Skoda reliabilty in spite of VW involvement

[Bradpalace]

Good evening folks,

Something for you all to ponder on if I may. In doing my research for a soon to be placed Fabia purchase I'm astonished and scared by the vehemence of the VW bashing on the likes of whirlpool.net.au (Yes I know it's also called Whingepool) If you read that and the various links provided in the weekly I hate VW threads, which are commonly aimed at the DSG, you wouldn't touch them.

If you then search the web for opinions on Skoda and their reliability you find pretty much everyone thinks they are terrific. Barely a problem, go for ever, etc, etc. Which is good for me since I'm looking at keeping the little 77 TSi Fabia for at least ten years. (Rallye Green with white roof. Might call it "The Beast"). Having said that, the decision by Skoda Aust not to extend the factory warranty to 5 years when VW Aust have done so for VW branded cars is disappointing. (maybe the image of Skoda as a car that breaks isn't out there, so why put an extra warranty on if the extended warranty is mainly PR by VW Aust to get some smiles back?)


So, fellow Skodaites, riddle me this: Why does there seem to be reliability issues with VW and the DSG, and yet so little on the Skoda side of things? The basic chassis, engine and drivetrain are the same as VW. I can't imagine Skoda are making their own DSGs or engines to the same VW spec, but simply making them better, and so are getting fewer problems.

Maybe Skoda drivers usually buy the manuals, and so avoid at least the DSG issue?
Maybe Golf/ Polo drivers aren't as clever as Skoda drivers and can't handle the DSG?
Maybe modifying your Skoda (which everyone here seems to be intent on doing) makes a difference??


Or some other reason I haven't heard of. I welcome your thoughts.

[K1W1]

So, fellow Skodaites, riddle me this: Why does there seem to be reliability issues with VW and the DSG, and yet so little on the Skoda side of things? The basic chassis, engine and drivetrain are the same as VW. I can't imagine Skoda are making their own DSGs or engines to the same VW spec, but simply making them better, and so are getting fewer problems.

Relatively small owner base.
Very few Skodas have big mileage or have been sold second hand.
The oldest Skodas in Australia are only a couple of years out of warranty so many problems encountered (if they have) will have been sorted during the warranty period.

Maybe Skoda drivers usually buy the manuals, and so avoid at least the DSG issue?

Wrong I believe. I think that you will find that statistically the manual/auto ratio will be similar between Skoda and VW and any other compatible vehicle.

Maybe modifying your Skoda (which everyone here seems to be intent on doing) makes a difference??

I would venture to suggest that very few people here want to modify their cars. The ones that do post regularly and often about their mods. Having said that this is a car forum. It will naturally attract people who are more interested in cars than having them simply as transport.

BTW.
AS you seem to like perusing Whirlpool have you seen this thread?

[Mysticality]

I heard a story that the people who work at the Skoda factory go to work every day with the sole intention of making a better car than the Germans.

Makes sense... My Octy is perfect. 62,000km and 14 months later.

[dArK5HaD0w]

Relatively small owner base.
Very few Skodas have big mileage or have been sold second hand.
The oldest Skodas in Australia are only a couple of years out of warranty so many problems encountered (if they have) will have been sorted during the warranty period.

u r narrowing ur mind to just the australian market.
wat about skoda worldwide - plenty of mileage & second/third/fourth hands out there.
and before u say i don't care about wat happens outside - we get the same product that comes out of the same skoda factory.

Mystically pointed it, and so did the VW head technician at my local VW service centre - skoda seem to b better put together by the czechs.
zee germans just want numbers now.

[BluChris]

If you look at owner satisfaction surveys (eg in the UK) Skoda ranks very high, but reliability is not usually as high as practicality, price, dealer network etc. That said, still much better than VW for reliability. Why? Partly because Skoda does not always have the latest iteration of the tech, partly I suspect because they engineer and tune slightly more conservatively than VW. In the UK, they also appear to have a relatively extensive and cheap dealer network that for the most part is focused on good customer service. Stuff we can only dream of here that helps customer satisfaction no end.

There are plenty of Skoda owners with issues and VW owners without, but it seems that VW apart from generally lower build standards has some real horror stories that justify the complaints. Have a look at the Polo 6R thread, or the Golf VI 118 and 7 speed DSG threads. It isn't just Whirlpool, there's lots of vitriol on VWWatercooled too. From what the owners are saying it appears at least some of it is justified.

[The Speedfighter]

Relatively small owner base.
Very few Skodas have big mileage or have been sold second hand.
The oldest Skodas in Australia are only a couple of years out of warranty so many problems encountered (if they have) will have been sorted during the warranty period.

Have a look in Europe or at least not only Aussie. Skoda's are left, right & center. Funny enough, a lot of the previous model Superb are still used as Taxi's in Holland/Germany/Belgium. The KM's rack up by a lot. I remember when I was there last October I saw an older model Superb with almost 950.000km's (yes you read it correct here) on the little ticker. Not bad for a 1.8ltr if you ask me

Back to the ops question:
Also from my contact in Skoda Germany (and K1W1, it's not the receptionist like you kindly pointed out last time), and a close friend of mine who works at a Skoda Service Centre in The Netherlands, the firmware is also slightly different on the DSG boxes compared to the VW.

So if you add it all up:
Better build quality + (obviously) better firmware = better DSG gearbox

Hope this answers your question OP

[Bradpalace]

Kia Ora K1W1.

After I posted I also thought about the relatively short experience level of Skoda owners in Aust. I had seen the thread you mentioned and for me its a good example of Skoda generally getting a good wrap, compared to VW. I can imagine that Skoda might simply be better at designing a car to go on a chassis, and/or have some VW experience of older chassis to give them a heads up on how to use it better (while VW move on to a another new design). I can also imagine that Skoda simply put it together better. I'm still intrigued that there is not nearly the screaming about the problematic 'genuine' VW parts that are in Skodas, such as the gearbox. I appreciate that there is general kudos for some VW bits, with the engines usually being very well regarded.
It's Skoda experience overseas that show it to be a worthy car in its own right, both because of and in spite of VW involvement, that has me still looking to put my order in.

Good suggestions folks. Do keep them coming.

[woofy]

It comes down to attitudes of the workers. It also is partly to do with Skoda waiting until something is right before using it. Keeping the 1.8 TSI over the newer 118 VW rolled out certainly paid off. Why the Facelight RS TSI engine wasn't the same power rating as the GTi Golf is a mystery though. Although i thought at one point they were the same, it was just only marketed as a 147kW. If anything it was VW execs getting upset, but people who want a Golf GTi would get one anyway?

They were usually on par with the VW parts/mechanicals, Audi is the test mule for new things (and Porsche etc the first in line for new stuff). It was only with the semi update MKVI Golf that Skoda kept the older chassis. Arguably the quality of the MKVI wasn't on par with the MkV so you can see why SKoda kept the same going for a while longer.

[K1W1]

Have a look in Europe or at least not only Aussie. Skoda's are left, right & center.

The OP was primarily talking about the hammering VW DSGs get on Whirlpool which is an Australian site that is particularly insular. I was responding in the Australian context. The numbers of Skodas in Europe or Asia or Botswana for the matter are irrelevant to the thread.

[K1W1]

I heard a story that the people who work at the Skoda factory go to work every day with the sole intention of making a better car than the Germans.

But do Skoda MANUFACTURE the DSG gearboxes or engines? I somehow doubt it.
Skoda assemble the cars made from components that are manufactured in various VW plants around the world. Some parts are unique to Skoda and others are common across several VW group brands. I doubt that when a particular DSG gearbox is made in the manufacturing plant that there is any unique features or mods that separate it from any other DSG gearbox of the same type for another VW product. Maybe later on it might get slightly different firmware but the actual construction will be identical and so will the quality control be because the same person or people will be doing it across many brands.

[Mysticality]

Maybe later on it might get slightly different firmware but the actual construction will be identical and so will the quality control be because the same person or people will be doing it across many brands.

Maybe the blokes at the VW plants make a point of dropping the DSG boxes into cars, whilst the blokes at Skoda take more care?
In all honesty, it wouldn't surprise me.

[k_rider]

Better build quality + (obviously) better firmware = better DSG gearbox

I've often wondered about that - presumably Skoda simply ship in engines and gearboxes from the same manufacturing plant that VW (and Audi) do, so why does Skoda seem to have a better track record than its cousins? Do Skoda assemble their own engines (the various process labels, all in German, stuck all over my TSI would suggest not)? I don't believe that firmware differences would have a terribly significant effect in this regard.

[bluey]

I heard a story that the people who work at the Skoda factory go to work every day with the sole intention of making a better car than the Germans.

I read the same story somewhere (?briskoda.net).

It probably makes a difference where the vehicle is manufactured. So if we presume that Czechs are a bit Germanic, then Czech built should be equivalent to German built. Met a German bloke who worked for a company that sorts with vag. He explained the German culture of looking for potential problems and fixing them - as opposed to the Japanese culture of face saving cover ups (eg hiding Olympus 1.8billion loss due to bad investment). Our made in Spain 9n3 polo is very average build quality-wise.

So where is your VW put together?? Germany, Spain, South Africa, etc. Skoda being a government supported company probably also helps - less demand to be "efficient" plus some national pride thrown in.

Would happily get another Skoda....yeti has been fantastic.

[brad]

Skoda being a government supported company probably also helps - less demand to be "efficient" plus some national pride thrown in.

Skoda Auto is 100% owned by VW since 2000. It is a completely independant company from others bearing the Skoda name.

[Diesel_vert]

I read the same story somewhere (?briskoda.net).

It probably makes a difference where the vehicle is manufactured. So if we presume that Czechs are a bit Germanic, then Czech built should be equivalent to German built.

Anecdotes say that, despite the high proportion of migrant workers in both German and Czech factories, the difference is that the workers in the Czech factories (predominately Polish and Slovakian who, for the most part, integrate well and get along with each other and the Czechs) actually care about their work, or are at least competent.

Met a German bloke who worked for a company that sorts with vag. He explained the German culture of looking for potential problems and fixing them

As long as the consumer pays.