103 vs 132

[GTR27]

It's why it's always important to drive everything! Personal preference reigns supreme

[Paul_R]

The diesel is ours next Wednesday for a day. Will try the petrol engines after and report back.
Cheers

[Paul_R]

My wife went to collect the 110 wagon for test drive at 10am as agreed with the dealer. 'Oh sorry we made a business decision yesterday to take the diesel off the test drive list. We have a petrol but it won't be ready until 2pm'. No phone call to warn not to waste trip, (CX9 not exactly cheap on fuel) nothing. Even tried to claim the aranged time was 'after lunch' despite me writing down 10am and double confirming. Really dents your confidence in a dealer when they can't keep a simple appointment.

Lucky I spoke to my friendly VW dealer yesterday about a 130 wagon and 2 Alltrack's that they have on site. It's difficult to get either of them with electric memory seats and radar cruise though without factory order and much higher price.

[GTR27]

Name and shame. That is crap service. Don't let it put you off the brand though. Find another dealer. Sometimes it's worth driving a bit to get a good one

[brad]

If you are looking at Passat then you may as well look at Superb and if you are going to the VW dealer you may as well look at the Golf Wagen.

Sent my oldest friend (regional NSW like you) off to look at Octavia and they were very keen but were totally put off by the estimated 5month delivery wait as they needed a car within 2 months (old car running out of rego & repairs needed). VW could supply a Golf Wagen in a week. VW dealer was 10km down the road; Skoda was 100km.

Even a rusted-on Skoda supporter like me couldn't see a valid reason to convince them Skoda was worth the hassle.

[GTR27]

I agree with brad. It's hard to recommend if people don't have the luxury of waiting. The Octavia is noticeably bigger than the golf inside, but I'd recommend they look at a Passat or superb if they need extra room right now.

If you can wait, it's an easy choice, because nothing else in that size comes close for the price

[spud75]

If you are looking at Passat then you may as well look at Superb and if you are going to the VW dealer you may as well look at the Golf Wagen.

Sent my oldest friend (regional NSW like you) off to look at Octavia and they were very keen but were totally put off by the estimated 5month delivery wait as they needed a car within 2 months (old car running out of rego & repairs needed). VW could supply a Golf Wagen in a week. VW dealer was 10km down the road; Skoda was 100km.

Even a rusted-on Skoda supporter like me couldn't see a valid reason to convince them Skoda was worth the hassle.

Friends of mine loved the drive in my diesel RS, but when they went looking for a car they couldnt find the right combination of extras etc between the Superb and the Octavia, radar cruise etc. They also looked at tdi Modeo wagon and otherts. The main criteria was bigger boot to get the double pram in. So they are set on a 2013 tdi passat wagon instead. Although the first mod they will do to the passat is turn off bluemotion....

Paul_R I feel for you. That is crap service. I drove 35km down to Peninsula Skoda to buy my RS. I cant fault the sales service form Peninsula Skoda. Richmond is way closer, but I wasnt going there. Sometimes half of the experience with a car is the service, and if you get great service, then that is half the car.

Good luck.

[Paul_R]

Well the 132 wagon was finally ready at 3.30pm I'm told. He's given it to her for 2 nights now to atone for the stuff up. I assume she has it because her and the kids haven't returned yet. Either driving around enjoying it with the kids eating ice cream in the back, or has broken down lol. I hope she isn't filling it up with 91 RON...

Will report in due course.

[GTR27]

Good luck. I'm sure she will be amazed by at least two things. Frugality compared to a cx9 and performance.

[Paul_R]

Good luck. I'm sure she will be amazed by at least two things. Frugality compared to a cx9 and performance.

CX 9 actually gets to 100 in 8.5 which is good for a 2 ton truck. The 132 has only been to Coles so far, about 2 km and 6 sets of lights in rush hour and it's doing 13.2l/100! I'll take it out later up the Hume and see how that goes. If it doesn't get under 10l at 110 true I'll bring it back tomorrow lol should be able to get 7 at least I hope.

The automatic boot open/close is great btw.

[PassatB6]

CX 9 actually gets to 100 in 8.5 which is good for a 2 ton truck. The 132 has only been to Coles so far, about 2 km and 6 sets of lights in rush hour and it's doing 13.2l/100! I'll take it out later up the Hume and see how that goes. If it doesn't get under 10l at 110 true I'll bring it back tomorrow lol should be able to get 7 at least I hope.

The automatic boot open/close is great btw.

You're not going to get any decent economy figure out of a car after 2km stop start, the engine is probably not even warmed up.

[Paul_R]

Motorway run as expected was more like it. 7.1 with cruise at 120. 6.6 at 115 and 85 interestingly got near 5s (I didn't do that on motorway). Rides well enough but would be better I reckon on 17s for the smaller bumps. Certainly the expansion joints on the Hume over the Murray were not really noticeable. In the R they physically hurt your kidneys! Feels a bit noisy re wind over A pillers and rear but nothing to complain about. My wife didn't notice it. Definitely quicker than the Mazda. Doesn't feel as solid or expensive as the R build wise. I haven't been in a Mk 7 Golf though.

Now to see how my wife finds it for the usual day to day stuff. She's not happy with the seat slide adjuster poking into her leg (electric seats will fix that I hope) and reckons the 7 year old has no leg room in the centre rear seat with the 'transmission tunnel'. I'll try putting the boosted 5 year old there and sit the 7 on the side.

[donweather]

Wow you're 7 yr old must be very tall. I have two very tall 9 year (5ft) and 8 year olds in the back of my RS Mk 2 and they have ample leg room in any 3 of the rear seats.

[brad]

My girls are 5'5" (17yrs) and 5'6" (13yrs) and they no complain but I guess it depends where the front seats are. I'm 5'6" but with long legs & passenger front is slightly forward of my seat. MK3 has a bit more room than MK2. Maybe if your wife is 5'8"+ things will be different.

Suggest you check out a Superb - huge rear leg room - more than Passat.

I cannot even come close to imagining how your wife must be sitting if the seat adjuster is hitting her leg. WTF?

Just by coincidence, my friend that bought the Golf Estate was in Sydney last night. They are really happy with it. Her father is an ex-car dealer (still owns 3 or 4 car yards that he leases). He's had Mercedes as his personal drive for the last 15 years. He usually buys a 2yr old unit & moves it on after 9-12 months.

She's been driving him around in the Golf as he's just had an eye operation. He's decided to move on his Merc buy a Golf - maybe it's the drugs talking.

edit: If practicality of body fitment in a small footprint is a priority then look at a Roomster - but only the inside of it - don't look at the body.

[Paul_R]

I don't know what she's doing with that leg either. I can't get the adjuster to hit mine. I'll ask the 7 year old how he finds the leg room but I think the issue is having to put one leg either side of the tunnel. I suppose given we drive to QLD once or twice a year(2 days each way) it needs to be right.

I took a Passat 130 Highline out this morning. Much better combo of gearbox matched to engine. Far better around town pick up wise if trying to beat a car off the lights to change lane. Made my R feel not that fast when I got back into it. Passat feels much more solid all round and rides better (17s) They are going for 42k at mo. No radar cruise or memory seats though. They do have the nicer Nappa leather and had stop/start and auto hold.

Passat diesel winning at this stage. Not sure the 132 can make a come back either. Wife just said she has no confidence in it when trying to pull into traffic. I agree with her entirely. Even with stop/start the Passat just goes. She does like the red colour but the 2 year old hates it. Keeps saying 'I'm not getting into that blue car' lol.