Why is Skoda ranked so high in most surveys?

Bantex_2

I would suspect that the type of people who buy Skodas are more likely to fill in satisfaction surveys than BMW buyers.

gilbert_and_sullivan

The way customers are treated in most Toyota/Honda showrooms makes the car owning experience a pleasure.

Whats prestige in relation to cars anyway, because something is overpriced for what it is and someone is prepared to stump up the money involved doesn't give the car anything like prestige, image yes, but the two are not linked.

Image can be and usually is bought.

Prestige is earned...in that respect then certain Toyota products, such as Landcruiser, have possibly earned the badge.

jase1

The question I've often asked myself, is not so much "why are Skoda rated so highly", but rather "why are VW rated often so badly".

It's not as if VWs are in any way special (they're broadly on-par with Ford, Toyota or Peugeot in terms of price, performance and build), so for owners to mark them down because they haven't lived up to some imagined "prestigious" image tells us far more about them than the cars.

abacab

Bought my 02 plate Octavia 1.9 TD in 2005 from one of the small family garages mentioned above with 60000 on the clock.
9 years later the mileage stands at 180000 and servicing and routine items are the only things replaced.
The engine still purrs like a kitten.
Guess what I'm getting and from whom when she dies?

Johnmcl7

abacab wrote: »

Bought my 02 plate Octavia 1.9 TD in 2005 from one of the small family garages mentioned above with 60000 on the clock.
9 years later the mileage stands at 180000 and servicing and routine items are the only things replaced.
The engine still purrs like a kitten.
Guess what I'm getting and from whom when she dies?

The 1.9 TDI was a great engine, I had versions of it in my first two cars and never any issues with it. Unfortunately the two litre PD TDI engine that replaced it for the higher outputs I don't think was anywhere near as good, it was the main reason I got rid of my Octavia.

John

mgdavid

VW Group have managed to engender great competitiveness between their various brands and factories. Skoda have a very good workforce and regularly win the internal measurements and prizes on build quality and minimum rectification work (i.e. issues that are fixed before it leaves the factory). This on top of the smaller and more loyal dealers makes a difference, plus the better VFM as you are not paying for the name. So all round a better bet.

topdaddy_2

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

The way customers are treated in most Toyota/Honda showrooms makes the car owning experience a pleasure.

Whats prestige in relation to cars anyway, because something is overpriced for what it is and someone is prepared to stump up the money involved doesn't give the car anything like prestige, image yes, but the two are not linked.

Image can be and usually is bought.

Prestige is earned...in that respect then certain Toyota products, such as Landcruiser, have possibly earned the badge.

Thats not really an answer. Toyota isnt a prestigous brand, the relibility of the brand would be considered high, as would Honda but that doesnt make it prestigous. You, as do I, appear to equate prestige with luxury, in Toyotas case this would be the Lexus brand, Hondas luxury arm doesnt really exist.

forgotmyname

I think when VW took over Skoda. They didnt want a huge lemon so top priority became reliability and build quality.

So they took a VW platform added their own shell and its suddenly more reliable?
Or have they been manipulating the figures? Or Skoda buyers expect less to start with?

motorguy

jase1 wrote: »

The question I've often asked myself, is not so much "why are Skoda rated so highly", but rather "why are VW rated often so badly".

It's not as if VWs are in any way special (they're broadly on-par with Ford, Toyota or Peugeot in terms of price, performance and build), so for owners to mark them down because they haven't lived up to some imagined "prestigious" image tells us far more about them than the cars.

Clearly you dont understand the questioning in these surveys to conclude that VW owners mark the cars down because they "think" they've bought a prestigious image. :eek:

I would suggest theres more to be concluded in your response about you and your perceptions than that of a VW owner.

motorguy

forgotmyname wrote: »

I think when VW took over Skoda. They didnt want a huge lemon so top priority became reliability and build quality.

So they took a VW platform added their own shell and its suddenly more reliable?
Or have they been manipulating the figures? Or Skoda buyers expect less to start with?

I think its a combination of things.

The Audi brand in particular sets itself up as a premium brand with all the latest technology and the latest engines and a price tag beyond the reality of what you're really getting.

Skoda set themselves up as a value brand and their cars "tend" to not be on the cutting edge when it comes to the latest VAG technology and innovations.

So if you're spending £30K on an A4, its (a) more likely to go wrong and (b) if you've spent that on it, you're more likely to be quite demanding about it going wrong in the first place and getting it fixed. Skoda owner - less technology to start with and more likely to be understanding IF something does go wrong.

To give you an example - we stayed in a £400 a night hotel in london last night (wifes company paying) and our expectations were very high as to what we were going to get. Turns out the room was quite small, the air con noisy, and the breakfast range vast. So it didnt meet our expectations. A month ago we stayed in a £70 a night hotel at a seaside resort. Our expectations werent massive but it was really quite nice, the staff friendly and the set breakfast tasty.

So although the fancy hotel overall was "better", i'd be more likely to give the seaside hotel a review of 5/5 as it exceeded my expectations.