Only had my second-hand Roomster Scout 1.9 a couple of weeks, and as I’m retired now having had only 5 real cars in my lifetime (ignoring a short lived Hillman Husky and Vauxhall Victor) which have all been from the VW family and second-hand, Roomster ownership very much reminds me of ownership of my first VW Beetle.

Then you were regarded as being a bit strange, driving something so different and foreign from everything else on the road.

No one had a hint of the classic it was going to become later.

Mind you we used to have the last laugh when caught up in horrendous traffic jams going down to Cornwall before the motorways were built. Water cooled vehicles boiling over all around us.

And of course other Beetle owners would wave to you as passed by, and I have yet to discover if Roomster owners do the same. I suspect not in this very busy world we live in.

My wife even asked me if I was going to get a bonnet bib as we used to have on the beetle.

My youngest daughter sent a picture of my Roomster to her sister saying “did you ever see such an ugly car?â€

With comments like that it just go on to be a classic car.

Yeah, and they will have Gordon Brown leaning on it as the "Greatest Politician of the 21st Century"

After a PUG 106 XN, an Octavia 1U 1.6 and a Fabia 1.2 12v 64hp, I agree with your daughter. My Roomster is the most beautiful ungly car. It is also very practical, comfortable and economic.

I don't think that it will become a classic car, but when we pass by another Roomster we are looking each other in high intense. In my country Roomster is not very famous.

But the most i like is when i overtake other people with saloon cars. They don't believe than the little ice cream van can gobble them.

I am starting to think of the Roomster as a 21st century version of the VW Kombi; based on a number of mechanical items from other cars in the VDub range, engineered to go together (rather than be thrown together) and last a long time, in an original package with a massive dose of practicality, with a style that says 'I don't give a stuff about style'. And affordable, unlike the current range of big VWs here, down under.

I am starting to think of the Roomster as a 21st century version of the VW Kombi; based on a number of mechanical items from other cars in the VDub range, engineered to go together (rather than be thrown together) and last a long time, in an original package with a massive dose of practicality, with a style that says 'I don't give a stuff about style'. And affordable, unlike the current range of big VWs here, down under.

Ditto here. And we have an excellent Skoda dealer which can't be said of our VW/Audi/BMW/Mercedes/Porsche/Volvo/Smart/Aston Martin/Chrysler/Jeep/Saab dealer

Perhaps not a classic, my prediction is that the Roomster will hold its value on the second hand market, (at least here in Australia) because owners will hold onto them.

It is one of those cars which will be spoken about in years to come with much fondness:

Sometime in 2050: " Roomster? My Grandad had one of those. I used to borrow it. If you took out the seats it was amazing what you could get up to in the back of one. He had it for years and would not part with it, even after they took his licence off him! ." : - )

Roomsters are like your first microwave oven. You have to own one to realise how useful they are.

That's spot on. I've had mine for nearly three months and I'm still staggered at the amount of stuff you can heap into the back.

At first I was a bit apprehensive that I'd have trouble doing the 12 times a year university run (twins at different universities, one of them 300 miles away) with the car loaded to the gunwales. I was comparing it with my previous car (a 2-litre Laguna Estate) and feared it wouldn't have the capacity for all the clothes, books, bedding, pots and pans, etc. I worried that even if it would carry all their stuff, it would only go downhill!

I needn't have worried. The Roomster seems to hold more stuff than the Laguna (whose back seat didn't come out and didn't even fold completely flat). It zooms along without complaint with no more noise and stress than the 2-litre Renault. And it uses about 25-30% less fuel. I don't know if that's the definition of a classic, but it's certainly a very practical tool.

Just spotted today a pre FL 1.9TDI unregistered on the dealer forecourt in Pickering, could become a classic on a 60 plate :wonder:

TP

Having see the rerun of the Top Gear episode featuring the Roomster and big dog ,I guess my question is answered in that the Roomster will never be a classic, but the new Fiat 500 will be as was its predecessor.

Perhaps in years to come if surfers down in Cornwall start adopting them, and clamp surf boards on the roof , then who knows? Or if someone give one a funky paint job?

Anyway got to go now , my wife is calling me in to see the tv. Apparently Gordon Brown is touring the Roomster Factory. He is posing in front of a Roomster and being presented with an award of politician of the century by the workforce. As in the land of the Skoda Gordon is revered in the same way as the Albanians loved Norman Wisdom. He’s famous as the man who sold off nearly all of Britain’s gold reserves, and ordered aircraft carriers without any aircraft. They also love , and can never forget the ice cream sketch with Tony Blair.

Having see the rerun of the Top Gear episode featuring the Roomster and big dog ,I guess my question is answered in that the Roomster will never be a classic, but the new Fiat 500 will be as was its predecessor.

Perhaps in years to come if surfers down in Cornwall start adopting them, and clamp surf boards on the roof , then who knows? Or if someone give one a funky paint job?

Anyway got to go now , my wife is calling me in to see the tv. Apparently Gordon Brown is touring the Roomster Factory. He is posing in front of a Roomster and being presented with an award of politician of the century by the workforce. As in the land of the Skoda Gordon is revered in the same way as the Albanians loved Norman Wisdom. He’s famous as the man who sold off nearly all of Britain’s gold reserves, and ordered aircraft carriers without any aircraft. They also love , and can never forget the ice cream sketch with Tony Blair.

I don't think it will be a classic in the sense that "everyone" will recognize it immediately and be built in 22 million cars all over the world for over 50 years (or something like that, think VW Beetle). But I do think it will be a car that is remembered with warm feelings by us who dared to try this oddly looking little car and get amazed of what a car of this size can do. And I do think that there will eventually be Roomster clubs where owners get together for a nice time and a drive along the countryside. But I do feel that there will be distinct US and THEM - us that knows what a great car this is, and them that are afraid to try something other than a standard car. :yes:

Says a guy that still has to wait 5 1/2 months for his second Roomster, this time a 1.2 TSI DSG

After the success of the mk 1 Fabia hatch and estate, I think Skoda could have expected success in the small MPV market. However the decision to give the Roomster such a quirky 'marmite' appearance was it seems a barrier to it achieving the sales I think Skoda could have achieved in this niche. For those who either like the look, or don't care about it, they've got a really practical, good driving car.

I guess production of the current model Roomster will end in a couple of years, perhaps to coincide with a replacement for the Fabia 2, when the design will be about 7 years old.

it will be interesting to see if Skoda go for a new model, and how daring they are with the design if they do.

After the success of the mk 1 Fabia hatch and estate, I think Skoda could have expected success in the small MPV market. However the decision to give the Roomster such a quirky 'marmite' appearance was it seems a barrier to it achieving the sales I think Skoda could have achieved in this niche. For those who either like the look, or don't care about it, they've got a really practical, good driving car.

I guess production of the current model Roomster will end in a couple of years, perhaps to coincide with a replacement for the Fabia 2, when the design will be about 7 years old.

it will be interesting to see if Skoda go for a new model, and how daring they are with the design if they do.

OTOH, when Fiat put an innovative 6-seater MPV design in the even uglier Multiplayer body, the "experts" said that it would sell more with a more neutral design. So they made it look like other MPVs, and sold far fewer.

OTOH, when Fiat put an innovative 6-seater MPV design in the even uglier Multiplayer body, the "experts" said that it would sell more with a more neutral design. So they made it look like other MPVs, and sold far fewer.

that's a fair point. Undoubtedly some people are attracted to quirky designs, even if to more conventional eyes they are ugly. Unusualness is something of a promotional point in itself by drawing attention and comment.

A bit (but not entirely) OT:

The outcome of the facelift was a pleasant surprise: the engines and headlights were upgraded but the rest of this excellent car was left untouched. I was sort of expecting more radical changes making good things bad, especially regarding the biiig rear windows and the odd looks this feature gives the car.