Another Ex Skoda Man…

[LordLucan]

Originally Posted by jonnyu

Comparing a Skoda with a Volvo?
When I upgraded from FIAT to Audi, I never posed a similar question or else people would take me out to the street and would burn me on a stick simply because it's not comparable. They are not on the same league.

How would i know? I have one.. But have yet to experience the other.

[redbuta]

Skoda is an interesting brand. There are so many interesting jokes engraved to its brand. However, I know quite a few ppl switched FROM Audi TO Skoda not for financial reasons.

Myself switched from Honda/Toyota and Lexus to Skoda, before being touched by the "Moments" campaign of Volvo and made another switch. To me, these brands all make sense - stress free and safe travelling regardless of distance, never had reliability issues.

Skoda retained 30% of its value after 6 years and 7 months, and it could have been higher if I had traded in to Volvo, rather than We Buy Any Car!!

If I want some fun, I'd either go karting, or commute with wife's Mini before she wakes up.

Originally Posted by jonnyu

Comparing a Skoda with a Volvo?
When I upgraded from FIAT to Audi, I never posed a similar question or else people would take me out to the street and would burn me on a stick simply because it's not comparable. They are not on the same league.

[itsmitchelltime]

I had a mk2 VRS then a c class estate prior to the XC90, all 3 brands I wouldn’t have any hesitation in purchasing again.

The comments of Skoda being cheap and poor quality are laughable, they have come on leaps and bounds and while the Kodiaq isn’t XC90/GLE territory either size or luxury (it’s not meant to be) and dependent what you are after it could make a very good option over a XC60 or GLC.

Also the Superb is a cracking car and I seriously considered an estate SEL when getting my XC90, but I wanted something higher and bigger.

[jonnyu]

Originally Posted by itsmitchelltime

The comments of Skoda being cheap and poor quality are laughable, they have come on leaps and bounds

They say the same about the Fiat 500. Would I buy another Fiat? No.
However there are other brands for me that are a reference in their segment due to the build quality with a low price for example KIA.
Skoda builds great cars that stay like that for 2, 3 years tops. Then similar to Fiat, Lancia, Peugeot, Renault, etc the materials start to wear out and if you compare these cars with a 3 year old Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, they fall way behind.
The bling is there when they are new and I totally agree with you but the quality of a car is measured not when they are new but when they are a few years old.
I don't like Audi, the brand itself but the cars they build are good. I sold my 11 year old A3 and it looked like a brand new car. This is build quality for me and you can't get this from a Skoda. You cant expect for example an 11 year old Skoda to have full functional windows or panoramic roof or no electrical issues whatsoever, or any cracked plastic, etc

[isleaiw]

Originally Posted by jonnyu

They say the same about the Fiat 500. Would I buy another Fiat? No.
However there are other brands for me that are a reference in their segment due to the build quality with a low price for example KIA.
Skoda builds great cars that stay like that for 2, 3 years tops. Then similar to Fiat, Lancia, Peugeot, Renault, etc the materials start to wear out and if you compare these cars with a 3 year old Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, they fall way behind.
The bling is there when they are new and I totally agree with you but the quality of a car is measured not when they are new but when they are a few years old.
I don't like Audi, the brand itself but the cars they build are good. I sold my 11 year old A3 and it looked like a brand new car. This is build quality for me and you can't get this from a Skoda. You cant expect for example an 11 year old Skoda to have full functional windows or panoramic roof or no electrical issues whatsoever, or any cracked plastic, etc

A skoda is obviously not quite as smartly finished inside as an Audi - there has to be some reason for the price difference. However, friends who drive them (and one has a Superb with over 120k on the clock) swear by them and their longevity....and you most certainly can expect them to have fully functioning accessories at that age (or as fully functioning as the Audi's that share the same components...)

[jonnyu]

Originally Posted by isleaiw

or as fully functioning as the Audi's that share the same components...

No they dont. They share platforms, engines and that's it.
The quality of plastics for example is totally different because they are not manufactured by the same suppliers and they have different specs.
People that buy VW, Skoda and Seat say it's all Audi but with a different brand. This is a totally wrong concept.
I give you an example: the T-Roc which is vw version of the Q3 is manufactured in Portugal for the European market, and in China.
More than 50% of the parts on the T-Roc are manufactured in Portugal. These parts are not present in the Audi counterpart.
Plus, T-Roc was having a lot of production delays due to the lack of quality of parts due to cheap suppliers.
So you have the same car, same specs, same platform and same engine but the specifications of the parts (quality, price, etc) are unique for each brand and sometimes unique to each model, depending on where the model is built.
So by no means, Audi is the same as VW, Skoda or Seat. It drives similarly? yes, the engines last the same, yes because they are the same engines, other than that 2 different cars in 2 completely different segments.

Plus i can tell you that the margins on selling a Skoda, VW or Seat are much bigger for the brand than selling an Audi. You pay a contribution margin that is incredibly high on a Skoda if you compare it to an Audi. So for the consumer a Skoda is like 5k cheaper than an Audi but in the Audi you you pay 10k of contribution margin and in a Skoda you may pay from 15k or 20k due to the extremely low manufacturing price.

[LordLucan]

obviously they save costs when making the skodas. Prior to the VRS I had a Passat CC with keyless entry and I ordered the same when I spec'd the VRS. With the Passat, you could unlock the car simply by touching any of the handles but with the VRS, it only works on the front doors. Also the soundproofing/road noise was worse on the VRS. But, most of the interior buttons and switches looked and felt the same. Even the infortainment was very similar.

[isleaiw]

Originally Posted by LordLucan

obviously they save costs when making the skodas. Prior to the VRS I had a Passat CC with keyless entry and I ordered the same when I spec'd the VRS. With the Passat, you could unlock the car simply by touching any of the handles but with the VRS, it only works on the front doors. Also the soundproofing/road noise was worse on the VRS. But, most of the interior buttons and switches looked and felt the same. Even the infortainment was very similar.

I'd agree with that - plastics might be downgraded in the Skoda (and the T-Roc from what I have heard) but the mechanical and technical elements are the same to allow bulk purchase discounts. My brother, a mechanic, would often look for the other brands when trying to source a second hand item from a scap yard etc to repair a friends car.

Interested in the comments on margin, and be keen to know where you got that info from....

[jonnyu]

Originally Posted by isleaiw

but the mechanical and technical elements are the same to allow bulk purchase discounts.

Don't know where you got this info from but in terms of car productions, most of the times is cheaper to have local manufacturers to build the components than making them in another country and paying for the logistics, knowing that we are talking about continuous production lines. Logistics it's not only the transport but also the storage, risk, etc.

On top of that, you are confusing replacement parts with parts used for vehicle production.
And this is not limited only to plastics.

As I said, specifications are the same in terms of functionality for the components because they share the same design but in terms of quality that does not apply. And of course that a part from VW or Audi will work on a Skoda because of that in most of the cases, but you dont get a parts from VW or Audi on your built Skoda for sure.

In terms of production and margins apart from the factory info that I was able to share, there is also the common sense part if you look the the vehicle prices.

But all of this makes sense according to people's perception. If you are used to buy Chinese, you convince yourself that it's exactly the same and maybe it is for you.

It's like buying fake Nike shoes. According to people that buy these Chinese fakes, they are all made in the same factory and they are exactly the same...

[LordLucan]

Originally Posted by jonnyu

It's like buying fake Nike shoes. According to people that buy these Chinese fakes, they are all made in the same factory and they are exactly the same...

well, the interior switches on my passat and Skoda felt identical to the ones in my Skoda. Were they made in the same factory? I neither know nor care. The fact is the percieved quality was the same. Could the same be said of cars built by Skoda before it became part of the VAG group... certainly not.

Also, wasnt the Q7 and Touareg built in the same factory?