Skoda - Now socially acceptable?

Jimbo

Just looking at the range of Skodas, they seem to be pretty good looking, especially the Octavia, not to mention value for money. Since Volkswagon took over they're supposed to be fairly reliable too. All in all it would seem to be a good purchase.
My question is - is it no longer uncool to buy a Skoda since their new-found popularity or do people still generally look down on them?

mildews

Good build quality, esp 1.9d. Alot of reps are driving them. it may be something to do with the price and BIK.

Owen

Funny story, herself's Polish, and I heard her saying to a friend "To jest Skoda", asked her for the translation and she said "That's a pity", so Skoda in Polish means Pity.

Zonda999

I think the storys got around that they really are just vws with different badges.I like skodas and i worked in a skoda garage last year.They have big plans for the next few years. The all new superb will be just that. Its launching mid next year and its supposedly more like an A6 than a passat.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/stillatthewheel/archive/2007/11/01/new-skoda-superb-so-what-s-it-like-to-drive.aspx

The new fabia has recently been released and is great value for money being about the size of a golf mark4. The fabia estate is being released around now

http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Skoda-Fabia-1.2-12v-70-2/229320/

Apparently there are also plans for a small 4x4,a large mpv and a superb estate.The Octavia which is the best selling skoda because of its sheer value for money. The VRS is the definately the best..

Esel

jimbo78 wrote: »

My question is - is it no longer uncool to buy a Skoda since their new-found popularity or do people still generally look down on them?

This is 2007, right?

jd

Zonda999 wrote: »

Apparently there are also plans for a small 4x4,a large mpv and a superb estate.The Octavia which is the best selling skoda because of its sheer value for money. The VRS is the definately the best..

i was looking at the VRS, but problems getting herself insured as she is still on a provisional. In the end I got a 1.9 tdi and am very happy with - great for all my fishing gear

I don't think anyone really looks down on skoda now-great value for money.

Ronan|Raven

And if they do look down , if you are happy with the car and its performance then who gives a flying fook to be honest.

crosstownk

Zonda999 wrote: »

I think the storys got around that they really are just vws with different badges.

That's basically all they are - rebadged Vee Dubs. Maybe they are slightly 'last years' VW, but they are a lot more reliable than Volkswagens.

Skoda are one of the worlds oldest car manufacturers, that indian head badge has been around a lot longer than the VW badge. But since VW took over, the Skoda brand has come a very long way. Remember the Felicia? One of the first models launched under VW's watch. Now fast forward to the current range - nobody can deny the progress.

So I'd say, yes, it is cool to own a Skoda. IMO, turning your nose up at a Skoda these days just smacks of 'badge snobbery'.

kindalen

have to say,i find my octavia a great car. am actually tempted to keep car until it falls apart,cars usually last a few months with me.

peasant

Socially acceptable?

If you have to ask THAT question, go on, be a sheep, buy a beemer

Jimbo

Im liking the VRS alright, got great reviews -a little bit on the steep side though - €32k

JHMEG

I remember my father saying after one of the "new Skoda" ads was on TV (this is 10 years ago if not more) "I don't care what you what you say... it's still a fúcking Skoda". Which is true, altho in fairness the badge may still be the same but the cars are a lot better. But I think the new Skoda is Ssssang Yong or someone like that now.

Jimbo

Exactly. Would you buy a daewoo or proton even if it was well rated. I definatly wouldnt. Almost everyone has badge snobbery to some extent. Does a Skoda still come under the same catagory as these cars in terms of street cred?

MugMugs

I drove a 1.2 Skoda Fabia Comfort '03 for 3 years.... I recently upgraded to a 03 TDI Passat....

My Skoda died a horrible horrible death with 45K on clock ( miles )

Apparently the three coils into the ECU fried.... ( I am not a mechanic so dont ask for more info ) however I did a search on google and it came back that the VW Polo ( which has the same engine aswell as the Leon and Ibiza ) all had the same problem.....

Basically, as well as getting the good build quality that VW do have ( kind of ) you also get the flaws (

To be fair to the Fabia, it took my heavy foot very well and I used to get 350 out of a tank on a 40 Euro fill ! Not bad !

All in all..... My next car will be the new Superb and my next car will be decided by how long it takes for my VW to cough choke and die.... which with any luck will be in about ten years....

JHMEG

MugMugs wrote: »

To be fair to the Fabia, it took my heavy foot very well

To be fair it should be impossible to kill a car with that low mileage, unless you drain all the oil out first.

Dunno, but I wouldn't be inclined to buy another one...

cyborg

Zonda999 wrote: »

I think the storys got around that they really are just vws with different badges.
..

And they are so much better value than VW's ....an example is the passat 1.8TSI is out now in Ireland and is a whole 5000 EURO dearer than the 1.6FSI passat.(both base model)

The octavia with the same 1.8TSI engine is guess how much dearer than the 1.6 FSI octavia (both Elegence model)..... its only 800euro more!

Rowley Birkin QC

Drove the VRS Octavia and the Superb last Xmas, both fantastic cars in their respective fields. The VRS was a great car in the twisty roads around Banteer and the Superb just glided on the same roads. Skoda will eat into VW sales in the next few years big stylee I reckon.

colm_mcm

jimbo78 wrote: »

Exactly. Would you buy a daewoo or proton even if it was well rated. I definatly wouldnt. Almost everyone has badge snobbery to some extent. Does a Skoda still come under the same catagory as these cars in terms of street cred?

Daewoo and Protons feel cheap and flimsy, Skodas are very well finished and have an engine range that reflect European needs. Not the same thing at all.

wet-paint

I love it if people think they're terrible. Makes for a great bargain when looking second hand.

BostonB

jimbo78 wrote: »

- is it no longer uncool to buy a Skoda since their new-found popularity or do people still generally look down on them?

Which people? UnCool with who?

tuxy

BostonB wrote: »

Which people? UnCool with who?

Boy racers?

I have never seen a badly modified skoda

Henry Ford III

I think they are fine cars. Reasonable value in an expensive market too.

I agree basically VW's in poorer clothes, but better built. Some older techonology - 1.9 TDI for example, but this applies to all VW, Audi, & Seat products.

I wouldn't go as far as to to say the are desirable though (apart from the VRS models).

Toon--soldier

tuxy wrote: »

Boy racers?

I have never seen a badly modified skoda

Makes me want one more

.Longshanks.

tuxy wrote: »

Boy racers?

I have never seen a badly modified skoda

There was a bright lime green Octavia floating around Newbridge in Kildare about a year ago. It was the older model and it had the works:o done to it. Apart from the colour, it had all the go faster stripes, spoilers, neon lights under and horrible alloy wheels. Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that...but this was just wrong. It was also a 1.9 TDI if i remember right:rolleyes:

E92

cyborg wrote: »

And they are so much better value than VW's ....an example is the passat 1.8TSI is out now in Ireland and is a whole 5000 EURO dearer than the 1.6FSI passat.(both base model)

The octavia with the same 1.8TSI engine is guess how much dearer than the 1.6 FSI octavia (both Elegence model)..... its only 800euro more!

You do of course realise that the Octavia is a Golf in disguise, so that is hardly a fair comparison. And the 1.8 TSI has 160 bhp compared with the 1.6 FSI's 115 bhp so thats hardly fair either.

What I notice about Skoda is that they still use a lot of the older engines in the VAG range, no sign of an Octavia with the 1.4 TFSI or 1.8 TFSI on the way AFAIK.

EDIT: Sorry I didn't read what you said properly, but having checked it out now, I agree €850 is a bargain for that 1.8 engine in the Octavia, which makes €5,000 of a premium for the same engine very hard to justify in the Passat.

nogoodnamesleft

I had a 07 1.9TDI Octivia for about 2.5 weeks as a replacement car after a provisional driver "Modified" my 2001 100bhp 1.9 TDI passat. The Octiva was huge inside + a truly massive boot, perky enough to drive as well. However I found that the diesel engine was extremely rough and unrefined, loud cabin noise and some of the parts were lifted from older VWs. It is very good value for the money though.

djhaxman

E92 wrote: »

What I notice about Skoda is that they still use a lot of the older engines in the VAG range, no sign of an Octavia with the 1.4 TFSI or 1.8 TFSI on the way AFAIK.

Is this what your looking for?

http://www.carzone.ie/newcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=Details&vehicle_id=728360820070828&strSpecs=SSCIRL2002

Zonda999

E92 wrote: »

You do of course realise that the Octavia is a Golf in disguise, so that is hardly a fair comparison. And the 1.8 TSI has 160 bhp compared with the 1.6 FSI's 115 bhp so thats hardly fair either.

What I notice about Skoda is that they still use a lot of the older engines in the VAG range, no sign of an Octavia with the 1.4 TFSI or 1.8 TFSI on the way AFAIK.

What are you on about. The octavia is getting the 122bhp 1.4 passat engine to replace the 1.6fsi imminently i believe and what engine are you talking about when you say"1.8tfsi". Just a few months ago the octavia got the 160 bhp 1.8tsi engine. Thats the only new 1.8 from vw lately.N.B. The 160bhp 1.8 is actually a TFSI engine but badged TSI. Also, when the octavia got this engine it was before any vw. It got it at the same time as the Audi A3. Finally the passat uses pretty much the same platform as the golf so it is a fair comparison.

E92

My apologies, wasn't aware these were available(I wrote AFAIK for a reason), I never remember seeing press releases or anything mentioned on sites like Autocar or World Car Fans or reviews of them of any description.


And I wasn't entirely wrong, no sign of a 1.4 TFSI on carzone or on Skoda's UK website(so definately not here yet, FWIW Skoda's Irish website is not working at the moment).

Raekwon

ned78 wrote: »

Funny story, herself's Polish, and I heard her saying to a friend "To jest Skoda", asked her for the translation and she said "That's a pity", so Skoda in Polish means Pity.

In Czech "To je skoda" means it's a pity too (no 'st' on the 'je'), but it has nothing to do with the car The guy who founded Skoda Motors was called Emile Skoda so that's where the name comes from.

BostonB

You can see the effect of the golf platform in the old Octavia in the back, poor legroom. In the new Octavia the rear space is much better. There must be something different done to as the new golf/jetta have much worse rear space compared to the Octavia and Passat.

I always think its a good sign of a car if they are popular with the taxi drivers. The loads of the TDI's on the road as Taxis.

Robbo

I heard that a Brazilian soccer team's plane crashed into an open Octavia boot and they've never been seen since.

moe_sizlak

if you want to buy a dull uncomfortable over rated car , buy a volkswagon

if you want to buy a dull uncomfortable over rated car and save 4 k , buy a skoda ,

colm_mcm

Robbo wrote: »

I heard that a Brazilian soccer team's plane crashed into an open Octavia boot and they've never been seen since.

did the lift the boot carpet?

Gran Hermano

I'd rather not be mistaken for a taxi driver

JJJJNR

IMO since the arrival of Kia I think it has become acceptable, simply because that brand and others are bringing up the rear. Skoda I think make some of the most boring/bland looking cars on the market.

SEAT make some of the most exciting.

BostonB

Gran Hermano wrote: »

I'd rather not be mistaken for a taxi driver

Easily solved. Don't put a big yellow sign on the car, and don't drive like a twat. No one buys a large family saloon as a codpiece or to attack a favorite road. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKmtsN_gzMM&feature=related)

Its reliable (hopefully) transport from A to B thats has enough space for a family/passengers and all the crud that goes with them. Usually it has to reasonable running costs.

colm_mcm

JJJJNR wrote: »

Skoda I think make some of the most boring/bland looking cars on the market.
.

The problem is the limited model line up.

A VW model lineup that consisted soley of the Polo, Jetta, Touran and Passat would hardly be described as exciting either

BostonB

JJJJNR wrote: »

IMO since the arrival of Kia I think it has become acceptable, simply because that brand and others are bringing up the rear. Skoda I think is one of the most boring/bland looking car manufacturers on the market.

I don't get the logic that being 2nd last makes a brand more popular I have no idea. You pick up a car magazine and read a review of a car. Why would you pick the 2nd last one? Makes no sense.

Lots of people are not interested in having a flashy car. They want a box on wheels thats good value (relatively), reliable, doesn't cost them an arm and a leg to run, gets them from A~B, doesn't depreciate like a lead balloon, and doesn't attract attention. Theres lots of people who simply aren't into cars and couldn't tell one car from another.

BostonB

you can't look on VW or Skoda as companies in their own right. They are part of the VAG group. They are targeted at specific markets and overlap is not allowed.

JJJJNR

Right, so where do lamborgini, bentley and bugetti fit in, in this ideal of yours.

JJJJNR

BostonB wrote: »

Lots of people are not interested in having a flashy car. They want a box on wheels thats good value (relatively), reliable, doesn't cost them an arm and a leg to run, gets them from A~B, doesn't depreciate like a lead balloon, and doesn't attract attention. Theres lots of people who simply aren't into cars and couldn't tell one car from another.

Yep lots of people drive toyotas

colm_mcm

BostonB wrote: »

you can't look on VW or Skoda as companies in their own right. They are part of the VAG group. They are targeted at specific markets and overlap is not allowed.

Not really true, VW, SEAT and Skoda all do dull superminis that compete, the Leon Cupra and Golf GTI compete, the Alhambra and Sharan were the same car, as was the Cordoba ad Polo saloon.
The Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg are all aiming for the same type of customer.

dubambman

The only thing i really hate is the big gaudy badge on the steering wheel, its the same with the coloured VW badge on the steering wheel of the sport model passats. looks desperate

E92

BostonB wrote: »

you can't look on VW or Skoda as companies in their own right. They are part of the VAG group. They are targeted at specific markets and overlap is not allowed.

Technically is the Volkswagen Group. In saying that I always call it VAG even though I know it hasn't been VAG for well over a decade, simply because I'm too lazy to write out Volkswagen Group every time I want to talk about VAG:D.

BostonB

colm_mcm wrote: »

Not really true, VW, SEAT and Skoda all do dull superminis that compete, the Leon Cupra and Golf GTI compete, the Alhambra and Sharan were the same car, as was the Cordoba ad Polo saloon.
The Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg are all aiming for the same type of customer.

So badge snobbery doesn't exist then. People won't pay extra for an Audi because its not a Skoda. They don't tweak the Cupra/Golf GTI to make them different and instead of a 3.0 TDI Touareg you can buy a TDI Cayenne.

Its Badge engineering. Which as the wiki says, shouldn't be confused with platform sharing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badge_engineering

colm_mcm

BostonB wrote: »

So badge snobbery doesn't exist then. People won't pay extra for an Audi because its not a Skoda. They don't tweak the Cupra/Golf GTI to make them different and instead of a 3.0 TDI Touareg you can buy a TDI Cayenne.

Its Badge engineering. Which as the wiki says, shouldn't be confused with platform sharing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badge_engineering

Sure, a Cupra and a GTI aren't identical, but they still target the same buyer.
I'm not saying badge snobbery doesn't exist, but VAG do have products from different brands that take potential sales from each other.

BostonB

colm_mcm wrote: »

Sure, a Cupra and a GTI aren't identical, but they still target the same buyer.
I'm not saying badge snobbery doesn't exist, but VAG do have products from different brands that take potential sales from each other.

I reckon that if you asked all the GTI owners out there, (about a billion people just in Ireland alone), what a Cupra was, 99% of them wouldn't have clue. Having learnt of what it was, 99% would still buy the GTI.

How about how many GTI owners of any mark would know what BHP their car has? 50%. How many Cupra owners? 95%?

colm_mcm

I don't know anyone in this country with a Cupra!

BostonB

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don't know anyone in this country with a Cupra!

A rare best indeed http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&CategoryID=1&MakeID=27&xMakeID=27&ColourID=&xColourID=&ModelID=244&xModelID=244&Doors=&BodyID=&Engine_Min=1800&Year_Min=&Engine_Max=&Year_Max=&Price_Min=1&Price_Min_integer=Minimum+price+entered+was+not+an+integer.&CountyID=&xCountyID=&Price_Max=&Price_Max_integer=Maximum+price+entered+was+not+an+integer.&BusinessID=&xBusinessID=&IsPrivateSale=&FuelID=1&Mileage_Max=&Mileage_Max_integer=Max+mileage+entered+was+not+an+integer.&SortBy=MakeAsc&MaxRows=50&InsertPeriod=&ResultFormat=&submit=Find+%3E%3E

Not taking too many GTI sales...:)

colm_mcm

Ireland is hardly significant to any car maker.