Long delays. Considering cancelling my order.

[Rainmaker]

in all fairness, had Mazda have the same success with 6 that Skoda has with O3, there could have been similar delays getting the 6's all the way from Japan

 

when you say plenty of legroom in the back, was it a 6 estate or a 4-door version? for some reason the estate is quite shorter in wheelbase and total length

 

I'm considering the same options, the 6's instrument cluster and displays look outdated, that TomTom doesn't look like it belongs there; I wonder if they sell the same looks in Japan as well

 

It was the estate mate, yeah. I know it's a slightly shorter wheelbase but I'm 6'6" and the 6' salesman managed to sit behind me with a few inches of leg room to spare so that's ample for our needs. I didn't mind the binnacles they're clear and easy to read which is all you need really. The Skoda dash is fancier/nicer to be sure, but the Mazda is very clean and functional and the rest of the car makes up for it imho. 

[Yogi-Bear]

2 weeks in your choice of colour? Do they have cars of all different colours just sitting around? Or have they built loads of cars and left them unpainted?

It shows how popular they are if they can manage to build loads of cars to sit as stock cars.

 

There are next to no options on Mazdas (and other Asian makes), unlike VAG/BMW/other European makes.  Therefore, they build them in all the different colour / spec combos and ship them over by the boatload, literally.  Chances are the one you want is somewhere in this country or, at worst, en route.

[JungleJames]

There are next to no options on Mazdas (and other Asian makes), unlike VAG/BMW/other European makes.  Therefore, they build them in all the different colour / spec combos and ship them over by the boatload, literally.  Chances are the one you want is somewhere in this country or, at worst, en route.

Ah, cheers for that. Makes sense.

The lack of options also explains the difference in waiting times (along with the fact Skoda's are more popular). You dont need to wait for parts, as you would have them all ready.  

[Ootohere]

Derv,

Skoda is a low volume seller in the UK.

last year there were 66,000 first registered in the UK,

& 32,000 of them were Fabia MK2.

 

Ford sell 2 to 3 rimes more Fiesta in the UK than all the Skoda models put together.

 

If Skoda UK can not find you a Suitable Model you want through Motability, then surely other Brands Dealerships will.

 

The Motability Salesperson at the Dealership you are dealing with seems to be rather poor at his / her job.

I know they can not work wonders if cars are not available, 

but they can usually find them and stop others Sales People Gazumping the Motability Customers.

 

george

 

PS

I have not looked at what Estates are good value recently. but i will now.

http://motability.co.uk

 

PPS, how about a Seat Leon Estate, or a Honda Civic Estate.

If there is one in Stock, you can have it in 10 Days. 

Same with most Manufacturers.

Edited 25 October, 2014 by goneoffSKi

[JungleJames]

PPS, how about a Seat Leon Estate, or a Honda Civic Estate.

What over a Mazda 6? Nooo, even i'd be choosing the Mazda over those two

[Ootohere]

No idea what the Mazda 6 Estates are like really,

but staring at £1,099 or £1,299 deposit and then get a good bit more for some spec, (Over £2,000)

they need to be good.

You are then paying at least £8,700 over the next 3 years.

 

http://motability.co.uk

Edited 25 October, 2014 by goneoffSKi

[GTR27]

You guys are so spoilt for choice. In Australia, we have the old model Mondeo (not the shape that was updated for you a year ago). Available in auto only. It's 5-10k aud more than a similar spec octavia. The Mazda 6 which is the closest competitor in drive, build quality etc is 10k more for the same spec, but smaller boot. Again, auto only. Renault megane wagon slightly more expensive than Octavia, smaller and more poorly built. Similar wait times as well. Chevrolet cruze wagon, which is rubbish is similar pricing, but smaller.

You guys could get a BMW/merc/Audi estate for the same price as we pay for a Mazda 6.

I reckon one of your big dealers would sell more than the Australian market for Octavias. They sell about 3-400 Skoda's a month in Australia.

Just to give some perspective for you, from another RHD country

Edited 25 October, 2014 by GTR27

[ExpatHotspur]

You guys are so spoilt for choice. In Australia, we have the old model Mondeo (not the shape that was updated for you a year ago). Available in auto only. It's 5-10k aud more than a similar spec octavia. The Mazda 6 which is the closest competitor in drive, build quality etc is 10k more for the same spec, but smaller boot. Again, auto only. Renault megane wagon slightly more expensive than Octavia, smaller and more poorly built. Similar wait times as well. Chevrolet cruze wagon, which is rubbish is similar pricing, but smaller.

You guys could get a BMW/merc/Audi estate for the same price as we pay for a Mazda 6.

I reckon one of your big dealers would sell more than the Australian market for Octavias. They sell about 3-400 Skoda's a month in Australia.

Just to give some perspective for you, from another RHD country

 

I don't feel sorry for you. I yearn for a big Aussie V8. How much is a 3 year old Falcon v6 turbo/ V8 Wagon/ Holden Commodore HSV Wagon? (pardon my ignorance, I don't know the specs of these cars) One of these has to be worth a punt and to hell with the fuel/ tire bills  . You only live once

[GTR27]

Can only get commodore in wagon now days. More expensive than Octavia, bit lots bigger too. They aren't a bad car, but build quality and materials are down on euro brands. They are a nice drive though, I've had a few v8 commodores and side from fuel they are good to own. Sound great too.

A v8 wagon is about £31k pounds. 900l boot and similar to a superb inside for room. But drinks about 15l/100 around town (19mpg) and about 9l/100 (31 mpg) on the highway.

HSV version (think vxr8) is about £42k

Edited 26 October, 2014 by GTR27

[Rainmaker]

No idea what the Mazda 6 Estates are like really,

but staring at £1,099 or £1,299 deposit and then get a good bit more for some spec, (Over £2,000)

they need to be good.

You are then paying at least £8,700 over the next 3 years.

 

http://motability.co.uk

 

Thanks to everyone again for all the replies. It'd be too much to reply to each individually but I assure you they've all been read and given consideration.  

 

I did want to address this point however. To be fair the Motability price list is somewhat misleading here, as the 'entry level' model they have available at £1,099 is actually the upper-middle spec model Mazda 6 (SE-L). So already it's better equipped than most O3s, and includes every toy I'd need (cruise, bluetooth, front collision detection/auto brake, electric-everything, auto wipers/lights etc). So to say it's over £2k for 'some spec' is grossly misleading as actually the 'base' model on Motability is already pretty much fully loaded. 

 

I'm going to ask for an extended test drive on Monday as due to the dealer's location we didn't get to try NSL roads/motorway/etc as they're situated by the docks. However I have to say I'm struggling to find reason not to pull the trigger, I only visited Mazda to cross them off the list and give me a bit of ammo at the Skoda dealer, but I've ended up being mightily impressed!

[brad1.8T]

I don't feel sorry for you. I yearn for a big Aussie V8. How much is a 3 year old Falcon v6 turbo/ V8 Wagon/ Holden Commodore HSV Wagon? (pardon my ignorance, I don't know the specs of these cars) One of these has to be worth a punt and to hell with the fuel/ tire bills  . You only live once

Yes, all the Aussie stuff is cheap as chips 3 yrs down the track & our fuel is cheap at AUD1.50-175/L (about GBP1) for 98ron too.  They are starting to show their age at 3 yrs (crap build quality) and they drink like a sailor on shore leave.  My wife has the 3.0L V6 Commodore motor in her SUV and averages 14.8L/100km.  All the power comes in very late so you have to constantly "drive" the engine.

 

A mate has a HSV 6.2L.  He averages 19L/100km but he gave up smoking when he bought it & reckons it's still cheaper than cigarettes ($20+ per packet).

[lozza]

Mazda 6. No DAB radio. No option to spec DAB radio. End of conversation at the dealers for me.

[Minimoke]

I rather fancied a Mazda 6 before I decided to stick with the Octy.

 

What put me off at the time (this was a while ago so the situation may have changed) was the very limited range of engines for the estate, and no petrols. That was an absolute no-no for me - no more diesels for me at any price. 

 

Also the load entry area for the estate (ie the tailgate opening) was limited and would not work for me. Appeared to me to be a triumph of style over practicality. Look at this before you take your test drive on Monday - you may be able to live with it. 

 

Not for me, but I can see the attraction, especially with the Skoda delivery lead times.

 

Or you could go for the number 1 estate car nominated in the Sunday Times Driving section today which is the 5 series BMW.  Yours for between a mere £30K to £74K. The poor old Octavia only came 8th. The Mazda 6 came nowhere. Moral is - ignore the Sunday supplements.

[Rainmaker]

Mazda 6. No DAB radio. No option to spec DAB radio. End of conversation at the dealers for me.

 

To be fair I've never had DAB before so wouldn't miss it. I don't generally listen to the stereo/radio when driving anyway as (1) I'm partially deaf and (2) I'd rather drive without meaningless noise/distraction. Just personal preference.

 

I rather fancied a Mazda 6 before I decided to stick with the Octy.

 

What put me off at the time (this was a while ago so the situation may have changed) was the very limited range of engines for the estate, and no petrols. That was an absolute no-no for me - no more diesels for me at any price. 

 

Also the load entry area for the estate (ie the tailgate opening) was limited and would not work for me. Appeared to me to be a triumph of style over practicality. Look at this before you take your test drive on Monday - you may be able to live with it. 

 

Not for me, but I can see the attraction, especially with the Skoda delivery lead times.

 

Or you could go for the number 1 estate car nominated in the Sunday Times Driving section today which is the 5 series BMW.  Yours for between a mere £30K to £74K. The poor old Octavia only came 8th. The Mazda 6 came nowhere. Moral is - ignore the Sunday supplements.

 

I found the tailgate to be perfectly adequate and very wide, so I can't say I noticed to be fair. I liked that the load area is flat and there's only enough of a lip (maybe 2") to stop things rolling out but not enough to get in the way of flatpack loading etc. The dealer has asked us to bring along our pram/travel system and various baby accoutrements to see just how well they load and sit in the estate when we visit the showroom tomorrow, which I thought was a nice suggestion. At least then we'll know just how well suited the load area is for us in particular.

 

The estates come in the same engines as the saloon now; 2.0 petrol (145ps or 165ps) and two 2.2 diesels. The latter are actually amazingly good, and I really enjoyed test driving them. I've had enough of diesels (hence ordering the 1.4TSI originally and now the 2.0 petrol 6), but the power delivery on the 6's 2.2 litre is brilliantly linear and it really does pull all the way to the red line. No turbo so you just get torque right the way across with no lag or 'lump' of power in the mid-range. The money on the diesels is significant however, and it'd cost me an extra £1,500 up front to get the 2.2 diesel over the 2.0 petrol. Suffice to say £1,500 buys a lot of petrol!!

 

Unfortunately a 5 series isn't available on Motability though I'd definitely have been looking if they were. I'll update tomorrow when I've been back to the Mazda dealer with my wife, and spoken to the Skoda dealer. Thanks again everyone.

[Minimoke]

What you said about the engines interested me. So I went to the Mazda configurator and I cannot see any estates with petrol engines - they only seem to be available on the hatch.

Or is the configurator out of date?

PS I wouldn't rush to the BMW dealer. The 5 series I had was a £40k dog. Luckily it was a company car so cost me nothing except annoyance.

EDIT:

Investigated further and it looks like the configurator has several errors. Petrols do seem to be available now if one looks at the price list instead.

[Rainmaker]

What you said about the engines interested me. So I went to the Mazda configurator and I cannot see any estates with petrol engines - they only seem to be available on the hatch.

Or is the configurator out of date?

PS I wouldn't rush to the BMW dealer. The 5 series I had was a £40k dog. Luckily it was a company car so cost me nothing except annoyance.

EDIT:

Investigated further and it looks like the configurator has several errors. Petrols do seem to be available now if one looks at the price list instead.

 

Yeah the configurator seems to be borked. The petrols are available on SE-L and above. 

Edited 26 October, 2014 by Derv

[FilipC]

I've heard it before but it can't be true ... The petrol engines are naturally aspirated ones (though at 13 or 14 to 1 compression ratio you'd better use expensive fuel on the long run) but the diesels must have a turbocharger ... I don't think there's anyone anymore making NA diesels, you'd be getting less than 100hp out of 2.2l

[Rainmaker]

Just a final update as promised. After another test drive on some faster roads and motorways I've decided the 6 is definitely where I want to be. Had the Skoda been anything like timely I'd have been delighted I'm sure, but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush as they say.

Delivery's set for two weeks time, which is a breath of fresh air lol. Enjoy your motors guys, I've nothing against them and would look at Skoda again in three years if they've sorted out the waiting times.

Edited 27 October, 2014 by Derv

[themanwithnoaim]

Another example of the 5 Ps

[Greg R]

I looked at the cx5 before settling in the octavia. It really surprised me how well it drove, but it just too much of a compromise from a normal car. That and the lack of dab (i listen to a dab only station these days.) killed it off for me.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Coops]

 

The Mazda can be delivered in my choice of colour with full leather, TomTom XL infotainment style system, Bose stereo (9 speakers + sub), cruise and every toy imaginable.... within 2 WEEKS. If I want to get a custom build I might have to wait as long as 8 weeks.

 

Skoda, watch and learn. :(

 

Well done on biting the bullet and good luck with the Mazda. A friend has recently swapped his Insignia for a Mazda 6 (company car) and they look bloody smart IMO.

 

I haven't looked at the Mazda spec in detail but I suspect they already load up their models with kit/gadgets/toys which people actually want and therefore don't have a huge options list (as it's already included) so they can build more as stock. VAG have built up their range with huge options lists meaning unless it's completely stock a delay will be inevitable. My Superb took 9 months to be delivered and it only had 2 options!

[lozza]

I know DAB isn't a big thing for everybody, but I find it incredible that it's not even an option in a car that costs that much.

Which is a shame, because it's a cracking motor otherwise.

Edited 27 October, 2014 by lozza

[Yogi-Bear]

I know DAB isn't a big thing for everybody, but I find it incredible that it's not even an option in a car that costs that much.

 

The Japanese don't use the same digital broadcasting standards that we do... so it may well be that they have digital radio in cars for their home market, but not for other markets (such as Europe) that use different standards.

 

And I don't think £30k is "that much" for a car... yes, to most people (myself included), it is a lot of money.  But on the scale of £8k (or however cheap you can get a Dacia) up to £millions, it's pretty much down at the bottom.

[hobbie2k]

Just an update on my experience. I ordered a 103TSI Estate (6spd manual, pano roof, Bolero, Canton, power tail, alarm, Moon White) on Aug 1. The dealer wouldn't give me a build week, just "a few months". I got word yesterday that the car has been built and is waiting to start the three month journey to Adelaide.

[GTR27]

Just an update on my experience. I ordered a 103TSI Estate (6spd manual, pano roof, Bolero, Canton, power tail, alarm, Moon White) on Aug 1. The dealer wouldn't give me a build week, just "a few months". I got word yesterday that the car has been built and is waiting to start the three month journey to Adelaide.

That's very fast for Australia! I ordered my ambition+ with tech pack may 7 and it got built mid sept. Should get it in 4 weeks which is exciting