I’m 90% convinced on going for the order but going to speak directly to VW for firmer idea of lead times. If I go ahead I’ll let you know if I regret the paint decision when it arrives  

VW are currently saying 18 week lead time, which is another 7 weeks beyond my current Octavia delivery estimate. But that’s probably 7 weeks worth waiting!

16 hours ago, maffyou said:

VW are currently saying 18 week lead time, which is another 7 weeks beyond my current Octavia delivery estimate. But that’s probably 7 weeks worth waiting!

 

Pffft deserter it is a cracking deal none the less and wltp shouldn't affect the 1.5 TSI, as I think it's already sorted.

 

I'm only jealous of course. Happy with my Octavia but this is now showing that as time rolls on, we may find nicer PCH deals on the market. 

 

Hopefully when it's time to send this one back my dealer who I've ordered through twice can give me a nice deal on PCP for being a good customer lol

1 hour ago, gRoberts said:

 

Pffft deserter it is a cracking deal none the less and wltp shouldn't affect the 1.5 TSI, as I think it's already sorted.

 

I'm only jealous of course. Happy with my Octavia but this is now showing that as time rolls on, we may find nicer PCH deals on the market. 

 

Hopefully when it's time to send this one back my dealer who I've ordered through twice can give me a nice deal on PCP for being a good customer lol

I’m strangely sad that I won’t be getting the Octavia - my mk2 was such a great cat for 6 years I owned it - but this seems like such a stonking deal for an Arteon, I can’t let it pass. I’ll be saving less money (the Octy had been a deliberate plan to save more!) but if I pass this up I think I’ll just be disappointed every time I get into it  And it’s still cheaper each month than my Qashqai PCP and the Arteon is clearly a better car!

 

I think it’s just luck of the draw with the deals. In the first few months of my PCP I saw better deals than I’d got, it’s almost inevitable and you just have to hope when the time comes there’s decent offers around. 

 

I’ll have to keep checking in here though, it’s such a good community and I missed it after I stopped coming when my Superb order fell through a couple of years back. 

1 hour ago, maffyou said:

 my mk2 was such a great cat for 6 years I owned it -

 

My Mk2 was that good I kept it after the finance ended and we have it as a second car.

 

I've had a couple of Passat's from new and again, faultless, refined and my father in law still runs my first one and it drives like new with 120k miles on it.

 

Sadly my Mk3 has been below expectations. Build quality isn't great, ride and refinement worse than the Mk2 and has suffered from a few of the common problems. Water leak, wheel bearings and DSG with less than 30k miles.  

I won't be keeping this one and doubt I'll have another Mk3. I've owned 13 Skoda's and the Mk3 Octavia is the first I've been disappointed about, first time Skoda have gone backwards.

The Passat/Arteon deals at the moment are very good.

 

Lee

Don't the 1.5tsi / dsg combinations have issues at the moment? All VW group forums are full of folk complaining about hesitation.

 

2 minutes ago, logiclee said:

Build quality isn't great, ride and refinement worse...

 

Lee

 

Oh hell don't say that. last time I suggested VW build quality was better, I was told the Skoda used the same parts.

 

Skoda is built to tighter cost constraints, there's no doubting that, but isn't cost what attracted us to the Octavia in the first place? I just don't see build quality on the mk3 as a problem.  If my particular car hadn't been available and it was just the std SE-L, I'd have paid the extra and bought an Arteon Estate ( Passat ).  DriveTheDeal were selling brand new 1.4tsi manual estates in metallic for just under £21k when I was searching last year which made a mockery of it's £29k list.

 

At the risk of being accused of being anti Skoda again ( how could I be anti Skoda if I bought one?) simply opening the door handle tells you the VW is better built. The doors are heavier and close with a reasusing thud rather than a ping. But so they should as the VW is more expensive.

 

Both cars had 1.4tsi (150) engines but the VW felt the slower - it's a heavier car (performance doesn't bother me, I'm that old man-in-a-hat driver). And although it's a crude way to judge, over the same test route, the Octavia returned approx 8mpg more. It was also cheaper to insure. So there are extra running costs to take in to account with the VW.

 

I reckon the paint finish on the Passat looks much deeper than on the Skoda - not sure if there's an extra layer or they use different laquer top coat, but the overall finish was superior. As far as colours go I'd have chosen Manganese (VW like offering various shades of grey). The car in the showroom however was metallic keech, bloody horrible. I think it's official name is 'Oak' something or other - just don't even go there if you haven't seen it.

12 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

 

 

At the risk of being accused of being anti Skoda again ( how could I be anti Skoda if I bought one?) simply opening the door handle tells you the VW is better built. The doors are heavier and close with a reasusing thud rather than a ping. But so they should as the VW is more expensive.

 

 

 

Yep,

 

We all know the major mechanicals are the same.  But Skoda's are cheaper for a reason. They lack that extra insulation and damping and on some models use different suspension components and bushes. I can accept that. A Golf and A3 feel more expensive as they indeed are.

I've driven many Mk2's and many Mk3's and what I really don't get is why the Mk3 took a step backwards in ride, refinement and seat comfort over the Mk2.

 

The Passat and Arteon rival the Superb and that is a lot closer comparison. 

Edited 22 January, 20197 yr by logiclee

2 hours ago, maffyou said:

I’m strangely sad that I won’t be getting the Octavia - my mk2 was such a great cat for 6 years I owned it - but this seems like such a stonking deal for an Arteon, I can’t let it pass. I’ll be saving less money (the Octy had been a deliberate plan to save more!) but if I pass this up I think I’ll just be disappointed every time I get into it  And it’s still cheaper each month than my Qashqai PCP and the Arteon is clearly a better car!

 

I think it’s just luck of the draw with the deals. In the first few months of my PCP I saw better deals than I’d got, it’s almost inevitable and you just have to hope when the time comes there’s decent offers around. 

 

I’ll have to keep checking in here though, it’s such a good community and I missed it after I stopped coming when my Superb order fell through a couple of years back. 

I'd have done the same if I hadn't already picked up the Octavia. Everything about it was perfect, tech, engine etc. Have they allowed you to switch over?

 

43 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

Don't the 1.5tsi / dsg combinations have issues at the moment? All VW group forums are full of folk complaining about hesitation.

 

Starting to think that's not specific to the 1.5/DSG combination, as my 7 Speed DSG suffers from something similar. Just not sure if that's my driving style coming from driving manuals all my life, or a genuine complaint. 

 

46 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

Both cars had 1.4tsi (150) engines but the VW felt the slower.

 

I'm a big fan of the 1.4 TSI (150) especially in Manual. Quiet as a mouse when driven normally but press the fun pedal and it shifted/made a decent noise.

 

 

Overall, I have stuck with Skoda, mainly because of the PCH deals that keep being pumped out. Now VW and the likes are joining in, I hope that it sends a trend that makes other manufacturers start dropping their PCH prices to suit. 

 

The only negative with the Arteon would be that it's a big, heavy car and you may suffer in terms of MPG/Performance. If that's not a major issue for you (like me, I preferred to have the comfort/tech, than anything else given it won't get driven much)

8 hours ago, logiclee said:

 

My Mk2 was that good I kept it after the finance ended and we have it as a second car.

 

I've had a couple of Passat's from new and again, faultless, refined and my father in law still runs my first one and it drives like new with 120k miles on it.

 

Sadly my Mk3 has been below expectations. Build quality isn't great, ride and refinement worse than the Mk2 and has suffered from a few of the common problems. Water leak, wheel bearings and DSG with less than 30k miles.  

I won't be keeping this one and doubt I'll have another Mk3. I've owned 13 Skoda's and the Mk3 Octavia is the first I've been disappointed about, first time Skoda have gone backwards.

 

Bought my mk2 outright second hand when it was 2 years old with about 20k on the clock, so was happy to hold onto it for almost 7 years and another 90k miles. Great car, no doubt went on to do a good few more miles and wouldn't be surprised if it was still ferrying someone around now. As the main car in the house, it was time for a change and I had a Superb L&K on order to replace it (and upgrade), but mine was one of the broker orders that got cancelled in July 2016 within weeks of the delivery date. My car had actually been built when Skoda pulled the plug. I was pretty gutted at the time and really didn't want to wait another 4 months + so knee-jerked and ended up with a Qashqai. Also a decent car but I've never been attached to it the same way I was the mk2 and frankly it's a bit lacking in space! Shame to hear some people thinking the mk3 isn't up to scratch.

 

8 hours ago, logiclee said:

The Passat/Arteon deals at the moment are very good.

 

Incredibly good. I don't see how they can possibly make any money on it? Just over 6 grand for two years of ownership with the rubbish residuals the Arteon has, it'll be worth loads less than what I've paid off the list price when I'm done with it. I assume it's just about shifting units and driving sales or some such.

 

8 hours ago, Scot5 said:

Don't the 1.5tsi / dsg combinations have issues at the moment? All VW group forums are full of folk complaining about hesitation.

 

At the risk of being accused of being anti Skoda again ( how could I be anti Skoda if I bought one?) simply opening the door handle tells you the VW is better built. The doors are heavier and close with a reasusing thud rather than a ping. But so they should as the VW is more expensive.

 

Both cars had 1.4tsi (150) engines but the VW felt the slower - it's a heavier car (performance doesn't bother me, I'm that old man-in-a-hat driver). And although it's a crude way to judge, over the same test route, the Octavia returned approx 8mpg more. It was also cheaper to insure. So there are extra running costs to take in to account with the VW.

 

I'll find out about the potential issues with the 1.5 TSI and DSG in a couple of months  It can't be all that bad... My brother owns a Golf and the quality is definitely higher overall than Skodas I've known, like you say it should be for the extra price. I'm not fussed about performance either, otherwise I'd be buying a 2.0 TSI and leaking ££s out of my wallet in the process. It'll be a substantial step up from the Qashqai it's replacing regardless! I'm all about being comfortable and not that I make longer trips all that often but when I do I want a great cruiser that'll also deal with being stuck in traffic well and from what I can see the Arteon is going to give me that with aplomb.

 

7 hours ago, logiclee said:

The Passat and Arteon rival the Superb and that is a lot closer comparison. 

 

It certainly is a better comparison and having been in the market for a Superb a few years back before it all went wrong (thanks Skoda UK...) I was keen to go for a Superb again, but there just weren't any good deals and I was also keen to lower my costs a bit, which is why the Octavia 1.0 SE Tech deal made so much sense. And then I got my head turned by the Arteon which is a great deal for a £32k car and still cheaper than my current PCP

 

7 hours ago, gRoberts said:

I'd have done the same if I hadn't already picked up the Octavia. Everything about it was perfect, tech, engine etc. Have they allowed you to switch over?

 

 

Yeah I've been able to swap without any issues, they've been really helpful. I got the rear view cam and heated steering wheel as extras - you can see from the shape and all the reviews mention it, but rear visibility is pretty rubbish so the cam makes sense, and the heated wheel was just so cheap it seemed rude not to add it 

 

7 hours ago, gRoberts said:

The only negative with the Arteon would be that it's a big, heavy car and you may suffer in terms of MPG/Performance. If that's not a major issue for you (like me, I preferred to have the comfort/tech, than anything else given it won't get driven much)

 

Annoyingly the DSG figures seem quite a bit worse than the manual too but screw it, I've taken it on a 9k miles per year lease (which is giving me a decent buffer I'm doing under 8k currently) and on those miles it's not going to break the bank. In fact from what I've worked out, even with the extra petrol it will still be cheaper than my current PCP. I'll take the comfort and tech too!

39 minutes ago, maffyou said:

And then I got my head turned by the Arteon which is a great deal for a £32k car and still cheaper than my current PCP

 

 

With metallic, rear-view camera and the all important heated steering wheel    the car has a list just shy of £34k.  You can get the same spec Arteon on DriveTheDeal (other brokers may be cheaper still) for £26k, so when someone above mentioned the finance company must be loosing money...  err, no.  If we can buy it for £26k, a bulk buyer should be able to buy it less still.

 

From what I gather, the finance company already have a guaranteed price for the car they've rented to you - so it's already sold before you've taken delivery. Again, don't anyone go thinking the finance company is loosing out in someway. The only way they'd loose out is if they're buyer goes bust, but then again if they've half a brain, they'll have insured against that too i.e. GAP.

 

Speaking of GAP, that works the same way. A garage will sell you GAP for £300 yet they themselves may have only paid £50 for it. The only people who loose out financially when buying a new car are ourselves - but we all know that, right?

 

 

@Scot5 sure, everyone must be making money somewhere - except the buyer. It’s just hard to see where and how. 

 

And that’s why you always shop around for ANY type of insurance 

@maffyou I'm about to join you in deserting!  @gRoberts 

 

I'm either getting an Audi A5 2.0tsi black edition or (ideally) a Golf GTi 245.

 

Both are around double the Skoda's cost - Skoda was £3.85k over 2 years, Audi is £7.9k, Golf is around £8.2k.

 

I looked at the Arteon deals, but I wanted a faster engine than the 1.5TSi as I'm now just getting one car, not getting a fun toy for weekends, so the lease car will have to satisfy all requirements and be fun! Also the 2l Arteon is DSG only and I wanted manual.

 

Audi deal was great - its list price is more than double the Skoda's - but its 'only' the 190bhp version of the engine. Spec is good but was wary of the 20inch alloys with S-Line suspension!

 

I've always wanted a Golf GTi - closest I got was a Golf GTD a few years back. Deal has just come up with the same broker as the A5, so hopefully I can switch deals with no penalty. Golf's also available sooner as its in stock!

 

Good luck with the Arteon - the only version that could tempt me given the DSG would have to be the 280 (now 272!). Maybe next time! However, the spec and interior look fabulous! When I was looking on Nationwide the R-Line was only a few £s per month more than the Elegance. Go for that if you can get the same as the extra spec is great!

2 hours ago, zeddicus said:

@maffyou I'm about to join you in deserting!  @gRoberts 

 

I'm either getting an Audi A5 2.0tsi black edition or (ideally) a Golf GTi 245.

 

Both are around double the Skoda's cost - Skoda was £3.85k over 2 years, Audi is £7.9k, Golf is around £8.2k.

 

I looked at the Arteon deals, but I wanted a faster engine than the 1.5TSi as I'm now just getting one car, not getting a fun toy for weekends, so the lease car will have to satisfy all requirements and be fun! Also the 2l Arteon is DSG only and I wanted manual.

 

 

Have I accidentally started a rebellion?  

 

2 hours ago, zeddicus said:

 

Good luck with the Arteon - the only version that could tempt me given the DSG would have to be the 280 (now 272!). Maybe next time! However, the spec and interior look fabulous! When I was looking on Nationwide the R-Line was only a few £s per month more than the Elegance. Go for that if you can get the same as the extra spec is great!

 

I was impressed with the spec too, that was what swung it for me ultimately. R-Line was coming up quite a bit more where I was looking. Didn't search around, partly because I needed to stick with the same lease broker, but also because I didn't see the benefit of the R-Line really? Only difference is styling and bigger wheels, which I didn't feel that fussed about either when I looked at the pics. Also read a few things in other forums about people saying the seats looked tacky in the R-Line with their carbon fibre styling? 

 

Good luck with the A5 or Golf! 

2 hours ago, zeddicus said:

@maffyou I'm about to join you in deserting!  @gRoberts 

 

I'm either getting an Audi A5 2.0tsi black edition or (ideally) a Golf GTi 245.

 

Both are around double the Skoda's cost - Skoda was £3.85k over 2 years, Audi is £7.9k, Golf is around £8.2k.

 

I looked at the Arteon deals, but I wanted a faster engine than the 1.5TSi as I'm now just getting one car, not getting a fun toy for weekends, so the lease car will have to satisfy all requirements and be fun! Also the 2l Arteon is DSG only and I wanted manual.

 

Audi deal was great - its list price is more than double the Skoda's - but its 'only' the 190bhp version of the engine. Spec is good but was wary of the 20inch alloys with S-Line suspension!

 

I've always wanted a Golf GTi - closest I got was a Golf GTD a few years back. Deal has just come up with the same broker as the A5, so hopefully I can switch deals with no penalty. Golf's also available sooner as its in stock!

 

Good luck with the Arteon - the only version that could tempt me given the DSG would have to be the 280 (now 272!). Maybe next time! However, the spec and interior look fabulous! When I was looking on Nationwide the R-Line was only a few £s per month more than the Elegance. Go for that if you can get the same as the extra spec is great!

 

I had my eye on A5's for a while actually. They're beautiful, especially if I can somehow afford the RS5. 

 

Similarly, I had my eye on the MK6 GTI's, but ultimately all fell down to a) how little I drive, b) the cost and c) the fun. 

 

If C was that impressive, A and B wouldn't be a problem. I test drove an A6 3.2 V6, which overall, was amazing, but whoever looked after it, didn't do a good job! 

 

Suffice to say, I can live with the 1.0 DSG, as I'm out on a road bike that at 30+ mph, feels like i'm breaking all sorts of land speed records

@maffyou - not sure what you settled on but remember I got them to reduce mine after seeing a better deal: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/vw-arteon-15tsi-dsg-24-month-lease-560280-what-car-leasing-3169405

@gRoberts @maffyou thanks guys!

 

The head says A5 as it’s an Audi, never had one before, and I can get my preferred black paint for free, and it’s abslutely gorgeous inside!

 

However, the heart says GTI! It’s got a better spec and, most importantly, the 245bhp engine! I’ll get a white one as it’s the only free paint, but I think the GTis look the business in white with the red badges and highlights (and as it’s the Performance Pack, it has red acallioers too!)

 

Ironically it’s the Golf that’s a bit more expensive but only around £3-£400 over the 2 years, and I’ll save a bit of that in servicing costs.

 

i think I’ll have to scratch the golf itch and then, when I’m too old to change gear I’ll get an RS5 to scratch that itch!

39 minutes ago, gRoberts said:

@maffyou - not sure what you settled on but remember I got them to reduce mine after seeing a better deal: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/vw-arteon-15tsi-dsg-24-month-lease-560280-what-car-leasing-3169405

Am I missing something? When I click through from hot deals I don’t see any offers at that price?

@maffyou it’s the deal they’re discussing - basically a total cost of just under £6k over 2 years. I think you said the Skoda DSG was around £4.5-£5k over 2 years? If the Arteon deal you’ve seen is an extra £60/month, that’s an extra £1.4k, so the hot deals offer is a bit cheaper and may give you a bit of leverage...

@maffyou sorry just seen in your other post that your Skoda deal was for £4k so the Arteon must be around £5.4k which is cheaper than on hot deals. Great deal!

I’d have to go back and double check the figures. It’s a little more than that as I specced almost £500 with the two options I added, and also upped he mileage to 9k (granted that’s only a few pounds extra a month). I’ve got a little over £6k in my head at the moment but couldn’t swear on it. 

 

By sticking with the broker I’d taken the Octavia with I also didn’t lose the £300 fee I’d paid them, so all in I think it pretty much equals out. 

Just had my first delivery estimate email... 22nd April. 

 

I’m not holding my breath on that, but it would be amazing if that does happen, much quicker than I anticipated and only 2 weeks after the Octavia was due. 

 

We’ll see. Fingers crossed!