Skoda, my experience

Life Cars & Motorcycles
61

[quote=“smellybumlove”]Sitting in the superb is… well superb as it comes with electric seats with leather (an option on the octavia odly) lovely 3 spoke wheel, satnav, hids, 17’’ rims with dunlop sportmax tyres… i could go on.
But of course thats 1.3 million :raspberry:

If they bothered to spend a few quid more on the spec of the octavia they would of had a winner on there hands, as it stands no taiwanese is going to buy a car for a million without a dvd screen,satnav or a decent set of alloys.

octavia in taiwan = fail :popcorn: [/quote]

I actually like the base car as its erm…basic. I happen to like the smaller rims around town at least. I do agree though that without basic things like the wheel controls and screen functions, then it isn’t going to justify itself to most locals.

The Superb is the superb option. I just love that car. It has just the perfect balance in suspension for a car which offers handling, but absorbs the bumps just so. And better than all its other options, it has an umbrella in the back door! I’m just joking of course, but seriously it does have an umbrella in the rear door!. I love its gearbox as its seamless when changing gear. I don’t like the fact that it overrides your gear choice after several seconds have passed though. Its like being under a dictatorship when your car decides what it will do, regardless of what you want it to.
Of course the best thing about the Superb is the double back door, boot/hatch combination, which is pretty nifty, although not truly necessary.

Oh, and I wouldn’t buy one, even though I love to drive it, love to sit in the back of it, think its hugely practical and think its the best car Skoda has in their line-up as well as my favourite European car in Taiwan. I’d probably go out and get an entirely different… Subaru, for purely selfish reasons. If not to just frustrate llary some more :wink:

62

Yes, that’s my experience also. I can either pay attention to the GPS and the road, or the signs and the road, but not all three.

The more you go around and around about specs vs. budget, the more pleased I am with my WRX, even if it is ugly. :wink:

63

[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“smellybumlove”]
You see the roads here are so complex and condensed, its nigh on impossible for the sat-nav to be able to show you every little lane and turn you must take.
[/quote]
Yes, that’s my experience also. I can either pay attention to the GPS and the road, or the signs and the road, but not all three.

The more you go around and around about specs vs. budget, the more pleased I am with my WRX, even if it is ugly. :wink:[/quote]

Yep, and GPS DVDs, T.V.s etc are all pennies and you can pick and choose when they aren’t bolted into the dashboard. You can also update them easier too!

64

You do know who owns redwagon’s old WRX wagon, right?? :laughing:

65

Well i came across wrong, the octavia and superb are both without a doubt the best cars in their class, i do think they are fantastic.
Theres nothing wrong with the ‘taxi’ spec either.

What i do have a problem with is the premium price without the premium features.
How hard would of it had been to add rims, stereo and a better steering wheel… well i know that its under £500 for all 3 in the uk.

One thing people dont realise which sulvaca just mentioned is the boot.
WOW its a hatch and a sedan all in one, in fact the 4 door sedan as 99% as much space as the estate car, incredibly clever and bloody useful.
Not only that but the rear seats fold compleatly flat.
Maybe skoda will change the spec, i know already the next batch have all 6 airbags, so perhaps anyone considering the octavia should wait.

Oh they claimed to have sold 90 skodas, i havent seen a single new skoda on the road and i have eagle eyes.
Hell i have seen more sciroccos and they sold about 30 of those.

66

[quote=“smellybumlove”]Well i came across wrong, the octavia and superb are both without a doubt the best cars in their class, I do think they are fantastic.
Theres nothing wrong with the ‘taxi’ spec either.

What I do have a problem with is the premium price without the premium features.
How hard would of it had been to add rims, stereo and a better steering wheel… well I know that its under £500 for all 3 in the uk.

One thing people dont realise which sulvaca just mentioned is the boot.
WOW its a hatch and a sedan all in one, in fact the 4 door sedan as 99% as much space as the estate car, incredibly clever and bloody useful.
Not only that but the rear seats fold compleatly flat.
Maybe skoda will change the spec, I know already the next batch have all 6 airbags, so perhaps anyone considering the octavia should wait.

Oh they claimed to have sold 90 skodas, i havent seen a single new skoda on the road and I have eagle eyes.
Hell I have seen more sciroccos and they sold about 30 of those.[/quote]

Yes, a lot of people don’t realise how enormous…enormous…enormous, the boot is…the boot is.the boot is in the Skodas. Even without being an Octavia Combi, they are already quite massive.

67

Fully agreed…All these satnav, DVD, double din vibrator options are not necessary at purchase and are very easily retrofitted by just about any shop on the island…I don’t care much for this gadgetry nor does the ‘sex’ appeal of my car matter. I’m not willing to trade-off a good powertrain and handling for looks.

68

Agreed on the retro fitting, its just i dont like paying a premium price for base spec :no-no:

69

Well, this is one of the reasons for the bias toward Japanese vehicles. When I priced my WRX against the list price in Europe it looked expensive at first. Then I started adding in all the items that came stock here and were options there. Comparing apples to apples it was really very close. Looking at the US it was even worse, they get very low spec cars and it was a long list of options to buy to get to the same spec as the car sold here. Again, the price came out quite close at the end.
The European cars sold in Taiwan often have a very strange spec list with the weakest engines, brake packages and safety systems etc., loaded with all the faux wood, leather, power-everything options that are available. It can make it hard to cross shop that in Europe and I think that’s one of the tools the importers use to hose the consumer.

70

In this case the skodas are bare minimum on everything…i mean everything, not a single extra.
They just payed for the DSG gearbox.

In fact in europe you couldnt get this spec with the DSG, you have to at least have a SE model which would have 16’’ or 17’’ rims for a start.

71

[quote=“smellybumlove”]In this case the skodas are bare minimum or everything…i mean everything, not a single extra.
They just payed for the DSG gearbox.[/quote]

Well, they probably have a small enough order that they cannot cherry-pick the parts bin and come up with a Taiwan special. It was probably a shitfight to get the DSG installed into the car as it was. If they had more sales volume it might be different. Then you’d get the weakest engine / auto trans / brakes / suspension available together with the entertainment /chrome / wood / leather / power bits from the top of the range. All show and no go, as usual. My guess is that the importer wants to maintain image separation between Skoda and VW to avoid cannibalizing the sales. Much in the same way VW interiors are now cheaper than they used to be, to make the Audis look like better value.

72

I’ve visited Skoda-dealership on Chengde road last weekend, test drove the Octavia Combi.
I really liked it, but it’s so damn bare-to-the-bones.
Definitely in need for some K/W suspension and bigger rims :slight_smile:

Upon more detailed discussions, dealer offered me the Volkswagen financing which is ridiculous at somewhat 10% annual interest.
Now few minutes ago got a call that 0% financing available, what color would you like to have?

Basically the only real thing what worries me is the residual value after couple of years. If looking for example 2008 Jetta’s, they go around 800k NTD, anybody knows what was a new price for those?
What will be Octavia worth in 2 years, 600k or less?

73

Yep that is my fear, the VW’s tend to be worth 99% of their value forever but the skodas… who knows.
But i think the estate will hold its value, taiwanese pay premiums for estate cars.
Also the yeti will most likely be the SUV to buy and like most popular SUV’s it will hold its value… hopefully.

Testing the yeti and ABT remapped octavia tomorrow (sales guy says its faster than a stock GTI).

74

Did you call the guy I arranged? He keeps calling me now asking when you’re turning up.

75

Whoops, no brian emailed me the same day i spoke to you and has the head sales guy called ricky handle things for me.
He speaks english and is very helpfull, brutally honest too… which is what i like.

76

My Yeti 1.2 review

Before i begin i must add that skoda dont have a yeti to test drive, the car is unregistered and not road legal… so it WASNT test drove during a busy saturday morning :laughing:

The car they ‘didnt’ have was the very base basic model, it didnt have cup holders in the back or an arm rest in the front, it was very sparce inside, i was assured the batch coming in have alot more extras included but they couldnt go into details just yet.
So the size of the car is not much bigger than a golf, its probably about equal to the golf plus in terms of size but just a wee bit taller.
I wont go on about how clever the car is with its seats and interior space, i will say its the best of its kind and very useful.

The engine is almost silent at idle and you cant feel any vibration, it feels like a lexus, very impressive.
Rev it and you can obviously hear its 4 cylinder track, but it sounds very nice, way better than most japanese 4 bangers.

Slide the DSG lever into D and plant your foot to the floor… you expect it to just slowly take off, oh boy you are wrong, this thing FLYS like it has a rocket up its arse!.
It spins the wheels very easily and rips upto 60kph in about 3ish seconds, the gear changes are so fast you would believe you were in a SMG equiped M3, WOW!. :notworthy:
The handling is quick and nimble, it feels like a tall GTI, it really is a joy to drive, i can see why the press go on about this car!.
Brakes are good, road noise is very quiet… I dont know what to say, its hands down the best car i have driven in a long time!.

All that power from a 1.2 and all this handling from a fake SUV is quite amazing, dont look at it as a SUV as its just not, its a GOLF in high heals. :bravo:

After this i took a test drive in the 210bhp remapped octavia, this is a 1.8 version of the yeti engine with the same gearbox.
TO be honest the drive wasnt as good, the car feels much longer and more sluggish with its handling.
Though it was pretty fast, every time i got to put my foot down i was slamming on the brakes and reminding myself that the yeti could be driven much more manically without this problem. :ponder:

So im buying a yeti, i will order it with a few extras (silver interior trim and 2 spoke RS wheel) and retrofit the touchscreen navigation when it arrives.

This car is awesome, im hoping that it flops so that im the only person in the country with this awesome car :smiley:

Now just think, its a little rocket in stock form, the remap MTM and ABT have raise it to 140bhp (not so important) and 170lb-ft of torque!.

mtm-online.de/en/Skoda/Yeti/ … et105140fm

$880,000 when it goes on sale, fuel tax is cheap, running costs are cheap and they are talking of offering fixed price servicing on this model… even with this bizarre local market, i cant see how they wouldnt sell millions of them!.

77

So it’s possible to customize the Yeti more than the Octavia? Due to for Octavia, it’s pretty much limited to sunroof yes/no.
Need to go take a look at the Yeti.
Just noticed that it has won several car tests in Europe, especially winter features seem to be very good, although that doesn’t matter much in here :slight_smile:

78

Well officially no, they order them in all the same.
But they are going to be finalising the order for the october delivery, if you get your order in before this time you can add some things to the spec.
Problem is the factory is having production issues so they may not be able to add everything you want, but im pretty sure the steering wheel and interior trim is do-able, if not its not hard to retro fit all that.

It drives better than the octavia, its very sure footed in corners (unlike every SUV i ever drove!) and goes like stink.
When i took off from the lights and the wheels spun up, i couldnt help but laugh… its a 1.2, how does it pull so hard?! :roflmao:
According to some guys in europe the engine is not putting out 105bhp, its making around 110bhp at the wheels!.

I am so looking forwards to october.

79

Very :sunglasses:, 1200cc engine is only slightly bigger than my bike’s engine but boost makes wonders.
Yeti battles with VW Tiguan right? Tiguan’s basic model is 1.19 mil currently (2.0 TSI) so this thing seems like a much better value (depending on the depreciation of course).

80

[quote=“Owerflow”]Very :sunglasses:, 1200cc engine is only slightly bigger than my bike’s engine but boost makes wonders.
Yeti battles with VW Tiguan right? Tiguan’s basic model is 1.19 mil currently (2.0 TSI) so this thing seems like a much better value (depending on the depreciation of course).[/quote]

Cant be 1.2mill for the 2.0tsi tiguan!.
Its 1.38mill for the golf gti and the tiguan costs more than the golf, last time i check it was 1.5mill.

In fact the 2nd hand tiguan 2.0tsi is 1.2mill!.