these questions when all I really want is to get out on the road and drive the thing.

Any thoughts and advice gratefully received. Cheers.

Welcome Clarky

The FL petrol can be on fixed servicing 10k they had to change mine before I took it away.

However i believe that this is just an option for the dealers to make more money on servicing, cars with twice as much mileage between services will in theory eventually halve their service work load. they will in theory only get to do one service in warranty period if an owner drives 12000 miles per year or less.

Most manufacturers are @ 20000 mile between services my MK1 Vrs had four services in 80000 was remapped and used for occassional track days as well as family mover and company car.

And was running and always had run perfect.