Quick-ish VAG Estates, what am I missing?

[alangla]

I’ve currently got a 2018 Octavia VRS 245 Estate, it’s served us well over the last 5 years but with the kids getting bigger it’s loaded up to the roof every time we go on holiday and it’s had a couple of electrical gremlins recently, nothing major, a failed parking sensor and two instances of things failing because of corrosion in a connector. All that coupled with generally being a bit bored with it and I’m looking for something bigger and quicker.

My first thought was a Superb 4x4, either the Laurin & Klement or the SportLine, but these are like hens teeth, so I cast the net a bit wider and started looking at A4 Avants with the 45 engine. Obviously a bit more expensive for a similar age/mileage, but more available.
What’s surprised me though is that my budget (screen price of up to £30k, target age post 2021, mileage under 40k), seems to fit more with the A6 Avant, both the 45 and the 50 plug in hybrid. The A6s seem better specced, though obviously slightly slower due to being bigger. What am I missing here? Why is it cheaper and easier to get more Audi?
What would you do in my situation? The A6 seems enormous, the wife is happy enough driving a Superb or an A4, but I think the A6 might be a step too far. She had a Jazz before driving the Octavia. On a complete side note, are the microfibre seats on the A4 any good? I’d prefer full leather or leather/alcantara, but a perfect A4 has come up with microfibre.
As much as I’d love an S4/RS4, it looks to be out of budget for the age/mileage I’m aiming for.

TLDR: why are quick A6s cheaper than A4s?

[SteBrown91]

An A4/A6 isnt going to give you the boot space of an Octavia. The A4 boot is tiny, and the A6 looks massive until you realise the floor is high and the roofline comparitivly low.

I'd be holding fire for a Superb (preferably without the variable floor as it makes a big difference to the usable boot size) or a Kodiaq VRS. They are similar footprint to the Superb but are obviously taller. They are 7 seats but the boot is still massive with the seats folded down.

[Quattr04.]

Passat BiTDI is 240bhp

Arteon R is 300bhp

Both a bit cheaper than the Audi equivalent and better equipment levels

I think there’s just more 45/50 a6s around as the 40 is the base model where as you could get a 35 A4 so the 45 was quite high up the range

[66HFM]

I always thought that the A4 / Octavia were a similar size and the A6/Superb were of a similar size.
Volvo V90 or 5 Series as a couple of options.
Passat?

[alangla]

66HFM said:

I always thought that the A4 / Octavia were a similar size and the A6/Superb were of a similar size.
Volvo V90 or 5 Series as a couple of options.
Passat?

Octavia is based on the A3/Golf as far as I know, the Superb is A4/Passat based. I d had a look at Passats and discounted them as I couldn t get close to getting anything in budget with the power I wanted. I d had a brief look at the 5 series but hadn t seriously considered it, I ll dig a bit more into that, the Arteon and the V90 though, I hadn t considered the Arteon at all. Interesting hearing the views on the boot on the Audi, the Superb is colossal so that s what I m aiming for ideally.


EDIT: looked it up, the Octavia, Superb, A3, Golf, Arteon and Passat are all MQB based, the A4 is MLB apparently.

Edited by alangla on Wednesday 20th May 10:42

[SteBrown91]

alangla said:

Octavia is based on the A3/Golf as far as I know, the Superb is A4/Passat based. I d had a look at Passats and discounted them as I couldn t get close to getting anything in budget with the power I wanted. I d had a brief look at the 5 series but hadn t seriously considered it, I ll dig a bit more into that, the Arteon and the V90 though, I hadn t considered the Arteon at all. Interesting hearing the views on the boot on the Audi, the Superb is colossal so that s what I m aiming for ideally.


EDIT: looked it up, the Octavia, Superb, A3, Golf, Arteon and Passat are all MQB based, the A4 is MLB apparently.

Edited by alangla on Wednesday 20th May 10:42

Arteon is a good shout - its on the Superb wheelbase so has a big boot floor and lots of rear legroom, but it just has a low roof. The on caper capacity of the Arteon boot is decent its just a high load lip and low roof which will impact the ease of loading etc.

Yes anything with a transverse engine is the MQB platform and longitudinal engine layout is the MLB platform.

[Swervin_Mervin]

SteBrown91 said:

alangla said:

Octavia is based on the A3/Golf as far as I know, the Superb is A4/Passat based. I d had a look at Passats and discounted them as I couldn t get close to getting anything in budget with the power I wanted. I d had a brief look at the 5 series but hadn t seriously considered it, I ll dig a bit more into that, the Arteon and the V90 though, I hadn t considered the Arteon at all. Interesting hearing the views on the boot on the Audi, the Superb is colossal so that s what I m aiming for ideally.


EDIT: looked it up, the Octavia, Superb, A3, Golf, Arteon and Passat are all MQB based, the A4 is MLB apparently.

Edited by alangla on Wednesday 20th May 10:42

Arteon is a good shout - its on the Superb wheelbase so has a big boot floor and lots of rear legroom, but it just has a low roof. The on caper capacity of the Arteon boot is decent its just a high load lip and low roof which will impact the ease of loading etc.

Yes anything with a transverse engine is the MQB platform and longitudinal engine layout is the MLB platform.

I don't know what the roofline is like on the Arteon estate, but getting into the rear of the hatch isn't easy without banging one's head, unless you're short, because it slopes away so much. Otherwise, as you say, it and the Superb are the only two in the stable with the same wheelbase. We didn't find the build quality of the interior any better than the Skoda - in fact some bits were worse.

[Quattr04.]

Swervin_Mervin said:

I don't know what the roofline is like on the Arteon estate, but getting into the rear of the hatch isn't easy without banging one's head, unless you're short, because it slopes away so much. Otherwise, as you say, it and the Superb are the only two in the stable with the same wheelbase. We didn't find the build quality of the interior any better than the Skoda - in fact some bits were worse.

At work, we have quite a few suburbs and Passats, you can 100% see the differences in the plastics on the dash, the weight of the doors, no flocking in the door bins in the superb compared to the Passat, it’s all subtle stuff but certainly does exist. Superb seats are good but Passats are better

[Swervin_Mervin]

Quattr04. said:

Swervin_Mervin said:

I don't know what the roofline is like on the Arteon estate, but getting into the rear of the hatch isn't easy without banging one's head, unless you're short, because it slopes away so much. Otherwise, as you say, it and the Superb are the only two in the stable with the same wheelbase. We didn't find the build quality of the interior any better than the Skoda - in fact some bits were worse.

At work, we have quite a few suburbs and Passats, you can 100% see the differences in the plastics on the dash, the weight of the doors, no flocking in the door bins in the superb compared to the Passat, it s all subtle stuff but certainly does exist. Superb seats are good but Passats are better

Lots of ill-fitting trim in the Arteon we sat in at the dealership. Cubby wouldn't close or open properly. Vents details didn't align with the matching ones in the dash. Just lots of little things like that. No point using better materials if you don't put it all together nicely.

[Mmckillop]

https://www.dscarsni.com/cars/2021-volkswagen-arte...

[alangla]

There’s a few lower powered Arteon estates for sale around here. Think I’ll go and have a look at one in real life before I take this further. Definitely a contender though. The Arteon R, while a bit over budget, is stunning…