Forecourt Price and room for movement

[woofy]

The other common trick they do is "if I can get this deal for you, will you pay the deposit today?". They then say they need to discuss with their sales manager, but actually they go into the tea room and have a nice cuppa, leaving you with the brand new car with that nice smell, to create the bonding between you and the car, at the same time wear you out. They will then come back after 30-40 min with a figure that is about $1000 more than your asking price. By then you would have fall in love with the car, and would have felt really tired and just want to get it over and done with, very easy you will soften on your ground, and be happy to meet somewhere in between.

Don't be afraid to walk out!

They did this and it left my wife anxious but I told her they are just discussing golf scores from the weekend. If they take too long lets start looking and acting roughly around the pristine RX-8 on the floor to throw them and make him come back out.

Did that and in no seconds flat he was out accepting the deal.

[Scarfies]

Also, try to leave wife out of the negotiating process.

Heh, not always: My wife, when the salesman was harping on to me about how many lovely options the (demo) car had, "it's not our problem if you've over- capitalized", up till that point I thought she wasn't even listening. Poor guy didn't what to say.

[Pomie]

Well today were the first test drives so back to dealer 1 and took the fabia monte carlo out for a quick spin around the block and up the freeway and my wife drove it back. i was very pleasantly surprised by the power from the little 1.2 litre and it was more than enoug for city driving and the odd bits off freeway driving we do. As I pulled out onto the freeway the salesman in the back said "you can put your foot down if you want." so within what seemed like seconds i was into fourth and merging into the freeway at 100 no problems then into 5th and cruising along with the sat morning drivers. i looked at my wife and we both grinned stupidly. this will do for us we thought, as if esp connected us ..lol
after getting back to number 1 dealers i told him straight up that I had a test drive of the dsg yeti 77tsi at another skoda dealer's down the road and i was going to compare prices and see what the best deal i could get. he asked if i wanted to test drive their dsg but i politely told them i had told the other dealer i was definitely turning up and didn't wanna stand him up and of course i wanted to see what he could do too.
we arrived at dealer no 2 and took the yeti out unaccompanied due to the dealer waiting on a late appointment. i jumped in the driver's seat and engaged the dsg into drive and W.O.W what a difference. although a tad slower in pickup than the fabia, i was in love with the gearbox and realised how much this car would make my drive to work much more stress free compared to the old manual I'm driving at the moment. i couldn't believe how smooth it was, you just put your foot down, there was no hassle, it was just superb. then i noticed a little 's' on the gearstick which i presumed was 'sports mode' or something. (I really should have learned about this box before I drove it as I think you can drive it manually as well). the 's' mode caused the car to hang onto the gears longer and giving the car a little bit of rev as it automatically changed down - which amused me no end!
we returned to the car yard and asked when the automatic fabia would be available, having been completely sold on the automatic drive. he told me could be another two months but they had been test driving them over east on a Skoda dealer day.
now this is where the dilemma begins. my wife (and I for that matter) like the fabia due to its sporty looks but would prefer it to be automatic. however, we want to buy a car now and can't stand the thought of waiting. i prefer the yeti but can't convince her to go down this path. then she spotted the VRS in the corner and i had to pull tightly on the reins to keep our budget in check. however, dealer no 2 saw her weakness and explained that a fabia monte automatic would go for about $28,000 and we'd have to wait, whereas for $32,000 we could drive away a car with double the horsepower/kw.
me being a tightarse said no straight away. so we returned to salesman no 1 to enquire about the monte with automatic and he told us they hadn't even been built yet, so it could be six months. we were then asked if they could get a red monte for $19,990, would we sign today on the spot at that price and it would take four weeks to arrive. the salesperson left us for five minutes but our desire for the automatic saw us walk away.....which I will probably regret after driving my 1996 manual suzuki for the next week!!
now i am left thinking "why couldn't I have bought one in england, kept it for a year and fetched it out here as a personal import?!" LOL
the only thing i can think of now is a VW polo with the dsg box or try and wear the missus down for the yeti. buying a house and getting married is a walk in the park compared to buying a new car!! LOL
well, you'll know when i know
rog

[VAG newbie]

Why Skoda Aus (VW Aus) didn't import the Fabia with DSG at launch is a great puzzle to all of us. The commonest answer we got was the demand world-wide is too big that Aus is just not their priority, so we've been put on waiting list longer and longer.

But, as a Skoda owner, plus many others in this forum, I can tell you it was definitely worth the wait. I waited for 6 months but I never regret for waiting a car that I love, rather than compromise on some thing. It is a big spending and you need to be happy with it.

So it really depends on how urgently you need the car. If you got your car written off and needs one immediately, then maybe you will need to compromise. But if you are just upgrading and still has the old car to drive, then you might want to consider whether the wait is worth it or not.

IMO, polo is nice but too bland! It doesn't really stand out. Also it's from S. Africa/Spain instead of Germany, reliability may be an issue, even though VW's German factory's reliability record ain't great either. Need to consider that.

[woofy]

They didn't bring the fabia here initially as our dollar compared to the pound/euro was crap at the time and they couldn't be competitive. The only reason they are here now is the euro crisis happened.

[Jake02]

The answer we got from the man at Skoda at the Melbourne motorshow was that the 7-speed DSG (not seen here before in the Roomster - that was the 6-speed) couldn't lock in Park or something similar (I remember sitting in a Roomster when we got our RS and the gearknob could move out of Park) and it needs to be by ADRs so it took them that long to get it here. Good old ADRs (Y).

Also Pomie have you considered the special edition Yeti 77TSI Urban? I've seen it advertised for only $1k more than the 77TSI and it's got the Reef Pack (with the black wheels - which isn't available on the 77) as standard equipment. Just a thought.

[brad]

Pomie: You live in Perth. How bad can the traffic be? I do 90km per day in Sydney peak hour traffic (peak hour now goes from approx 7.00am-9.30am & 3.30pm-7.00pm) and live very easily with the M6 in my Octavia. I had Autos from about 1997-2005 (and a few before that) so it's not like I'm a manual bigot.

[pologti18t]

The answer we got from the man at Skoda at the Melbourne motorshow was that the 7-speed DSG (not seen here before in the Roomster - that was the 6-speed) couldn't lock in Park or something similar (I remember sitting in a Roomster when we got our RS and the gearknob could move out of Park) and it needs to be by ADRs so it took them that long to get it here. Good old ADRs

How does that make sense when that gearbox is prolific through the VAG range (including the Polo 1.2TSI) sold here?

I think you will find the requirement to lock in park (brake interlock etc) was forced upon the world by the US market. Remember Audi and the unintended acceleration (in the USA) furore of the mid 90s? That was the start of it.

[Pomie]

Pomie: You live in Perth. How bad can the traffic be? I do 90km per day in Sydney peak hour traffic (peak hour now goes from approx 7.00am-9.30am & 3.30pm-7.00pm) and live very easily with the M6 in my Octavia. I had Autos from about 1997-2005 (and a few before that) so it's not like I'm a manual bigot.

yeah Brad the traffics prob not as bad as the sydney traffic but the roads over here are not as good as the roads over east,( well i dont think so) also i have just got used to the idea of having a auto after not even driving a auto until i was about 30, and for future resale down the line i know auto's sell much better than manuals.There was nothing wrong with the manual monte cracking little car but the auto has won me over.
i read somewhere last year before the vrs came here they were expecting it to be about $25k pitty its another 5k as i could have streched to 25 for one of them

[brad]

Fair enough.

I have a solution to your money issues. Get involved in the mining boom. You're in the right state.

[Pomie]

Fair enough.

I have a solution to your money issues. Get involved in the mining boom. You're in the right state.

i have a problem doing 9 hours a day let alone 12 ..lol, and you should see the car/bike/toy posts over here on gumtree ect saying I work in the mines dont have time to use it,
what i need is some miner to buy a vrs and not have time to use it and sell it to me for $25k

the sales person rang yesterday and asked if we had given any thought about the manual we told them we were either going to wait for the auto or see if our finances could stretch to the vrs ( it was then a big speil about how good the vrs is, and come down and take it out for a test drive.i am just not sure i wanna fork out the extra 10k when the monte is everything we need but juts not auto ....on another note i just got my mate to try the fabia monte as he looking for a new car he was impressed and he not bothered about it being a manual
so he will maybe get one before me.
anyway will keep posting if we decide on anything

Pomie

[pologti18t]

$30K will get you a VRS in WA driveaway before bargaining (carsales).

Seems ok value compared to what they may charge for an auto MC. The VRS is fully loaded compared to a MC.

[Pomie]

well after bleating on to a mate at work how good the little monte is he went down and took it for a test drive and liked it so much he brought one ( he gets his brand new silver monte with a 5 year warranty in 2 weeks ) and he got just about 10% off the drive away 21990 he not bothered about it being maunal as we are, so he is a very happy skoda owner to be.

still pondering on mine .....vrs yeti or wait for dsg .......arrrggghhh think ill buy a bike its less hassle and i wil get fit

[pologti18t]

I think i saw normal Fabias advertised for 16990 drive away. Is the monte worth $5000 more?

Looks like a few updates for MY13.

http://skoda.com.au/downloads/brochures/fabia-brochure.pdf

[Scarfies]

So, as an aside, today a dealer told me DRLs aren't activated on Fabias, even though they physically are there, on the front of the car?! WTF?! I can only assume he's wrong (?).

Anyway. Looking for a second car. I think the Polo loses to a Fabia (basically on the price to goodies ratio). I have an Octavia Scout so am happy with Škoda's reliability etc. Only real question is (to return to this thread's topic) how much movement is there on price? Sure, the current drive away deals are a 'special deal' but, a) looking on CarSales there 343 Škodas listed as 'demos and near new' and b) a Polo, and even the new A1 5 door, is listed at only a few grand more than a Monte, which together makes me suspect there's got to be wriggle room.

Any thoughts/ experiences?