AUDI A1 - 1 Month Old!!

Iceweasel

You've hit the nail fairly and squarely on the head there, Strider.

motorguy

Strider590 wrote: »

That's not true.

I have a friend who works in a bank, has done for 15+ years. He arranges loans and mortgages, of which he's worked with tens of thousands of customers.
He always says that 99% of people who own these "luxury" brand cars, cannot actually afford them.

It's all about that British middle class illusion.

We gave up on the german brands completely as quality and "the ultimate drivers car" has given way to "sell as many 320Ds on PCP as we can", leaving the cars you'd really want to own with stupidly high prices that really arent justifiable any more.

Mercedes seems to be getting back on track again (or maybe i'm approaching their age bracket) but Audi, i just dont know - i cant fathom paying £,£££s more for a car with the same underlying platform and engines - and moreoften just the same look and feel - as the equivalent VW or Skoda.

force_ten

WellKnownSid wrote: »

I always remember my friend and his Saabs - demanded Vauxhall brake pads come service time. The identical component was almost 50% cheaper if they came in a box marked Vauxhall than a box marked Saab

Saab did not like badge engineering and that is one of the reasons that they are not around to this day

The 1993 Saab 900 was supposed to be a re badged cavalier but the swedes were having none of it and when it was launched it had about 30% parts out of the GM parts bin

the same applied to the Saab 9-3 and because they would not accept badge engineering and wanted to stay unique meant that they were doomed to fail as GM would not or could not carry the additional cost of parts unique to the Saab brand

thescouselander

There's some delusional posters on here. Even though they share a lot of the same parts something like a Skoda or Seat is not the same as an Audi. For example Audi tend to use a lot more sound deadening and better materials inside making the experience more refined than their VAG cousins. I had the misfortune of driving a Skoda the other day and I thought I'd been transported back to the 90s with all the dodgy plastics.

force_ten

motorguy wrote: »

but Audi, i just dont know - i cant fathom paying £,£££s more for a car with the same underlying platform and engines - and moreoften just the same look and feel - as the equivalent VW or Skoda.

I remember the days when skoda was really a cheap car to buy and own, my dad owned and loved his Skoda Estelle for many years and was the butt of many jokes because of it, he chopped in his Daf 66 marathon to buy it so i guess he just didn't care if people laughed at the cars he drove

I was at a show last year and they had a large Skoda stand and i couldn't believe that a fully loaded Superb Estate was on sale north of 31K

motorguy

thescouselander wrote: »

There's some delusional posters on here. Even though they share a lot of the same parts something like a Skoda or Seat is not the same as an Audi. For example Audi tend to use a lot more sound deadening and better materials inside making the experience more refined than their VAG cousins. I had the misfortune of driving a Skoda the other day and I thought I'd been transported back to the 90s with all the dodgy plastics.

I notice you changed what i said to Skoda and SEAT, rather than Skoda and VW?

I would have a Passat all day long over an A4 - and have done in the past.

Similarly the latest Golf is easily on a par with the current A3 in terms of quality of plastics, ambience etc.

I'm probably with you RE: Skodas - to me they're priced too closely to VWs these days. Of interest though, i think that has been acknowledged within the VAG group, hence their latest lower end cars have more of a "back to basics" feel. The Skoda Rapid for example is designed to compete with stuff like Dacia moreso than Ford.

motorguy

force_ten wrote: »

I remember the days when skoda was really a cheap car to buy and own, my dad owned and loved his Skoda Estelle for many years and was the butt of many jokes because of it, he chopped in his Daf 66 marathon to buy it so i guess he just didn't care if people laughed at the cars he drove

I was at a show last year and they had a large Skoda stand and i couldn't believe that a fully loaded Superb Estate was on sale north of 31K

Yes, though the equivalent A6 is probably £45K.

Personally, i'd find it hard to justify £31K on a value brand car.

force_ten

motorguy wrote: »

Yes, though the equivalent A6 is probably £45K.

Personally, i'd find it hard to justify £31K on a value brand car.

if you wanted to invest 31K in skoda in the late 80,s you could have bought the company :rotfl: :rotfl:

jaydeeuk1

All these replies from users who have never owned, and have no realistic hope of ever being able to afford any new car, let alone an Audi are hilarious. Also love the assumption that anyone who has Bought a new car has 'spent all their disposable income' on it.

Sure its inconvenient, and not something you'd hope for when buying a new car, but look at it like this OP. The problem was in warranty and fixed under warranty. Imagine the smug face of a poster on here buying it at 4 years old thinking you're a tw*t for buying it from new, only for the turbo to blow causing £4k worth of damage 8 months down the line and the dealer laughing at them. That makes it all worthwhile.

Iceweasel

force_ten wrote: »

if you wanted to invest 31K in skoda in the late 80,s you could have bought the company :rotfl: :rotfl:

VW did exactly that.