Quote:
Originally Posted by IT
Yes, rare Skoda indeedy. Stacks up alongside the r36 Passat and other rarities.
The Skoda brand is intentionally, and almost painfully separated from its sibling brands.
courtesy car at audi, includes insurance, and they don’t really care about fuel, but it will have some.
At vw, it’s insured, and likely on vapour.
At Skoda, you have to insure it yourself, fuel it yourself, and then wash your car after the service yourself.
No. Really.
Audi includes European wide breakdown cover, and a warning triangle. Vw, has UK wide breakdown and triangles are optional.
Etc etc.
You can buy a. Skoda, and it’s cheaper, but they do actually chip away at things. The plastics in Skoda are cheaper, intentionally. They will more easily mark than vw, whose plastics are inferior to Audi.
And given that we seem to be moving all too rapidly to a lease everything mentality when it comes to cars, and noting the higher residuals of the premium Audi, the Skoda likely makes even less sense these days .....  |
...and that's kind of my point Ian: nearly all of the things that you've mentioned are incidentals (for me, anyway...
): I don't expect to have to pay 50%+ more for a car brand just because they wash it after a service, fill up a courtesy car with fuel, give me a warning triangle, have a shinier showroom, offer me a latte/expresso instead of a Klix coffee etc.
IMHO, these things are just an excuse to get punters in this country to pay (a lot!) more for the perception of brand quality - and I'd argue that car buyers in the UK are more "image" and brand conscious than most other western countries (where the "premium" premium is less too!
). I personally couldn't tell the difference between the leather/plastic in the last Superb that I sat in and my S8, and I'd rate my D2 interior quality against anything, really.
But these things are all down to perception and personal taste - if we all thought the same, then marketing people wouldn't have a job, and the world would be a less interesting place :roll eyes:
..and PS: your residuals logic is reversed if you buy second hand and pay cash...