[deepfreak15]

What is the approximate delivery period for the 1.8 TSI style variant? Someone I know booked the car in the last week of March with lead time given of 4 to 6 weeks. Now the dealer is asking for the full payment to be made stating the car is in transit but has no VIN number to give. Somehow full payment up front does not sound right to me.

[Brishti]

I am looking at the Octavia RS and the Style 1.8 AT my question is on the reliability of the DQ200. The dealer said all earlier problems have been sorted and I did try and drive their Octavia 1.8 L&K AT demo car with a heavy foot but nothing much happened.

Have the problems associated with the DQ200 really vanished??

[DieselAddikt]

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

What is the approximate delivery period for the 1.8 TSI style variant? Someone I know booked the car in the last week of March with lead time given of 4 to 6 weeks. Now the dealer is asking for the full payment to be made stating the car is in transit but has no VIN number to give. Somehow full payment up front does not sound right to me.

Bad that no one responded to this query on time. I have no idea what the wait time is. But out of curiosity, did your friend pay upfront ? Did everything go smooth ? Would be nice to know for general awareness. Please post his experience when you get time.

[deepfreak15]

Originally Posted by DieselAddikt

But out of curiosity, did your friend pay upfront ? Did everything go smooth ?

Thanks for asking. Apparently that is standard operating procedure at all Skoda dealerships (ensure customer pays up so they don't back out). It was my Dad who was buying the car and he very clearly told them that either they show him the car in the yard or give the delivery date it in writing along with the VIN. Once the dealer realized he wouldn't budge without the VIN,waited till they got the allocation (one week) then prepared a new invoice with the delivery date and VIN mentioned. My father then paid the rest and it took 4 business days after that for delivery.

[DieselAddikt]

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

Thanks for asking. Apparently that is standard operating procedure at all Skoda dealerships (ensure customer pays up so they don't back out). It was my Dad who was buying the car and he very clearly told them that either they show him the car in the yard or give the delivery date it in writing along with the VIN. Once the dealer realized he wouldn't budge without the VIN,waited till they got the allocation (one week) then prepared a new invoice with the delivery date and VIN mentioned. My father then paid the rest and it took 4 business days after that for delivery.

Gotcha ! Thank you for replying and glad that all went well. Congratulations on the new car.

[Mad Max]

The Skoda website shows only four colors for the Octavia 1.8 TSi. No blues or reds. Are these colors not available anymore?

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

The Skoda website shows only four colors for the Octavia 1.8 TSi. No blues or reds. Are these colors not available anymore?

Don't go by the website. Skoda CZ is sending out random colours from the mother plant and it is your and your dealer's luck with colours :-)

I'm pretty sure I've seen a facelifted Octy in Race Blue and in Rio Red!

[a_nan]

I have an octavia and got the car serviced recently at 15,000 kms. Luckily, I hung around at the workshop when the work was done, and was called by the service advisor to see my badly bent front rims. I am wondering if anyone else has such an issue? I do remembering hitting one pothole, but having both front rims damaged was surprising and i am suspecting the quality of the rims itself. The car is only driven by me, so i am quite sure that its been driven properly.
Otherwise, the car has been running just fine.

[paperweight]

Thanks for a nice review and for showing us the dangers of relying too much on the park assist function. I feel that perhaps as this is a face lift review the boot was left out of the review. I have this nagging doubt that here is a large hatchback pretending its a sedan and that articles kept on the parcel shelf will have a tendency to come toppling down - maybe on the heads of the rear seat passengers, when the boot is opened. And the boot has to be opened at shopping malls and sometimes at other places too. So - is it another hatchback or is it a sedan? Ditto for the Superb - as magnificent as they are, hatchbacks do allow intrusive entry into the passenger space and I think will ruin whatever climate controls there are in Indian weather conditions.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by paperweight

I have this nagging doubt that here is a large hatchback pretending its a sedan and that articles kept on the parcel shelf will have a tendency to come toppling down - maybe on the heads of the rear seat passengers, when the boot is opened.

Ditto for the Superb - as magnificent as they are, hatchbacks do allow intrusive entry into the passenger space and I think will ruin whatever climate controls there are in Indian weather conditions.

Your comment on the intrusive entry (hot or cold air/pollution entering the car when the rear hatch is opened. However, points 1 & 3 below can solve your 'things falling on rear passengers's heads' worry. Additionally, from the versatility PoV, I have a 'true' sedan (Chevy Cruze) and a notchback (Octavia). In my opinion, a notchback, i.e. a sedan like shape but with a huge hatch door is a superb compromise between a hatchback and a sedan.

This iteration of the Octavia/Superb parcel tray is quite versatile:

1. It is first of all in 2 hinged pieces. The initial narrower section just behind the seats does not move at all whether the hatch is opened or not.
2. The second section is much wider but is constrained by the reducing height of the hatch glass above.
3. The strings that connect the hatch to the second section can be detached so that it does not move at all when the hatch is opened.
4. The entire tray can be detached and slid into a dedicated holding area behind the seats.
5. The boot floor can be hung on the parcel tray if required.

Refer to the relevant part of the TBHP official review post:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post3255246

Personally, I avoid loose objects in my Octavia to ensure minimal flying items in the case of emergency braking or (God forbid) a collision.

[Karvel]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Personally, I avoid loose objects in my Octavia to ensure minimal flying items in the case of emergency braking or (God forbid) a collision.

Is this not applicable for all the sedans?
Like you had rightly pointed out, the versatility of the rear parcel tray is very good in Octavia and its only about adjusting to the practicality of each and every vehicle.

[paperweight]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Your comment on the intrusive entry (hot or cold air/pollution entering the car when the rear hatch is opened. However, points 1 & 3 below can solve your 'things falling on rear passengers's heads' worry. Additionally, from the versatility PoV, I have a 'true' sedan (Chevy Cruze) and a notchback (Octavia). In my opinion, a notchback, i.e. a sedan like shape but with a huge hatch door is a superb compromise between a hatchback and a sedan.

This iteration of the Octavia/Superb parcel tray is quite versatile:

1. It is first of all in 2 hinged pieces. The initial narrower section just behind the seats does not move at all whether the hatch is opened or not.
2. The second section is much wider but is constrained by the reducing height of the hatch glass above.
3. The strings that connect the hatch to the second section can be detached so that it does not move at all when the hatch is opened.
4. The entire tray can be detached and slid into a dedicated holding area behind the seats.
5. The boot floor can be hung on the parcel tray if required.

Refer to the relevant part of the TBHP official review post:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post3255246

Personally, I avoid loose objects in my Octavia to ensure minimal flying items in the case of emergency braking or (God forbid) a collision.

Thank you for the clarification. I also downloaded the Octavia and Superb manuals from the Skoda website and studied them. I am convinced about the Superb's tailgate having a design that permits the sedan to coexist with the hatchback. The tailgate on the Superb is hinged and I am certain that was done for a this reason - let it be a sedan for those who would like the closed cabin of a sedan and if required it can be a hatchback.

I am not at all convinced that the Octavia has this feature. And while it has a hinged parcel tray, the tailgate will open all the way. We can limit how far it will open but unlike the Superb, the privacy of the cabin will not be maintained - additionally I am concerned about having a different person opening and closing the tailgate for each shopping visit. Some people have a tendency to slam the tailgate down and he will be slamming down glass (it may be pointless to teach that person because he may be on different duty shifts and you may never see him again) - and others may press of the rear glass - which is a safety risk. Further, somebody did raise the issue of the height of the tailgate when fully opened. Europeans are taller than Indians and Asians generally - while I'm sure Skoda has considered this aspect, It would be very unfortunate if I have a leaping security man trying to reach the tailgate in order to close it.

All in all these cars seem to be magnificent machines but we (please note the plural is not indicative of royalty) would prefer the privacy of a sedan to the intrusiveness of a hatchback.

[puchoo]

So i went ahead and booked the Octavia yesterday - top end 1.8 TSI , L&K Model , i am still not a 100% sure but there is no harm in booking it hence did it.


The dealer is offering absolutely no discounts or offers on the car, there is a loyalty / exchange value of 25k, which is incidental and does not help me. The OTR for the car is coming to almost 26.5Lacs - have highlighted it in green in the image attached ( Sorry for quality of the image) and i am now trying to see where all i can save money.


I think the essentials kit can be done away with and bought separately from outside in the market


The depot charges (another fancy name for handling charges) i will insist be done away with


Insurance i need to compare still ,hopefully there are some savings here which i can manage.


However on top of this is the additional expenditure which i will need to shell out on the Skoda maintainance package which is about 40k and i think it makes sense to take it , then they have something called the Drive Assure as well which offers certain protectionm and benefits which is another 40,000 - so all in all , quite an expensive package.


Wanted to check with existing recent owners, or anyone else who might have booked the car recently if there is any scope and avenue to bargain with the dealer and try and find some savings.

[mathuranuj]

Hi!

There definitely is scope of discounts and negotiations. Which dealer are you speaking with?

Originally Posted by puchoo

So i went ahead and booked the Octavia yesterday - top end 1.8 TSI , L&K Model , i am still not a 100% sure but there is no harm in booking it hence did it.


The dealer is offering absolutely no discounts or offers on the car, there is a loyalty / exchange value of 25k, which is incidental and does not help me. The OTR for the car is coming to almost 26.5Lacs - have highlighted it in green in the image attached ( Sorry for quality of the image) and i am now trying to see where all i can save money.


I think the essentials kit can be done away with and bought separately from outside in the market


The depot charges (another fancy name for handling charges) i will insist be done away with


Insurance i need to compare still ,hopefully there are some savings here which i can manage.


However on top of this is the additional expenditure which i will need to shell out on the Skoda maintainance package which is about 40k and i think it makes sense to take it , then they have something called the Drive Assure as well which offers certain protectionm and benefits which is another 40,000 - so all in all , quite an expensive package.


Wanted to check with existing recent owners, or anyone else who might have booked the car recently if there is any scope and avenue to bargain with the dealer and try and find some savings.

[puchoo]

Jai Auto , gurgaon , can you give me a sense of what i can squeeze out of them ?

Originally Posted by mathuranuj

Hi!

There definitely is scope of discounts and negotiations. Which dealer are you speaking with?