[viXit]

The car is under warranty , GOOD
100k kms in short time, could mean mostly highway driving. Confirm this with the owner. If it is, then the wear and tear is equal to a 70k run car.

Unless you're getting this for a steal, please keep looking. I'm sure this is not the first car you'll come across.

If you think you've found the right car at the right price, look for three more.

Pre owned purchases are cheaper, but it compensates for that with all the time and effort you need to put into it.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by viXit

The car is under warranty , GOOD
100k kms in short time, could mean mostly highway driving. Confirm this with the owner. If it is, then the wear and tear is equal to a 70k run car.

I agree. My uncle has an E class that's in top nick and almost all its use is to take him from his house in Chennai to a couple of factories he has that are 100-150 km away from Chennai, and to various other cities in TN and KA where he has business meetings.

It has run 90k++, fully company serviced and feels like an under 50k run vehicle. Any 90k++ run German that has seen substantial city use will feel and sound like a tractor.

[V.Narayan]

Advice from an erstwhile owner of a Laura and a Superb both manual -->

Skoda + 104,000 kms + AT = trouble and cost and a lot of waste of your time. Continue the search.

No matter how attractive the new Skoda's are I would not dare to buy one. I am supposed to own the car not the car owning me.

Best of luck. Let us know where your spear finally falls.

[chinmaypillay]

If you decide to buy the car, please ensure you keep a few extra amount ( 2 to 3 lakhs approx) for any immediate expenses which may come up. Not that you may require it surely, but always good to have so you don't feel stretched.

Since it has crossed the 1 Lakh mark, the timing belt may have to be changed which can be an expense since it is a Skoda. As one post has suggested, get the car checked at the Skoda dealer at your expense to see the condition and verify the service history.

Since it is company owned, I understand they can claim taxes for the services and maintenance done promptly. With warranty still intact, it can be a good option but don't get swayed. Due diligence will help in long way.

Also, 10 year plan might not be feasible if the car has crossed 1 Lakhs IMO. Maybe 5 to 6 years can be the target, which you can stretch later if the car is proving to be reliable. This is ONLY because the car has crossed 1 Lakh, if it is lesser then 10 years is easily doable target.

I would go with the car if it has been driven in the highways mostly as the load on the DSG would be less compared to city driving. Check for the suspension, belts and fluids (esp. DSG). Maybe you can accompany the owner to the service center for the check and let him drive to get an idea of how the vehicle would have been driven with respect to gear change and behavior. If you feel it is rash, then stay away from the example. But if handled with care like it should be, additional bonus for that.

All the best with your search!

[Sounak04]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Advice from an erstwhile owner of a Laura and a Superb both manual -->

Skoda + 104,000 kms + AT = trouble and cost and a lot of waste of your time. Continue the search.

No matter how attractive the new Skoda's are I would not dare to buy one. I am supposed to own the car not the car owning me.

Best of luck. Let us know where your spear finally falls.

I second this. VW group cars with more than 1L kms on odometer are a recipe for disaster.

Our family had a VW Passat. Trust me once the car crosses 1L kms, it will give u troubles. The car will have some or the other issues even if u had baby the car.

Yes i agree that the wet clutch DSG gearbox is way more reliable than the dry clutch ones but its definitely not as reliable as a Torque Converter.

Also these type of cars does not only have issues with their Gearbox. They are so complex and full of electronics, that there will be failure of something or the other.

Still if you want to go for it, please do as told by others and get it checked at a Skoda Authorized Service Center. Also do keep some money aside for future repairs.

Hope that helps

[Nithesh_M]

So you say you hate losing money over depreciation yet you also don't mind losing money paying up repair bills for German engineering in lakhs? Where's the logic in that?

I wouldn't buy a Rapid with 1 lakh kms. Let alone a Superb. If its going cheap there's big bills waiting for the buyer.

[vredesbyrd]

As someone who did exactly opposite of what you are trying to do, here are some points a Superb owner (mine was a 2010 3T 2.0TDI DSG):

-It will keep becoming more and more expensive to maintain with time
-Suspension, AC compressor and Throttle Body will need replacement/fail at some point after 100k km and these will be expensive, not to mention lead time for these parts
-If the cracked scroll wheel works, then why bother changing? Alternatively, buy it off a site and improvise. DIYs will become a big part of your life if you want to control costs
-I cannot stress this point enough: Take it to the authorised service center and get it checked from head to toe. Get warranty if possible or extend it if already existing

Beyond that, it is a fantastic car to drive, especially for long trips (though the tightness and small size of Vento will be missed but you gain a lot of comfort features). Do evaluate other options as well.

[McLaren Rulez]

Not sure why there are so many "no" votes without knowing the asking price - it's a bit irrational. Particularly since you have two years of factory warranty left. If anything, the fact that people don't even want to consider high mileage cars is an indication that you could score a pretty sweet deal. Please add the advertised price OP - only then can anyone tell you if it's worth it or not.

If you are getting it for a very good price, you just have to be more thorough in your pre-purchase inspection and budget accordingly for future costs. When that is done, decide rationally if you are okay with those possible costs and vehicle downtime given the superior driving experience and cheaper initial price. Good luck!

[yd_gli]

As someone who seems to very careful with their money and avoids depreciation at all costs, I am surprised that you are considering dumping a significant amount of money into a a decade old luxury Skoda with 1L on the odo.

The only OEMs worth buying used and saving on depreciation are the Japanese ones. Buying a used decade old Superb with 1L on the odo is to put it mildly the equivalent of flushing your money down the drain.

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Not sure why there are so many "no" votes without knowing the asking price - it's a bit irrational. Particularly since you have two years of factory warranty left. If anything, the fact that people don't even want to consider high mileage cars is an indication that you could score a pretty sweet deal. Please add the advertised price OP - only then can anyone tell you if it's worth it or not.

If you are getting it for a very good price, you just have to be more thorough in your pre-purchase inspection and budget accordingly for future costs. When that is done, decide rationally if you are okay with those possible costs and vehicle downtime given the superior driving experience and cheaper initial price. Good luck!

I will try and answer why there are a number of "nos" since I have owned a German for close to 7 years now.

- Factory warranty doesn't cover consumables and wear and tear. Period. At the 1L km mark, you are looking at a much higher expenditure towards wear and tear items such as suspension, timing kit, DSG fluid and the likes than premature failures which are covered under warranty. A complete suspension change including all mounts will easily cost more than a lakh in itself.

- More importantly, the OP plans to keep the car for a very long time considering he's looking at clocking another 1L km atleast on it. Until and unless he clocks all those km in the next 2 years, I don't see how he's not going to spend a large amount of time outside warranty period with a 1L km+ driven car that is heavily laden with electronics.

I wouldn't discourage the OP in any way. It's his money in the end and everyone has a different risk appetite and time to invest in a car. Having said that, I think its prudent to warn him as to what he can expect from the car and suggest better options if possible. And this is the reason why I would suggest a younger Superb done around 60-70K km. In the end, no amount of money can replace the time and effort you waste while your car sits at the workshop even if it is for a warranty claim.

Originally Posted by yd_gli

As someone who seems to very careful with their money and avoids depreciation at all costs, I am surprised that you are considering dumping a significant amount of money into a a decade old luxury Skoda with 1L on the odo.

The only OEMs worth buying used and saving on depreciation are the Japanese ones. Buying a used decade old Superb with 1L on the odo is to put it mildly the equivalent of flushing your money down the drain.

The Superb in question is a 2016 MQB 2.0 TDI DSG. Please read the thread carefully. It's 4 years old and is the latest one to be offered in India, albeit the pre-facelift variant.

[manishk123]

Although I have seen skoda taxis abroad with 5 - 6 lac kms on the odo running perfectly well, in Indian conditions I would not take a chance. Our bad road conditions, dust and traffic take a real toll on the car and being a Superb, parts are very expensive.

Somehow if you are still keen on it, I would advise you to go through the cars service history in detail to check if there are any issues which keep repeating. Skodas are very erratic in the sense some cars will go trouble free for years together and some will keep troubling you regularly. You don’t want to get saddled with a lemon.

[abhi1309]

Having owned a Skoda Laura 1.8 TSI for almost 10 years now, I suggest you keep all the bias away and run away from this car as far away as possible. There cannot be a worse way to part with your money because it can also turn into a lot of mental agony in the time of your ownership. These are over engineered clearly, you will wake up to multiple lights on the dash often, finding yourself googling what they specifically mean. Driving out of the city would take a lot of thought, always keeping some kind of rescue in mind, and it would never be your primary vehicle, at least not for long. And I say this when I have had a manual Laura (half the trouble, no DSG). DSG is another 50% game (my friends have plenty and I have heard their stories). An uneventful long drive of a couple of thousand kilometers will actually feel like a miracle and just when you thought, all Skoda bashing is rubbish and mere hearsay, you will unsurprisingly get served up with more dashboard lights. My engine check light lasted for almost 2 years, Skoda A.S.S could not figure out the problem after having me spending lacs and I used to actually see that amber light in my dreams. Driving pleasure be damned. Like GTO said, I wouldn't mind if it was my own car at 1 lac, I wouldn't even look at someone else's with that kind of mileage (in India) and complex electronics.

[evil_grin]

Originally Posted by harditthind

I have been looking for a replacement for my VW Vento Highline 2011 for a while, because she has started to look and feel her age now and has covered over 140k kms.

Is this worth the trouble or should I keep looking?

There are two major questions that need answering:
1. The car is almost guaranteed to cause troubles soon. The only question is how soon. And it'll require an estimated 1 lakh a year in upkeep. Are you ok with the car spending a cumulative 1 month/year with an FNG together with the irritation caused by issues that seem to crop up every few months?

2. Are you getting it at a great price? At around 10 lakhs (the price of a mid spec Polo), it's a good bargain even if you factor in all the maintenance expenses and time you're looking at. At 15 lakhs, it's not.

Only if the answers are yes will it make sense to go ahead. Of course after the due diligence of getting it checked at the ASS.

The car has many things going for it:
1. Trustworthy owner
2. Full service history
3. Good condition car
4. In Warranty
5. Not too old (5 years)
6. Highway mileage instead of city (assumption) which is way better for cars
7. More reliable than the previous gen Superb.

Your history also has many things going for it:
1. Long term owner of a VAG car.
2. That you work in the Merchant Navy means you can probably afford a new Superb, just don't want to waste money on it. That means you can afford the high maintenance.

Just don't expect to be able to keep it for another 10 years. 5 years max. Any extra year is bonus. Even if you sell it for 5 lakhs after 5 years, you won't loose much in depreciation.

So the risk isn't as high as other people make it out to be. In the worst case scenario, you're only looking at a total ownership cost of only 2 lakh/year (1 lakh for maintenance and 1 lakh for depreciation) for a best in next class car

The biggest downside is that if you go through with this, later on very few other cars will both satisfy you and have a VFM total ownership cost.

[swoosh]

Originally Posted by harditthind

4. RC in a firms name. This is not really a concern but more of a lack of knowledge/information. I am not sure about the paperwork involved with the change of owner in this particular case. Local RTO registered so that part is straight fwd.

If it is a leased car where the car is registered in a company and given to the employee through a lease program, you will be the third owner. If the seller runs a business and registered the car in his company name, it will be a direct transfer and you will be the second owner.

[Raghu M]

I am not an expert, will just share my opinion here. My company has a few cars on it's name and trust me, the amount of abuse each car goes through is horrible to say the least. Many people drive these cars. The maintenance is not an issue at all, the dealership is a call away, they come, pick the cars and deliver it back with replacement of literally every part and the bill is paid without any discussion or investigation. Everyone from the office boy to the VP of the company travel/drive these cars. They clock around 250 kms on a daily basis.

You are looking at a car that has done 100K already and intend to keep it for 10 years. I don't think the deal sounds great. You should either look at cars that are low on odo or just buy a brand new car if you have a 10 year ownership in mind. Trust me, the pure bliss of owning something without having to run to the ASS every now and then is far greater than a few lakhs saved on a second hand purchase. You also have the advantage of warranty. Plus, these machines look to be prone to high maintenance costs once they are past the 100K mark. If I were you, I would steer away, look for lower odo reading cars (40K to 60K), get it thoroughly inspected at the dealership and then take a call. Keep us posted please, thank you.