Should i be worried?

[RSwag]

I just looked at a review on themotorreport.com.au for the Superb Wagon, not that i can afford it but was just interested as i have my RS on order. The article has me feeling all warm and fuzzy then i scroll down to the comments which are by in large quite negative, very negative in fact.

One comment talked about the amount of dealers handing back the franchise in the last 2 years. I purchased the car on what i thought was logic and to be honest i now feel i might have jumped the gun ere.

[Inego]

I still have occasional sleeplessness re. the resale of my Scout, compared to the Outback I traded. Then I decided to stop worrying - I prefer the Scout, and it's only money anyway.

The lack of dealers sucks though....

[woofy]

The only dealer I know in Melb that handed it back (FT gully), made zero effort whatsover to sell a Skoda. I was passed from sales person to sales person, given no opportunity to have a test drive (as other people found months later as well), and generally were useless.

If they couldn't sell any they have themselves purely to blame. There wasn't even a Skoda salesroom etc there, it was in the used car lot of Holden. Preston have been doing well, and from what I've heard so have Skoda in Geelong. Richmond have had regular sales since opening properly in late 2008 and everything just works there.

I don't think anyone is going anywhere soon. And Mentone have opened one. Call me crazy but I think Penfold might be thinking about it. I got some window tinting done via the Mazda lot there who serviced our other car, and the guys there apparently all had a big look over the RS. They sell Audi so would be easy to move into Skoda....for people that don't realise Richmond Skoda is actually Melbourne/Richmond Audi, much easier for them to sell a Skoda than a VW dealer who will be competing with much the same thing.

[Pietra]

it all depends on your priorites

We kept our last car for 10 years and it seems likely i would keep the RS for a similar time.

In addition to the the car being what it is - a decent sportswagon/small family car at an acceptable pricepoint, I bought the car on the basis of overseas rep of the Ocky RS, Skoda as a brand and the backing of VAG.

My primary concern is access to parts and trained mechanics and the bet i have placed is that VAG will be able to address those needs for the foreseeable future. People have already commented that in the event of repairs and maintenance they have audi and volkswagen parts under the hood - i don't see why this would change.

The dealer ship francises are antoher kettle of fish - i took the RS in for it's 1500km check this morning, asked the guy about the initialisation of the SD card in the stereo - he had no idea what i was talking about, after trying to explain it 5 different ways what it was firstly and then what the problem was, i gave up - hopefully the service people in St Leonards will have a better idea but i am not holding my breath.

From this site it is apparent that none of the existing customers understand the business model chosen to get this brand on the radar in Australia, but here's hoping plan B is a good one.

[woofy]

You had a 1500km check.....I didn't think there was such a thing.

My RS came with odd bulges in the headlight lenses, I got them replaced within a fortnight and that was easy enough. Most warranty stuff should be fine, the guys who have serviced mine are also the Audi mechanics, and Skoda has a checklist for services with a lot more stuff on it, than I've seen before.....its part of the ISO stuff, and having dealt with that all the time at my work, it will catch holes in the system.

[BlackSuperb]

You had a 1500km check.....I didn't think there was such a thing.....

My dealer (and most others too) do an FOC 1,500km check to make sure all is working as it should be. I don't know what they actually do, but they do it for free.

I had a free 1,500km check on my Outback when I bought it 5 years ago too.

[woofy]

Nup I'd say its not most Skoda dealers, but most other makes certainly do it. My 6 and before that the 323 had the 1500 or 2k check with oil change and Mazda still do, but Skodas don't have them. I'd be surprised if any VAG group cars do really so I think it might just be a habit thing your dealer is doing, its certainly not part of the warranty like it is for some makes.

[BlackSuperb]

Nup I'd say its not most Skoda dealers....

Fairy Nuff. I only dealt with one dealer so I suppose my assumptions were, well, assumptions.

[spellbound]

Yes i had similar thoughts in 2008 , but the VAG backing conviced me .

Only one dealer in SA at the time , but they have a state of the art service centre catering for VA ,AUDI , SKODA , BENTLEY , LAMBO ,JAG/LANDROVER .

We now have a second dealer in the barossa valley , both are highly regarded long trading businesses .

Resale is always a crystal ball jobby , red book dudes have it around 55% 3 years , which is better than a lot of other fast depreciators .

18 months on and i still love the drive , especially b country roads , bonus heaps of wagon space , economical 8.4l/100 in city , 6.7 country .

Sleep easy and dream of the big day

cheers

[K1W1]

European manufacturers on the whole haven't done 1500km checks for years. The Japanese seem to still be persisting with them I think because they still use mineral oils in the engines from the factory.

What is the initialisation issue with the SD card?

As far as the subject of the post is concerned I wouldn't be worried at all. Skoda is VW and VW ain't going nowhere. They have a long term attitude to things and they spent the best part of 10 years building VW in Australia from the gutter after they took over from Inchcape in the 1990's so there is no reason to assume that Skoda will be a short term exercise for them. There will be a few dealers come and go until things settle down but look at all the Toyota or Mazda or Ford dealers who have been and gone over the years. Could anybody in melbourne in the 1980's ever have conceived of Melfords AND Stillwell Ford no longer being in business today or of Rex Hunt Holden disappearing?

From a resale point of view inexpensive cars tend to hold their value in percentage terms a little better than expensive cars so and second hand cars these days are sold on their condition rather than their brand so i wouldn't be worried from that point of view either if you intend to keep your car in good condition with moderate mileage.

[Inego]

I suppose the issue with Skoda is the example of SEAT which, even though it was mainly sold by VW dealers, was canned, impacting resale. Still VW hardware, service still available, but why would you want one second hand if that wasn't clear.

Skoda has its 4 dealers in Sydney, of which only the two in the outer suburbs are also VW dealers. Hence my occasional sleepless nights.

[K1W1]

From memory SEAT was imported into Australia by Inchcape not by VW. There is a huge difference between a factory backed effort such as exists with VW and Skoda now and a private UK based company who is essentially a reseller. As far as I know Inchcape in Australia now mainly concern themselves with importing and retailing Subarus.

[Pietra]

What is the initialisation issue with the SD card?

just the time to start up discussed in other threads - i timed start up at 2 min 20 seconds with the card containing 6.65 GB of songs

i thought it was worth asking the service department if they had come across the problem before or if it was part of the general check

i was wrong ...

next option is a faster card - maybe a class 4 SDHC card

Nup I'd say its not most Skoda dealers, but most other makes certainly do it. My 6 and before that the 323 had the 1500 or 2k check with oil change and Mazda still do, but Skodas don't have them. I'd be surprised if any VAG group cars do really so I think it might just be a habit thing your dealer is doing, its certainly not part of the warranty like it is for some makes.

Steve Jarvin at Burwood - other marques include Nissan, Mitsu etc so you maybe onto something - nothing was ticked off in the service manual - simply stated it was a 1500km check - took 40 minutes and included a vaccuum of the carpets

I get the feeling most people are concerned with resale Vs ongoing servicing and support

[Jake02]

RSWag -

I just looked at a review on themotorreport.com.au for the Superb Wagon, not that i can afford it but was just interested as i have my RS on order. The article has me feeling all warm and fuzzy then i scroll down to the comments which are by in large quite negative, very negative in fact.

You would've noticed I commented on there, along with Thomas79 (who defends Skodas even more than I do, and I don't think he even owns one...). These people you've seen are the people who are completely anti-Skoda, where they have nothing good to say about them, despite obviously not experiencing them in any way possible. If you look at all the car review websites (in particular, CarAdvice) with anything Skoda it's the select few who fall into the same boat (and it's actually the same people) whereas the rest of us know what being positive is, and are much nicer

Pietra -

Steve Jarvin at Burwood - other marques include Nissan, Mitsu etc so you maybe onto something - nothing was ticked off in the service manual - simply stated it was a 1500km check - took 40 minutes and included a vaccuum of the carpets

Couldn't agree more. Not sure about the 1500km service, but one 'service' I know my Vladimir wasn't serviced at all. the air-con went very crappy about a month afterwards (due to a lack of air-con coolant in the bottle) and after they completely failed to notice the bald rear tyres (the car was hit from the back very slightly, which knocked the camber, meaning it rubbed on the tyres making them wear much faster) we took the RS back and pretty much demanded it have a full service. $600 later (including the new camber part flown in) and the RS was like new. Issedpay Offay...

[Pietra]

it's the select few who fall into the same boat (and it's actually the same people)

Who are these people - i found some of the comments on car advice entertaining, in the same way i find funniest home videos entertaining but i still can't understand how someone with no experience with the marque or the vehicle itself can sprout such BS

boredom?