End-of-financial-year sale?

[tones]

Hi all,

The Octavia RS wagon recently came onto my shopping list, and I went to a dealer last week to try and have a look. However he didn't have any available for a test-drive.

Now I am also looking at the Golf GTI and the Tiguan. Very different cars I know, but the dilemma is between a fun-driving car and space/practicality. We are expecting our first baby in December.

Anyway, VW is running some pretty enticing prices on both these cars, with free on-roads.

The Skoda dealer didn't give any hint of any EOFYS specials, even when I asked him. But then 2 days later, I saw a Skoda ad for the Octavia RS liftback for $38,888 driveaway.

That seems like a reasonable promotion. Has anyone here got any insight as to current pricing specials?

As an aside - is it also pretty difficult to get an RS to test drive? The dealer (Steve Jarvin in Burwood Sydney) made it sound like stock was rare as hen's teeth.

[team_v]

From memory the EOFYS deals are only applicable to cars ordered and delivered before the end of June so i don't know if you will be able to make that.

You will also have to note the driveaway price is usually for the base model with no options and most of the cars in the lot are spec'd out with 10k worth of extras.

[tones]

From memory the EOFYS deals are only applicable to cars ordered and delivered before the end of June so i don't know if you will be able to make that.

You're right, that the VW EOFYS specials theoretically only apply to cars delivered before 30 June (ie tomorrow!). But the dealer I spoke to (Barloworld at Mascot) was happy to extend the specials to cars ordered before 30 June, even if the car would arrive 3-4 months later.

I was thinking that maybe Skoda dealers would be more willing to do a deal, since they are sort of a 'challenger' brand trying to get a foothold in the market.

But first I need to organise a test drive of the RS...

[woofy]

Never had probs except for one dealer who is now gone, getting any demo cars. Maybe try another dealer, lots in Sydney compared to elsewhere.

The closest dealer to me, has several RSs as well as two Superb Wagons and a few Superb sedans as well. To be honest, you should be able to get just as good deal anytime, most EOFYS sales are pure marketing without much real stocktaking reasons involved anymore.

[tones]

I haven't seen much discussion here, in the way of prices and quotes.

Anyway, the dealer offered me a brand new RS wagon for $45k, which he had in stock. I wasn't that impressed by the price, but am not sure to what extent Skoda dealers will discount. These are the specs:

- Race blue
- Petrol version
- DSG
- Leather option
- MDI
- Front parking sensors

At the end of the day, I wasn't even near signing on the dotted line because I hadn't even driven the car yet.

[Swuzzlebubble]

Tell him he's dreaming!

[4thchicken]

I haven't seen much discussion here, in the way of prices and quotes.

Anyway, the dealer offered me a brand new RS wagon for $45k, which he had in stock. I wasn't that impressed by the price, but am not sure to what extent Skoda dealers will discount. These are the specs:

- Race blue
- Petrol version
- DSG
- Leather option
- MDI
- Front parking sensors

At the end of the day, I wasn't even near signing on the dotted line because I hadn't even driven the car yet.

thats pretty much what I paid for mine - similar specs except I didnt get the MDI but have sunroof+tinting instead.

[4thchicken]

fwiw - discountnewcars would have your spec wagon as $46861 (+leather seats cost) driveaway in Vic. Cant recall how much leather seats are though

[brad]

Now I am also looking at the Golf GTI and the Tiguan. Very different cars I know, but the dilemma is between a fun-driving car and space/practicality. We are expecting our first baby in December.

Then why is the tiguan on the shopping list? An Octy wagon (maybe even the hatch) has more room. I'm not an SUV hater either. Have had 2x SUVs; 2x people movers; several wagons as the kids were growing up.
BTW: drove the tiguan 147 or whatever it is the other day & I thought it very underwhelming

As an aside - is it also pretty difficult to get an RS to test drive? The dealer (Steve Jarvin in Burwood Sydney) made it sound like stock was rare as hen's teeth

I've never had much luck at Steve Jarvins. They are a Mitsubishi dealer that sells Skodas. Give Paul Wakeling Skoda at Campbelltown a ring & ask them if they have a demo. They will negotiate too (unlike jarvins). Campbelltown isn't that far away.

Edit: waste of time that recomendation is, Wakelings have bailed on Skoda

[woofy]

Must agree with the Tiguan, our daughter was about 8 mths old, we had a Mazda 323 sedan that could fit her stuff ok, and a mazda 6 hatch. Went and looked at the Tiguan, and the pram barely fit into it. If it helps you visualise, the Tiguan is a Golf in a fat suit, much like the Mazda CX-7 is more like a Mazda 3 in a fat suit. Both are bigger heavier and have less boot space. One day new Mums are gonna figure out that the hatchback they changed over from to the small SUV actually had more room in it.

And yep Brad the Skoda hatch would have probably 2.5 times the boot space as the Tiguan, the Tiguan has slightly more rear leg room from memory, but babies don't use it anyway. Wagons are a bit of a misconception, the hatch has pretty much the same footprint (same with the Mazda 6s as well), the wagon just has more height especially towards the back, with the slopes of wagons now though, that difference is getting smaller.

The Golf will probably just be acceptable with a baby, and like most Mini owners you will probably just put up with no space and everyday annoyances, by compromising with smaller car seats and prams etc, but I bet you will wonder everyday whether you should have got the RS Octavia.

Just to clarify the mini statement-We have friends who have a Mini that they spent around 11k on in the first few years of its life. They are now expecting in Dec as well, and have spent a huge amount of time looking into what other Mini owners use in their cars for Babies, buying everything around the car, spending a fortune and generally, can't see future problems for sight of the Mini.

We thought they would have taken the chance to get something maybe slightly bigger, but some people have to learn the hard way. It sucks to put any baby into a rearward facing car seat, I'm gonna love to see them trying to do that in a 2 door car.

[team_v]

Must agree with the Tiguan, our daughter was about 8 mths old, we had a Mazda 323 sedan that could fit her stuff ok, and a mazda 6 hatch. Went and looked at the Tiguan, and the pram barely fit into it. If it helps you visualise, the Tiguan is a Golf in a fat suit, much like the Mazda CX-7 is more like a Mazda 3 in a fat suit. Both are bigger heavier and have less boot space.

And yep Brad the Skoda hatch would have probably 2.5 times the boot space as the Tiguan, the Tiguan has slightly more rear leg room from memory, but babies don't use it anyway.

the tiguan actually has more boot space than the golf and has only marginally less space than the golf/octavia wagon.
Most people don't reaslise the rear seats can slide forward providing extra room in the boot.
The spare tyre can also be removed and the floor sinks to gain even more room in the boot.

Note that the spec's for the tiguan show a small boot space with seats up however this is with the seats pushed fully back.

Then all you need is a quick trip to APR and you have a 189kw beast that I find more engaging to drive than a GTI.

[brad]

thought so. I'd think that the vRs is 90% of what the GTI is (overall sporty package); the Elegance spec is 10% down on the vRS and from what the Tiguan felt like, it was 10% less than the Elegance spec Octy.

Babies have so much junk they "need" to take with them.
The memory is rusty but in the last 13 years of "kid ownership" we've had:
Nissan Bluebird U13 (fantastic with a bub but the boot opening was too small for those silly big prams new mothers insist on buying);
VX (?) Commodore S (did the job just fine);
2000 Camry V6 wagon (fantastic);
Toyota Avensis x2 (better than fantastic);
Holden Captiva 7 seat diesel (pretty good but Avensis was better);
Mitsubishi Outlander 2.4L petrol 7 seater (shocking layout & not terrific overall);
Gen2 Subaru Legacy (pretty good);
Mk3.5 Golf Cabrio (suprisingly accomodating but boot opening too weird);
VE CalaisV (no better boot access than the Golf);
Skoda Octavia Hatch (pretty good but the kids are starting to complain about legroom).

It sounds like I'm anal about boot openings but with 2 kids, there is so much gear you have to load/unload that it becomes important.
Calais will be gone in about 2 months, we'll see how a Mondeo wagon stacks up.

[brad]

the tiguan actually has more boot space than the golf and has only marginally less space than the golf/octavia wagon.
Most people don't reaslise the rear seats can slide forward providing extra room in the boot.
The spare tyre can also be removed and the floor sinks to gain even more room in the boot.

Note that the spec's for the tiguan show a small boot space with seats up however this is with teh seats pushed fully back.

So you slide the seats forward & the boot gets bigger but you loose legroom? We had that on the Captiva or Outlander & it was helpful at a pinch but grownups didn't like it.

Where do you put the spare when you take it out?

As I've said, I'm not an SUV hater. We've had 7 seat SUVs & people movers for the last 6-7 years and I thought we'd be severly inconvenienced when the wife had to have a sedan again. Apart from some ground clearance issues when going camping, it hasn't been too bad.

[Inego]

I just looked this up for another forum - seat up boot space is listed as Tiguan 395l, Subaru Forester 450l, Passat 513, Octavia 580l

Kent

[team_v]

So you slide the seats forward & the boot gets bigger but you loose legroom? We had that on the Captiva or Outlander & it was helpful at a pinch but grownups didn't like it.

Where do you put the spare when you take it out?

As I've said, I'm not an SUV hater. We've had 7 seat SUVs & people movers for the last 6-7 years and I thought we'd be severly inconvenienced when the wife had to have a sedan again. Apart from some ground clearance issues when going camping, it hasn't been too bad.

The rear legroom in the tiguan is more than sufficient enough to allow the seats to be pushed forward and still enjoy a comfortable ride.
The most common mistake people make is running the front seats too far backwards which is dangerous for driving and doesn't allow proper consideration for safety features (i..e airbag deployment)

If you remove the spare from the boot you could have it on a rear mounted spare carrier or in racks on the roof, however this is most likely never going to happen as it is too much trouble for most people.

I have no doubt's that an VW/Skoda Wagon would be a good car for a family.
I just don't think the tiguan should be discounted by so many people because the boot design and interiro space hasn't been explained properly to them.
The dealers tend to neglect the fact that the Tig is quite spacious as it means they can upsell you to a golf wagon which costs extra.

I just looked this up for another forum - seat up boot space is listed as Tiguan 395l, Subaru Forester 450l, Passat 513, Octavia 580l

Kent

As i have said before, the boot space is listed with the seats pushed all teh way back which they don't need to be if you are carrying a large load.
You could also use the 60:40 split seats to still fit 4 people in and carry extra luggage.
Then you have the front underseat storage which is reasonable for smaller items.