Recommendations for family cars?

moggylover

flyingscotno1 wrote: »

Sorry but come on, it isn't poverty spec. I like the Ceed and it is a good choice, but whilst the Octavia is not exactly as well kitted at base models it is hardly like what your talking about i.e- poverty spec! There is far worse!

Yes, I'll grant you Kia will add more stuff (the same Skoda did when they were trying to shed their reputation too). All the new ones all come with gloveboxes- indeed are you sure the dealer had removed that one! The interior quality on Skodas is some of the best around- the stuff isn't top drawer materials, but it is put together well and similar to the standard Korea achieves.

Checking on What car indicates the Skoda has a smaller wheelbase, broadly similar legroom but a much bigger boot. I still think you'r being harsh on the Skoda!

Which bit are you not understanding FS? We wanted a new car, we tried several different breeds for size, we were not bothered about a badge tart mobeel so looked at Skoda and Kia amongst them. My eldest son is 5'10" (and only 14:eek:) his father 6'4". In the Kia, DS can sit very comfortably behind with his father in the driving seat (and he still has some room for growth) and in the Skoda there was very much less leg room in the rear, although I would admit I think the boot is a bit bigger.

I re-iterate, the base model Skoda does not come with a closable glove compartment. It comes with a "hole", a sort of plactic box yes, but not a glove compartment;) They do not have a spare wheel as standard and the spare wheels (either steel or space saver) are listed separately on the price lists:D

The finish is much more "plastic" on doors on the base models and on one Favourit there wasn't even a carpeted floor, the trim on the "super dooper got it all" ones is not too bad, but the price goes up considerably at each "package".

I'm not attempting to "be hard" on the Skoda. I actually liked the external look of the Octavia and had wanted one because they "seemed" well priced. On looking closer, however, I found that the base prices quoted were for very base models (okay, perhaps not 1930's but not much past 1960's either:D) and that once you compared like for like you were paying way more for the Skoda than for the Kia, and you weren't getting the benefit of a 7 year warranty either;)

I have no axe to grind, I don't work for Kia and wasn't sacked by Skoda in an earlier life (indeed the only manufacturer I've worked for was Citroen:D) but I was attempting to suggest another alternative for the OP and to share my experience when trying out a large number of vehicles last year.

flyingscotno1

moggylover wrote: »

Which bit are you not understanding FS?

I re-iterate, the base model Skoda does not come with a closable glove compartment. It comes with a "hole", a sort of plactic box yes, but not a glove compartment;) They do not have a spare wheel as standard and the spare wheels (either steel or space saver) are listed separately on the price lists:D

The finish is much more "plastic" on doors on the base models and on one Favourit there wasn't even a carpeted floor, the trim on the "super dooper got it all" ones is not too bad, but the price goes up considerably at each "package".

I'm not attempting to "be hard" on the Skoda. I actually liked the external look of the Octavia and had wanted one because they "seemed" well priced. On looking closer, however, I found that the base prices quoted were for very base models (okay, perhaps not 1930's but not much past 1960's either:D) and that once you compared like for like you were paying way more for the Skoda than for the Kia, and you weren't getting the benefit of a 7 year warranty either;)

There is no offence, I just think you've been a tad harsh on the Skoda with some of the comments, obviously your happy with the Kia but- 1930's spec etc, when it was fine air con, CD etc- perhaps only thing wrong was no leccy rear windows and a spare wheel! Like I say- go have a look at what a 3 series used to come with and come complaining. The old joke about indicators being a BMW optional extra stems from that!

Indeed you also mentioned no glovebox when it does have a (closable) air conditioned glove box on all models (and I've been in a few!) so I don't know what you saw- perhaps it was removed from that car for some reason? You wouldn't have an air conditioned glove compartment without one! Check it on their site.

The Octavia does have a significantly larger boot, and is more a smaller Mondeo rival than a Ceed rival, hence why the taxi firms go for them. Must be every 3rd cab when not a Skoda Superb. They are priced at two different segments as a result and are virtually impossible to compare- it's like comparing a Mini to a Ceed in reality.

For the record I own a Fiat Bravo which is a Ceed rival! Would I recommend it? Yes- bargain second hand, 1 year old, but Fiat unreliability is always the key- in my experience no worse than any other mainstream manufacturer like Vauxhall which people blissfully don't consider reliability!

As for the Favourit- no wonder there was no carpet- when built they were just out of communism!

ailuro2

If it's only for holidays you can hire a car for the weekend. Seriously.

Or buy a roof rack.

Get Mr Tesco to deliver a big shop once every fortnight, all the tins of coke, nappies, bean tins and multipack loo roll etc. can live in the garage if you've not enough room in your cupboards for them. A fiver and it saves traipsing round Tesco in between feeds.


If you both have cars you're happy with, then don't waste the money buying a 1.8litre bigger engined car.

Save that for when you really need it when you have 2 kids and there's no room in the back for the carrycot. They grow so fast, as long as you have a 5 door car and not a 3 you'll be fine. Honest!:)

BillTrac

chickaroonee wrote: »

I don't know what varst means, sorry .

think poster meant vast as in the square vectras are huge. When I changed mine in 02 from the previous shape model it felt like a tank. No choice it was a company car, otherwise I would have had a Mondeo

I have a 56 Focus Zetec, just looking at changing now to an 09. Great car to drive. Plenty of room and always easy to find soemwhere to get them serviced without going to a stealership and still keeping the warranty intact

moggylover

flyingscotno1 wrote: »

There is no offence, I just think you've been a tad harsh on the Skoda with some of the comments, obviously your happy with the Kia but- 1930's spec etc, when it was fine air con, CD etc- perhaps only thing wrong was no leccy rear windows and a spare wheel! Like I say- go have a look at what a 3 series used to come with and come complaining. The old joke about indicators being a BMW optional extra stems from that!

Indeed you also mentioned no glovebox when it does have a (closable) air conditioned glove box on all models (and I've been in a few!) so I don't know what you saw- perhaps it was removed from that car for some reason? You wouldn't have an air conditioned glove compartment without one! Check it on their site.

The Octavia does have a significantly larger boot, and is more a smaller Mondeo rival than a Ceed rival, hence why the taxi firms go for them. Must be every 3rd cab when not a Skoda Superb. They are priced at two different segments as a result and are virtually impossible to compare- it's like comparing a Mini to a Ceed in reality.

For the record I own a Fiat Bravo which is a Ceed rival! Would I recommend it? Yes- bargain second hand, 1 year old, but Fiat unreliability is always the key- in my experience no worse than any other mainstream manufacturer like Vauxhall which people blissfully don't consider reliability!

As for the Favourit- no wonder there was no carpet- when built they were just out of communism!

And I will reiterate! You are simply wrong about the glove compartment as it does not come as "standard" and the base package does not have one and the "Favourit" we were looking at was actually a Fabia (sorry, got the names confused) and was last years, brand new, on the forecourt model.

Perhaps you should go along to a dealership and look properly at what is on offer. I was stating what we found out by wasting our time and actually going and looking and trying out the cars.

Actually, I would admit that it was probably only of limited help to the op because they want a second hand vehicle (sorry OP, but there were lots of very nice and reasonably priced Cee'd second hand at the dealership and I still believe it would suit your size requirements) and they would obviously not look at any Skoda that came as an ex Taxi or base model.:D

As I said, not trying to be hard on them, and not sure how their second hand price holds up either. However, we judged them as very poor value for money against many of those we looked at. Nice looking shape though:D

chickaroonee

ailuro2 wrote: »

If it's only for holidays you can hire a car for the weekend. Seriously.

Or buy a roof rack.

Get Mr Tesco to deliver a big shop once every fortnight, all the tins of coke, nappies, bean tins and multipack loo roll etc. can live in the garage if you've not enough room in your cupboards for them. A fiver and it saves traipsing round Tesco in between feeds.


If you both have cars you're happy with, then don't waste the money buying a 1.8litre bigger engined car.

Save that for when you really need it when you have 2 kids and there's no room in the back for the carrycot. They grow so fast, as long as you have a 5 door car and not a 3 you'll be fine. Honest!:)

That's kind of what we thought originally, but now we're fairly sure we need a bigger car. OH doesn't really like his car anyway, and it would probably be a good time to sell as we should get about 1/3 of what we paid for it which is pretty good for how long we've had it. We like to do lots of outdoor stuff, and all of our family (and many friends) live a good drive away, so I think hiring a car will just become a pain. OH also has some hobbies that use loads of equipment which we probably should have bought another car before now, but hadn't got round to it, I suppose this is a good time to actually sort it out, although it will probably have to wait til the baby arrives now!!

flyingscotno1

moggylover wrote: »

And I will reiterate! You are simply wrong about the glove compartment as it does not come as "standard" and the base package does not have one and the "Favourit" we were looking at was actually a Fabia (sorry, got the names confused) and was last years, brand new, on the forecourt model.

Perhaps you should go along to a dealership and look properly at what is on offer. I was stating what we found out by wasting our time and actually going and looking and trying out the cars.

Actually, I would admit that it was probably only of limited help to the op because they want a second hand vehicle (sorry OP, but there were lots of very nice and reasonably priced Cee'd second hand at the dealership and I still believe it would suit your size requirements) and they would obviously not look at any Skoda that came as an ex Taxi or base model.:D

As I said, not trying to be hard on them, and not sure how their second hand price holds up either. However, we judged them as very poor value for money against many of those we looked at. Nice looking shape though:D

Fair enough. Skodas website and options list disagrees with you however, but we'll leave it there!

Kilty_2

Who actually goes to look for a car specifically looking at the poverty spec model and then moans about the entire range based on it?!

Would it stop you buying a VW because the 'E' spec Polo is crap? (but the fleets can buy them for 7k so they serve their purpose extremely well :rotfl:)

ahillsy

I recently made a similar switch up to a family car from my old Seat Ibiza

Some cars I looked at:
- Honda Civic 2.2 CTDI (new shape). Felt very claustrophic in it
- Honda Accord 2.2 CTDI (~3 years old). Very comfortable, seemed like plenty of space, but put off my common problems mentioned with the diesel I was looking at.
- Skoda Octavia vRS TSI. I almost wet myself. Twice. Vast boot, great quality and lots for the money. Thousands cheaper than the equivalent VW/Audi with more gadgets.

I have no axe to grind either way, I'm more curious than anything - the base spec Octavia does come with an air conditioned glove compartment. There was an internal (and external and engine) facelift which rolled in over the course of the past year/year and half but the main changes were things like upgraded stereo. I haven't seen any pre-facelift Octavias without a glove box, and wonder whether the ones moggylover has seen are not properly representative of base specs? Can't comment on Fabia's - I've never been in one.

Boot space-wise, the Ceed seems to be 340 litres compared to the Octavia's 560 litre so there's quite a bit in it there. However, this does mean if you don't have much in the boot, there's a whole lot of space for it to roll around in which can be annoying! May need an investment in a boot netting system.

The Octavia is a big car, so does take some getting used to if you're upsizing considerably like I did - the Ibiza could be flung into almost any space, not so now!