Fun pickup I think???

Fun pickup I think???

Yeah, the Felicia pickup was rebadged as a VW

Yup, I had a vw dealer try to tell me if wasn't a skoda as that was "a vastly inferior part of the vw group". He assured me the vw was worth every penny of the extra thousands it cost. When he showed me the engine I pointed out the maker's plate which said "skoda auto a.s. Ceska republika". He had the good grace to go bright red

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Back on topic, I have a real soft spot for Audi and they are my second favourite brand. I like the combination of the sporty styling and the premium branding available right across the range.

The VAG brand which I see as the most pointless is... VW. My feeling is if you want to go value for money you should go Skoda, and if you want to go premium go Audi. VW are just stuck in the middle with a fairly bland range of products IMO. Scirocco is quite nice tho!

SEAT get to try out some of the new technology and it then goes to other VAG brands or not.

Ends up with sometimes good value vehicles with nice features.

Some stuff introduced with VW means the Public Paying Customer become the 'real world tester' for their attempts at Green Issues etc.

Interested to see how some up and coming technology will last.

Need to see how the Up!, Citigo, Mii does with the Autos, not looking like being a future used hit in 3 years time.

VAG 1.4 tsi S-A twincharger engine failures might cause a stink soon as the first vehicles with them go out of the 3 year warranty in the UK.

VAG need to sort out the 'head in the sand' attitude to problems from their designs or manufacturing faults, be it their parts or from other suppliers.

Talk to the customers about why there is a high failure rate.

george

Back on topic, I have a real soft spot for Audi and they are my second favourite brand. I like the combination of the sporty styling and the premium branding available right across the range.

The VAG brand which I see as the most pointless is... VW. My feeling is if you want to go value for money you should go Skoda, and if you want to go premium go Audi. VW are just stuck in the middle with a fairly bland range of products IMO. Scirocco is quite nice tho!

^^^^^^^^^

This is exactly how I feel. Having owned a mk1 & a mk2 Octavia vRS I felt the urge for 4wd & more power.

Having sat in 3 of the VAG brands (not Seat) and driven them, the S4 just felt in another league (& drove like it). I saw very few common parts with any of my previous cars - engine, transmission all seem Audi only, and inside most of the switches, seats, stereo etc all only found on the Audi. However you do have to pay for the privilege and to that extent it is priced disproportionally higher than Skoda, i.e. the price difference probably isn't worth the extra benefit.

In comparison I found the VW very familiar, remove the badges & I could have been in a skoda

Don't get me wrong I love Skoda and will probably be back (just need to do the power thing whilst I am young enough to appreciate it), but Skoda have cleverly positioned themselves in the VAG group and for me cover most bases at the low / mid range. However get near the top of the Audi Range and things definitely change. Thats why I don't see (for me) see much point in buying a VW, except for the badge.

I adore the leather & finish in interiors of Audis and wish i could have the same in something that is not an Audi.

Nothing particularly special otherwise about Audis than the Interior IMO.

Lower priced Audis really are rather poor vehicles standard fitment wise, and it is so easy to get a nice Used high specced one, rather than suffer the depreciation yourself buying new to a limited budget.

george

Not really true.

All Skodas for British consumption, with the exception of the Citigo, are designed and built in the Czech Republic.

Skoda have their own massive R&D facilities in the Czech Republic and design and manufacturer engines, gearboxes and other parts for the whole group. So yes, Skodas may be built from the VAG 'parts bin' but they contribute a lot of those parts to the 'bin' in the first place.

Do you know what the first car after VW took over Skoda to be a straight re-badge was?

That's a bit like claiming a Nissan primera was British!

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^^^^^^^^^

This is exactly how I feel. Having owned a mk1 & a mk2 Octavia vRS I felt the urge for 4wd & more power.

Having sat in 3 of the VAG brands (not Seat) and driven them, the S4 just felt in another league (& drove like it). I saw very few common parts with any of my previous cars - engine, transmission all seem Audi only, and inside most of the switches, seats, stereo etc all only found on the Audi. However you do have to pay for the privilege and to that extent it is priced disproportionally higher than Skoda, i.e. the price difference probably isn't worth the extra benefit.

In comparison I found the VW very familiar, remove the badges & I could have been in a skoda

Don't get me wrong I love Skoda and will probably be back (just need to do the power thing whilst I am young enough to appreciate it), but Skoda have cleverly positioned themselves in the VAG group and for me cover most bases at the low / mid range. However get near the top of the Audi Range and things definitely change. Thats why I don't see (for me) see much point in buying a VW, except for the badge.

I quite agree here - apart from the VW bit.

Only my 2pence...

Audi is the luxury brand and i love the inside/outside look and quality feel too !

But it comes at a high premium and apart from S-brands are boring to drive,

Plus there is this affluent image to it, and now replacing the BMW bumper-2-bumper image - so to speak!

The Seat is still the younger cooler cousin with good drivability across the range.

The Skoda is the best compromise across the VAG group (u want budget luxury go for Superb, large practicality go for Octavia. Sports mode go for vRS etc).

So where does VW sit?

Comfortably in the background silently for those who do not want to show off their wealth,

but still want that badge image, the large car of Passat, the sports mode of Golf / Sirroco or small car Polo etc.

Personally,

If i can afford it and live with the less reliability and not so good dealers: i ll buy an Audi.

If i do not want to boast and not pay a premium thn VW.

If young and want to show off sporty look thn Seat.

If sensible and always Skoda :-)

Just my very crude way of branding the 4 groups of VAG cars ...

I read in one of the industry rags that the Octavia 3 and Yeti is/will be produced solely in the old GAZ production facility in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

GAZ also have production agreements with GM and Daimler Benz

The ones built in Russia are just for the Russian market.

Just to throw a different angle than build quality to look at in this thread, here is something I noticed in most recent NCAP results:

Audi A3 protects driver best against wrapping the car on a tree/lamp, VW Jetta protect less but still adequately, and the Octavia is rated as weak protection against this type of impact. I also looked up an older example on a different platform, old A4/A6, Passat B5 and Mk1 Superb. same result order (Audi Best, VW middle, Skoda worst) for driver protection both front and side.

Looks like crash safety follows the general VAG pecking order...

Edited 6 March, 201313 yr by dieselV6

Just to throw a different angle than build quality to look at in this thread, here is something I noticed in most recent NCAP results:

Audi A3 protects driver best against wrapping the car on a tree/lamp, VW Jetta protect less but still adequately, and the Octavia is rated as weak protection against this type of impact. I also looked up an older example on a different platform, old A4/A6, Passat B5 and Mk1 Superb. same result order (Audi Best, VW middle, Skoda worst) for driver protection both front and side.

Looks like crash safety follows the general VAG pecking order...

But isnt that simply to do with the fact the Skoda's have the increased length. Structurally the cars are identical underneath ie MQB platform cars all use the same cell and materials but the wheelbase and overall length differs.

Frontal impacts for my Mk1 Superb vs Passat B5/5.5 and previous Audi A4/A6 show same pecking order, plus in case of Audi A6 and Mk1 Superb wheelbase was pretty similar.

I read in one of the industry rags that the Octavia 3 and Yeti is/will be produced solely in the old GAZ production facility in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

GAZ also have production agreements with GM and Daimler Benz

They have rebuilt the part of the factory they occupy literally from scratch. Again, they are going to make the Yeti and VW Jetta side by side. In fact, they are already assembling the Yeti from the parts sourced from Czech Republic and Germany in form of semi-knocked-down kits (that is, they weld and paint the bodies). And for the Jetta they are going to use parts sourced not from Germany, but from Mexico.

They have rebuilt the part of the factory they occupy literally from scratch. Again, they are going to make the Yeti and VW Jetta side by side. In fact, they are already assembling the Yeti from the parts sourced from Czech Republic and Germany in form of semi-knocked-down kits (that is, they weld and paint the bodies). And for the Jetta they are going to use parts sourced not from Germany, but from Mexico.

I was led to believe it was also the plant that the new Octy was being produced from?

I was led to believe it was also the plant that the new Octy was being produced from?

They are going to start production of the new Octy at the plant this summer. I think it will mainly be sold in Russia/Ukraine/Kazakhstan.