After 2.5 years of Octavia 4x4 ownership, I'm giving up on the brand for a while. Not that I'm disappointed with the car, or the service I've received from various dealers, far from it, despite the recent unresolved problems with ESP.

Fact is, the Skoda has lost a lot more in value than I had anticipated, or had been predicted, and Skoda dealers seem to be becoming a bit of a rarity as more and more are forced away from the brand, due, so they tell me, to Skoda UK's insistence on forcing them to move to bigger, more impressive and more expensive premises. I have a variety of dealers (Nissan, Honda, VW, Mercedes, Toyota, Audi, Ford, Vauxhall, you name it) fairly close by, but neither of the excellent Skoda dealers any more (both still trading, just not with a Skoda franchise in the area). One of these dealers was a replacement for a dealer who moved premises and then promptly went bust.

These two factors, plus dealers reluctance to do a deal on a new 4x4, has forced me to look elsewhere. This is a shame as the new Octavia is a great product, and on paper the diesel 4x4 was perfect for me, but dealers can't compete on prices. Personally I believe this is as a lot of dealers now have the high overheads of running flash showrooms.

So, my Octy goes (traded for a decent price, considering the declared ESP problem) on Tuesday, when I pick up my new X-Trail 2.2DCi SVE (Euro import).

Thanks to all on here who've helped me out with advice over the last few years. I hope someone from Skoda UK reads this: you can win as many awards and surveys as you like, but if you keep screwing over your dealers, you're going to lose a lot of customers.

NM

Good point.I hated the VW/Audi garage experience.Hope they don't follow suit.

Enjoy the x trail.Like those a lot!

Good point.I hated the VW/Audi garage experience.Hope they don't follow suit.

Enjoy the x trail.Like those a lot!

Not as bad as the Land Rover experience though LOL, turned up for pre-arranged test drive, kept waiting for half hour, so I walked out, and Nissan get my money.

Thanks, X-Trail is an amazing car, if you like that sort of thing , which I obviously do!

NM