Hey all sorry not to have been around for a while: up to my neck in studying. Anyway this may be controversial but am I the only one who thinks that Skodas no longer represent the bargains they where where you get a lot of car for your money ( ie the old Fabia VRS) . It may seem heresy to say this but looking at the list prices there is very little to distinguish the Fabia for example with the Polo which benefits from a newer chassis and more up to date chassis. Even Ford which is known for over the top prices compares well with the Fabia for pricing with the Fiesta. Yes I know Skodas are a great buy with the VAT free deal but when that comes to an end I fear that they will look increasingly expensive. Any thoughts on this?

I think it depends on how you spec them up, when compared to the blue badge, or vauxhall.

The only ones that are cheaper are the likes of Kia & Hyundai, and probably the Chevrolet.

They are still a bargain if you compare spec for spec. The differences between the Fabia and Polo platforms are probably so marginal that you'd never notice.

Hyundai and Kia are very well specced and the i20 is actually an impressive little car, a match for the Fabia in fact. Dealer servicing is, unfortunately, very expensive. Hyundai want £300 for the 2nd service on my sisters i20 I would say my Fabia's 2nd service will be about £100 cheaper than that.

I don't have any direct experience of current Fords, and since my local dealer is Arnold Clark, I won't be considering buying one in the forseeable future. Once you get the Fiesta to a decent spec the price is very high. A 1.6 Zetec is nearly £16K. Skoda gives you the Fabia Monte Carlo for £14K (that's simmilar engine power, sport suspension etc.), or even the vRS for not much more.

Nope, Skoda is still one of the best value for money brands even without the VAT free offers. Citroen seems to be the brand that gets closest. For my £14K I could have a DS3 with the 120bhp VTi engine. Nice

It is going to take something special to get me out of Skodas now.

ive discovered that used skoda's arent the bargain they once were.... when i was looking around to to replace my fabia that fabias are now holding their value much better now, not that much off the level that vws are available at, so ended up getting a kia cee'd which is just as good as a fabia even if its a bit bigger...

Edited 12 April, 201115 yr by WeirdKerr

I think Skodas are still better value than VWs, but the residuals are spoilt by the VAT offer. Guess you can't have it both ways.

It's all relative.

A basic Focus now costs more than a Golf and a fairly humble VX Astra will list nearly £20k.

Second hand Skodas might look expensive but they'll hold onto their value for good reasons.

I think cars in general are getting a lot more expensive - probably due to tighter manufacturing regulations, emissions etc. I think Skoda is still in the same place its always in been in the car market - well priced - although other manufacturers make cars a lot more reasonably for instance Hyundai, Kia and Chevrolet. In the second hand market Skoda's certainly seem to hold their value making them quite expensive. I'm not sure what I will do when upgrading the Octavia next as its going to be a big jump again to something reasonable. I usually aim for 6 years old - under 50K mileage. The jump from my old Felicia to the current Octavia was quite a bit!

I think some are and some seem a bit over priced..... It depends on what you want from a car, eg, style, power, MPG and so on. For me, Skoda fits the bill nicely

I also think that Skoda servicing can be very expensive at times, just makes me thatnkfull I know of a good VAG independant garage for servicing

You can still pick up some huge bargains on the net with Skoda, I think the new fabia vrs can be had on drive the deal for about 13k which I think is a bargain when compared with the dealer prices, tho I have not looked at vw/ford/vauxhauls on these sites so they might be just as cheap

Before i order my octavia 1.2dsg with a few options for £14100, i really wanted the polo, but polo dsg is only avaliable with the ancient 1.4 engine, For roughly the same money i could have a polo 1.4 dsg with panaramic roof, or octavia with tsi and dsg

if the polo had tsi dsg for £15000 i would have brought the polo as its the better looking car, nothing paying top money for old design engine, why do vag group think fabia and ibiza can have tsi dsg and not polo