Some advice, please

[RoscoPColtrane]

Hi Everyone

 

I've been looking at the forum for a few weeks now - the information here has been invaluable, so thank you for all your help so far.

 

I am looking for a new car and I'm pretty sure the Rapid gets my vote, probably the 1.2 SE 105 (soon to be 110) PS.  My Mazda has given 12 years of loyal service, but I think it's time to change it, before anything major goes wrong...  Several family members have had a Skoda before (a Fabia, two Yeti's and two Octavia's for a start), and all have proven to be solid and dependable cars.

 

I'm having a test drive early next week, but I wondered if anyone here either bought their car through a broker, or obtained a quote from a broker, took it to the Skoda dealer and asked them to match it?  Broadspeed are offering the car I want for £12,149 OTR, which is a healthy saving, if it's truly achievable with no hassle.   Are these places too good to be true, and what kind of discounts have others achieved when going direct to the dealer, other than the PCP discounts?  

 

Thanks

 

Rosco

[MickA]

I was happy to go via a broker for my Citigo over 2 years ago. It was a straight forward process and achieved a decent discount. This time I went pre reg for my Toledo, only 10 miles on the clock, still a new car but registered for a few months and a huge saving on a factory ordered car.

That price you quotes sounds a good deal for new unregistered.

[camelspyyder]

I googled "50 biggest car dealers" or some such.

 

Went to their websites and checked prices on both new and prereg.

 

Phoned the 3 cheapest to check prices - visited nearest, got them to match the cheapest dealer brand new price in the country.

 

So not pre-reg or from stock, but ordered how I wanted, delivered in 9 days off the next shipment.

 

Discount was £3650 off list, which is comparable with your broker price for a Rapid SE I think.

 

The best pre- reg price I've seen, in the 12 months since, on the same model was another £1700 off so a total discount of £5350 can be had off this £16k car at a dealer.

Edited 6 May, 2015 by camelspyyder

[RoscoPColtrane]

Thanks for your thoughts, folks.  The test drive was delayed for a little while - a bout of pneumonia has kept me occupied for a bit.  Finally had a go in a 1.2 TSi Elegance on Friday.  I was pretty impressed, it's easy to drive, comfortable, and the 1.2 is certainly an eager engine.  All the reviews say it isn't as much fun to drive as a Focus, but I don't spend much of my time 'on the limit' on the way to Sainsburys, and I'm pretty sure I would run out of talent long before the Rapid, so it will do for me. There did seem to be a fair amount of tyre noise, though - not to the extent that it would stop me buying a rapid, but it was louder than my 10 year old Mazda 6  and my Son's Mk1 i30.  As it was an Elegance I drove it has the larger 16" wheels, so the SE I'm planning on having might be a bit better, I guess 

 

I'm just at that nice stage now where I'm deciding on colour and any options.  Black is the favourite at the moment - a pain to clean, I know...

[eyegr]

Thanks for your thoughts, folks.  The test drive was delayed for a little while - a bout of pneumonia has kept me occupied for a bit.  Finally had a go in a 1.2 TSi Elegance on Friday.  I was pretty impressed, it's easy to drive, comfortable, and the 1.2 is certainly an eager engine.  All the reviews say it isn't as much fun to drive as a Focus, but I don't spend much of my time 'on the limit' on the way to Sainsburys, and I'm pretty sure I would run out of talent long before the Rapid, so it will do for me. There did seem to be a fair amount of tyre noise, though - not to the extent that it would stop me buying a rapid, but it was louder than my 10 year old Mazda 6  and my Son's Mk1 i30.  As it was an Elegance I drove it has the larger 16" wheels, so the SE I'm planning on having might be a bit better, I guess 

 

I'm just at that nice stage now where I'm deciding on colour and any options.  Black is the favourite at the moment - a pain to clean, I know...

 

Did you check which tyre model it was? Dunlop Sportmaxx'es are said to be noisy but I can't say that for mine. Maybe our roads here in Greece are smoother than the UK due to asphalt melting? In any case, tyres should not be a deal breaker for you as you can change them later.

 

On the colour issue, I like my white one. It was cheap, always looks clean and doesn't heat up in the summer. Plus, all my cars so far were white

[NigNB]

Only had my Spaceback for a month or so, and am absolutely delighted.

I am positive that you will be too.

Enjoy.......

 

I couldn't agree more Rosco, the forum members contributing to the Rapid section of the forum are helpful, informative and generous with their advice.

[JonBRapid]

I second the tyre check... I have a 2013 Rapid (Notch Back/Saloon type) 1.2tsi Elegance in White... I LOVE IT! I went for white but I'd consider a solid red or DARK metallic blue - I had a black golf and that was a pain to keep clean and showed up all the whirl marks... Anyway, welcome aboard... 

[camelspyyder]

Re the tyre noise, Other OE brands on the Rapid are Conti and Bridgestone I think.  The Conti premium contact 2 are dead quiet on 17s but the Dunlop sp sportmaxx are notoriously noisy.

 

Check tyrereviews.co.uk for loads of info.

Edited 17 May, 2015 by camelspyyder

[Stormchaser]

Agree.

The Contis on mine are quiet. The loan Spaceback I had were Dunlops and very noisy. Both are 17" wheels.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MickA]

Mine are Bridgestones 16" they are a tad noisy. Doesn't help also if the dealer have them pumped up rock hard like some do. My cars have come back from the dealer around 3 times now with over inflated tyres, we are talking up to 8psi over the recommended pressure.

When I bought my Toledo they were around 5-6psi over what they should be, just something to watch when buying/collecting.