Sad times & a huge thank you

[Telboy5]

After a change in company policy (despite the VW diesel scandal), my beloved Octavia VRS TSI DSG has now gone to pastures new. I'm now driving a company car.

I just wanted to thank the forum, which is second to none, for everything, it's been a blast.

The VRS has been the best car I have ever owned, did 42k miles without hitch and loved every minute, still miss it now even after a couple of weeks. The only things that let the experience down to be honest was the dealership and after sales, the car itself was faultless.

Enjoy your motors all, great cars.

Edited 4 October, 2015 by john999boy
Non freedom advert removed

[pipsyp]

CO2 restrictions by any chance? Sorry to hear it Tel

[Helston Hauler]

I have pm'd you about the parts for sale,my car is a mk3 Octavia Hatchback 2013

[Gaz]

At least you got to have one for a while  :yes:

 

Octy III vRS's presumably weren't on the company list then

 

Gaz

[john999boy]

Don't forget that you need to be a freedom member to be able to sell on here.

[Telboy5]

At least you got to have one for a while  :yes:

 

Octy III vRS's presumably weren't on the company list then

 

Gaz

Nope, was a tad gutted and even asked if I could trade my car in against a diesel and source privately, they weren't up for that and neither were skoda at the time, not interested in offering me anything more than £11-12k for my car which was a 63 plate with 42k miles on the clock. Luckily found the right deal and trade in value elsewhere.

[Telboy5]

CO2 restrictions by any chance? Sorry to hear it Tel

Had a large part to play, really wanted to keep it and thought them long and hard for a few months over it, however when allowances and job are put at risk it's not worth fighting.

 

Really fancied looking at the car you've got, Golf GTD although budget couldn't stretch that far, however did end up with a lot of car for my money, new Peugeot 308 GT 180 HDI. So far so good, not as good as my Octy although the margins are getting narrower between these cars now and the build quality on the Pug has come on by a country mile since I last sampled a French car.

[pipsyp]

Had a large part to play, really wanted to keep it and thought them long and hard for a few months over it, however when allowances and job are put at risk it's not worth fighting.

Really fancied looking at the car you've got, Golf GTD although budget couldn't stretch that far, however did end up with a lot of car for my money, new Peugeot 308 GT 180 HDI. So far so good, not as good as my Octy although the margins are getting narrower between these cars now and the build quality on the Pug has come on by a country mile since I last sampled a French car.

Fair shout Tel...I guess looking at it positively you got to drive around in a 330hp monster for a good long while largely at your companies expense.

As to the 308....I dont much like French cars but I do like the 308. Be v interested to hear your thoughts on it longer term.

My company scheme has changed alot in recent years....originally company car choice was crap but with allowance you could have whatever you wanted...only caveat with a fuel card was it couldnt be larger than 2.5 litre and no super unleaded....still left open the choice.

Then they bought in an age restriction.....then a CO2 cap (120g at my level) but with it the company car scheme got alot better...still all diesels, hybrids or range extenders but some stuff (like the GTD) id actually like to run rather than just put up with.

They've just upped the lease period from 3 to 4 years (so took the car on the basis of three years, having just now found I have to keep it another year), worsened the choices but have given another 2 year grace on age of car allowance vehicles. Also when it comes to ordering a new car, if fleet have alot of used stock you might get forced to take an existing car in place of ordering new.

Glad I ordered the GTD as had I waited, my order would have got cancelled and id have had to pay a load of money to upgrade to the GTD as its no longer available at my level at no cost. Still if Id been made to stay in my loan car that was a black 64 plate GTD anyway so wouldnt have been all bad!

Annoying though when the car forms a fair chunk of your renumeration package and you end up feeling ever more dictated to about it.

[Ootohere]

Is there now some Dealer sitting with a 325bhp Octavia 3 for sale, or was the Superchips Remap removed?

[Telboy5]

Is there now some Dealer sitting with a 325bhp Octavia 3 for sale, or was the Superchips Remap removed?

I think it's already been sold so might feature on here soon although I had Superchips peg it back a little to be safe.

[Telboy5]

Fair shout Tel...I guess looking at it positively you got to drive around in a 330hp monster for a good long while largely at your companies expense.

As to the 308....I dont much like French cars but I do like the 308. Be v interested to hear your thoughts on it longer term.

My company scheme has changed alot in recent years....originally company car choice was crap but with allowance you could have whatever you wanted...only caveat with a fuel card was it couldnt be larger than 2.5 litre and no super unleaded....still left open the choice.

Then they bought in an age restriction.....then a CO2 cap (120g at my level) but with it the company car scheme got alot better...still all diesels, hybrids or range extenders but some stuff (like the GTD) id actually like to run rather than just put up with.

They've just upped the lease period from 3 to 4 years (so took the car on the basis of three years, having just now found I have to keep it another year), worsened the choices but have given another 2 year grace on age of car allowance vehicles. Also when it comes to ordering a new car, if fleet have alot of used stock you might get forced to take an existing car in place of ordering new.

Glad I ordered the GTD as had I waited, my order would have got cancelled and id have had to pay a load of money to upgrade to the GTD as its no longer available at my level at no cost. Still if Id been made to stay in my loan car that was a black 64 plate GTD anyway so wouldnt have been all bad!

Annoying though when the car forms a fair chunk of your renumeration package and you end up feeling ever more dictated to about it.

Thanks, will keep you posted on the experience although so far so good and managed to crack 62mpg already on a very long drive from Bedford to Bournemouth.

 

There's certainly elements of the Pug that are very good and some not so although the latest 308 did really well in the reliability surveys and came close to being in the same league as the OC3 and if my VRS was anything to go by, that's not a bad thing.

 

The 308 GT feels a little more refined than my VRS although softer suspension does play a part on the good old brits roads!

 

The pug engines good too, 300flbt and 180bhp with a half decent auto box makes for relaxed driving.

 

70 mpg is the quoted combined and on 30k miles a year we'll have to see how close or far we get to this in the real world and over time.

 

New car policy is age and CO2 rated so I had to get car under 1 year old and under certain CO2 to stay on current rate and allowance, max period until I'd need to change again is now rated at 4 years rather than 3. I was offered the right deal to change outside of a skoda dealer so had to go with it.

 

I did try to go for a VRS TDI although the dealer network were a joke, even post VW scandal, and made no effort to offer me a decent deal, in fact I'd go as far as saying some were just plain arrogant. Plus I'd need an auto and looking at the VRS (which I'd wanted to go for) or even a Scout for that matter, the numbers just didn't stack up - largely impart to the abysmal px value on my car.

 

I'll keep you posted, however the VRS mk3 will always have a soft spot for me and to date is by far the best car I have ever owned.