[mudittandon]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Yes I agree. There is way too much hype about Skoda horror stories and all that jazz.

I do not like un necessary sensationalist noise of this kind. If the fool owner wants to go off roading or water wading in his standard sedan or normal road going car, then that is his problem. Vehicles with stacks of electronics are not the best ones to take into the mud, slush and water aswe all know.

Frankly am about sick of hearing so much cribbing and negative nonsense about Skoda

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

+1 to this. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Skoda cannot be expected to sell the 3.6 with a cautionary note about the low GC and long wheelbase. Its a car, not a pack of cigarettes to be sold that way!

Besides Superb has most certainly passed all the homologation tests required, you cannot 'blame' Skoda for selling cars which are 'unsuited' for Indian conditions.

I read such posts and a lot of preceding ones with some pain. My Superb also had some water-in-engine problems recently, and I had to spend about 3 Lakhs on its repair about 2 months ago. After so much pain and agony that this car has put me through, I thought long and hard about whether to repair this car or not. I finally decided to do so.

While I am not going about advertising this information, because frankly, this is the least of the problems I have had with my Superb, I find it painful when people who may be happy with their cars of a given model are so desensitized to those who've been shafted by the manufacturer.

My Superb case is a well known one, and thoroughly documented at www.mysuperb.in. The pain and agony of buying a car in the premium segment (mine is the old 2.4L version - when the Superb was 24L and the Accord was 18L), and then being pained by it. And never did the pain hit me more than when the monthly EMI was deducted from my account when the car was not in a working condition.

It has been a couple of years, and I have now written off the 24 Lakh asset in my mind, although it was very very hard to do. I was only one of lets say a hundred customers who had a complete writeoff when he bought his car, and I understand that I was unlucky. But when people start getting judgmental with statements like 'you should have known', 'you should not drive it in water' etc, it just really hurts even more. If these same people were today in my place, and were that one person for whom the entire investment in the car is a write-off, while EMIs keep piling up, I'm certain the tone might be very different.

I've had it with Skoda fans telling me that there was something wrong with me because of my bad experience. No there wasnt. Their car (my car - not the whole model line) is faulty, and their repair shop doesnt know how to seal the engine properly, which is why water entered the engine this time. (Note - this is not the original problem - the original problem was that there was a huge engine issue which resulted in nearly all major parts being changed under warranty). Note, that on the same road where water supposedly entered the Superb engine, there was also a Civic, an E class, a Swift, a 520d, an SX4, a Corolla going to the same office location.

I dont go out and advertise to people that there is something wrong with all Skodas. I do say, however, that there is a lot wrong with some Skodas. And mine was one of them, from day 1. Maybe this owner's is also one of them?

You may be sick of hearing people 'crib' and 'negative nonsense' against Skoda. But dont judge me for 'cribbing' and 'spewing' 'negative nonsense' against Skoda. Because I have a genuine problem here. And I will be glad to show you why with all records etc - if you promise that you actually want to listen to what I have to say, and wont disregard what I say as nonsense without going over the facts of my case. Deal?


EDIT: in my case, the water did *NOT* enter through the exhaust. I am fully aware of driving in rainy conditions, and the water entering this engine happened despite best-practice driving, and without the car ever stalling in the water. Just that over the next couple of days, the car refused to start now and again and lost pickup. Thats when we realized that this is a problem.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by mudittandon

I dont go out and advertise to people that there is something wrong with all Skodas. I do say, however, that there is a lot wrong with some Skodas. And mine was one of them, from day 1. Maybe this owner's is also one of them?

I agree with that point. That is terrible to know. And that was in 2007 I believe when Skoda was at its lowest point. Since then however minute, there have been improvements. I certainly can relate to your feelings when it comes to Skoda and am truly sorry to hear what you went through. Yours is a different case from this one, since yours happened completely randomly.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by mudittandon

I read such posts and a lot of preceding ones with some pain. My Superb also had some water-in-engine problems recently, and I had to spend about 3 Lakhs on its repair about 2 months ago. After so much pain and agony that this car has put me through, I thought long and hard about whether to repair this car or not. I finally decided to do so.


You may be sick of hearing people 'crib' and 'negative nonsense' against Skoda. But dont judge me for 'cribbing' and 'spewing' 'negative nonsense' against Skoda. Because I have a genuine problem here. And I will be glad to show you why with all records etc - if you promise that you actually want to listen to what I have to say, and wont disregard what I say as nonsense without going over the facts of my case. Deal?

EDIT: in my case, the water did *NOT* enter through the exhaust. I am fully aware of driving in rainy conditions, and the water entering this engine happened despite best-practice driving, and without the car ever stalling in the water. Just that over the next couple of days, the car refused to start now and again and lost pickup. Thats when we realized that this is a problem.

I understand your irritation Mudit and believe me I have absolutely no intention of judging you or belittling you.
There are so many hearsay based posts from people about Skoda, Audi etc. There are also many hearsay based posts about Tata and Mahindra etc.

Suffice it to say that practically any car maker can make a lemon. The thing is, that all owners too, must use discretion in their usage of their vehicles. I for one, simply would not try to wade through a few feet of water or drive through deep slush, swamps or go rock climbing either in a vehicle which is heavily loaded with electronics and is merely a soft roader or a road going vehicle.

I do appreciate the criticism shared by Apachelongbow, BigRon and others. Yes, I do agree that I could have avoided some of the words used or perhaps couched my 'disdain' in milder language. Sorry guys! Did not mean to demean anyone nor hurt anyone.

Having said all of this, knowing fully well that everyone will come down on my head like a ton of bricks, the fact still remains that other manufacturers like those named, do indeed overcharge us Indians for vehicles which are significantly cheaper in select neighbouring overseas markets. This I do not like and will continue to criticise in the face of all odds.

The same way that I will most definitely continue my criticism of M&M until they give the consumers a completely niggle free XUV. Their idea of styling etc seems OTT and excessively blingy to me but perhaps may be the epitome of elegance to someone else. I think a fair amount of this has been thrashed out earlier. I guess then, as far as choice of car goes, to each his own. Here the fact remains that there is a lot of attention given to form and styling but not to function, quality and consistency.

Enough said I think. Am withdrawing from this thread permanently.
Thanks.

[harishpr]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I understand your irritation Mudit and believe me I have absolutely no intention of judging you or belittling you.
There are so many hearsay based posts from people about Skoda, Audi etc. There are also many hearsay based posts about Tata and Mahindra etc.

Suffice it to say that practically any car maker can make a lemon. The thing is, that all owners too, must use discretion in their usage of their vehicles. I for one, simply would not try to wade through a few feet of water or drive through deep slush, swamps or go rock climbing either in a vehicle which is heavily loaded with electronics and is merely a soft roader or a road going vehicle.

I do appreciate the criticism shared by Apachelongbow, BigRon and others. Yes, I do agree that I could have avoided some of the words used or perhaps couched my 'disdain' in milder language. Sorry guys! Did not mean to demean anyone nor hurt anyone.

Having said all of this, knowing fully well that everyone will come down on my head like a ton of bricks, the fact still remains that other manufacturers like those named, do indeed overcharge us Indians for vehicles which are significantly cheaper in select neighbouring overseas markets. This I do not like and will continue to criticise in the face of all odds.

The same way that I will most definitely continue my criticism of M&M until they give the consumers a completely niggle free XUV. Their idea of styling etc seems OTT and excessively blingy to me but perhaps may be the epitome of elegance to someone else. I think a fair amount of this has been thrashed out earlier. I guess then, as far as choice of car goes, to each his own. Here the fact remains that there is a lot of attention given to form and styling but not to function, quality and consistency.

Enough said I think. Am withdrawing from this thread permanently.
Thanks.

I believe skoda is one of those very few brands who price their product in India and elsewhere the same. It's indeed quite hard to find that skoda has taken hard beating due to other factors. But I love their cars for sheer quality and they don't over charge for the quality.
My boss drives superb & he is supremely happy. One of my peer has Laura and he swears by it. I personally would like to buy yeti when it's available with AT option.
I don't mean to belittle anyone or any brand here. But it's a fact that skoda products are great.

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by mudittandon

...You may be sick of hearing people 'crib' and 'negative nonsense' against Skoda. But dont judge me for 'cribbing' and 'spewing' 'negative nonsense' against Skoda

Your case in totally different mudittandon. We completely understand the pain and agony that you had to go thru'. We have enough of well documented skoda horror stories in this forum to prove that Skoda has turned out to be a lemon for many a people.

But in the instant case, nobody has the authentic facts of the whole issue. As an unbiased community of petrol heads, In my opinion, it would be grossly incorrect to engage in a hypothetical discussion that would lead us nowhere. That's precisely the point we are trying to make when people go Anti-Skoda in this thread.

Let the owner himself come forward, present his case in a well documented format as you and many other skoda owners in the forum did and we shall take up the case against skoda diligently.

[sumitdongerkery]

I had picked up a skoda octavia in 2006. Infact I had upgraded from Baleno to Skoda and this decision was purely driven by heart over mind. Picking up this car literally meant completely going over budget for me and with all the horror stories I heard from the forum as well as couple of our close friends it was indeed a bold decision for me. I still took the plunge. But believe me my car has successfully completed 6 yearswith no breakdowns. Although regular maintainance is definately on a higher side. But compared to the ride quality it provides or the ownership pride or the safety or the supreme build quality, cost on maintainance is worth it. Maybe I am those lucky few who have had a pleasant experience with skoda. During my visits at the workshop, I had heard of abnormal billing of the cars parked there and customer not able to pick up their cars due to these huge billings. But nevertheless I am for skoda but yes, it drills a hole in your pocket if you run through some major maintainance issues.

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by mudittandon

dont judge me for 'cribbing' and 'spewing' 'negative nonsense' against Skoda. Because I have a genuine problem here.

Yes, indeed you do. But can we forgive Skoda for its 'past' sins? The owners who have partaken their hard earned money without getting value in return will however never be in that position and we genuinely empathise with you. But genuinely mudittandon ji, Skoda is changing for the better in recent years. We may never forgive Hitler but we drive the cars by the company he procreated the world over and we call his autobahn's the best roads in the world. Such is human glibness.

[Macfreak7]

While its pretty unfortunate for the owner of that Skoda to get to this point where he feels the need to do this, he could use it as an opportunity to contact Rothe Motorsports and turn his car into a super saloon like this one here: http://www.motorvision.com/artikel/r...rbo,13461.html
But, seriously after a certain point if Skoda isn't going to help or do anything special because you drove your car thru a pool of water, then might as well take it to a kick *** third party tuner, (like Pete's!) and get more bang for your million rupees which, at least in this case you have to spend anyway.
I've been thinking about lowering my Superb for a while, and this was the only reason why I haven't done it, and I'm glad cause I did have to wade thru a couple of fairly flooded roads last month. So even if I did lower it, I would go for an adjustable suspension kit that lets me go back to 170mm for the rainy season.
Anywhoo, hope the owner gets his worries resolved one way or another, and soon.

[samigo]

I was always facinated by the Skoda stock of cars. Though I generally don;t prefer boxy styling but yet this is one superb car of the skoda lineage. It's very shicking to know this state of service. I was very inclined to get a skoda fabia TDI before settling for Fiat.

I hope things settle down for you and you get the worth of that hard earned cash you paid for it.

Regards,
Sameer

[pganapathy]

Ladies and gentlemen, pop quiz time. What is a skoda superb (or come to that any other automobile). It is a:

a) submarine
b) boat
c) plane / helicopter
d) car

If the answer is a, please use the vehicle under water.
If the answer is b, please use the vehicle on top of water.
If the answer is c, please use the vehicle in the air.

Now, if the answer is d, please use the vehicle on the road. Whenever you come across any situation that may be harmful to your car, be it a deep pothole, water on the road, off road conditions etc, please use your brains and exercise caution. A car is not a submarine, boat, plane or helicopter.

If you cannot do that, please don't blame the manufacturer for giving you a bad product. You have a choice in what you buy. Nobody forces you to buy any brand so don't say these cars are not suited for Indian or African or whatever conditions so because I didn't use my brains and damaged the vehicle, the manufacturer should pay for repairs due to my negligence.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by mudittandon

I read such posts and a lot of preceding ones with some pain. My Superb also had some water-in-engine problems recently, and I had to spend about 3 Lakhs on its repair about 2 months ago. After so much pain and agony that this car has put me through, I thought long and hard about whether to repair this car or not. I finally decided to do so.

I expected my post to be picked up, considering it was a little too harsh.

I feel the pain mudittandon, i know exactly how it feels to pay for a car you cannot use. I had a bitter experience with my Polo when it was in the workshop for close to a month and I had no idea if i'd be able to use it again. This on a 6 month old car! What got to me was how mindlessly (non owners) bash Skoda, my post never meant at owners who use their cars fully understanding its limitations, yet run into serious troubles. I know there are a few owners who've had bad experiences and a few cases (like yours,harish) where 'horror story' would be a very mild term to describe what they've gone through.

However your case is different from what is being discussed here, In your case, you may have been sold a 'lemon' and have had to deal with the 'high-handedness' which existed at Skoda then. My sympathies for what you experienced with your car and Skoda.

I've been very lucky with my car being trouble free *touchwood* and I hope it remains that way.I can tell you from personal experience that things have changed since 2007. Tafe took 2 months for a simple 7500 km service + fender paint job back in Sep 2007, I finally wrote to Skoda Aurangabad, who later sent a supervisor to Bangalore, and had the dealer meet me and explain why the delay happened (no genuine reason offered by the dealer) after that meeting, I had my car returned in 2 days and work done to my satisfaction. Vinayak opened in 2008 or 09 and ever since my experience has been no different than with Maruti. From what I understand,such experiences are a thing of past with Skoda and they really are trying to change the negative brand image in the market.

[harishv]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

From what I understand,such experiences are a thing of past with Skoda and they really are trying to change the negative brand image in the market.

Sounds good. I am waiting. Eagerly waiting for this change.

Originally Posted by dkaile

But can we forgive Skoda for its 'past' sins?

Of course we can. Every one deserves a chance. But did they atone for it ?.

[mudittandon]

Originally Posted by pganapathy

Ladies and gentlemen, pop quiz time. What is a skoda superb (or come to that any other automobile). It is a:

a) submarine
b) boat
c) plane / helicopter
d) car

If the answer is a, please use the vehicle under water.
If the answer is b, please use the vehicle on top of water.
If the answer is c, please use the vehicle in the air.

Now, if the answer is d, please use the vehicle on the road. Whenever you come across any situation that may be harmful to your car, be it a deep pothole, water on the road, off road conditions etc, please use your brains and exercise caution. A car is not a submarine, boat, plane or helicopter.

If you cannot do that, please don't blame the manufacturer for giving you a bad product. You have a choice in what you buy. Nobody forces you to buy any brand so don't say these cars are not suited for Indian or African or whatever conditions so because I didn't use my brains and damaged the vehicle, the manufacturer should pay for repairs due to my negligence.

Thank you for your very useful and helpful note. Skoda owners will try to remember now that their car is not a submarine. Now that you mention it, it comes like an epiphany. We shall remember, and try to avoid going underwater. As suggested by you, we will also try to use our brains in the future, and try to not be negligent.

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

However your case is different from what is being discussed here, In your case, you may have been sold a 'lemon' and have had to deal with the 'high-handedness' which existed at Skoda then. My sympathies for what you experienced with your car and Skoda.

I've been very lucky with my car being trouble free *touchwood*

they really are trying to change the negative brand image in the market.

Shashank, I have owned 4 Skodas. They are absolutely fantastic cars - I hope yours continues to do well as it has so far. When it does well, there are few other cars that can provide similar ride quality. My original Octavia is till date my favorite car.

My Superb's lemon-problem finally got resolved last year when they changed almost all the parts. This water problem is unrelated (so they claim).

And yes, they have done a lot to change their quality, I do admit that. My only point (and fair warning to fellow Skoda owners) is that once your engine is opened up, the workshop guys dont know how to seal it properly - so be careful of ANY water. This is not a manufacturing defect - but a function of being careful after any major engine work.

Originally Posted by dkaile

Yes, indeed you do. But can we forgive Skoda for its 'past' sins? The owners who have partaken their hard earned money without getting value in return will however never be in that position and we genuinely empathise with you. But genuinely mudittandon ji, Skoda is changing for the better in recent years. We may never forgive Hitler but we drive the cars by the company he procreated the world over and we call his autobahn's the best roads in the world. Such is human glibness.

Haha yes thats true. I cant forgive them - and although I really want to buy another European car, I cant get myself to get a V-A-S car! Although like-to-like, and repair worries aside, they are really very good. When a new owner goes into a Skoda dealership and TDs a Laura or a Superb, its hard at that time for him to say 'crap what if this breaks down' because these cars are actually great. Lets see - maybe after another 10 years of cool-off, if they change their ways, I might buy a Skoda again.

Originally Posted by sumitdongerkery

I had picked up a skoda octavia in 2006. Infact I had upgraded from Baleno to Skoda and this decision was purely driven by heart over mind. ... me my car has successfully completed 6 yearswith no breakdowns.
...
Maybe I am those lucky few who have had a pleasant experience with skoda. During my visits at the workshop, I had heard of abnormal billing of the cars parked there and customer not able to pick up their cars due to these huge billings. But nevertheless I am for skoda but yes, it drills a hole in your pocket if you run through some major maintainance issues.

Many congratulations on completing six years! Im not surprised that your car has completed six years. My original Octavia lasted me more than that if I recall. It did more than 2 Lakh KM. In fact, you are not one of the 'lucky few' who are happy -- most Skoda owners are very happy. Just that those other few who arent happy, are REALLY unhappy because of prohibitively high maintenance costs for any major repairs. So you are not in a minority -- the ones who are unhappy are!

Skoda is not a car that you find 'OK'. You either love it (if all is well), or you completely hate if (if it starts to burn your pocket). Looks like your car is one of the 'all is well' cars. Hang on to it - its a beautiful car!

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

Your case in totally different mudittandon.

But in the instant case, nobody has the authentic facts of the whole issue. As an unbiased community of petrol heads, In my opinion, it would be grossly incorrect to engage in a hypothetical discussion that would lead us nowhere. That's precisely the point we are trying to make when people go Anti-Skoda in this thread.

Let the owner himself come forward, present his case in a well documented format as you and many other skoda owners in the forum did and we shall take up the case against skoda diligently.

True. Lets wait to see if he brings his case up. My recent water case isnt something that I want to bring up because I really dont know if its because of the original lemonness of the car, or because of a recent issue. Your point is noted and appreciated.

Originally Posted by harishpr

It's indeed quite hard to find that skoda has taken hard beating due to other factors. But I love their cars for sheer quality and they don't over charge for the quality.
My boss drives superb & he is supremely happy. One of my peer has Laura and he swears by it. I personally would like to buy yeti when it's available with AT option.
I don't mean to belittle anyone or any brand here. But it's a fact that skoda products are great.

Not debating any 'fact' that Skoda is great. But I do myself say that their cars are great when they work. I completely agree. And they work most of the time. Only problem is what if you're the unlucky one whose car doesnt work? The cost is not minor - will run in lakhs, if youre in the unlucky one.

Yeti is a fun car, Im sure you will enjoy it when you buy it.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I understand your irritation Mudit and believe me I have absolutely no intention of judging you or belittling you.
There are so many hearsay based posts from people about Skoda, Audi etc. There are also many hearsay based posts about Tata and Mahindra etc.

Yes I see what you are saying. Just pointing out that among 10s of people saying stuff without owning one, there are still 3 who are saying it because they have had a genuine issue.

But these 'hearsay' people are as qualified as the many Skoda defenders who havent yet spent a Rupee on a Skoda, or are just defending it because their specific car doesnt have a problem. And there are many - Trust me!

Anyway, lets end that discussion here.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I agree with that point. That is terrible to know. And that was in 2007 I believe when Skoda was at its lowest point. Since then however minute, there have been improvements. I certainly can relate to your feelings when it comes to Skoda and am truly sorry to hear what you went through. Yours is a different case from this one, since yours happened completely randomly.

Yep mine was a completely different case originally - but I also have a water issue in my car for which I just spent ~3L. But since I cant be sure whether this is because of the original problem or a new issue, I cant comment. Thanks for your support though - If I had a dime for everyone who has supported me when my car was in the garage, then I would have had enough money to buy a 320d instead

[Quatro]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

Your case in totally different mudittandon. We completely understand the pain and agony that you had to go thru'. We have enough of well documented skoda horror stories in this forum to prove that Skoda has turned out to be a lemon for many a people.

But in the instant case, nobody has the authentic facts of the whole issue. As an unbiased community of petrol heads, In my opinion, it would be grossly incorrect to engage in a hypothetical discussion that would lead us nowhere. That's precisely the point we are trying to make when people go Anti-Skoda in this thread.

Let the owner himself come forward, present his case in a well documented format as you and many other skoda owners in the forum did and we shall take up the case against skoda diligently.

Dont mean to belittle anyone or hurt the feelings of people who have contributed. However at this stage, I support the above view. We all do not know the full facts. How high was the water and what had happened. Also that was two years ago, there may have been other issues also in that period.

[drmohitg]

So after 9 pages of discussion on the good and bad sides of Skoda, can anyone help clear all this speculation and post what exactly happened in this particular case? The water entering the engine part of the story can be attributed to the owner's mistake. But jokes apart he would also be aware of that hazard to some extent if not fully because I remember my dad telling my the same when I started to drive that one should avoid water logged stretches and drive very slowly through them without stalling your engine. So maybe its not the damages per se but the lack of support from Skoda that made him take this drastic step after a period of 2 years. If this would have been just frustration at high costs of spares and repairs then the pamphlets would have got circulated a lot earlier. His present actions really make me feel sorry for the guy and makes me suspect there is more to his frustration than just the damages due to the water issue. So unless we have the full story there is no point in discussing this. Skoda, love or hate, has already been discussed at lengths elsewhere.