One point I think is missing is that Skoda, like Honda did years ago, are trying to shed some of the VFM image.

For me the Mk2 octy vRS offers me Golf5 gti preformance for 3k less, I get a car that suits my needs because a golf or a focus / astra is to small in boot for lugging kid's stuff around.

As a spotty oik many many years ago, I worked for several honda dealers before joining the mob, this was in the days of the mk1 civic rust buckets and that was pretty much it.

Then the Mk1 accord, mk1 prelude came out and I remeber the Honda rep saying that people are going to lose franchises because of Honda's plans to move upmarket, this was in around 1982/3 and I think they have achieved that to a degree.

Maybe Skoda are on a similar track so it would appear to the old and bold skoda owners that things have decreased in the VFM stakes, but when taken in parallel with it's competitors I don't think it has.

Although the Skoda joke is pretty much a "UK Only" thing - the rest of Europe doesn't have this same perception of the brand.

So they'd need to develop budget models just for this country' date=' which in itself would cost a fair bit...

Rob.[/quote']

You're right about the UK perception but if Skoda UK wanted to they could sell budget models. In the Czech Republic they do a Fabia "Junior" for example which is pretty much stripped bare but dirt cheap.

Look at how much the perception of the Skoda brand has changed here in the UK in the last 10 years though. It's a huge huge amount. Give it another 10 and I don't think hardly anyone will think of Skoda as a budget brand. Just a quality brand.

Skoda UK don't really sell budget cars anymore, just good value ones.

Don't know where you are John but where I am (Canterbury) the Skoda dealers' places are "better" / flashier than the Ford ones - i.e. Motorline in Canterbury and Caffyns in Asford are pretty decent set ups.

Personally I would prefer it the other way - I don't want a flash showroom I want good personal service' date=' particularly in aftersales. I always had this from Caffyns but must admit the increase in prices has meant that I now use an independent for my servicing. Having said that I have always had better service from the Skoda dealers I have dealt with down here than the Ford dealer in Canterbury which is poo.[/quote']

I'm in Eastbourne, the local dealers were Saltdean (near brighton) and Bexhill, with a couple more a bit further away, niether were very nice places to visit, and the condition of a companys premises says alot to me about the way they do business.

All the dealers here have lost there franchises so we currently have no Skoda dealers within a reasonable distance, Eastbourne is the home of Caffyns funnily enough (where they originaly started and where the family still live), I just hope they take the initiative and open a Skoda dealers here, they pretty much have the monopoly here anyway with owning the Volvo, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Dodge, Chrysler, Chevrolet, VW and Mazda dealers, all of which have nice showrooms!

On a side note, Is the garage near the garden centre still there? It was called motorworld I think and used to sell jap imports, I had about 3 cars off them!!

Going back to the original question, if you are looking at worldwide the Skoda brand are a long way from being in trouble. Sales are increasing year on year and so are profits.

There sure are some great deals to be had on new cars out there which are not Skodas but does anyone think some of these brands are being highly irresponsible selling the cars at these prices. Of course for the consumer it is great, but how can companies like Vauxhall and Ford justify that when globally the brands are making losses of something like $5bn yearly? I don't know whether those brands are profitable in the UK though??

I'm probably being thick but how do they get away with it? Where does the money keep coming from to fund these losses and isn't someone going to pull them up on it? The banks that are lending them the money maybe?

Going back to the original question' date=' if you are looking at worldwide the Skoda brand are a long way from being in trouble. Sales are increasing year on year and so are profits.

There sure are some great deals to be had on new cars out there which are not Skodas but does anyone think some of these brands are being highly irresponsible selling the cars at these prices. Of course for the consumer it is great, but how can companies like Vauxhall and Ford justify that when globally the brands are making losses of something like $5bn yearly? I don't know whether those brands are profitable in the UK though??

I'm probably being thick but how do they get away with it? Where does the money keep coming from to fund these losses and isn't someone going to pull them up on it? The banks that are lending them the money maybe?[/quote']

Aren't Ford looking at selling Jag, Aston and Land Rover to shore up their North America (i.e. home) market? AFAIK, GM and Ford Europe are doing ok. I know Jag are losing money, but they have just updated their line up, so why are Ford selling now?

I know Jag are losing money, but they have just updated their line up, so why are Ford selling now?

Cos no-one would have wanted to buy them before, now they appear to have a half decent future someone may offer sensible money for them!

Cos no-one would have wanted to buy them before, now they appear to have a half decent future someone may offer sensible money for them!

I thought that is why Land Rover is part of the deal. :confused: Land Rover are turning a very tidy profit right now.

But if Land Rover's profits are less than Jag's losses it makes sense to sell the pair together

I guess its difficult to compare.. as Vaux and ford rely hevily on the rep-mobile and company car lease market... whilst skoda kinda have thier roots in the "mature" owner... well until recently anyway!.

if its a company lease car' date=' vauxhall and ford are pretty much unbeatable. but i wouldnt buy one for myself..[/quote']

Interstingly I popped into my local Vauxhall dealer to have a look at the latest brochure for the Vectra range to compare against the vRS Octavia...When I asked for the brochure the salesman presumtiously replied '' A company car sir ? '' This image the Vectra has even on the higher spec models ( SRI , VXR etc) is the reason I wouldn't want one! .Looking at prices, the SRI Vectra is about the same as the Skoda..So I will be keeping with Skoda and in Fact have sorted an exdemo Octavia vRS for November

C...

badge snobbery - on a Skoda forum

But if Land Rover's profits are less than Jag's losses it makes sense to sell the pair together

But back to the point, if Land Rover are making a profit, and being used as a make weight for Jaguar, why are Ford selling now, after spending billions on new models, why not sell before? Ford have been in trouble for a number of years now, I left uni with an Automotive Engineering degree about 4 years ago, Ford were in trouble then.

EDIT:-

THIS IS GETTING OFF TOPIC!

In my experience the rest of Europe does indeed have the same perception as the UK' date=' certainly the Italian side of my family thinks the same, are there any of our European members that can confirm or deny Skodas reputation?

Again in my experience, the Mondeo is far more reliable and the dealers are not only more professional, but the showrooms themselves are of a much better quality.

Anyone living in the south east will confirm the dump like status of all our (now closed) Skoda dealers. This is something that is seriously hurting Skodas efforts to try and increase the brands image.

You could walk into a lovely clean well maintained, modern Ford garage and buy the Mondeo, or you could walk into a tatty dirty shed with no parking facilities and buy a Skoda that is less well equipped for the same money!?

Skoda need to sort out the dealers and fast if they ever hope to not be percieved as a budget brand, the fact that the dealers are all selling Kia's or Diahatsu's alongside also will never help the image.

Ford dont have to sell there cars alongside daihatsu's or other budget brands, so why do Skoda?[/quote']

I'm very surprised to read your comments...... the Skoda dealers in Yorkshire are not 'tatty dirty sheds' and the dealer in Halifax sells VW alongside Skoda!

I suspect you cannot have been near a Skoda dealer since the early eighties!!!!

C.

On a side note' date=' Is the garage near the garden centre still there? It was called motorworld I think and used to sell jap imports, I had about 3 cars off them!![/quote']

Yep still there - called Autoworld I think and still lots of jap import and other sporty stuff.

I'm very surprised to read your comments...... the Skoda dealers in Yorkshire are not 'tatty dirty sheds' and the dealer in Halifax sells VW alongside Skoda!

I suspect you cannot have been near a Skoda dealer since the early eighties!!!!

C.

I bought my car in 2003, and went back there a few months ago, the stealership near me is little more than a couple of houses knocked together!

To be honest, its not possible to compare dealerships as every car manufacturer has good ones and bad ones.

I'm very surprised to read your comments...... the Skoda dealers in Yorkshire are not 'tatty dirty sheds' and the dealer in Halifax sells VW alongside Skoda!

I suspect you cannot have been near a Skoda dealer since the early eighties!!!!

C.

Hmmm seconded.

My Dealer in Liverpool has a nice comfy area for free fresh brew tea and coffee, a clean modern well lit showroom, more than ample parking on a freshly surfaced forecourt and courtious and friendly staff.

Shed loads better than my local Vauxhall and Ford Dealer in Warrington, crap parking, access is limited due to traffic on the A49 and the ford dealer is next to a run down area (imho) near the site of the old dallam railway sheds.

badge snobbery - on a Skoda forum

Oi! That's my line :P:rofl:

Chris

I believe that skoda have better residuals than Ford/ Vauxhall. I had a Vauxhall Astre mk2 for 8 years from new and it was faultless. I would never buy another new vauxhall tho just looking at the second hand prices after just 12 months. As for Ford, I allways loved Ford engines but the rest of the car as allways tended to fall to bits, and as for the dealers, they have allways come accross as the most arrogant bunch of ******s ever, If I am about to dop either 1p or £20 K of my hard earned I expect some courtesy.

At the end of the day no new car offers value for money (with the odd exception of a classic or rarity that will increase in value), If you want budget motoring by a 10 year old Felicia/astra/fiesta with 12 months test and trade it for another 12 months later.

On paper the percentage residuals of a Skoda are better than Ford or Vauxhall, as they both lose shed loads of their RRP after 3 years, but if you can get the car for £6000 less than RRP then the actual residual percentage is about the same as Skoda.

EDIT:-

I will admit though that the Ford or Vauxhall may well be less than the equivalent Skoda.

At the end of the day why do you buy a car, any car, primarily to get from a to b, that being the case you would buy the cheapest on the market with the carrying capability and reliability required. This would mean there should be about 4 models on the market peiod. Why did I buy a Skoda? don't realy know, for the same cash I could have bought 12 month old merc/jag/bmw/lexus etc that would be more prestiguous, as reliable, as quick, as cheap to run :sofahide: loose less cash etc etc, must be mad :eek: but hey then on the otherhand I may just like Skoda motors, their curent product, and the service etc I have allways received. Certainly didn't purchase the octy with any delusion that I was getting good value. So yup must be Mad.

{slopes of to find a cheap shrink in yellow pages}

I suspect you cannot have been near a Skoda dealer since the early eighties!!!!

I wish!!

I've bought - hold on i'll get the exact figures..... . .

97!! Skodas in the last 3 years for my cab fleet. they no longer represent the value for money they did when the Octy 1 was released, and even when the Superb was released in 02 it only cost me 12k!!

Hence I no longer buy skoda's for the fleet, obviously residuals are not so important for a cab fleet as a cab is basically worthless when it's reached the end of its working life but I really dont know where you guys are getting the impression that Skodas have good residuals, look in the real world, get some trade in figures instead of quoting numbers found on the internet, I think you'll be very disapointed.

Hopefully Skoda have some kind of plan for the south east, and by closing down the embarrasing hovels they might open some nice new dealers, we live in hope anyway, i'm just glad I dont have to wreck my car driving down the bumpy pot-holed lane beside saltdean any more!!

I I really dont know where you guys are getting the impression that Skodas have good residuals, look in the real world, get some trade in figures instead of quoting numbers found on the internet, I think you'll be very disapointed.

Just looking in the auto trader, dealers, franchised and not, shows how much newish fabia and octavia with sensible miles sell for. Trade values, bought a L&K 110 tdi estate mk1 in november 2004 for 12k from a main dealer, traded into same dealer 17 months later and 16k miles for

One point I think is missing is that Skoda, like Honda did years ago, are trying to shed some of the VFM image.

The difference is though, that Honda never had a 'tatty cheap and nasty' image to shed. Skoda did, and in some peoples eyes, sadly, they still do.

Unjustified granted, but dirt sticks and can't simply be washed away with a bit of VAG and VFM input.

I'm probably being thick but how do they get away with it? Where does the money keep coming from to fund these losses and isn't someone going to pull them up on it? The banks that are lending them the money maybe?

AFAIK, GM and Ford have huge finance departments - so if they can sell expensive cars at low margins but on finance, they then make a fair bit on the finance deal. So to a certain extent they're not aiming to sell cars, it's just a device for lending people money...

I know what you mean that Skoda could do low-spec budget models...though I don't know how much it actually costs to up trim levels. That is, if you did strip stuff off the Classic models, would it actually really save them as much? I have a feeling that cars which are purposefully designed and built to be cheap would still be cheaper than an "expensive" car with a low trim level, so they'd still miss out on the budget market...

Rob.

One thing that attracted me to my Mk I vRS was it seemed pretty loaded.

The MkII vRS does seem to have an awful lot of stuff on the options list,18" alloys,jumbo boxes etc

To me it is an annoyance.Bit like a mini.To spec them up properly is a few thousand pounds over list.

Bit sneaky on the manufacturers front.If a fully kitted out MkII with all options was £17.5k thats VFM.

Sorry....I have a thing about manufacturers and options.Top cars should be fully loaded:mad:

Top cars should be fully loaded:mad:

It is...however, the vRS has always resided somewhere between Ambiente and Elegance for trim level, so it's not a top car!

Rob.