Skoda vs Volkswagen Australian Pricing

[aslsw]

A couple of issues I picked up when shopping for a car:

- add on options, and the VW becomes way more expensive. I can't believe that the VW parts which are nearly identical to the Skoda ones cost so much more,
- I didn't get to talk turkey with VW (see next point) but the discounts for the Skoda were hard to beat. My optioned up RS will end up costing less than the advertised drive away price
- no-one in VW wanted to talk to me. Maybe it was the shorts, thongs and t-shirt but no dealer wanted to come near me. Down the road at Skoda was a different story.

[K1W1]

Am trying to remember how they are placed (price wise) in the UK,

Skoda is marketed in the UK very much as a budget brand and list prices are substaintially less expensive but so are the trim levels. Everything is an option. Take the VRS for example, the Maxidot display is an option, heated seats are optional, a spare wheel is optional, rear parking sensors are optional, auto wipers are optional, all those things are included as standard here.

[Jake02]

Great post...never realised they were priced that close. Am trying to remember how they are placed (price wise) in the UK, same goes for SEAT I suppose.



haha..not generalising or anything?...im sure VW drivers think the same about Audi drivers right?

Lol oops, of course not, I probably should've put even more emphasis on the Passat R36 part...

[CanberravRS]

Great job on the list Jake02, but pricing is not the reason why people will buy a Skoda over a VW and vice versa. All of model ranges how ever similar mechanically cannot be aligned that close. I've always found it amusing how there is a continual comparison between a GTI and a VRS, when all they share is an engine. Dynamically they are totally different cars with the Octavia being far larger, with a greater level of standard trim and options.. the same can be said for the Superb Combi which i have ordered. And ill fill in a gap you have for the passat/superb area.

The Passat/R36 is dated now, the interior is now a 5-6 year old design which feels cheap compared to the Superb's luxurious and heavily appointed one. Although it outperforms the Superb its not by allot and the ride suffers heavily with the R36 sports suspension being a tooth rattler, being harsher than the ride I get in my vRS Octavia.

The Passat V6 Highline is only the 3.2lt engine where as all the V6 Superbs are the same 3.6lt as the R36 ( just in a different tune )
If you look at the options between the Superb and Passat there are some similarities, but that's about where it ends.
The Passat like most VW's are not as supple on the road like the Superb which has a ride closer to that of a Jag. ( This is based on my recent road tests and experience ) I tested the following wagons R36, the V6 Highline, A6, A4, then i threw a 3.0lt liberty and a 323bmw and a 525bmw.

What I noticed is the Superb's packaging and build quality exceeds all the others, you cant match the value for money in a luxury wagon with that much room. Only car in Australia with similar storage capacity is a Commodore( no comment on quality there ). Added the sheer space is the combination of clever packaging of VW parts the interior is superior to the spartan very bmw like interior of the passat. The A6/323/525 wagons are stupidly expensive to get similar performance as the Superb and the Subaru just felt cheap and tacky all up.

I still believe that all Skoda models, how ever you try and align them with their platform brothers and sisters fit a niche individually. VW as a parent company are clever enough to realise, they can fill in the gaps between its primary named brand with its sub companies.

[K1W1]

Great job on the list Jake02, but pricing is not the reason why people will buy a Skoda over a VW and vice versa.

If pricing was the only issue why would anybody buy an Audi?

When I was looking for a new car I never even walked into a VW dealership. The thought of comparing a VW offering with what I was after in a Skoda never actually entered my head. Anybody who is buying simply on price should head for ther nearest Kia or Great Wall dealership and go no further.

[woofy]

Dare I add the reliability elephant that is in the room. After coming from Japanese cars, I have heard so many stories about VW and where they cars are really made and the ramifications, that the only thing enticing me over to VAG was the year on year surveys over in the UK placing Skoda at or near the top each year.

That is influenced here by SKoda HQ and the dealers themselves, but after needing both front headlights replaced within weeks, it was done quickly and with no fuss.

[Jake02]

Great job on the list Jake02, but pricing is not the reason why people will buy a Skoda over a VW and vice versa. All of model ranges how ever similar mechanically cannot be aligned that close. I've always found it amusing how there is a continual comparison between a GTI and a VRS, when all they share is an engine.

Right, thanks, but that wasn't what I was really suggesting. Put simply, people who are looking at Skodas are likely to know that they are a form of VW (which is likely to be the case until Skoda starts being a bigger-seller in Australia where the average punter will buy them, not people like us who have a high knowledge of everything Skoda and everything Volkswagen Group), meaning that they'll know that Skoda is aimed at being a sort-of budgety version of the VW range, albeit filling more straight-ahead markets (apart from the Roomster). So they're kinda the no-nonsense VW. But that's my point, Skodas are meant to be priced somewhat lower to offset the effects of the (supposedly) lower-quality interior trim (I think that the lower-plastics on my Octavia are abit too plasticky, but otherwise it's fine. I've heard that Skoda sell are abit high on road-noise though).

Of course I know about the Superb vs Passat comparison. The Superb is a much better car yes, BUT it's more expensive, so it'd want to be. At my dealer, a black Superb V6 4x4 with metallic paint and I'm pretty sure sat-nav was $66k on-road, which, I'm sorry, is way too much! That's almost Passat R36 pricing and I'm sure that you don't get R36 levels of performance and it's also alot more than the Passat V6. That's how much a Superb Combi V6 is likely to cost when it arrives and that's a hell of alot of money. Counter in Skoda's lack of advertising (they should be already advertising the Superb Combi even if it's not here yet, the name needs to be out there). And the RS vs GTI comparison is so old and so irrelevant. Jetta 147TSI is the car to compare.

So yes I'm annoyed, and yes some of you are likely to slow me down and say that I shouldn't worry, but I do. Skoda brings so much in it's range and it deserves to do so much better, but I'm afraid that because of the people who run it, it's potential isn't being realised.

If pricing was the only issue why would anybody buy an Audi?

Lol too true, and I suppose you'd know (owning an S3 right?) I think I've cleared my previous statements regarding pricing above.

[Frufru]

Skoda and VW

I am in the market for a new car as my car got written off (hail damage). I went to VW and Skoda to check out pricing for a diesel manual car. Well, you can get Golf for about 27 (I think 1.6CR engine) but in such an atrocious trim that you wanna vommit. Golf wagon with 2.0TDi was priced at 40 drive away, Octavia wagon 2.0TDi was 37 driveaway (this is what dealer was offering, not talking about advertised price); these ones had trim on the same level. I did not bargain as I was more or less on a fact finding mission. So overall Golf or Golf wagon were about two grands more expensive than Octavia or Octavia wagons. I simply dont believe this talk about Octavias being more expensive than comparable Golfs.

[Jake02]

So overall Golf or Golf wagon were about two grands more expensive than Octavia or Octavia wagons. I simply dont believe this talk about Octavias being more expensive than comparable Golfs.

Octavias are if you want the DSG version, but the manuals are cheaper. The Golf is cheaper in DSG form because there's no manual imported, so they can lower the price abit.