Went to look at an Audi A1 for SWMBO last week. It went like this.

Salesman; Which model is madam interested in?

SWMBO; The one with the same oily bits as his Skoda.

Salesman; Audis are unique and have nothing in common with Skodas madam!

SWMBO; Well have a look under his bonnet then or ask one of your spannermen or anyone else who knows what they’re talking about.

Salesman; Oh.

So eventually he gets up to speed and specs up an A1 to match my VRS. Its an S-line 185bhp 1.4 TSI DSG with Bluetooth/phone prep/cruise/climate etc etc. Sporting chavvier LED DRL’s (SWMBO loves these) than the VRS in this spec its £26k on the road!

SWMBO; Bye.

Salesman; Oh.

£26K!

Bloody Nora!

LOL what a joke. Who in their right mind would buy that. Probably explains why i've only seen one of them on the road

i love it, i think with all my extras im paying 14200. slightly over half the price of the A1.

that sis insane

Don't forget the Fabia is a 5 door. was the A1 a 5 door or don't they make a 5 door

Don't forget the Fabia is a 5 door. was the A1 a 5 door or don't they make a 5 door

We did ask this. We were told the 5 door comes out in 2013 and may cost a little more! The 185 may not be available in a 5 door though. Watch this space!

and if the same model does come in a 5 door, that's probably an extra £500-£1500 i guess.

To be fair the a1 comes with standard floor mats. They are an option on the vrs. Lol

To be fair the a1 comes with standard floor mats. They are an option on the vrs. Lol

Thats true, but only front ones. If you want rear ones its an extra £45.

To be fair the a1 comes with standard floor mats. They are an option on the vrs. Lol

Must be made of gold, to explain the £13,000 price difference

i thought long and hard about buying an a1 but i decided against it in the end, it's just too damned expensive, virtually everything in it is optional too, it's a real shame it's not a couple of grand cheaper for the base price because they would probably outsell the ghastly looking mk2 fabia by a long way

An S1 would be interesting though, especially if it comes with 4 wheel drive.

But I get a feeling it'll be the same price as a 4x4 Superb.

Ridiculous price. I'll be honest I dont like the A1 enough to justify the premium over any of the other small VAG cars. If I had 26K to spend i'd either buy a nice A3 S-line 2.0T DSG or a Golf GTi with some options.

i thought long and hard about buying an a1 but i decided against it in the end, it's just too damned expensive, virtually everything in it is optional too, it's a real shame it's not a couple of grand cheaper for the base price because they would probably outsell the ghastly looking mk2 fabia by a long way

We like it!!

Even more so, given the price of this Audi and the Polo GTi

I specced up my Octy vrs CR, in Golf version, I dont have many goodies , only Front & rear Parking sensors, MFD & Spare wheel. & it came out at £26400, Picked mine up @ the end of Dec & paid £18200( with 17.5% off ) same spec on Skoda site currently would bring it to £22400, I really cannot see where the extra in the Golf is, I got cruise as std on the Octy, you have to pay for that in the golf

It really boggles the mind specially what the OP put around the A1 & Fabia vRS price

Edited 1 March, 201115 yr by lfc958

Was speaking to the service manager from the local VW dealer and he said the parts manager had just parted with £22000 for the new Polo GTI!!!!! Needless to say I had a little smirk on my face after he'd picked me up of the floor!

I specced up my Octy vrs CR, in Golf version, I dont have many goodies , only Front & rear Parking sensors, MFD & Spare wheel. & it came out at £26400, Picked mine up @ the end of Dec & paid £18200( with 17.5% off ) same spec on Skoda site currently would bring it to £22400, I really cannot see where the extra in the Golf is, I got cruise as std on the Octy, you have to pay for that in the golf

It really boggles the mind specially what the OP put around the A1 & Fabia vRS price

Golfs (as are all VW's) are rather overpriced, but spec wise they better the Octavia in some areas.

My Golf GT may do without Dual Zone cimate and a touchscreen stereo but it does come with a number of other things the vRS doesnt have as standard, namely multi function wheel, MDI & Dark Glass. Also my GT spec car came with Cruise and Tyre pressure sensors. A huge omission in my opinion on the vRS is the lack of standard head airbags; think this is awful on a car of this calibre, many Octy variants also do without standard ESP. At least all Golfs now come with 7 airbags and ESP as standard.

Skoda's are cracking value for money when bought on the VAT free deal, really alot of metal for the money but otherwise I think they are starting to get on the pricey side. An Octy vRS CR DSG is now about 23K which is still alot of money in my eyes. And as well bolted together as they are, the quality of the materials used (certainly in the interior) is not up to the grade of the MK6 Golf, nowhere near.

Golfs (as are all VW's) are rather overpriced, but spec wise they better the Octavia in some areas.

My Golf GT may do without Dual Zone cimate and a touchscreen stereo but it does come with a number of other things the vRS doesnt have as standard, namely multi function wheel, MDI & Dark Glass. Also my GT spec car came with Cruise and Tyre pressure sensors. A huge omission in my opinion on the vRS is the lack of standard head airbags; think this is awful on a car of this calibre, many Octy variants also do without standard ESP. At least all Golfs now come with 7 airbags and ESP as standard.

Skoda's are cracking value for money when bought on the VAT free deal, really alot of metal for the money but otherwise I think they are starting to get on the pricey side. An Octy vRS CR DSG is now about 23K which is still alot of money in my eyes. And as well bolted together as they are, the quality of the materials used (certainly in the interior) is not up to the grade of the MK6 Golf, nowhere near.

The Golf GTD doesn't come with Cruise or TPM as standard. Comparing the VRS to the DSG is still a hell of a lot cheaper even without the VAT offer.....18inch wheels, RCD-510, Cruise, TPM...this brings it in at £27.5k. Also you get 3yrs roadside with the Skoda. The VRS with Auto lights, MDI, bluetooth and MFSW comes in at £22920 a £4580 difference.

The quality of the FL Octy is in my opinion the same as my mother in laws Mk6 SE...in fact she has had to have a new dash due to the plastic splitting around the centre console. I can't tell the difference between the plastics in the Golf and the Octavia, they are identical.

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Skoda's are cracking value for money when bought on the VAT free deal, really alot of metal for the money but otherwise I think they are starting to get on the pricey side. An Octy vRS CR DSG is now about 23K which is still alot of money in my eyes. And as well bolted together as they are, the quality of the materials used (certainly in the interior) is not up to the grade of the MK6 Golf, nowhere near.

Unfortunately, if you look around, the prices of all new cars has increased dramatically over the last three years. This has struck me as rather strange as i have noticed these increases ever since we entered the recession when new car sales were hit very hard. It probably means that to gain our business previously cars were underpriced/heavily discounted or just over produced and unfortunately it is the sign of the times that new car prices are now what they are. I suspect parity will never be achieved between the different VAG brands (and hopefully not) but imho i believe VW's are overpriced for what they are, Audi is just trying to compete on the upmarket BMW market share and Skoda's offer great value for money, especially when VAT free, but that would be the same for the other marks as well (VAT free that is). It has always struck me as daft that people will pay a lot of money for a badge, but then i have never had the money to do this, my car having to be practical and offering the best value for money at time of purchase.

I have deliberately omitted Seat as i do not really know where they sit as i always thought they were a little over priced. Skoda is definately the way to go.

Edited 1 March, 201115 yr by JerryT

The catch on my Estate tailgate is stamped as an Audi part. Anyone know which Audi it is from?

Only time I have seen on a vag car a part like that stamped with only one badge, maybe its from the R8!

18 months ago when I started seriously thinking about my next car the Audi A3 Sportback was a strong contender but when looking last year I couldn't find 3-4 year old with sensible mileage at realistic price. Also found that while my 10 year old A4 SE has climate control as did earlier A3 later A3 SE's are lower specification e.g. only have air con.

I first seriously looked at the Fabia last July then October a fairly local dealer was selling a demonstrator but once told I could have new on 11 plate for £1000 more than ticket price to me an easy decision.

Out of interested on Audi website I costed a A3 1.6 diesel sportback SE to same spec i.e. climate control and cruise control options plus metallic paint.

This came out at list price about £8000 more than Fabia 1.6 (105) Elegance Estate, which has climate control and cruise control as standard, on VAT deal.

Yes about 60% more for an A3 !!!!

You're all missing the point... the Fabia doesn't have a locking fuel "flap" and maybe the A1 does... that'll be where the extra cash is spent

My 54 plate Octavia was covered in Audi stamped parts from the drive belts in the engine bay to clips holding panels in the boot.

Of course they do..We are in the VAG group :clap:

The Golf GTD doesn't come with Cruise or TPM as standard. Comparing the VRS to the DSG is still a hell of a lot cheaper even without the VAT offer.....18inch wheels, RCD-510, Cruise, TPM...this brings it in at £27.5k. Also you get 3yrs roadside with the Skoda. The VRS with Auto lights, MDI, bluetooth and MFSW comes in at £22920 a £4580 difference.

The quality of the FL Octy is in my opinion the same as my mother in laws Mk6 SE...in fact she has had to have a new dash due to the plastic splitting around the centre console. I can't tell the difference between the plastics in the Golf and the Octavia, they are identical.

My point was that the GT (not GTD) comes with cruise and TPM. Admittedly it only has the 140ps engine so I guess isnt exactly a direct comparison to the vRS CR.

However taking a vRS hatch 170 CR DSG adding metallic and the bits it doesnt have compared to a GTD, it still comes out at £23345 OTR and I believe you currently cannot get the VAT saving on it being a diesel. Yes it is usefully cheaper and bigger than a GTD but its still an expensive car and I personally (if money were no object) would not prefer a vRS over a GTD. With VAT removed it becomes a healthy competitor.

I will agree that all mainstream VAG group cars (Audi probably being the only exception) are not as well bolted together as they used to be. My MK6 GT has had to have a few bits of silly warranty work which has not impressed but all in all having looked at a new Octavia whilst they are admittedly well bolted togetehr the materials used in its build are generally not as good, particularly the interior. When I test drove the Fabia, both cars (60 plates with less than 4k on the clock) had their share of rattles, I cant imagine the Octy is that different. We'll probably have to agree to disagree there then.