I have a 2014 Rapid and a 2015 Octavia vRS, both 6 speed manual.  I was in having a chat to the dealer and found in Australia that the only manual you can now buy is a Fabia.  After some googling it appears something called Worldwide harmonised Light vehicle Testing Protocol is responsible for both Skoda and VW discontinuing manuals in Australia.

 

Unfortunately for us in Australia most buyers are boring and happy to buy what is in stock rather than ordering in a car and settle for the boring DSG version and most dealers would rather just stock a few cars so only order the DSG. Luckily the UK drives on the correct side of the road and from what we here in Australia likes manuals so in the past I know people who have bought cars in the UK, left them in their mothers garage for 2 years and then imported them to Australia as private imports just to get the car they want when it has not been available in Australia.

 

But  am really worried by the name Worldwide harmonised Light vehicle Testing Protocol as worldwide to me means more than just Australia.  Has Skoda (and the whole VW group) actually stopped making manuals worldwide?

Looks lide the Diesel Manual VRS may be a thing of the past.

 

Link stolen from another thread:

doc03662520180614105024.pdf

 

 

As above, looks like the manual diesel is gone, but there should be a manual TSI

OK, so UK will keep a petrol manual which is good as it means they are going to keep making them, just not going to be available in Australia based on what the dealer said :(

 

From the link it appears there is a 245PS manual TSI which I assume is the 180KW petrol engine.

 

I also found Skoda Rapid manuals advertised in the UK so maybe it is just Australia dropping manuals from the range.

Quote

 

What effects does WLTP conversion have on the Volkswagen Group’s products?

We are reducing the variety of engine gearbox variants. This reduces the complexity of our range. 

 

 

From https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2018/05/important-standards-are-lacking.html

Ford had their "One Ford" initiative as well, basically reducing/renaming the range so that they can cover all territories with the same cars.

They appear to be making quite a few changes on the MY19 line up. Some good and some questionable.

 

A digital dash, extra stone guarding and the VRS getting the black pack as standard are alright changes.

 

Petrol VRS's getting a single exhaust and all the diesels being dsg 'boxes........why?!?!

The need to get the emissions / economy to suit the tests and any retests.

Get into VED bands that suits the buyer / fleet / lease market.

Get rid of pointless tat fitted to cars, and give customers some stuff they want be it useless or not.

6 minutes ago, Offski said:

The need to get the emissions / economy to suit the tests and any retests.

Get into VED bands that suits the buyer / fleet / lease market.

Get rid of pointless tat fitted to cars, and give customers some stuff they want be it useless or not.

 

I'm glad I bought my car when it's VED was £30.

 

I think it's unfair now that bloke A buys a car at £40,000 and pays £140 VED and bloke B, who ticks another one more of the optional extra boxes, has to pay £450.

 

Same engine producing the same emissions, so where's the logic in the additional charge. I understand the DVLA were starting to lose revenue because a lot of people were buying band A, B and C cars (£0, £20 and £30) and I understand nobody enjoys paying any of our taxes, but they should at least have made it fairer. Anybody concerned for their emissions is getting stung now either way.

 

I could buy an expensive hybrid and pay the same VED as a supercar. Go figure.

 

All that's going to happen now, is local councils will have their own emission zones similar to London. It hear it's on the cards for Manchester, as people are complaining about 'air quality'

Hopefully the UK Government will stop the Pith taking of lower VED for Hybrids that do near very few miles without a ICE engine running, or that do not even need to run on electricity if the driver does not want to.

As with lower VED for cars with Stop / Start where the Stop / Start is not actually enabled while cars sit stationary in traffic or taxi ranks.

46 minutes ago, tunedude said:

 

I'm glad I bought my car when it's VED was £30.

 

I think it's unfair now that bloke A buys a car at £40,000 and pays £140 VED and bloke B, who ticks another one more of the optional extra boxes, has to pay £450.

 

But even the UK Government has admitted that revenues have dropped massively as manufacturers have made their engines more and more efficient.

 

Let's just call it as it is; a tax steal on motorists who, by and large, have no other choice but to use their vehicles for day-to-day things.

 

On top of the fact that the price UK motorists pay at the pumps is 70%+ pure tax, it *does* make you wonder what is preventing the ordinaries from razing Whitehall to the ground in a Guy Fawkes-esque display of civil disobedience.

 

And then I remembered we're British.......so that sort of thing would "never do".

1 minute ago, SkodaVRS1963 said:

And then I remembered we're British.......so that sort of thing would "never do".

 

I know, stiff upper lip and just get on with it

I would be quite happy if they dropped diesel and DSG altogether as all I ever want and will ever want in the future is manual and petrol. 

 

It appears that there are a lot of changes for 2019 which includes reducing the number of engine gearbox combinations, which then Skoda Australia has taken further to drop all Manuals :(

 

https://www.caradvice.com.au/650537/no-golf-gti-manual-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end/

https://www.caradvice.com.au/651034/skoda-octavia-rs245-manual-wltp/

 

Even the Americans are laughing at us :(

https://carbuzz.com/news/america-s-2019-volkswagen-gti-won-t-ditch-the-manual

 

I guess we are just too small a market to be given any choice.  But luckily if i had the money I can still buy a Lotus or Morgan and I doubt they will ever drop the manual gearbox until they go all electric.