.......and in Australia, BEVs with their minimal/zero maintenance requirements, threaten the viability of the dealership current model.  They will have to mark them up instead in order to survive.

VW behaviour -

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/business/volkswagen-lawsuit-prototype-cars.html

Cant be read without a paid account.

1 minute ago, J.R. said:

Cant be read without a paid account.

Ah,

pre-production prototypes (Golf R) being sold as as new to US customers.

Seriously, how can that be approved by anyone associated with the brand?!

On 13/04/2019 at 15:53, RicardoM said:

I would go for a Japanese car. VERY reliable and many options included in standard price.

Honda Civic, Mazda 3 are my first options for a car in the same category with my actual car.

They are generally and inherently more reliable especially those from before the days of downsized turbo engines, direct injection and complicated emissions kit. 

 

My last car was a 5 year old civic 1.8 which gave me trouble free (quite except for a code that came once, cleared and never back again) service for another 5 years. Low mileage but everything works. 

 

Took a punt on a used 280superb knowing full well I might be hit if unlucky. Only live once so taking the risk and enjoying the powaahhhhh, relatively speaking to the previous car

Skoda / VW / SEAT / Audi would be in a much worse situation if the Motoring Journalist, Editors / Publishers bothered their lazy backsides and paid attention, did a job as investigative journalists, looked into the VW Group releasing lemons to the buying public, and not just being  fanboys / girls in the Corporations Pockets.

Honest John at least publishes Owners / Drivers concerns.

 

Maybe only a small percentage of owners / drivers have issues such as those that have a 'dangerous' 1.5 TSI EVO manual or DSG vehicle.

What ever the numbers, VW Group are taking the pith, there are drivers that have been in 'loaned' cars for months as their vehicle sits waiting the issues being resolved, and others are still driving these dangerous vehicles on the public roads.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/466076-new-15-engine-losing-power-intermittently

 

 

 

 

Edited 24 April, 20197 yr by Skoffski

Motoring journalism survives on manufacturers taking out advertising. How long would they survive if they constantly criticised the product?

They should not need to 'constantly criticise' manufacturers.

Just respect the Customers that buy the publications and not just the advertisers / manufacturers.

 

So when reviewing be honest, positives and negatives and reported issues, ongoing recalls or service campaigns mentioned.

Actions or in-actions over vehicles that were named 'Car of the Year', Used Car of the Year etc.  Most Reliable Car of the year.

 

If the Manufacturers get their feet held to the fire occasionally, or just made to hold to the 'Honesty' and no more 'Das Auto', they might not have to keep spinning about what they are going to sell in the future and can be proud of what they sell now, and their services to customers / buyers.

When was the last time recalls needed by the particular company for past problems were so much as mentioned by a motoring journalist?.

Why would a motoring journalist need to mention recalls unless it was a massive problem or big scale that would sell more newspapers or magazines? There are plenty of online tools to look up recalls and problems, but most people don't really know or care. 

Just now, TonyTonic said:

Why would a motoring journalist need to mention recalls unless it was a massive problem or big scale that would sell more newspapers or magazines? There are plenty of online tools to look up recalls and problems, but most people don't really know or care. 

Journalists don’t spend their money like we do and that gets VW off the hook.  They aren’t interested in boring reliability.

2 minutes ago, Ryeman said:

Journalists don’t spend their money like we do and that gets VW off the hook.  They aren’t interested in boring reliability.

Well the truth about VW has come out yet people still continue to buy VAG products.  Says a lot about the human race

Just now, TonyTonic said:

Well the truth about VW has come out yet people still continue to buy VAG products.  Says a lot about the human race

Yes, they understand the narcissism of social media and the need to make other jealous of your latest toy.

Naming a car of the year when only one quarter or less of the year has passed is a bit odd. In reality the car of the year is actually the 9 months previous or more of the previous year. Just being pedantic.

WHAT CAR / Part of the Haymarket Media Group  (Autocar, Pistonheads etc) that have VW Group as a Customer name cars 'What Car' Car of the year before any customer has them, 

and before they have driven a Right Hand Drive model in the UK as they did with the 'All New 3rd Generation Fabia in 2014 in time for the 'Advertising Campaign'.

The it turns out it is a particular engine in the model that tickled their fancy.  Then the made it a 'best used car of the year', not mentioning the 1.4 TDI cooling / water pump issues.

Forget that some technology never worked and buyers had to fight to get a fix.

 

If really good then say it, if not the best then say it, if depreciation worse, dealership experiences or after sales sometime pathetic and then issues after launch then say that the year after launch.

If not the best but better than worse ones, then that makes it number 1.  Or is it maybe the Polo or Ibiza or A1 that is better, or is it the Fiesta, but then less room.

Vorsprung Durch Technik.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Media_Group

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 24 April, 20197 yr by Skoffski

Maybe the head honcho of the Deaf, Dumb & Blind fanboys publishers. Never kill the golden goose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews are just that, but they should be honest and done without worrying what the Manufacturer will treat you like next time you are heading to a launch, or not if not invited.

 

 

 

Edited 24 April, 20197 yr by Skoffski

7 hours ago, Skoffski said:

Maybe the head honcho of the Deaf, Dumb & Blind fanboys publishers. Never kill the golden goose.

 

 

Reviews are just that, but they should be honest and done without worrying what the Manufacturer will treat you like next time you are heading to a launch, or not if not invited.

 

 

 

True. What he says about independent sources, pretty much what I told Skoda PR erm... a decade ago is how we could help as owners.

 

A few other marques have it sussed! 

 

For launches/events, as I pushed for a random (freedom) member, you know make an evangelist out of a real customer with some free crackers and a new car test. Heck when I had a 3.2 v6 for like 30mins, I thought I'll buy one of these one day. Almost did, got a PD170 Elegance, still brought one though. 

 

 

On 24/04/2019 at 08:25, Skoffski said:

Skoda / VW / SEAT / Audi would be in a much worse situation if the Motoring Journalist, Editors / Publishers bothered their lazy backsides and paid attention, did a job as investigative journalists, looked into the VW Group releasing lemons to the buying public, and not just being  fanboys / girls in the Corporations Pockets.

Honest John at least publishes Owners / Drivers concerns.

 

Maybe only a small percentage of owners / drivers have issues such as those that have a 'dangerous' 1.5 TSI EVO manual or DSG vehicle.

What ever the numbers, VW Group are taking the pith, there are drivers that have been in 'loaned' cars for months as their vehicle sits waiting the issues being resolved, and others are still driving these dangerous vehicles on the public roads.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/466076-new-15-engine-losing-power-intermittently

 

 

 

 

Motor journos are worse than that. Most reviews nowadays aren't giving information that is relevant to the people who buy a particular car model. It's all about handling and interior 'quality', performance etc. 

 

The general public will be better served being told figures about real world economy (properly tested) and nvh numbers especially noise and ride quality. 

1 hour ago, KeteCantek said:

Motor journos are worse than that. Most reviews nowadays aren't giving information that is relevant to the people who buy a particular car model. It's all about handling and interior 'quality', performance etc. 

 

The general public will be better served being told figures about real world economy (properly tested) and nvh numbers especially noise and ride quality. 

They seem to just take (from the sales brochure) what they are given.

I remember Road&Track gave such information as piston travel per mile, as a ‘wear index’ , plus cornering G.

Ground clearance is rarely quoted but is fundamentally important to us.

It’s now about selling fashionable, disposable trinkets.

8 hours ago, Ryeman said:

They seem to just take (from the sales brochure) what they are given.

I remember Road&Track gave such information as piston travel per mile, as a ‘wear index’ , plus cornering G.

Ground clearance is rarely quoted but is fundamentally important to us.

It’s now about selling fashionable, disposable trinkets.

I guess when leasing is so popular, things like reliability and other longer term factors become less important. 

 

I used to remember magazines doing their own tests to validate against manufacturer numbers too. 

58 minutes ago, KeteCantek said:

I guess when leasing is so popular, things like reliability and other longer term factors become less important. 

 

I used to remember magazines doing their own tests to validate against manufacturer numbers too. 

.......and with so much research and subsequent design improvements happening at such a rapid and accelerating rate, and now completely threatened by battery power, it simply makes ya head spin.

I was looking at a clip of the latest RAV4 and it’s completely the opposite of what I’m now interested in ie lightness and less complexity.

5 hours ago, Ryeman said:

.......and with so much research and subsequent design improvements happening at such a rapid and accelerating rate, and now completely threatened by battery power, it simply makes ya head spin.

I was looking at a clip of the latest RAV4 and it’s completely the opposite of what I’m now interested in ie lightness and less complexity.

Besides the weight which is hard to get it low nowadays with all the safety equipment required and equipment expected, a rav4 hybrid isn't actually complex. 

 

The Toyota HSD system is  probably one of the simplest full hybrid system out there. 

1 minute ago, KeteCantek said:

Besides the weight which is hard to get it low nowadays with all the safety equipment required and equipment expected, a rav4 hybrid isn't actually complex. 

 

The Toyota HSD system is  probably one of the simplest full hybrid system out there. 

I don’t need AWD and our Vitara is more than 400kg lighter with a torque converter auto which is what I prefer.

17 hours ago, Ryeman said:

I don’t need AWD and our Vitara is more than 400kg lighter with a torque converter auto which is what I prefer.

That's a slightly smaller car but a good one. 

 

Nothing much we can do nowadays with all these weight creep happening. Although some cars like the superb is light for its size which is a surprise

3 minutes ago, KeteCantek said:

That's a slightly smaller car but a good one. 

 

Nothing much we can do nowadays with all these weight creep happening. Although some cars like the superb is light for its size which is a surprise

One good thing is that the latest safety tech isn’t heavy, so being porky seems somewhat unnecessary.........at least to us.