Team-BHP - Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

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Originally Posted by himanshu_j (Post 3259474)

Isn't 700 to 800 units a little far fetched for a car of this segment and price? I wouldn't expect more than half that number!

I meant the nos for 2 months combined given that Oct is the launch month. The way octavia was awaited for, I guess they should be looking forward to such numbers.

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Originally Posted by Tats07 (Post 3259989)

The following are likely to happen in the next 6 months:

1. Skoda to introduce Ambition trim of 1.8 TSI with manual transmission. Another couple of months, even that will sell at huge discounts. Expect the ex-showroom to come down to 15 or so with discounts.

2. 1.4 TSI will obviously have huge discounts as well, and may as well be taken off the road. Given point#1 above, it will hardly have any takers (IMO, of course) given that there's a quantum gap between the driveability of the two vehicles (1.4 and 1.8, i.e.) within the city.

3. vRS may never be launched! :D

Agree with you and @dkaile. We may be seeing discounts sooner and bigger than we hope for.

vRS may still be launched with more realistic price. Anyway vRS aims at totally different segment of buyers.

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Originally Posted by puchoo (Post 3260068)

My 2 cents

I dont think Skoda has , unfortunately for them , managed to create the storm they wished they had with the launch , there was probably more excitement prior to the car officially being announced than there has been.

I dont think they have managed to get the pricing sorted out as well as they could and even the trims. The 1.8 TSI is a gem of an engine and should have been available lower down in the price range and trim as well , tempting people to step put of their budgets in order to get it and i am sure enough would have.

On the pricing i am not thrilled. As a Skoda owner i appreciate the quality which goes into these cars and am willing to pay a premium as well for it , but at the bottom end they have not priced it at a point where i think it would have taken a fair chunk of the pie from other competitors. At the top end of the prices we can start seeing the Likes of BMW's not standing very far which would make enough people stop and think twice. And then there is the entire confusion with VW.

Well said. Guess Skoda didnot do enough research or take steps to confuse the C-segment buyers to jump onto the D1 segment. They infact might have ignored atleast 20% of the upper c-segment buyers in india who would have been happy to shell out 2L more for the quality and the engines on offer.

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Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead (Post 3260149)

Just talked to a SA at Skoda, the 1.8 TSI will arrive after one-one and a half months :Frustrati I can't understand why! they say that TSI is not being produced at all as there are few bookings. Any one else here with TSI waiting woes?

Check the September sales thread. THe Octavia already figures on that thread, some 51 units shipped to dealers. The diesel petrol split is 50:1 in favour of diesel. So a total of one TSI (either 1.4 or 1.8) was shipped to dealers. Looks like they haven't yet received TSI kits. Then why did they launch these models, if they were not ready? Feel sorry for customers like you who have booked the petrol model.

Skoda needs to get their act together with an important launch like the Octavia. I was hoping that with the new MD things will be much better. They are already suffering from a bad reputation in the market for poor customer response. The last thing they want is customers unhappy with the sales and booking experience. I heard there is no clear word on extended warranty. That's a royal mess up if you ask me.

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Originally Posted by Santoshbhat (Post 3260188)

indeed there is not a word about extended warranty yet, but I figure we can take that up any time before the initial two year warranty expires. 100% they don't have any kits ordered yet. They might have not thought about the demand for petrol variants, but considering the cheapest offering is a 1.4 TSI, they should have paid more attention on TSI kits rather than diesel ones. They are just trying to make the most of it be selling the most expensive ones while they can. I am sure many customers will shift their booking from TSI to TDI. But I am definitely sticking to TSI. The price gap between TSI Elegance and TDI Elegance is a whopping 1.75 lacs here. Hope they churn out a few TSI's in October.

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Originally Posted by Tats07 (Post 3259989)

In the real world, D1 sedans offer very little additional compared to C2 segment sedans now-a-days. And in this backdrop, Skoda comes up with a 1.4 TSI Active (base bare bone trim) at 13.95 Lakhs ex-showroom Delhi (14.20 ex-showroom Bangalore - translates to 18 Lakhs OTR). Why would I choose a 138 BHP petrol machine over 112 BHP (T-Jet) or 116 BHP (City) unless it offers me something great? Can anyone vouch that 1.4 TSI is better to drive than 1.4 T-Jet?

I wonder what world folks are living in. The INR is at Rs. 62 to the USD (was at Rs. 68 not long ago), and one just cannot expect CKD cars to be priced at less than this. A 1.4 TSi would be far superior to a T jet or a City (those two cars are inferior even to a Vento 1.6 in my view) - of course it would have been even better if it had been available with the DSG. And at least in Ambition trim, the Octavia offers a lot - in many ways it is comparable to the Superb, and far outclasses equipment levels in the Accord or Civic, much less any C segment car. Unless we expect manufacturers to sell cars at a loss, we cannot hope for better pricing given what this car offers.

Will it sell large numbers? Perhaps not. But that is not a function of the car or its pricing - its due to our obsession with SUVs. Personally, I find it ridiculous that even XUV 500s, Mitsubishi Pajero Sports and Ssangyong Rextons outsell most D segment cars. But that is the reality of our market, I guess.

As an aside, be prepared for a rise in the cost of domestically made cars as well - INR input costs of steel, electronics et al will rise due to the INR depreciation, pushing up component prices and manufacturing costs.

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Originally Posted by Hayek (Post 3260215)

We live in the same country as you do, and the public opinion on this thread seems to indicate that Octavia is priced much above the general expectations. Regardless of Re-USD factor, I REALLY don't think that 18 Lakhs OTR for 1.4 TSI Active is justified.

No, we do not expect manufacturers to sell cars at loss. But with this pricing (and let's set aside the A.S.S part), I don't think Skoda is looking at a great margins in India either. They are anyway used to selling at losses.

I, for one, don't give much about equipments in the car, and I'm sure there are people on this forum who wouldn't give much to those if they could lay their hands on a 1.8 TSI MT at a good price within their budgets, notwithstanding all the 'goodies' on offer.

As for Vento 1.6 being better than City and especially T-Jet, I have a different view, and I would rather reserve my comments.

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Originally Posted by Hayek (Post 3260215)

Dude the T-jet is a bullet! !! Vento 1.6 tsi didnt impress me as much. Anyway That could be personal.
2. The depreciation of rupee hasnt hit the price of other cars as much as it has inflated the cost of the octavia!!

Imho the gap between the D1 and D2 is not as much as that between C2 and D1 segments as far as price is concerned. To attribute it wholly to the depreciation of the value of rupee is not a good argument. This gap has been the same even when the rupee was 50 to a dollar.

Its high time manufacturers set an upper limit of 20 lacs otr for the D1 segment. That would set up a clear differentiation between C2 and D1 and indirectly make D1 more premium than it already is..

( if you wonder why reducing the cost would make it more premium, i strongly feel the relatively short gap between D1 and D2 is making prospective buyers feel they could get a better deal by spending 2-3 lacs more and going up a segment. Hence for a D1, the comparison is always with a D2. You always have the feeling you are probably getting a tamer deal. But if you bring down the price then people who are spending 12 lacs on a C2 would have their eyes on a D1 and this would make D1 look more premium than before and boost its sales)
So long story told short, I feel skoda got it wrong. I initially thought they had a winner but not sure now!!

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Originally Posted by Tats07 (Post 3260268)

Don't take my comment personally buddy. I was referring to several people (the "public opinion") and not to you alone. Just to recap, this is a car that does 0-100 in 8.4 s, is enormously spacious, produces 250 NM torque at low RPMs, and has loads of safety features built in (even in 1.4 TSi Active guise).Yes, it will not be cheap to maintain but it's built on the same platform as an Audi A3 - so what do you expect? The 1.4 TSi produces similar peak power to an Audi A4 2.0 D. Look at how the Octavia is priced in other markets - this pricing is remarkably reasonable compared to how other CKD vehicles get priced in India. BTW, I expect most private owners to buy the Ambition - the Active is mainly for the taxi market, I suspect.

As for Bangalore or Bombay OTR prices - blame that on our rapacious state governments and not on the manufacturers. Cheers.

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Originally Posted by Tats07 (Post 3260268)

If you break up that 18 Lakhs OTR Bangalore price, you'd be surprised to to find that less than 10 Lakhs is actually going into the manufacturer's pocket.

Its an extremely tough period for manufacturers at the moment. Market is down, costs are up and competition is intense. Crazy tax rates esp in states like Karnataka pushes up the final price beyond the reach of a lot of people thereby shrinking the potential market further.

I think the boundaries are shifting. At one point of time, a 'hatchback' would be priced within 5 lakhs - today you can pay 10 big ones for a hatch.

The "C" segment sub-compact sedans used to be priced within about 7.5 lakhs max - they now extend to about 11-12 lakhs the last time I checked.

"D" used to mean cars in the 11-15 lakh territory - the competent Vectra bombed because it was priced at about 18. But that is now 18-22-ish.

Doesnt make sense anymore - they are ALL overpriced.

But wait - 10 years back people weren't earning this kind of money either, were they?

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Originally Posted by Steeroid (Post 3260390)

True !! What is overpriced now would be a great deal in a couple of years. Bottomline- if you like it and can afford it just go for it! No point arguing if its worth it.

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Originally Posted by Steeroid (Post 3260390)

Shouldn't we account for inflation? Compounded annually ~8%, a figure of 5 Lacs ~ 7.4 Lacs in just five years. Your point still holds, though the values need some adjusting.

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Originally Posted by kdeepakk (Post 3260614)

Is it worth buying an Skoda Octavia on a Lease? Will be paying somewhere around 70000 per month & service charges. The remaining is managed by them. After 3years the Re sale value will be around 50-60% approx for buyback? That will be around 12 lacs to buy it from the guys. Seeing the very high rates of the Skoda, not able to digest, but i was waiting for this from the long time. I want to buy the Skoda.

If you like the car and can afford the lease, why not? The residual value of 50% seems high, though. Residual value is usually about 20% of the price of the vehicle. Which company is this lease from ?