Skoda or Touran?

whiskywhisky

Hi All

I want to buy a 1 or 2 year old car for Taxi purposes.

I have see a Skoda 1.6 diesel and a Touran Blumotion diesel for roughly the same price, Skoda is about 1 year old and has done 15k mileage and Touran is about 18 months old and has done 25k mileage.

The 7 seater does occasionally get more work as a cabbie, however on the other side of the coin the Skoda seems to have much better econony.

Which would you buy?

Thanks

emmell

My brother has a Skoda diesel octavia (1.9 or 2.0 I'm not sure which) and he loves it. He always had Mondeo diesel Taxis before but he says the Skoda is much better and wouldn't hesitate buying another.
My next door neighbour has a Touran 1.9 diesel (not a Taxi) and he hates it, he says it's very underpowered and can't wait to get rid of it.
Remember, the 7 seater will have very little boot space, the Skoda boot space is very good.
ML.

neilandvicky

on daily use of 150 miles using combined mpg figures and fuel at £6.40 / gallon touran uses £2.60 more fuel a day. if you are likely to earn more than that a day because of the 7seat capability then the touran is a better buy ( fuel-wise). really need to have more info to help you out. what sort of daily mileages do you do? would be als usefull to know an mpg for both vehicles when used as a taxi?

whiskywhisky

Thanks for the replies.

Regarding more info, I do not know the mpg as a taxi, but looking at the manufacturer spec etc it states the Skoda does around 49mpg and Touran around 40mpg (both figures are combined). Additionally for the last few years I have done around 35k mileage annually and am sure this will be the same in future.

Thanks

10JH

Bear in mind that the Touran has had a facelift since 18 months ago, so you may get a good price on one, as people may be waiting for used examples of the new shape one to come out.

bigjl

Both will be reliable choices, however the Touran would be my choice purely on driving position, room in the cabin for driver and punters and the fact that it can be configured to be a seven seater when you need to.

I would suspect that the Touran would hold its value a bit better aswell.

Both would be a good choice, but I would always chose the most flexible car for Taxi work. The Touran is that little bit more flexible.

However, if I was to be heading back to the land of Private Hire, very possible with my ill health retirement seeming ever more likely, then I woulod go for an ex Addison Lee Sharon, 57 plate for just over £5000, 08 plate from £6500, high miles but well maintained with full print-out, and they all get the autobox rebuilt at or around 75k. However an auto will not suit all people that do this kind of work.

I di some private Ambulance work for a company a few years ago and they had Mondeo estates, the new shape, though they had a spare car that was a 54 plate Touran, apart from having 4 different makes of tyres on it it drove well, very dull inside but not a rattle or knock and it had 75k hard miles on it, I was very impressed with the vehicle as a hole. They now have Skoda Octavia 170 Tdi VRS Estates with Recaro seats, they are nice, but the Touran is still my preferred option for sitting in all day.

Kilty_2

bigjl wrote: »

I would suspect that the Touran would hold its value a bit better aswell.

Assuming the OP is going to put mental private hire mileage on it, neither will retain any kind of value.

bengalknights

Skodas generally cost less to repair than there vw counterparts but all in all you should base the decision on how much it will cost you daily to drive to how much you make.

A touran would probably be very usefull on fridays and airports runs.

bigjl

Kilty wrote: »

Assuming the OP is going to put mental private hire mileage on it, neither will retain any kind of value.

On a like for like basis a 200k Octavia Hatch will be depeciate more than a 200k Touran.

Simply because when you go to sell a family sized 7 seater will always be iin bigger demand.

If the car is being sold on near a big city like London then an auto will also have a bit more desirability.

This isn't my opinion, this is fact.

You don't get much back for an ex Private Hire Skoda, this may be simply due to the percieved brand quality, but anybody I know that has had a VW to get rid of after being worked for a few years has had no problems getting rid of it.

The same goes for say an ex Private Hire Merc E class, no issues come disposal time, however a Skoda Superb, a very good car with lots of room is worth nothing come disposal.

Ex Private Hire 300C, not easy to get rid of, even though it is a Merc underneath.

For whatever reason there are certain cars that people will have as family cars that have big miles, 7 seaters from Ford, VW or Seat are ones that people are prepared to pay decent money for even with space shuttle miles.

Though the second hand car market is a fickle beast so it is likely that the market in London ans the South East is not the same all over the UK.

bigjl

bengalknights wrote: »

Skodas generally cost less to repair than there vw counterparts but all in all you should base the decision on how much it will cost you daily to drive to how much you make.

A touran would probably be very usefull on fridays and airports runs.

Repair costs are nigh on identical, there are very few if any mechanical parts on either that you can't get from EuroCarParts or German&Swedish.

The only parts that will differ are specific interior trim parts or body parts.

Taxi/Private Hire rarely use main dealers, they will have a well trusted independant mechanic and do some of the regular servicing themselves.

ukjoel

Most of the taxi's I see around are in base spec Octavias or Superbs.

Am I right in thinking the 18 month old Touran would be the same platform as the previous model galaxy (the current model smax/galaxy being almost 4 years old so technology is tried and tested but very old.

Boot space issue can be overcome with a trailer or roof storage for airport runs with luggage.

Ask at the ranks but depends what type of work you do - local or airport, and what times of day you work.