Did you ever dream of owning and driving a car which has as it's main description, and therefore differentiated by, the word "elegance"?

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Never dreamt of owning and driving a car manufactured by "Skoda" either....   The brand make reliable, versatile, comfortable and economical to run bread and butter cars, none of their cars are what anyone would call "dream cars" are they? :think:

Edited 6 May, 201412 yr by Timoctav

Keep pushing the vRS pricing up, Skoda.... 

 

Looking forward to an awesome trade-in price on my PCP-financed TDi in a couple of years time

.....I admire your tenacity in debate so the above items (along with the car) will serve you well as a politician. I bet you are a member of CAMRA too! ;-).......

 

 

Thank you but no I'm not a member of CAMRA - as much as I enjoy a "proper" pint - no fizz for me thank you. And before you ask my surname isn't "Farage" either!!

Never dreamt of owning and driving a car manufactured by "Skoda" either....   The brand make reliable, versatile, comfortable and economical to run bread and butter cars, none of their cars are what anyone would call "dream cars" are they? :think:

It may seem strange, but I've wanted a Skoda for over 30 years. A desire inspired by John Haugland's rallying exploits in the (mainly) 70s and 80s.

I just never got around to buying one until now.

See car 33 - it's in good company:

1981 Lombard RAC Rally - Sutton Park:

My "dream car" back then was also based on rally success - the Lancia Delta HF Integrale. Owned one in 1989 - 90. At least Skoda under VW stewardship have become a very successful company, unlike either Lancia or Alfa Romeo under FIAT. Here's hoping the latest Alfa 4C is a welcome return to their old form, rather than merely badge engineered FIAT's.  Lancia however has become badge engined Daiwoos. Very sad.

 

They say - whoever "they" are - that a proper driving career should involve both (proper) Alfas and a 911 - I'm privileged to have owned both.

Elegance spec is definitely a choice made by head over heart.

3 months in I'm largely bored of mine and thinking of what to get next....but its not that its a bad car far from it. I am also like that with most of the cars I have bought...longest ive kept a car in the past three years is 18 months.

Its EXTREMELY effective as a half quick motorway car for carrying my family and the epic amounts of luggage that come with them. Its simply brilliant at it and doesnt pretend to be anything else. To drive it is a "for the sake of it" affair, I never jump in it just because I'm desperate to go for a rag in it; just isnt that sort of car.

It is probably about all the car I would ever need on paper.....but when you really love cars and driving it really doesnt hit those buttons because its not remotely an emotive vehicle but then everyone has different requirements and priorities.

I'm glad I bought it in preference to a vRS TDi though as have been there and done it with the MK2....loved the car, how it drove and looked but the performance was always massively underwhelming for what was a sporty hatch and its primarily why I sold it....I now firmly believe a vRS should always be a petrol but thats just my opinion.

I bought the new one with a different set of priorities and accepted the compromises...actually quite like the fact it has vRS TDI levels of straight line go but looks quite mundane; is a bit of a sleeper for sure......but whether I'll have it in a years time I just dont know!

Square steering wheel anybody ??

That was an Austin All Aggro thing - noit exclusively Vanden Plas although there was an Allaggro Vanden Plas - nicknamed "Noddy's Car" at the time.

Never dreamt of owning and driving a car manufactured by "Skoda" either....   The brand make reliable, versatile, comfortable and economical to run bread and butter cars, none of their cars are what anyone would call "dream cars" are they? :think:

I totally agree Tim, having said that you are acutely aware that there are a large number of people on this forum that think the VRS is their dream car. Seeing as, in either TSI or TDI form, it's the fastest, best looking, best handling, and most spacious car available this side of £40K - who can argue with their logic? ;) ;)

My "dream car" back then was also based on rally success - the Lancia Delta HF Integrale. Owned one in 1989 - 90. At least Skoda under VW stewardship have become a very successful company, unlike either Lancia or Alfa Romeo under FIAT. Here's hoping the latest Alfa 4C is a welcome return to their old form, rather than merely badge engineered FIAT's.  Lancia however has become badge engined Daiwoos.

Chevrolet's in Europe are badge engineered Daewoo's, they are part of the GM family. Lancia's are mainly Fiats underneath and badged as Chryslers in the UK.

 

Keep pushing the vRS pricing up, Skoda.... 

 

Looking forward to an awesome trade-in price on my PCP-financed TDi in a couple of years time

 

Hmmm... Not sure pre-EU6 diesels are gonna be worth diddly squat in a couple or 3 years time TBH

I might be wroung but, I can see tax discs going through the roof and Ecologists PR machine whurring like mad, for some reason the general public seems to go for it "look I'm being sooooooo good to the planet" smug-ass-smiles when all they're really interested in fuel economy

   

Hmmm... Not sure pre-EU6 diesels are gonna be worth diddly squat in a couple or 3 years time TBH

I might be wroung but, I can see tax discs going through the roof and Ecologists PR machine whurring like mad, for some reason the general public seems to go for it "look I'm being sooooooo good to the planet" smug-ass-smiles when all they're really interested in fuel economy

Depends whether the Government completely changes the current CO2-only based banding system. EU6 is not designed to reduce CO2 emissions so it may just add another £500-£1000 on top of current diesel prices, and the additionally restricted Cats may require more frequent regens or replacemen, and could even affect performance.

Edited 6 May, 201412 yr by Orville

The more you pay the more depreciation you will loose. 11k more than mine was new and they look so similar to non vRS models and the ride height is still too high , yet all skoda ads show them lower

VAG will end up sticking AdBlue on most of their diesels to make them EU6 compliant; likely to become as commonplace as DPFs before too long.

I totally agree Tim, having said that you are acutely aware that there are a large number of people on this forum that think the VRS is their dream car. Seeing as, in either TSI or TDI form, it's the fastest, best looking, best handling, and most spacious car available this side of £40K - who can argue with their logic? ;) ;)

 

Me? Argue?

......Lancia's are mainly Fiats underneath and badged as Chryslers in the UK.

Well almost as bad.... :wonder:

I think Skoda are just about winning the race in the UK due to their quite canny finance packages.

I think my base spec 2.0 Elegance estate @ over £23k was rather alot of money; particularly given the Blackline DSG estate I bouggt 12 months prior was only 20k.....but very few (and no other VAG stablemate as far as I know) were offering 0% finance and free servicing at the time.

Care of that deal (and that the new car has a slightly better 3.5 year residual value) my 3k more expensive car costs roughly the same per month and I had to put considerably less deposit in. If you buy on finance you are getting a nice few k discount up front by having no interest to pay on the loan, so less deposit required and reasonable monthly paymentd despite the full list price.

I see it as a bit of a compromise vehicle as personally id have rather had a reasonable spec 320d saloon/touring if my heart had led proceedings but the Octavia is absolutely huge for a Golf based car, well spec'd, goes well, v efficient on paper and in the end probably about the most car I could have bought new for my self imposed monthly spend budget and minimal deposit. I dont doubt a nice 320d would cost at least £100/month more than I pay now and would require a bigger deposit as at the end of the day its a 33k-ish K car being purchased on a less attractive marketing programme.

Now if Skoda get their marketing/financing wrong it would hurt their business as Id say the majority of people nowadays use finance; if you had to pay strong list price and take mediocre finance packages to pay for them other premium marques offerings would start to make alot more sense and they'd lose sales.

The demand for the vRS will die down in due course and I'm certain it'll end up back on 0% in order for SUK to keep the sales numbers up.

I'm not so sure a 320d would cost very much more to be honest , certainly not £100 a month more. The 3 Series is carrying a hefty discount right now ... 20-22%. Combine that with stronger residuals and 4.9% apr and it wouldn't be a very expensive pcp. Still ... Depends what you're used to paying I suppose.

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When I was looking to replace my 320D Touring the VRS TSI worked out almost identical to another 320D over 3 years PCP. Even the 135i was within the same ballpark, but I needed the extra space and yearned for something different so went for the Octy. The 320 had MUCH higher quality materials and better build quality but space in the back was tiny compared to the Octy. I miss the solid construction and RWD of the 3-Series, but the Octy has a much nicer engine and I am glad to have a manual gearbox back.

If I did not need the space the M135i would have been my first choice for fun, and the 320D first choice for build and ride refinement. Both are better cars than the Octy and feel a class above but they lack the true family-sized practicality which was my No1 priority after struggling with the 3-Series.

The Octy sort of reminds me of my old Subaru's which in some strange way equaled more than the sum of their parts. Although I know the BMW is the better car dynamically and quality wise I actually prefer the VRS.

Edited 6 May, 201412 yr by Orville

I'm not so sure a 320d would cost very much more to be honest , certainly not £100 a month more. The 3 Series is carrying a hefty discount right now ... 20-22%. Combine that with stronger residuals and 4.9% apr and it wouldn't be a very expensive pcp. Still ... Depends what you're used to paying I suppose.

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No certainly not huge amounts in it (I suppose in reality £400/month isnt loads for a PCP on a decent car) but I'm pretty sure i'd have had to have banged down a fair bit more capital to get near to the monthly payment I have on the Octavia.

After all even with a 20% discount a fairly run of the mill 33k 320d will still cost the best part of 26k then you have the loan APR to factor in too.

Thank you but no I'm not a member of CAMRA - as much as I enjoy a "proper" pint - no fizz for me thank you. And before you ask my surname isn't "Farage" either!!

OK Nigel, whatever you say! Lol.

Just found out from Skoda UK today that there are no sport packages available for the Elegance...not even a chuffin spoiler...so much for the accessory brochure!

£266/month on the petrol Elegance with a grand down Pip, dunno if I'd have done £300/month for the diesel though, I'd have to be saving loads of fuel over many miles to get that money back, probably 25K m/p/a break even point off the top of my head !

I'm not so sure a 320d would cost very much more to be honest , certainly not £100 a month more. The 3 Series is carrying a hefty discount right now ... 20-22%. Combine that with stronger residuals and 4.9% apr and it wouldn't be a very expensive pcp. Still ... Depends what you're used to paying I suppose.

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Depends what 3 series you are looking at - you certainly won't get 20-22% on a 320d, might on a larger engined model. The running costs of a 3 series are likely to be much higher than Skoda. Unless you need the room it's a massively better car than any Skoda. Even the vRS....  .

Edited 7 May, 201412 yr by Timoctav

Depends what 3 series you are looking at - you certainly won't get 20-22% on a 320d, might on a larger engined model. The running costs of a 3 series are likely to be much higher than Skoda. Unless you need the room it's a massively better car than any Skoda. Even the vRS.... .

Biggest issue I have with the 3 series is I need two of them for a family skiing trip. That's expensive, whatever the discount.

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....Just found out from Skoda UK today that there are no sport packages available for the Elegance...not even a chuffin spoiler...so much for the accessory brochure!

I don't recall Vanden Plas doing them either!

£266/month on the petrol Elegance with a grand down Pip, dunno if I'd have done £300/month for the diesel though, I'd have to be saving loads of fuel over many miles to get that money back, probably 25K m/p/a break even point off the top of my head !

I pay 297 with 500 down over 42 months. When I did the figures I believe both the manual and DSG equipped 1.4 TSi's worked out to be slightly more per month care of their slightly poorer residual value. Had the 1.4 been cheaper I'd have probably gone for it.

I didnt push too hard for a discount on the car as the dealer said there wasnt much room for it care of the 0% deal which in fairness was set to save me a few k in interest anyway, benefit of hindsight i'll probably shop around a bit next time.

Fuel costs arent too much of problem as I have a fully funded fuel card so benefit for massively cut price diesel for personal use. That said the less I spend on fuel the less tax I pay....not convinced real world the TSi will be as efficient as the TDi so that influenced my choice a little.

As is the case with many on here, everyone has their own criteria for car choice.  Mine is a mix of tax costs and personal needs.  Whilst a vRS doesn't fit all of those (I want a quick-ish 1.4 petrol auto estate that can tow - which means an Octavia or Golf GT and the Octavia wins the tax argument even before I look at equipment), it does show that whilst the Octavia might have been a spacious alternative to a Focus or Astra estate 10 or even 5 years ago, it's now being compared to BMW and Audi.

 

'Nuff said?