[Yeldo]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

Careful when bashing the Qualis. You will not find a single individual who is less than extremely satisfied with that vehicle. Toyota spares are very reasonably priced too.

This is the first time I've heard a high revving engine is a bad thing. I suppose dieselheads do think that way.

You can bash Honda and Toyota for having tinny bodies or high seating capacities or extreme reliability all you want. But when the transmission fails on your Skoda or when you give a wall the slightest of nudges and end up breaking your Xenons, you'll wish you had a el-cheapo Jap car. All that money you saved pumping in diesel... all down the drain. Accord V6s are 800-1000/- per service, as per a user's long term experience posted today. Your Laura with less than half the power and half the legroom costs 10x the money to maintain.

Tell me you get extreme resale values for any petrol German supercar you mention? What's the resale on one of those high VFM vRS eh?

Sir, I never said the Qualis was bad. I just wanted to compare Toyota offerings with Skoda models. I owned two Qualises. No complaints for the use that I put them, save for the service bills were high for the prices, and that whenever I traveled in the back, my legs complained about the lack of legroom.

And I did not complain about high- revving engines, only said Honda got a disproportionately high marketing mileage from it due to our peculiar market conditions.

Regarding resale values, let us talk about it WHEN Toyota & Honda launch Diesel versions of the City, Civic, Accord, Altis, and Camry.

Didn't mean to offend anybody with my earlier post, take it easy!

[Gagan.js]

The Japanese cars sell only because they are masters in judging that Indians, having been exposed only to Ambassadors and Padminis, have less expectations about quality and value.

Yeah our market is pretty messed up.

But ask yourself, doesn't the Indian family WANT cheap maintenance and reliability along with decent mileage? Things that the Japs DO OFFER and others don't?

So to a certain extent what you say about skoda is true, they offer brilliant cars but they too jack the Indian right? Selling the octavia at such a high price all these years.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by Yeldo

The Japanese cars sell only because they are masters in judging that Indians, having been exposed only to Ambassadors and Padminis, have less expectations about quality and value. They (rightly?) consider our standards below par to the Europeans. And they give us cars with high- revving and less noisy engines (Honda) which makes Indian drivers feel heavenly, and vehicles that can haul 12 people on 8 -seat permits (Toyota).

You assume very incorrectly that Japanese sell only in India & Japan. Skoda doesn't have a presence in US. But Honda & Toyota clobber the parent VW in a "mature" market like US.

Reliability matter!

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Yeldo

The Japanese cars sell only because they are masters in judging that Indians, having been exposed only to Ambassadors and Padminis, have less expectations about quality and value. They (rightly?) consider our standards below par to the Europeans. And they give us cars with high- revving and less noisy engines (Honda) which makes Indian drivers feel heavenly, and vehicles that can haul 12 people on 8 -seat permits (Toyota).

Even in the Americas, public perception says that Japanese stuff runs.
American stuff breaks down, and with European its an expensive gamble.

Don't just go by MSRP or the Ratings and surveys. Insurance premiums also say quite a lot.

In India, Japs may be selling us a decade old stuff, but it works. Doesn't break down often. And when it does breakdown, it doesn't require a herculean monetary effort to get it back working.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by alpha1

In India, Japs may be selling us a decade old stuff, but it works. Doesn't break down often. And when it does breakdown, it doesn't require a herculean monetary effort to get it back working.

agree to all this - but the Japs do not exactly sell decade old stuff here.

The Accord and the City are the newer versions available in the market, and at least they are not selling 3 generations of Civic side by side calling it Flora & Fauna or some other choice brand name

[Yeldo]

Originally Posted by SkyWalker

You assume very incorrectly that Japanese sell only in India & Japan. Skoda doesn't have a presence in US. But Honda & Toyota clobber the parent VW in a "mature" market like US.

I never assumed thus!


And please, I just compared Toyota & Honda lineups for Europe vis-a-vis those offered in India and that of Skoda.

Well, well, it seems I've ruffled a few feathers around this forum. Better beat a retreat and save my skin from Honda and Toyota fans!

[alpha1]

^ LOL, its not something to do with fanboi appeal.
Its the numbers. The Economics of owning a Jappu vs Euro car.

[patil]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Forget to see a Skoda at Rs. 3-4 lakhs. About the new Octavia, I expect the Fabia sedan to be branded as new Octavia and will be priced at around Rs. 9-10 lakh to take on the G3HC. The diesel power might be of some help.
The Octavia based on Golf VI is yet to arrive, even Jetta based on that has not arrived. Expected Laura to remain where it is. When the new Octavia based no Golf VI comes up, it will be placed where Laura is right now. The present Laura will come down a bit to the present Octavia levels of Rs. 12-14 Lakh. Below that, the Fabia sedan will do its job.

But by no means can we expect a Rs. 3-4lakh Skoda car. VW might be spending a lot of time just planning for placing its brands. Skoda had already made VW brand entry very difficult.



At what cost ?

I am sorry that i forgot to mention the price in my post. I bought it for Rs. 3.75 lac.

[eltoro]

Originally Posted by loving_alaap

Well, thats we have discussed in the similar thread.

After looting to 30,000 indian customers (poor octavians), skoda is now putting the real price of Octavia. (in the range of ANHC, SX4, Fiesta, linea etc.).

Don't be surprised if the Fabia is repriced and sold for 3 lakhs...

[CarsPG]

Originally Posted by eltoro

Don't be surprised if the Fabia is repriced and sold for 3 lakhs...

I think they are already selling it for Rs. 4,50,000 ex-showroom (after discounts) so getting under 4 wouldn't be a stretch !

[hillram]

Skoda launching a 3 Lakh car? What model would that be? Even at global level they dont have a smaller car than a Fabia?

[harry10]

Logging after 3 days and reading all comments to find info about the 3 lac car by Skoda and all i can find is another Honda vs Skoda debate going on.
Guess in most of the threads all OT stuff is going on rather than on topic.
Sad.

[pgsagar]

Looks like this thread has turned into a Skoda versus Honda/Toyota show down. I am not a Skoda fan, nor am I an H/T fan. All three cars have their own strengths and weeknesses. But yes, if we take status symbol into account, I think Skoda is miles ahead of H/T ( in India). I see a superrich versus salaried class divide here. The politician/realtor/businessman ( superrich class ) seem to prefer Skoda while the techies/NRIs ( salaried ) seem to flock to H/T. Especially NRI who see countless Civics and Corollas on roads in US, head straight for H/T showroom when they return to India. Another irony here is while most salaried guys prefer petrol cars, the superrich, the politico/realtor type who are worth hundrerds of crores prefer diesels. I am not sure about other states but in AP, 8 out of 10 politicos/realtors flaunt an Octavia or a Laura.

[Axe77]

maybe the techies drive are more likely to be self driven so they may prefer the smoother petrol cars which are more exciting to drive while the politician/realtor/businessmen who have heavy duty running incl long distance and are more likely to be chauffeur driven prefer the diesels.
Purely idle speculation of course on my part (as well as some sweeping assumptions).

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Looks like this thread has turned into a Skoda versus Honda/Toyota show down. I am not a Skoda fan, nor am I an H/T fan. All three cars have their own strengths and weeknesses. But yes, if we take status symbol into account, I think Skoda is miles ahead of H/T ( in India). I see a superrich versus salaried class divide here. The politician/realtor/businessman ( superrich class ) seem to prefer Skoda while the techies/NRIs ( salaried ) seem to flock to H/T. Especially NRI who see countless Civics and Corollas on roads in US, head straight for H/T showroom when they return to India. Another irony here is while most salaried guys prefer petrol cars, the superrich, the politico/realtor type who are worth hundrerds of crores prefer diesels. I am not sure about other states but in AP, 8 out of 10 politicos/realtors flaunt an Octavia or a Laura.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Looks like this thread has turned into a Skoda versus Honda/Toyota show down. I am not a Skoda fan, nor am I an H/T fan. All three cars have their own strengths and weeknesses. But yes, if we take status symbol into account, I think Skoda is miles ahead of H/T ( in India). I see a superrich versus salaried class divide here. The politician/realtor/businessman ( superrich class ) seem to prefer Skoda while the techies/NRIs ( salaried ) seem to flock to H/T. Especially NRI who see countless Civics and Corollas on roads in US, head straight for H/T showroom when they return to India. Another irony here is while most salaried guys prefer petrol cars, the superrich, the politico/realtor type who are worth hundrerds of crores prefer diesels. I am not sure about other states but in AP, 8 out of 10 politicos/realtors flaunt an Octavia or a Laura.

Absolutely.
Skodas, when they were introduced, they had all extremely over priced vehicles, with niggling issues, high spare cost, higher maintenance, that a super rich can easily afford - but a salried guy would think twice before putting in his money.

This further lead to the phenomenon of Skoda becoming status symbol.