Do you have a plan B?

[tuonopepper]

Seems Audi and Jag will both play ball too, first quote for both results in...5200 of an A4 177 se Technic with a fee options which brings it to within 2k of the VRS price, Apr at 6.9% not great and I'm not sure it's enough to pull me away even with unknown deliver date for the VRS.

The Jag comes with just over 5k off list for a 200 R sport with some options, Pcp at 4.9% including 3 years free servicing, that could be worth looking into.

[Gambo]

Now just to throw a few wild cards out there, you don't need space and petrol costs don't matter but......if you're willing to not take on PCP you could always go with an BMW e90 M3 or Lexus IS-F, both can be picked up for around the £20k-£25k mark now and gives you a long term toy.

 

Plus is N/A which is always a massive positive in my book.

 

Or because I like thinking out of the box.....Mazda6 MPS, Evo VI - IX, R32 GTR, Monaro VXR can all be picked up for reasonable money.

 

But I'm not one for buying new cars.

 

Actually if you want a new car I would just go for a BMW 135i, ticks all the boxes and a performance bargin.

[tuonopepper]

The 135 is an interesting prospect, I'd never have another performance Vauxhall, my Insignia VXR was an utter pig.

Audi now 6.5k and Jag offers up to 6k off list..definitely thinking time.

Edited 23 February, 2014 by tuonopepper

[mattsv]

Seems Audi and Jag will both play ball too, first quote for both results in...5200 of an A4 177 se Technic with a fee options which brings it to within 2k of the VRS price, Apr at 6.9% not great and I'm not sure it's enough to pull me away even with unknown deliver date for the VRS.

The Jag comes with just over 5k off list for a 200 R sport with some options, Pcp at 4.9% including 3 years free servicing, that could be worth looking into.

I was very impressed with the Jag when I tested it last weekend. Very refined, but still more than quick enough. Did not get a chance to play around much, but I think it would be just as good on a fast B road as wafting up the motorway. It was the R spec that we tested, good looking car and the cabin feels like a place I could easily spend a lot of time. Some nice touches on the XF, with the gear selector dial that rises up when you start the engine, and the air on dials that automatically rotate round.

Ironically, the sales manager from my Skoda dealer phoned me yesterday to ask whether I had managed to source another car, as the VRS I had ordered had now come forward to April instead of May. I think they are just as fed up with being dicked around by Skoda as I was.

[tuonopepper]

Cheers, I'm going to take a look at the Jag later, it's base price matches the Merc.

The A4 now matches the VRS price but I'm finding I can't get excited about it.

[Mr Grump]

Yeah, the kicker is that the petrol A4 doesn't have the 2.0 lump, so its less power over the TSi vRS.

The Quattro has it, but they aren't coming in low enough ... yet ... I may try a re-run with no options. 

I may well go back to have a test drive in an A4 to see how it feels .... but they only have diesel demo's so its more of a feel for the car as a whole.

 

What dealer got the A4 down to 6.5k off with carwow Tuonopepper ?

[tuonopepper]

Leicester Audi coming in at £6490 off the price of the A4 TDI (177) Quattro SE Technik S Tronic.

 

I've asked what they can do on the same car but with the 2.0TFSi with 225BHP, althought 177 TDI is no slouch pretty much matching the XF 200's figures and of course the TDi will have better residuals than the petrol making lower monthly £.

 

Need to see what they have in stock, have asked the same questions of Jag also.

 

Skoda will come back tomorrow and say that they've worked some magi or found an ammendable cancelled order and it'll be here in 2 weeks so it'll have been a waste of time, lol, though if the A4 TFSi looks like the same price of the VRS it is going to be difficult not to buy one just for the quattro system.

[Mr Grump]

Circa 25.8k for the SE Technik Quattro petrol no options is the best I have got back (Leicester audi).

Apparently the A3 sportback has room for 4 6ft'ers according to one review I read, so have added that to the list and will try for size tomorrow.

Not so good a deals on those though .... 5 prices back and circa 1300 off an S line with some nice options  :wonder:  so more inclined to look at the A4.

[tuonopepper]

I have about £900 of options to add, so that's around 26,700 which is around 1200 above the VRS but that seems reasonable to get quattro, they're PCP rate is obviously higher than the 0% with Skoda so that could cause a problem.

 

I tried a Mazda 6 config, no dice, they're coming in with 700 quid of making them dearer than the Audi!

[fiisch]

What sort of monthly payments are Merc C 250 AMG and Jag coming out at?

My vRS TDi hatch is costing me £800 deposit and £300 / month. When looking for a car I couldn't get the A3/A Class in that area, let alone their bigger brothers.....

[stevehg]

I made the decision over the weekend to cancel my VRS TDi estate order and go for an eclass estate instead. For those hoping this will bump up the queue it's unlikely as I only ordered earlier this month ;-)

Fancied a VRS estate as a change from Superb, but not at 6-8 month wait. I'd even decided to put a DTUK box on too. I may try one of these on merc estate or remap if it's available.

Wish the rest of you well in getting yours on time or sooner.

Cheers

Steve

[tuonopepper]

I guess that's subjective based on the financing, pricing etc.

I can tell you my Vrs based of the terms I'm looking at (duration, mileage, deposit) is 370, the Merc is coming in slightly cheaper at the moment and I'm waiting on Pcp quotes for the A4 and the Jag, all based on the same terms as the Vrs.

I'd.expect the Audi to be the about the same as although it's a bit dearer and the Apr is higher, so is the residual.

[Mr Grump]

When looking for a car I couldn't get the A3/A Class in that area, let alone their bigger brothers.....

 

The A3 doesn't have a lot of offers, presumably as its not due for short term facelift/replacement.

The A4 has a new model out (I think) next year, meaning they are discounted more.  If on Audi finance, you can get a reasonably well spec'd (SE Technik trim) 1.8 petrol manual A4 for under 21.4K ... no idea of payments, but that's a cracking price, I may find that hard to resist if the dealer can get close to that on a non finance deal for me.

 

I think most would need a larger deposit, but you should get under £300 pm ..... BMW have been bombarding me with letters and radio ads with less than that as payments, pity the 3 series has not enough rear legroom for my lot !

[neiln]

I can get military discount on the mazda, just as i do on the vrs, so I just priced up a mazda6 tourer sport 2.0l petrol manual.  it comes in only about £400 more than the vrs.  its a bigger car, with full leather trim, but only 165PS.  other than that its similar to the vrs I spec'ed, bi-xenons with Adaptive lights, led daylight running lights, dusk sensing lights, privacy glass,front fogs, rain sensing wipers, auto dimming rear view mirror, hill hold assist, all the usual air bags, traction and stability control etc etc and  stuff which I hadn't bothered with on the vrs like powered heated folding mirrors, parking sensors and reversing camera, kessy,11 speaker bose sound system, heated front seats.

 

With the vrs I'm happy with a hatch, but since the 6 only comes in saloon or tourer and I want the ability to load, mountain bikes, climbing gear, camping gear and other big stuff I'm looking at the tourer.   and this isn't as sporty as the vrs but it would do me.  I think I need to find my nearest mazda dealers for a tyre kicking session and a test drive

[pipsyp]

E class in a completely different league, enjoy!

[stevehg]

E class in a completely different league, enjoy!

Not price wise on PCP. Mine admittedly was specified with a number of options...

VRS estate TDI DSG

Light assist

Leather

Black pack

Winter pack

Power boot

Bluetooth +

Columbus

Canton

Std Cruise control

OTR price £30,010

Replacing like for like superb 170 TDI 4x4 DSG with a few options was £32,665 OTR

E220 AMG sport Auto estate with full LED intelligent lights as option (didn't want to go back to halogen hi beam) otherwise it has all other Reqs as standard. OTR is £39,975

On 48 month PCP with same deposit and 10,000 miles, eClass was most expensive, Octavia VRS was the cheapest at £11 per month less and the Superb was £6 per month cheaper than eClass. So it's going to cost just over £500 for eClass.

Guaranteed future values of VRS and Superb were almost same with superb being £200 more than VRS, and the Merc is ~£4,000 more. Discount off list, as a percentage, was about the same on eClass as Superb which was almost double the discount on VRS.

[tuonopepper]

Well that's the A4 out of the picture, great deal but no stock and 14 week lead time which puts it in the same time frame as the VRS (alledgedly).

 

Given the current issues on the VRS lead times I'm not really keen on any factory order so if I'm going to enact plan B it needs to be an in stock vehicle.

[Mr Grump]

The PCP on the mercs and jags must be good, as the returns on outright price from carwow are not that good.

14 weeks ... 6 less than vrs ... but then we have eaten most of the difference already ... if it doesn't get extended.

[pipsyp]

Not price wise on PCP. Mine admittedly was specified with a number of options...

VRS estate TDI DSG

Light assist

Leather

Black pack

Winter pack

Power boot

Bluetooth +

Columbus

Canton

Std Cruise control

OTR price £30,010

Replacing like for like superb 170 TDI 4x4 DSG with a few options was £32,665 OTR

E220 AMG sport Auto estate with full LED intelligent lights as option (didn't want to go back to halogen hi beam) otherwise it has all other Reqs as standard. OTR is £39,975

On 48 month PCP with same deposit and 10,000 miles, eClass was most expensive, Octavia VRS was the cheapest at £11 per month less and the Superb was £6 per month cheaper than eClass. So it's going to cost just over £500 for eClass.

Guaranteed future values of VRS and Superb were almost same with superb being £200 more than VRS, and the Merc is ~£4,000 more. Discount off list, as a percentage, was about the same on eClass as Superb which was almost double the discount on VRS.

What I meant by that is its considerably the better car. Perhaps not quite as fast but overall id much rather a new e class than an Octavia. Goes to show what you can get on PCP nowadays and that budget cars arent necessarily the great deal they appear to be on the surface. That said Merc running costs will be a bit steeper.

[stevehg]

The PCP on the mercs and jags must be good, as the returns on outright price from carwow are not that good.

I can only comment on VRS and eClass through carwow. Biggest discount for VRS was ~£2800 and ~£1200 using Skoda finance. Largest discount for eclass was ~£5600 for both. I have been quoted a much bigger discount for eClass from a broker that I used to source my superb, just waiting for them to confirm quote and delivery times.

IIRC I read on here the one member got over £5K off Jag and better residuals to help reduce gap compared VRS costs.

I think the point is that VRS is going to be cheaper, but it's not by a huge margin. Depending on spec of course.

I was quoted 6-8 month wait by dealer and that it was probably going to take another 3 months to get a confirmed build date. They seem to be realistic, as there are people on here that ordered in late Nov & Dec who are still waiting for a build date.

[stevehg]

What I meant by that is its considerably the better car. Perhaps not quite as fast but overall id much rather a new e class than an Octavia. Goes to show what you can get on PCP nowadays and that budget cars arent necessarily the great deal they appear to be on the surface. That said Merc running costs will be a bit steeper.

Yes sorry, I didn't word my reply well, as I knew that's what you meant, I was just pointing out difference in PCP is a lot less as it surprised me too.

I suspect you are right with Merc costs, have no idea of their servicing costs. Superb has had two variable services so far at about £500 IIRC, I suspect Merc will probably double that over the same period.

Cheers

Steve

[pipsyp]

Yes sorry, I didn't word my reply well, as I knew that's what you meant, I was just pointing out difference in PCP is a lot less as it surprised me too.

I suspect you are right with Merc costs, have no idea of their servicing costs. Superb has had two variable services so far at about £500 IIRC, I suspect Merc will probably double that over the same period.

Cheers

Steve

Its very good indeed; kind of wish id visited my local Merc dealer before buying my Octavia now :-)

[B19RAK]

Well guys, i cancelled my new vRS order and got my deposit back. I've got  new 14 plate C220cdi Sport Plus with £9.5k off! PCP Payments also coming in cheaper then the vRS. If i stick another £500 deposit (£3700 inc equity in my car) and do it over 2 years i'm paying £266 a month or £1k down (£3,200) at £296 over three.

 

The Merc dealer also gave me £15k for my Blackline with 17k on the clock. I'm struggling to sell it private at £15,800 !.

Edited 24 February, 2014 by B19RAK

[tuonopepper]

Jag residuals didn't seem to live up to my expectations and the resulting PCP is higher than the Merc C250 (hadn't even thought about the C220 - will see what performance difference is), so now I'm down to what Merc dealer can do, car in stock at my local dealer, delivery 1st March or what my Skoda dealer can do to keep my order, loan car was menioned.....

[B19RAK]

Current Merc deals are on Sport Edition models with Premium Pack. Have HD Command online, DAB, Heated seats, rear camera. Don't have Xenons and 17" wheels only.

 

I went for the previous model Sport Plus doesn't have the premium pack but does have 18" alloys and Bi Xenons. Bought a Becker Map Pilot sat nav module of ebay for it £200.