A big, quick and very green Skoda!
Discussion
So, after so long being a member I have finally decided to try and embrace technology and start a thread of my own!
Like many of us, I have always had a massive obsession with cars and over the year's have owned literally hundreds (this is no exaggeration).
Not all have been "worthy", but there have been some notable highlights including a Sapphire Cosworth 4x4, G53 Mini Cooper S, numerous BMW's including an E46 M3 Manual Cabriolet, E34 525i Sport and an X5, numerous Mercedes including E55 AMG (Supercharged) and a C43, Monaro VXR, Ariel Atom, Lotus Elise, MK1 Focus RS, Focus ST3 (5 Cylinder), Volvo T5's, two Leon Cupra R's....MK1 and MK2, loads of SUV's, three Impreza's.....2 Classic Turbo's and a Blobeye STI.........and on it goes!!
So, last year our main car was ripe for replacement.
We'd had a few via Motability due to our kids both being disabled, but with advance payments increasing, the sort of cars we need not being listed anymore and due to my own rapid onset of severe and debilitating arthritis at the ripe old age of 42 meaning I need automatics, we decided to buy one.
This culminated in a 2013 Touareg R-Line which was brilliant, quick, economical, comfortable and huge. After 6 months and nearly 10k an identical 2015 model came up fairly locally with just 20k on it, so a deal was done!
Before collection it goes to VW for a recall, nothing triggers, family day out to pick it up, and a couple of miles in, it seems a bit sluggish compared to our previous one, but I'm not pushing it.
IKEA Exeter done ??, back to Taunton for a pub lunch, and home. In total 60 miles, and over quarter of a tank of diesel used ??.
Over the next few days I notice economy never betters 23mpg on the computer when the last one would easily hit 32mpg?
Then limp mode......and the penny drops!!
So, the "recall" was obviously the VW Emissions Update. By the time the first month of ownership is up, I've lost count of how many times it's gone into limp mode, so enough is enough.....new car search.
The criteria has been manipulated as although I we think a large SUV is the most suitable vehicle, I'd be adding at least £10k to the Touareg to get anything different to it, plus now diesel hate has increased and I don't want the bottom to fall out of our cash, I start thinking petrol.
The criteria - Big, Petrol, Decently Nippy, Auto, 4wd, Reasonable Economy.
The results - Limited.
So, go to view a G30 BMW 540i X- Drive M-Sport. Sit in it, less than impressed by the quality bearing in mind a year earlier it was approaching a £60k car. Plus still about £13k and our Touareg.
Mercedes C or E43? Tempting, but about £15k and our Touareg.
Then an oddball thought from a distant recollection.
Skoda Superb 280Tsi.
Quick Autotrader search, and a few around. Not much price difference between them and the Touareg so I won't have to add much more cash, 0-60 low 5 seconds, mid 30's mpg possible, and still under manufacturers warranty for two and a half years. Even the hatch has a 605 litre boot, so although a fast estate is tempting, the boot is only 650 litres, so not a fast difference.
Black is ruled out because I hate it, grey is ok, white is so so, there's a red one but it's a metallic and look's maroon, but there are a couple in Dragon Green.
In the 2 years or so it's been an option (£1000), I've never seen one, and in some pictures it looks great and in others, not so much.
Anyway, one's in Reading and the other Southampton, so not too bad from Somerset, so I decide to view both, and even though they are identical spec's apart from one having heated seats, that's £4k more, so I'm hopeful a deal can be done!!
Reading first, and as soon as I see the colour, I'm sold, It's stunning, but then I do have history with more polarising colours.
Sadly, Marshall Skoda Reading management are utter a***holes to deal with, so off I go to Southampton.
The salesman is great, the car great, the price difference ridiculous. I show them the Reading one, they see the spec etc, but they won't even attempt to close the gap, and even though I offer £2k more than the Reading one just so I didn't have to go back and deal with them, no deal in Southampton, just the friendly advice to swallow my pride as "they don't know how they can discount it to that extent".
I obviously took their advice, and am so glad I did , as the car has been great since November. The added bonus being that I have kept an eye on them since with regards values, and when I checked a couple of weeks ago, the cheapest like for like was circa 2 grand more than I paid which may help counter a bit of depreciation for us for a few months.
Sorry about the length and history included in my first thread, and hopefully there's some appreciation for my green Skoda ??.
And as can be seen, there have been a few mods already...............with some other bits planned.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/mwtRTZFQ.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/s2EaoOKx" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/s2EaoOKx.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/W8axVhQy" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/W8axVhQy.jpg)
Like many of us, I have always had a massive obsession with cars and over the year's have owned literally hundreds (this is no exaggeration).
Not all have been "worthy", but there have been some notable highlights including a Sapphire Cosworth 4x4, G53 Mini Cooper S, numerous BMW's including an E46 M3 Manual Cabriolet, E34 525i Sport and an X5, numerous Mercedes including E55 AMG (Supercharged) and a C43, Monaro VXR, Ariel Atom, Lotus Elise, MK1 Focus RS, Focus ST3 (5 Cylinder), Volvo T5's, two Leon Cupra R's....MK1 and MK2, loads of SUV's, three Impreza's.....2 Classic Turbo's and a Blobeye STI.........and on it goes!!
So, last year our main car was ripe for replacement.
We'd had a few via Motability due to our kids both being disabled, but with advance payments increasing, the sort of cars we need not being listed anymore and due to my own rapid onset of severe and debilitating arthritis at the ripe old age of 42 meaning I need automatics, we decided to buy one.
This culminated in a 2013 Touareg R-Line which was brilliant, quick, economical, comfortable and huge. After 6 months and nearly 10k an identical 2015 model came up fairly locally with just 20k on it, so a deal was done!
Before collection it goes to VW for a recall, nothing triggers, family day out to pick it up, and a couple of miles in, it seems a bit sluggish compared to our previous one, but I'm not pushing it.
IKEA Exeter done ??, back to Taunton for a pub lunch, and home. In total 60 miles, and over quarter of a tank of diesel used ??.
Over the next few days I notice economy never betters 23mpg on the computer when the last one would easily hit 32mpg?
Then limp mode......and the penny drops!!
So, the "recall" was obviously the VW Emissions Update. By the time the first month of ownership is up, I've lost count of how many times it's gone into limp mode, so enough is enough.....new car search.
The criteria has been manipulated as although I we think a large SUV is the most suitable vehicle, I'd be adding at least £10k to the Touareg to get anything different to it, plus now diesel hate has increased and I don't want the bottom to fall out of our cash, I start thinking petrol.
The criteria - Big, Petrol, Decently Nippy, Auto, 4wd, Reasonable Economy.
The results - Limited.
So, go to view a G30 BMW 540i X- Drive M-Sport. Sit in it, less than impressed by the quality bearing in mind a year earlier it was approaching a £60k car. Plus still about £13k and our Touareg.
Mercedes C or E43? Tempting, but about £15k and our Touareg.
Then an oddball thought from a distant recollection.
Skoda Superb 280Tsi.
Quick Autotrader search, and a few around. Not much price difference between them and the Touareg so I won't have to add much more cash, 0-60 low 5 seconds, mid 30's mpg possible, and still under manufacturers warranty for two and a half years. Even the hatch has a 605 litre boot, so although a fast estate is tempting, the boot is only 650 litres, so not a fast difference.
Black is ruled out because I hate it, grey is ok, white is so so, there's a red one but it's a metallic and look's maroon, but there are a couple in Dragon Green.
In the 2 years or so it's been an option (£1000), I've never seen one, and in some pictures it looks great and in others, not so much.
Anyway, one's in Reading and the other Southampton, so not too bad from Somerset, so I decide to view both, and even though they are identical spec's apart from one having heated seats, that's £4k more, so I'm hopeful a deal can be done!!
Reading first, and as soon as I see the colour, I'm sold, It's stunning, but then I do have history with more polarising colours.
Sadly, Marshall Skoda Reading management are utter a***holes to deal with, so off I go to Southampton.
The salesman is great, the car great, the price difference ridiculous. I show them the Reading one, they see the spec etc, but they won't even attempt to close the gap, and even though I offer £2k more than the Reading one just so I didn't have to go back and deal with them, no deal in Southampton, just the friendly advice to swallow my pride as "they don't know how they can discount it to that extent".
I obviously took their advice, and am so glad I did , as the car has been great since November. The added bonus being that I have kept an eye on them since with regards values, and when I checked a couple of weeks ago, the cheapest like for like was circa 2 grand more than I paid which may help counter a bit of depreciation for us for a few months.
Sorry about the length and history included in my first thread, and hopefully there's some appreciation for my green Skoda ??.
And as can be seen, there have been a few mods already...............with some other bits planned.
Edited by 1Toomanycars on Monday 25th February 15:53
Edited by 1Toomanycars on Monday 25th February 16:06
Nice. We've a 272 Sportline Hatch on the way and really looking forward to it.
I mulled getting the estate (wife's car - she wanted a hatch) and after she test drove a hatch I had a good poke about the boot space, comparing to the estate. Decided it didn't seem worth the estate in the end as the hatch is still MASSIVE.
I mulled getting the estate (wife's car - she wanted a hatch) and after she test drove a hatch I had a good poke about the boot space, comparing to the estate. Decided it didn't seem worth the estate in the end as the hatch is still MASSIVE.
Swervin_Mervin said:
Nice. We've a 272 Sportline Hatch on the way and really looking forward to it.
I mulled getting the estate (wife's car - she wanted a hatch) and after she test drove a hatch I had a good poke about the boot space, comparing to the estate. Decided it didn't seem worth the estate in the end as the hatch is still MASSIVE.
That was our reasoning too. It's one of those things that we rarely need the boot space until we do, but as it has virtually as much as the Touareg, and there was only one Dragon Green estate for sale when we bought it and for £8k more, the hatch was enough.I mulled getting the estate (wife's car - she wanted a hatch) and after she test drove a hatch I had a good poke about the boot space, comparing to the estate. Decided it didn't seem worth the estate in the end as the hatch is still MASSIVE.
Did you go Sportline or Sportline Plus?
Steve Evil said:
Think these are great cars and I'll be keeping my eye out for some lease deals when my Leon Cupra is up for renewal. Looks like you've got Vaseline on the lens for your pic though!
The wife refuses to let me near her with the Vaseline so I thought I'd use it up before it went off.1Toomanycars said:
Swervin_Mervin said:
Nice. We've a 272 Sportline Hatch on the way and really looking forward to it.
I mulled getting the estate (wife's car - she wanted a hatch) and after she test drove a hatch I had a good poke about the boot space, comparing to the estate. Decided it didn't seem worth the estate in the end as the hatch is still MASSIVE.
That was our reasoning too. It's one of those things that we rarely need the boot space until we do, but as it has virtually as much as the Touareg, and there was only one Dragon Green estate for sale when we bought it and for £8k more, the hatch was enough.I mulled getting the estate (wife's car - she wanted a hatch) and after she test drove a hatch I had a good poke about the boot space, comparing to the estate. Decided it didn't seem worth the estate in the end as the hatch is still MASSIVE.
Did you go Sportline or Sportline Plus?
Swervin_Mervin said:
Sportline Plus in Business Grey with the Supernova alloys. And as many options as possible without tripping over the stupid £40k threshold for nonsensical VED rates!
I think the Plus is basically what the Sportline was isn't it and the new Sportline has smaller Nav etc now?You're right about the ridiculous tax thing though.
Ours was listed at circa £39.5k with options, and was 6 months old when we picked it up at a massive saving due to being made obsolete with the split of Sportline trim levels. Happy days!
Edited by 1Toomanycars on Monday 25th February 15:34
No idea - I lost track as there seemed to be about 10 spec levels!
Is yours the 6 or 7spd DSG? And how do you find it. Only ever had conventional autos, but this will be replacing our ZF8 equipped 125i, so I'm intrigued to see what it's like. The wife would've had a manual if it was an option.
Based on internet reading, anything from it'll be awful compared to the ZF8 or it'll be a total revelation. I'm sure it'll be somewhere inbetween.
Is yours the 6 or 7spd DSG? And how do you find it. Only ever had conventional autos, but this will be replacing our ZF8 equipped 125i, so I'm intrigued to see what it's like. The wife would've had a manual if it was an option.
Based on internet reading, anything from it'll be awful compared to the ZF8 or it'll be a total revelation. I'm sure it'll be somewhere inbetween.
Swervin_Mervin said:
No idea - I lost track as there seemed to be about 10 spec levels!
Is yours the 6 or 7spd DSG? And how do you find it. Only ever had conventional autos, but this will be replacing our ZF8 equipped 125i, so I'm intrigued to see what it's like. The wife would've had a manual if it was an option.
Based on internet reading, anything from it'll be awful compared to the ZF8 or it'll be a total revelation. I'm sure it'll be somewhere inbetween.
Haha.Is yours the 6 or 7spd DSG? And how do you find it. Only ever had conventional autos, but this will be replacing our ZF8 equipped 125i, so I'm intrigued to see what it's like. The wife would've had a manual if it was an option.
Based on internet reading, anything from it'll be awful compared to the ZF8 or it'll be a total revelation. I'm sure it'll be somewhere inbetween.
Ours is the 6 speed and full fat, pre WLTP regulations 280ps.
I find it a great combination tbh, and it works better together than the Octavia Vrs 190 Diesel we had last year with the same box.
They can be caught in the wrong gear, like when trying to pull out of a junction, but I just knock the lever back into sport and it's fine.
I think the only reason they fitted the 7 speed was down to emissions, and not to improve the car for customers, otherwise,like all manufacturers, they would've had virtually no cars they could sell with WLTP.
With it being our money we were spending though, I took the 40%+ saving on new and sacrificed the extra gear.
After our experience with the diesel update on our Touareg though, I would personally be very wary of the way Skoda and all other manufacturers have gone about getting their engines to meet these new regulations as it seems to have been very rushed?
micloi said:
Just don't read my thread if you don't want to start spending, a lot, of money modifying it 
Ha, that wouldn't be a particular 500+bhp one would it?To be honest, and despite the bits I've already done (Eibachs, wheels and some Maxton bits), I don't intend modifying the engine.
Firstly it's plenty quick enough, and being a 2018 car, still under warranty. Sadly things like remaps can be seen immediately if a warranty claim is made nowadays.
If you're is the car i think, do you still have it as it was up for sale wasn't it......I watched the LLF video!?!?
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