I am in the fortunate position that I am a company car user and I can have demos over a weekend. I appreciate this because I have a bad back and need a long drive in a car to satisfy myself that the seat is comfortable over a couple of hours. A drive round the block with a salesperson in the passenger just doesn't cut it.

I am likely to order a 2.0D manual Elegance Combi, and need to do so very soon given the date when my Audi needs to go back. A month ago SUK offered me a date in MAY for the car I want! I agreed to take a 1.6D DSG Elegance today, on the basis that I would at least have the right trim i.e. seats with lumber adjustment - the lever on the side. I have had an hours drive in a stock 2.0D manual Elegance with a local dealer, so I am happy with the engine / gearbox.

So what do I get this morning? 1.6D DSG Elegance with Electric seats! (And Columbus, Winter Pack are the other obvious options).

This means fully adjustable electric lumbar support with up / down as well as in / out. So the height of the manual support in a standard Elegance could be at a different height and I could be stuck with an uncomfortable car for 4 years. Or I pay £700 for electric seats that I don't really need. Agghhh.

</RANT>

Sorry - very specific to me, but I needed to get it off my chest.

(4 years ago, I asked Audi for as SE. They sent me an SLine, so I said "Send me an SE". So they sent me an SE with 19" wheels, 30mm drop suspension, Sports Seats, Xenons - about £10000 in options I guess. So I said "Send me an SE". They eventually got the message (though I had a bit more time to play with then...)

Edited 12 April, 201313 yr by Juniperz

Perhaps you need a good osteopath mate rather than a decent car seat! Have you tried one of those "beady" seat things?

Perhaps you need a good osteopath mate rather than a decent car seat! Have you tried one of those "beady" seat things?

Haha. Chiropractor, osteopath, physios - oh and a bit of surgery on my neck to trim a disk 2.5 yrs ago. I would rather have a seat that fits me than an after market beady thing...

Every dealer will be different. Some, like ourselves will leave the demos pretty standard whereas some will add an abundance of options - yes it's nicer but as we all know options do not vastly increase the selling price, just make it more desirable.

as we all know options do not vastly increase the selling price, just make it more desirable.

If that is the case then why does an Elegance cost more and give higher trade-in value than an equivalent SE? Surely higher desireability equals higher value. It does everywhere else except in car trade-in values.

The point was that 2 like for like models, same engine, mileage etc, 1 with no other options and the other with a handful of other gadgets, the higher spec'd one would not neccessarily fetch a vast amount more money, be it trade in or selling, just that it makes it a little more desirable.

The point was that 2 like for like models, same engine, mileage etc, 1 with no other options and the other with a handful of other gadgets, the higher spec'd one would not neccessarily fetch a vast amount more money, be it trade in or selling, just that it makes it a little more desirable.

Ah - sorry! I missed the "vast". It would be worth something extra though. I'm sure that if I went on your forecourt and looked at 2 used cars identical except that one has Columbus, maxidot and full leather then, all else being equal, the higher specced car would be priced higher.

Ah - sorry! I missed the "vast". It would be worth something extra though. I'm sure that if I went on your forecourt and looked at 2 used cars identical except that one has Columbus, maxidot and full leather then, all else being equal, the higher specced car would be priced higher.

Without a shadow of a doubt.

What I should have said was that if you add £1,500 of options it won't make the car £1,500 more come part exchange time.

Every dealer will be different. Some, like ourselves will leave the demos pretty standard whereas some will add an abundance of options - yes it's nicer but as we all know options do not vastly increase the selling price, just make it more desirable.

That may be true of the dealer demo cars, but I was told by someone in Skoda UK that does these extended demos for fleet customers, that EVERY Octavia in that pool has Electric Seats, so they are unable to let me have one. And the supplying dealer's demonstrator has them too.

If you know that you can get comfortable with the electric seats, then in my opinion £700 over 4 years is a small price to pay. As you say the lumbar on a manual seat may not be in an ideal position. Electric seats offer a better accuracy of adjustment also on a modern car they may well have a memory function which would be useful after someone else has driven the car.

If you know that you can get comfortable with the electric seats, then in my opinion £700 over 4 years is a small price to pay. As you say the lumbar on a manual seat may not be in an ideal position. Electric seats offer a better accuracy of adjustment also on a modern car they may well have a memory function which would be useful after someone else has driven the car.

Yes, you make some good points, but I have actually decided to go with standard seats. The electric ones, whilst highly adjustable and having the extremely useful memory function, seem to have have quite "sharp" lumbar support while in the standard seats, it is rounded. Unless you have a bad back and are tuned into this stuff, this probably sounds like gibberish, but it was like winding a 3cm roller into the back with the electric, and a 10cm roller with manual. With the electric, you can move it up/down as well as in/out, but my perception was that I was moving a sharp thing about. While I had the demo car, I passed a dealer and tried the standard Elegance seat as a (no! don't say it!) back-to-back comparison

Now someone will probably check the parts lists and tell me they are the same!

I will probably order tomorrow (just waiting for a price from the lease company), and it's looking like:

Octavia Mk3 2.0D 150bhp Elegance Combi in Steel Grey with Chrome Window Surrounds & Chrome Roof Rails, Full Beige Leather, Columbus 8" Nav, Heated Screen / Seats / Nozzles, Keyless Entry, Spare Wheel.

Very nice! Add the Golus...you know you want to!

Very nice! Add the Golus...you know you want to!

Oh don't remind me! I can't find a demo car with Golus within striking distance to try one, and I don't want to take the risk of worse ride / increased road noise from the 40% profile tyres, so I am afraid it is off the list.

I might take KESSY, Chrome Windows / Roof rails off the list too... My employer imposes a £5 a month penalty for exceeding £25000 list price, and removing those three options gets me to £24,935.

KESSY is a nice-to-have as I could probably manage to get the key out of my pocket, but I have never had it before and I could keep up with my wife (Renault Mégane).

And the Chrome bits are nice-to-have bling which I won't see most of the time (like Golus tbh).

To have KESSY OR Chrome would cost me £10* a month for 48 months - £480 total to get £300 in options.

To have KESSY AND Chrome would cost me £15 a month for 48 months - £720 total to get £600 in options.**

Need to decide today really...

* Taking account of lease cost, salary sacrifice and BIK tax per month.

** Makes having both options look like better value!!!

Edited 17 April, 201313 yr by Juniperz