Commentators/reporters/journalist reviews without researching.

[brad]

We also went to Ford @ Sutherland and looked at a Modeo wagon. Two awesome quotes from the saleswoman there;

Motherly type about mid-50s? I'm suprised she still has a job.
I was there 3 years back looking at a Focus XR5. Refused to give me a test drive and would only quote RRP "because they are so popular & we sell every unit we order". I told her to forget it & I'd go to a proper dealer like Peter Warrens or City Ford that new how to sell a car.

[thejack72]

Motherly type about mid-50s? I'm suprised she still has a job.

That's the one... I think she has pics of old Ferdie or something. She's been there since the dealership was at Hurstville!

Refused to give me a test drive and would only quote RRP "because they are so popular & we sell every unit we order".

We got exactly the same line about test-driving the Mondeo.

BTW Brad - Start looking a dark grey Superb wagon in next few weeks... we too are 'Just near Blakehurst'.

[brad]

That's the one... I think she has pics of old Ferdie or something. She's been there since the dealership was at Hurstville!

They'd be very small pics if it's Ferdie. If she's been with him that long then full credit to her. I managed 3 weeks before i told him where he could stick his job.

We got exactly the same line about test-driving the Mondeo.

If you were looking for a mOndeo Diesel to test, they are like hens teeth. Wife ordered one on faith in May (IIRC) and delivery is December (not sure how that works because her fleet manager still hasn't asked her what colour she wants).

BTW Brad - Start looking a dark grey Superb wagon in next few weeks... we too are 'Just near Blakehurst'.

No point telling people what suburb I'm in as 99% of people have never heard of it, but they seem to know Blakehurst/Tom Uglies Bridge. Have you tried the coffee & pastizi in the new shop yet?

If you see a red Octavia hatch with a pink tellytubby strapped to the grill - that's me. Say hi, wave, flash your lights. I don't bite.

[thejack72]

I know there is another thread about reviews but I can't find it, so I put this Sydney Morning Herald link from a couple of days ago here...

The most underrated cars | Citroen | Alfa Romeo | Lexus | Kia

Not sure I would call some of the other cars in the article 'hidden gems' though.

[K1W1]

I put this Sydney Morning Herald link from a couple of days ago here...

From the comments:

"I have been to two different Skoda dealers to have a serious look at the Superb and both dealers were hell-bent on selling me a Passat. Rather than answering my questions about the Superb, all they did was tell me my its not as good as a Passat."

Which VW dealers are also Skoda dealers in the same showroom?

[thejack72]

Which VW dealers are also Skoda dealers in the same showroom?

Nepean Motor Group... also Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler. I know they'd claim they're not, but when you're talking to the Skoda saleman in his office which in the 'Nissan Dealership' part of it they can't really deny it.

Also the (now defunct) Campbelltown dealer... the 'Skoda' salesman quite happily took us into to VW showroom next door to show us Passats, then admitted that they all worked at both.

[K1W1]

Okay that covers one dealership that the person making the comment must have visited (Sydney paper = Campbelltown) but I assume that the second one was unlikely to be Mentone.

[thejack72]

Sorry mate, Nepean Motor Group is in Sydney also... at Penrith, so that's two.

[K1W1]

Well I guess that was the two then.

[brad]

I think the Wollongong mob might do VW & Audi but at a different site.

Trivetts at Blacktown sell the VW commercial range - not sure about the passenger vehicles

[bobski]

Nepean Motor Group... also Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler. I know they'd claim they're not, but when you're talking to the Skoda saleman in his office which in the 'Nissan Dealership' part of it they can't really deny it.

I didn't have this trouble at Penrith, they were very happy to show me the Skoda - they discussed other cars but I didn't look at them unless they were already on my list. At the time, they seemed to share salesmen with the VW crowd. I wonder if Passats are in stock? Ie, sell them something you already have (the wait for skodas is an oft discussed problem here)...

Part of me feels for salespeople and people's recounting their experiences of them (most stories are better than what actually happened right?). There was a great article (which might be a repost) called "confessions of a car salesman". People often forget that its easy to be a bad customer and often transactions are lead down the wrong path by bad communication (garbage in garbage out). I can draw similar parallels to when I worked on an internet helpdesk. If someone had no clue about what their problem and feed you poor information, you could spend 10 minutes fixing the wrong thing. At which, you become a story about how poor the service was.

Here's "confessions of a car salesman". Good read.

Confessions of a Car Salesman

[K1W1]

Part of me feels for salespeople and people's recounting their experiences of them (most stories are better than what actually happened right?).

For every bad salesperson experience recounted here I'm sure any professional salesperson who has been in the industry for a while could tell several stories about lying and cheating customers. Unfortunately it's often a one way street as far as the perception is concerned but in reality the ethical playing field is more even.
Note that I used the words professional salespeople. Unfortunately many sales people in the car industry aren't professional.

[thejack72]

I didn't have this trouble at Penrith, they were very happy to show me the Skoda... At the time, they seemed to share salesmen with the VW crowd...

It wasn't a problem for us at either dealership either, I was only confirming that VW Dealers are also Skoda dealers.

Campbelltown especially was good in one way, they were quite happy to discuss and compare the merits of both the Passat and Superb. We would have bought from there but they wouldn't bargain at all nor would they talk about delivery times... I guess they knew they weren't going to be around much longer.

We ended up buying from Nepean as they were also quite helpful. I just wish they hadn't let themselves down with the 'typical' salesman behaviour (discussed elsewhere) of seemingly forgetting about us once I'd signed the contract. I realise dealers have a lot of things going on every day but, like most people here, I got annoyed that we were treated like idiots when trying to enquire about the status of our car.

[LaserJet]

Here is another Superb review, this time it's The Age . They discuss a petrol engine and totally forget about a diesel one. They (authors) demonstrate a very limited knowledge of the subject, as usual. At least Superb gets a bit more publicity.

[CanberravRS]

Apart from some comments around possible resale issues, which they said about the first Octavia's three years ago, the rest of the article is quite clever as it brings a mixed point of view and almost looks like a couples discussion points with mates about the cars capabilities.