Have been thinking about a new car now for a while.

When new in 1999 my Octavia had a 3yr unlimited mileage warranty as a major selling point to establish the Skoda brand now the standard warranty of 3yr/60000m is not that great for a number of users who cover big miles for work. I don't know if Skoda no longer have the confidence to offer a better warranty or because the brand is more "mainstream" with a lot of fleet users they no longer have to.

I recently had a Kia Ceed 1.6td on hire from Stanstead airport whilst working for a week in Suffolk/Norfolk and was very impressed by this little car.

Now if you lokk at the Kia brand it is fairly low key however they are now offering a fairly comprehensive 7yr/100000m warranty on Ceeds and Ceed Sw's. The cars are German designed and built in the Czech republic.

Is Kia trying to imitate Skoda?

Will this be a good alternative to say Octavia Estate?

Insurance groups are lower. 12500m service intervals.

Anyone have any ideas on the comparisons between an Octy estate and Ceed SW?

Warranties are rarely linked with reliability.

Firstly they are insurance backed (so they are added as a financial product based on defect rates and costs of repair and added to the vehicle price or swallowed by the marketing budget or profit margin)

Secondly, they are political and competition based.

ie they don't give a warranty if they don't need to.

In the US Volkswagens, Mercedes and Porsche etc are sold with a FOUR year warranty, in Germany they are all sold with a TWO year warranty. Work that out, especially as half the US VWs are made in Mexico! But the market demands it and so they get it.

In the UK we get the TWO year manufacturers warranty and VW and MB UK opt to add a further ONE year as a warranty product. Porsche don't bother and keep to TWO years - its brand is so highly valued they don't care about what a warranty may or may not say. But then they sell the best engineered supercars you can buy.

The Daewoo was launched with 5+ year warranties and so too alot of other far east manufacturers. It's to make a statement, one which they hope you interpret as their product is great and never breaks down.

I can assure you that the awful Vauxhall Cavalier and ancient Astra based Daewoos were far from reliable, but GM put its hands in its pockets to market them with this piece of mind.

So which is a better car, a car that doesn't break in five years or a car that breaks, but you never have to pay?

One thing to bear in mind, when the paper warranty on poor engineering runs out the car is worth less than the car engineered to not need a warranty.

So what will the effect be in residuals?

I would go for a Skoda, but what other answer were you expecting on the BrisKia website?

Finally don't take any of our words for it, go and look at both, sit in both, drive both and if the sales execs are serious about selling one, go live with both (for a weekend).

And then buy the one that makes you most happy and does the job you want it to do at the price you want to pay. That's why I don't drive a Golf.

What a good answer.

The standard skoda warranty in the UK is as follows.

Year 1 and 2 is provided by Skoda in CZ, this is unlimited mileage.

Year 3 is provided by Skoda UK, and is valid until 60,000 miles.

What this means is that you can do as many miles you like in years1&2 with full warranty, and as long as you have not yet covered 60K miles you get a 3rd years cover until you get to 60K.

The thing that really worries me about the Kia Ceed is the residuals, they depreciate like a lead balloon. Take the 1.6S as an example, a 2007 56 reg, which cost nearly 12K when new is now worth just under 6K as a P/X. Nearly a 50% drop in 12 months.

And then buy the one that makes you most happy and does the job you want it to do at the price you want to pay. That's why I don't drive a Golf.

My Golf Mk V was spot on (got a cracking deal on it as well). 14k miles without a single problem or rattle - only got rid as I needed more room and I'm a sucker for the VRS badge (They also don't do a Golf GTI estate ).

As said in my initial post I had a ceed for a week as a hire car in January and covered approx800 miles. I was horrified at being given one at Europcar, Stanstead but soon was impressed with the overall package of the car.

Also my point is Kia now like Skoda were 9 or so years ago are trying to establish themselves as a mainstream UK/Europe brand. Residuals may be poor after 5 years/100000m but very few cars will hold on to a reasonable value in that time.

I currently drive an Octavia, have for the last 4 years 90000m and have been impressed by the car but not by the "Brand" ie Dealers who have worsened over that 4 years. I use my car mainly for work (unfortunately) and feel I must be able to run it for the 40p p mile I get for that.

Note the Governments car mileage allowance has NOT increased since 2001 despite running costs increasing by 22% acording to Auto Express.

Any way my point about the Ceed is that they are trying the same tactic that VAG/Skoda did around 1998 and look at the sucess of that brand now. I do however feel that Skoda are trying to go the way of the VW brand in that they'll try to survive off their past performance and not worrk too much about quality/ customer satisfaction for what is currently being produced. Just look at the amount of posts on here regarding the poor customer service levels.

The standard skoda warranty in the UK is as follows.

Year 1 and 2 is provided by Skoda in CZ, this is unlimited mileage.

Year 3 is provided by Skoda UK, and is valid until 60,000 miles.

What this means is that you can do as many miles you like in years1&2 with full warranty, and as long as you have not yet covered 60K miles you get a 3rd years cover until you get to 60K.

The thing that really worries me about the Kia Ceed is the residuals, they depreciate like a lead balloon. Take the 1.6S as an example, a 2007 56 reg, which cost nearly 12K when new is now worth just under 6K as a P/X. Nearly a 50% drop in 12 months.

Sounds like a good 1 year old buy to me

My Golf Mk V was spot on (got a cracking deal on it as well). 14k miles without a single problem or rattle - only got rid as I needed more room and I'm a sucker for the VRS badge (They also don't do a Golf GTI estate ).

I've had 14 Volkswagens in total, 8 Golfs and 4 were GTIs, so I can't say I'm not a fan.

The last was a MKV GTI 3 door with DSG, which I loved. Trouble was I wanted more room and better economy from the new PD170 engine.

The VW dealer messed me around with a test drive and I happened to test drive the engine in a Skoda first.

And I was blown away. First by the engine, admittedly now chipped - but 0-60 in 7.5 secs and 45-55 mpg. No brainer.

Then by the quality and attention to detail on the Octavia Estate (I had a Merc C220 CDI estate as a company car and it didn't compare). It was all Golf GTI but cheaper.

Due to internal politics VW had stopped with the diesel GTI, but here was a diesel vRS!

And as an added bonus it was available in estate (pre the new Golf Estate release, still no decent engine though) and it looked nicer.

To top it off the dealer was friendly and knowledgeable and gave me a 15.5 % discount, 4.9% APR and free servicing for 3 years. I couldn't sign quick enough.

Any way my point about the Ceed is that they are trying the same tactic that VAG/Skoda did around 1998 and look at the sucess of that brand now.

I do however feel that Skoda are trying to go the way of the VW brand in that they'll try to survive off their past performance and not worrk too much about quality/ customer satisfaction for what is currently being produced. Just look at the amount of posts on here regarding the poor customer service levels.

It would be a mistake to assume that if Kia promote/market/warranty a product like Skoda did, it will get them to where Skoda is. This ignores the fact that Porsche-VAG is the worlds largest motor manufacturer and Skoda's are slightly diluted part bin specials (in the nicest possible way - ie the technology and economies of size way) from predominantly VW, a fairly well known and successful engineering based brand in its own right.

What is actually underneath a C'eed? (FLIPPING HECK, WHAT A STUPID NAME!)

Then you suggest that Skoda is somehow resting on its laurels, the leaps in quality and technology in just the last few years have seen the Fabia II, the Octavia II and soon the Superb II. To suggest this progress and the raft of customer satisfaction awards and motoring magazine awards for best in class is "resting" is bizarre!

Personally I have had no defect in my car in 9,000 miles and 9 months of ownership, and the dealership (seen on a purely "social" basis for launches and other events or to pester for more Columbus SatNav details!) couldn't be more helpful and courteous. A world away from the surly Mercedes and VW dealerships I have dealt with.

I

And as an added bonus it was available in estate (pre the new Golf Estate release, still no decent engine though) and it looked nicer.

To top it off the dealer was friendly and knowledgeable and gave me a 15.5 % discount, 4.9% APR and free servicing for 3 years. I couldn't sign quick enough.

15.5%:eek::eek::eek: how and who did you have to :P

great deal n1

Firstly, it would be a mistake to assume that if Kia promote/market/warranty a product like Skoda did, it will get them to where Skoda is. This ignores the fact that Porsche-VAG is the worlds largest motor manufacturer and Skoda's are slightly diluted part bin specials (in the nicest possible way - ie the technology and economies of size way) from predominantly VW, a fairly well known and successful engineering based brand in its own right.

.

Errr, VAG (even with Porsche) is the 4th largest car manufacturer (behind Toyota, GM and Ford) and Kia, as part of Hyundai was 6th the last I heard. Kia offer this warranty to attract punters and build the brand that otherwise would go for something else. Not because they are a pokey small time outfit, but because we are badge snobs.

Toyota, Honda and Nissan went through the same thing when they were trying to establish themselves in Europe.

Oh and underneath the ce'ed is the Hyundai i30

Errr, VAG (even with Porsche) is the 4th largest car manufacturer (behind Toyota, GM and Ford) and Kia, as part of Hyundai was 5th the last I heard. Kia offer this warranty to attract punters and build the brand that otherwise would go for something else. Not because they are a pokey small time outfit, but because we are badge snobs.

Toyota, Honda and Nissan went through the same thing when they were trying to establish themselves in Europe.

Oh and underneath the ce'ed is the Hyundai i30

According to the Daily Telegraph a combined Porsche-VW will be the largest automotive company in the world. That is not by "units" sold, but by market capitalisation of the companies joint value.

But you are right, it is an "establishment" tactic to get yourself in the game.

PS - what is a Hyundai i30?

The Hyundai i30 is the new replacement for the Accent.

Hyundai | New Cars | I30

The Hyundai i30 is the replacement for the crappy Accent.

I know, but what is an i30?

Cee'd is a very nice package and it has a feel of quality about it (imho), especially compared to what Kia were churning out a couple of years back and certainly on a par with anything Skoda are producing currently. My biggest problem with the Cee'd is that it lacked soul and that the most powerful engine is only available in the brand new Pro Cee'd which was outside my budget.

Will be interesting to see where Kia are in 5 years time and if their strategy is paying off.

As above, go and spend some time with both the cars you're considering and try and put them through normal driving/tasks to see how they each fair. I like to jot down some categories and score each car in each area and then the winner just falls out!

Me, well I didn't buy either a Skoda or a Kia

Chris

I know, but what is an i30?

just a crappy numbering system, probably a bad attempt to conjure up images of the iPod. The Picanto a-like is called the i10

15.5%:eek::eek::eek: how and who did you have to :P

It was a factory order and I had to agree to sign for receipt, pay 20% deposit and have the vehicle registered to me and initiate finance deal by the end of June 2007 irrespective of the delivery of the vehicle. This triggered the dealership's retrospective unit bonuses for both Octavia sales and total finance written for that quarter.

Luckily it arrived 7-10 days into July.

Errr, VAG (even with Porsche) is the 4th largest car manufacturer (behind Toyota, GM and Ford) and Kia, as part of Hyundai was 6th the last I heard. Kia offer this warranty to attract punters and build the brand that otherwise would go for something else. Not because they are a pokey small time outfit, but because we are badge snobs.

Toyota, Honda and Nissan went through the same thing when they were trying to establish themselves in Europe.

Oh and underneath the ce'ed is the Hyundai i30

Roo

You sum up exactly what I am trying to say and is it not the same approach that has led Skoda to the sucess it now enjoys?

Roo

You sum up exactly what I am trying to say and is it not the same approach that has led Skoda to the sucess it now enjoys?

I suppose in general a "give away" is the approach most new products get marketed by.

I bought some "Buy One Get One Free" rice crisps yesterday and it got me to try them, and previously I have had shampoo samples drop through the letter box.

But to paraphrase a well known varnish manufacturer, if it doesn't do as it says on the tin I won't be buying it again.

So if every new entrant tries the same tactic, yes we notice it and we may even try it, but that doesn't guarantee it's success.

I carefully noted the expected residuals on my Skoda before I shelled out, its the "whole life" cost you need to be aware of.

It was a factory order and I had to agree to sign for receipt, pay 20% deposit and have the vehicle registered to me and initiate finance deal by the end of June 2007 irrespective of the delivery of the vehicle. This triggered the dealership's retrospective unit bonuses for both Octavia sales and total finance written for that quarter.

Luckily it arrived 7-10 days into July.

Sweet only if all deals could be that sweet:thumbup: