Picked up the new vRS last week. Dealer is offering the package mentioned, payable monthly for approx £1140 compared to supposed 'list price' of £1500 made up as follows:

S = 3 annual services £203, 239+46, 203

M= wipers £35, A/C recharge £75 & MOT £55

T = 4 premium tyres, replaced at 2mm £640

I only do around 10000 miles per year so I would be inclined to go with the 3 annual rather than variable services. Based on experience with previous car I'm sure I'll get through at least 2 tyres and probably the full 4 over 30,000 miles. So overall it seems reasonable.

Comments welcome please.

If you have a good local VAG independent garage then they can service your car without affecting warranty, typical prices would be

S = £100, £200, £100

Not sure on wipers but my local costs for A/C recharge are £45 and MOTs at 1/2 price @ halfords or local tyre/service place

What happens if your rear tyres are above 2mm at the end of the 3 years - do you loose the rear replacements

Overall its your choice as you do inflation proof costs, I would check the full terms of the tyre deal as the loss of 2 tyres would make it a very dear deal

Personally I wouldn't go for this package.

If you want to save money then why not find a good independent garage to do the servicing and MoT, order your tyres from one of the online retailers who can do premium tyres for a good bit less than £160 per corner and get wipers etc. from ebay. Also, are you sure you want to let your tyre treads get down to 2mm? I've had a few lease cars that I had to wait until tyres were at 2mm before I could get them changed and there is a serious loss of grip in the wet at this level of tread. Had they been my own cars I'd have bought new tyres at around 3mm tread depth, no question.

A/C recharge is a waste of money (after all when did you last get your fridge recharged?). If there is a leak you need to get that fixed promptly to prevent damage to the system but you will know that you have a leak because the A/C not get cold. If there isn't a leak then just get a new pollen filter occasionally and leave the refrigeration system well alone.

Stick the £1140 via standing order into a seperate standard/savings account each month.

Over the three years a lot can happen. This way you can make any servicing, maintenance and tyre replacement decisions as and when they arise.

The savings being offered above will be offset by the interest on your monthly payments and your ability to shop around and get the best deals at the time.

Agree with above - shop around, with a little effort you can do better than the £1140 offered.

Thanks all for the comments so far. Covered all the things that had occurred to me - useful to have some confirmation though. Think I'll have to get some 'official' info from the dealer first - interestingly didn't give me any paperwork so no detail.

Yeah, I'd want to know *exactly* what they meant by a premium tyre for starters.

They probably class the Dunlop Sport as one...

Yeah, I'd want to know *exactly* what they meant by a premium tyre for starters.

They probably class the Dunlop Sport as one...

Well, have to confess it came with the Dunlops. Given some of the feeback on here I'll be watching them carefully!

I have taken the Skoda care package out. I have all my servicing, maintenance and tyres covered for 4 years for £32 per month. This will also cover the cam belt change at 4 years. I have had this scheme for the last 3 Skoda cars I have owned and love the fact that all my motoring costs (except insurance and fuel) are covered in an easy monthly payment so no big surprises. I expect to get at least 8 tyres over the course of the package if not a 12 or more.

I had service , maintenance and tyre contract on my VRS and tyres were changed on a like for like basis which in my case Conti Sport Contact 2 or 3.

I had all four changed over the course of the term (3 years) but that was only because I bought it as a 6 month demonstrator with 12000 miles on it. Had it been new or much lower mileage I would not have had the 2nd pair changed within the 3 year term.

Do all Skoda dealers offer this S, M & T package? Is it available on the approved used cars?

As long as the car is less than 1 yr old I believe they all offer it.

Thanks for that, so an interesting option if you get a car under a year old. Like 'PSM' I like the idea of having total piece of mind wrapped up into a monthly payment.

I had service , maintenance and tyre contract on my VRS and tyres were changed on a like for like basis which in my case Conti Sport Contact 2 or 3.

I had all four changed over the course of the term (3 years) but that was only because I bought it as a 6 month demonstrator with 12000 miles on it. Had it been new or much lower mileage I would not have had the 2nd pair changed within the 3 year term.

Thanks for that. I think tyres are a big consideration given the cost. If I don't get all 4 changed within the 3 years then it will make a big difference to whether paying up front would be worth it or not.

Hi, I collect my VRS tdi 1/10/10 and took out the tyre / maintenance / service option at £55 per month. at 19,200 I had the first service and replaced the front Continental Sport contact II with III's. There was some discussion about the tyre but they were changed ok at 1.6mm - 2mm wear. I estimate that without trawling around dealers these tyres would be £200 each fitted and balanced. This makes the £55 per month very attractive.

Also when VAG talk about quality tyres I always point out the original fitted items and would argue if they tried to put inferior tyres (in my view on). By the way the Continental tyres are fantastic.

I got such high mileage as I am doing a lot of straight line work (to work); I also tend not to screw it off the line but wait until the sweet spot in third to show a clean pair of heels.

I also get my thrills on a motorbike; 0-60 in 2.6 seconds is a different experience altogether!

On the media front I have just purchased a TDK SDHC card for the bolero - works quickly but I having trouble with it:

- Put SD in and it would not recognise all tunes - luckily it recognised Neil Young!

- I deleted some directories and it recognised more songs including some of the ones I deleted!

- I am assuming it is storing the content on the Bolero but only if it is triggered by a SD card being inserted.

- I need to look how to clear out the bolero memory and get the tunes I really want onto it.

- I have heard people say the bolero is not as good as other units, however the sound is pretty good in the VRS...

On another note mpg continued to climb throughout the year and now on a steady run (keeping up with traffic with occasional burst up to :-}) I can easily achieve 50mpg; and if really careful 56> mpg.

The only issue in 12 months of motoring was a squeaky dash (glove box side), which I cured by loosening the dash holding screw - thank you to the author on this site as I followed the advice you gave!

Overall the car is a fantastic package that continues to delight with its performance, reliability and smoothness.

Edited 14 October, 201114 yr by Dovehouse