Team-BHP - Sonata or Civic or wait

I agree with you.
May be my line didn't cover the excellent work done by Honda and Toyota for achieving excellence in relaibility,quality,refinement,greener technology of automotives over 2-4 decades.
I definatly do not mean that,they are image but no quality.
But when you talk about Sonata's failure in that segment the reason is, consumer preference over them in that segement(surely for good reasons).

cheers
Anju

Thanks Vasudeva and Anju. How would you rate an Skoda Rider AT( diesel) vis a vis Civic AT(petrol) . Both are similarly priced but Civic V AT is full of gizmos and creature comforts and of course hi-tech in comparison to Rider AT. Also it is learnt that, Rider AT version is no more produced and delaers have been told that the last batch has been delivered.
Despite that will it be a good decision or its better to go for civic for peace of mind. Only two aspects that skoda scores over civic is impeccable tank like build quality and fuel economy and running cost.

@ Vasudeva - If I am right, Acura is a premium brand for Honda like what Lexus is for Toyota or Lincoln is for Ford, so why a poor rating for Acura compared to a Honda?

Regarding Acura, perhaps consumers in the US have perhaps a better idea. Inspite of having all cars recommended by CR as being highly reliable, Acura has languished. The US sales numbers definitely confirm this: Acura sold 149612 in Jan-Oct 07, compared with 164987 in Jan-Oct 06.Lexus sold 269775 vs 258480.

Perhaps this link will shed some light:

Whither Acura? | The Truth About Cars

Skoda-tank like build quality. I am at a loss to understand what it does for me which Honda or Toyota quality does not. What does tank like mean?. Amby has a tank like quality?. Tanks cost a bomb to repair.

Somehow this prefix like Skoda tank-like sounds similar to prefix BJP with Hindu-nationalist or Allan Lamb with South African born-.

This was invented by Skoda PR who then paid some money and free trips to Europe for some mag hacks, who then started prefixing it with the name Skoda.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasudeva (Post 714606)

Skoda-tank like build quality. I am at a loss to understand what it does for me which Honda or Toyota quality does not. What does tank like mean?.

It means that a Skoda doesn't end up looking like a squashed lemon....or orange when it gets into a minor accident; lol

A characteristic similar to a lot of cars who have their roots in Europe, may I add

Agreed. But what matters is that whether I or the other person involved live or die.
Tank like means what: doors close with a thud, another PR word found in auto mags. Does that mean more steel and more heaviness in the car. Or tank like means the car will not stall on the road and cost you a month salary to repair.

Frankly, tank like or doors close with a thud are features or benefits, which are good PR, may be important, but then other things are also important.

Bottomline: Skoda, Civic, Sonata, Corolla all have 4-star/5-star ratings from NHTSA or Euro-NCAP so `tank/doors thudding' PR can fool an internet illiterate person. But does Skoda have that something (really do not want to open a can of worms here), which Civic and Corolla and to some extent Sonata possess in ample measure.

Dear All, done! Now I am convinced that its better to go with Honda in comparison with SkodaAT Rider or Hyundai Sonata AT at present and in these circumstance. Thanks to you all for enlightening. This is partly helped by the various threads in this forum on the issues with Skoda. Some of them are spooky enough to scare away many potential customers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasudeva (Post 714606)

Skoda-tank like build quality. I am at a loss to understand what it does for me which Honda or Toyota quality does not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by suman (Post 714608)

It means that a Skoda doesn't end up looking like a squashed lemon....or orange when it gets into a minor accident; lol

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...tml#post392812

Quote:

Originally Posted by androdev (Post 716759)

boy, that is some scary stuff! what happened to the occupants? looks like it happened in KA.

While I was doing loud thinking over which car to buy between Civic And City CVT ( hyundais and skoda- being off the choice list, now), with one of colleagues- considering the price and advantage in economics, model life cycle (NH city is old enough for a replacement) etc. , I heard a news about Scorpio AT being launched by April 08 and further got some news about discounts and rate of interest things being re-jigged for NHC and Civic category. So I have decided to postpone the purchase by another month as perhaps March 08, will see better FY end discounts probably, budgetary provisions on taxes and excise will be clearer- and also news on Scorpio AT will be more authentic (hopefully)/ verified by then.

Even if Scorpio AT is launched on schedule, can you trust that AT to be trouble free? Is Scorpio AT as reliable as CVT?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shatrughna (Post 718411)

So I have decided to postpone the purchase by another month as perhaps March 08, will see better FY end discounts probably, budgetary provisions on taxes and excise will be clearer- and also news on Scorpio AT will be more authentic (hopefully)/ verified by then.