Forecourt Price and room for movement

[Jake02]

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 (?).

I've seen Fabias with them on. If my experience with my cousin's new Yeti is anything to go by, activating/deactivating the DRLs is literally pressing/unpressing the option of it in the MFD. Simple as that!

[pologti18t]

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 (?).

It maybe that they look like foglights and having them default to "on" in the Australian market could leave the owner to harrassment from police etc.

[brenno]

I've seen Fabias with them on. If my experience with my cousin's new Yeti is anything to go by, activating/deactivating the DRLs is literally pressing/unpressing the option of it in the MFD. Simple as that!

They're activated via a rocker switch in the fuse box panel under the dash. Even simpler than the convoluted options in the MFD.

The DRL's on our Fabia weren't activated on delivery. Judging by the amount of numpties who drive around with their fog lights on these days, I'm not sure the police really care much about DRL's looking like foglights. I'm happy to point out the completely different housings for DRL's/foglights to any curious officer though

[Scarfies]

A bit left field: Is it totally mad to suddenly be considering a used, say ~60k km, A3 instead of a Fabia (probably a Monte)?

[woofy]

No but make sure it at least has some options that are standard in any car these days. If I get into yet another persons car telling me how good their A3 is when it doesn't even have cruise control and usually has the piss poor base VAG stereo (that VW and Skoda wouldn't dare try and get away with) I'm gonna smash their head into the Audi emblem on the steering wheel until they see sense. Audi must just laugh at the suckers buying them over a Golf.

There are certain reasons to get Audis (besides the badge), the A3 (excluding the S3) isn't one of them.

Sorry about the rant, I keep getting given Audis to drive for hire cars that aren't a patch on the Skodas Europcar had. Even the s line A6 which I quite liked had the rediculous button setup down near the gear stick because thy use a bargain bin headunit from the VAG parts instead of putting a touchscreen in. Somebody spent time designing that for jack all overall savings.

[VAG newbie]

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?

Asking a sales person for any question is useless. The bottom line is, they don't know. It is better to go straight to the sales manager. If any feature that you are not sure, but the sales manager assures it comes as standard, make sure it is written down in writing in your contract, so if it doesn't come with it, you can haggle for it.

Anyway, to answer your second question, when we look at negotiation, we should look at percentage terms rather than absolute value. For compact cars like Fabia, it is very hard to get all the ORC included for free as it accounts for about 15% of the car price. In general, a discount of 10-12% is very well done. So at the current special deal, there won't be much more room for negotiation.

For a demo, they are basically second hand car. The warranty starts from the day it was registered as a demo, not from the day you purchase it. So assuming a demo has been sitting in the showroom for 3 years, even if it hasn't been driven at all and is still practically "brand new", there will not be any factory warranty! So the price negotiation on a demo will depend on its age, mileage...etc, just like any second hand car. You can't just compare one to the other without factoring in these.

An A1 maybe just a few more grands more than an Monte, the problem is it may account for a significant percentage in this segment. $5000 difference is 1/4 of Fabia price, so you still pay a premium for the badge.

[woofy]

I just realised they said A3, but maybe they were meaning A1 which is a different story.

[Scarfies]

Hi,

Woofy, I meant A3. I tend to agree with most of what you said. Just like to gather a few points of view.

VAGnewbie, it _was_ the sales manager (sigh).

Fundamentally I suspect a Comfortline Polo is 'better' but the Monte looks more 'interesting', which might be a bit of a backhanded compliment

And it's cheaper.

[woofy]

Ok, I like the styling of the A3s but find them pointless when you get more stuff included in their cheaper stablemates, it's not like they have less issues so I can't comprehend why people buy them.