www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/columnists/mike-rutherford/8343431/Mr-Money-The-price-is-right-or-maybe-it-isnt.html
Interesting insight injto how little some know about their Competition.
A new Octavia for just over £10,000 seems a good buy.
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VAG are almost completely brain dead when it comes to their competition. Too much internal warring and now sanctions too. They're willingly letting Seat die. They're ousting the head guy at Skoda who's proven himself to be sharp as a tack (he's been taking the rules laid down by VW and innovating around them). Audi's aren't as profitable as they should be, Audi have insane overheads, it's not just their glass palaces either.
I guess it's no wonder they've been caught on the back foot as Ford takes a step forward into it's next generation of design, VW are still using early 00's designs. Meanwhile BMW slash emissions and boost economy playing right into the fleet sales market eating out Audi's market. Skodas sales are up but for how long, VW want to further differentiate the economy brand. As above Seat is being left to die.
Top man in Wolfsburg needs a shove I reckon. So does the head numpty in Ingolstadt.
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seat were just a spanish dream invented by their government, sold off to vw who used it as a springboard and have no real use for it
lets be honest seats were always rubbish cars
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>>seats were always rubbish cars
I don't think so Bb. I had an old Fiat 850, apparently all RHD versions were made under licence by SEAT. It had to be one of the best constructed cars I've ever had.
Uselessly underpowered and overweight, but damn well put together.
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Not sure that's entirely fair... the Alhambra represents a useful saving over the Sharan doesn't it ?
Only caveat I have with Skodas is that they tend to miss non-headline grabbing equipment off the standard fitment list such as curtain airbags and ESP like Ford used to. Granted they don't charge much for them as options but it means most Octy's are rather less safe places to be than their VW and Seat cousins since I suspect most punters look for MP3 Multichangers and fancy paintwork before safety ?
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>> Only caveat I have with Skodas is that ...
Ha! Try buying one, where buying a BMW is an exercise in efficiency, the traffic lights on the order / build are a great idea, buying a Skoda means you don't need a haircut for a few weeks.
Hello, I'd like to buy an Octavia please.
Certainly sir, which edition?
I'd like the elegance please, but can I have it with the 2.0TSi engine?
Oh no sir, if you want that engine, you must buy the Vrs
Oh ok, I like the look of that one so that's fine. I think it's missing some equipment vs. The elegance, can I add that in?
Well it depends what you would like sir?
Folding wing mirrors please.
I'm sorry sir.
But it's the same car, just a different group of components applied and called a vrs. In Europe the rs model has folding wing mirrors as standard.
I'm really sorry sir.
Ok, can I have a rear view camera please?
I'm sorry again sir, that won't be possible.
But it's the same system as the golf mk6, I know that if I buy the camera and the controller, it plugs straight into the head unit and with a little coding it works as expected - I know this works because some people have made this modification.
I'm sorry sir but VW won't allow Skoda to sell this car with a reversing camera currently. It's part of the effort to differentiate it from the golf.
... Lather rinse repeat for all sorts of obvious common options.
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Same on other makes as well, S, not just VAG.
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>> Well it depends what you would like sir?
>> Folding wing mirrors please.
I'm sorry sir, cars no longer have wing mirrors. They've been attached to the doors for quite some time now. Might I suggest a Morris Marina or Allegro if you want wing mirrors.
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Careful Vx. I got moaned at the last time I pointed this out.
Perhaps we should take it in turns? ;>)
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>> Careful Vx. I got moaned at the last time I pointed this out.
>>
Can't understand why anyone should object. This site is run by pedants for pedants.
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If you want us to be pedantic?
I don't think the Allegro had wing mirrors as standard, or as an option, when new. Unless anyone knows otherwise?
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My money is on an offside door mirror being standard??
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Bah :thumbdown:
Guards! Seize that man!
:-)
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The thrust of the article is very valid - you really have no idea of what is the right price for a car.
Sure, there's the "list" price, but that's meaningless now. If you have a budget, you don't knwo what to look at as some cars are thousands cheaper than list and other manufacturers barely budge.
I bought a new VW Golf 1.4 Twist over the weekend and boy was that hard work. It's hard to tell how much we paid as they took the old Ibiza in p/x but giving that a fair value I reckon the Golf was £13K. The dealers are stuffed with 1.4 Twists, which were supposed to only be available for a short time after being launched last Oct.
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Is the 1.4 Twist a 1.4TSi, or a bog standrad 1.4?
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>> Is the 1.4 Twist a 1.4TSi, or a bog standrad 1.4?
>>
It's only available with the bog standard 1.4. That's the point of it, to shift the engines before the 1.2TSi replaces them.
Had a good drive of it and it's perfectly adequate for the job we need it for.
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To be totally pedantic - Marinas and Allegros had door mirrors.
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'Allegros had door mirrors."
Absolutely - I remember mine falling off
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>> I remember mine falling off
The doors, or the mirrors?
On my Allegro it was the doors :)
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>> 'Allegros had door mirrors."
>>
>> Absolutely - I remember mine falling off
>>
BL mirrors never fell off the car. The car probably fell off the mirrors.
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BL mirrors of that era were actually very good - they were fitted as OE to a number of more expensive cars....
I had one fitted to my Morris 1000 in a racy matt black. The Moggie also had pukka wing mirrors !
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Yes, the door rotted around that area. And a few others too.
John
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>> To be totally pedantic - Marinas and Allegros had door mirrors.
Damn!
Still, just goes to show how long ago it was when cars had wing mirrors - even further back than these old sheds.
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My Dad's M reg (PKX 788M) Triumph 2000 certainly had wing mirrors, not door mirrors. I remember adjusting them for him.
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>> To be totally pedantic - Marinas and Allegros had door mirrors.
Ahem!
tinyurl.com/64pajkw
Last edited by: bathtub tom {p} on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 14:28
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Photoshop is wonderful isn't it :-)
OK, so some old geezer bought a Marina and thought "I'm not having any of this new fangled door mirror business" and put some wing mirrors on.
My Dad's M reg Marina had door mirrors. Maybe earlier ones had wing mirrors?
John
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Door mirrors became compulsory at some stage - a date I used to be able to recall.
Last edited by: Pugugly on Tue 8 Mar 11 at 14:38
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>> Door mirrors became compulsory at some stage - a date I used to be able
>> to recall.
>>
Not nit picking but Door Mirror (singular) was made compulsory in the early mid 1980's IIRC - the company I worked for paid the upgrade to 2 x door mirrors 1982 ish was my first 2 x mirror car
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I meant offside door mirrors (as in more than one offside door ! :-)
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www.motuk.co.uk/manual_810.htm
1 August 1978? Though this does not specify door or wing, so far as I can see.
John
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Talk about thread drift! Sometimes I yearn for HJ's touch. :)
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>> Door mirrors became compulsory at some stage - a date I used to be able
>> to recall.
IIRC, it was an EU ruling that made it necessary for external mirrors to be adjustable from inside the car. I remember seeing wing mirrors available with a bowden cable adjustment system. Tooslow's link seems to indicate an external mirror became compulsory in 1978.
Perhaps door mirrors were a subsequent result.
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The price is right or is it? - Skoda
