Kia Protest

[gtd2000]

Do you get the new Optima over there yet? I had a poke round one the other day while I was waiting for the car wash people to finish my car, and I tell you what, they're absolutely cracking. The fit and finish was spot on, and the bloke who had it was saying it drove better than the A6 he had previously.

 

Yeah I had a look at one back in June this year - the only thing that I noticed was that the interior was much more cramped than I expected.

 

I had a long term rental Hyundai Sonata back in 2007 over here and was expecting a similar feeling of space.

 

It is a cracking looking car - especially when you consider that it is a KIA

[gtd2000]

A6s aren't all that brilliant, but if the Optima is anything like the Ce'ed or any of the other Kias I've ever tried then there's absolutely bugger all chance of the Kia being even slightly nice to drive. It'll be rough as anything and while it produces 200 bhp it'll be the kind of bhp that you only use once because the thing feels rougher than a Pontiac Fiero full of marbles and it handles like an incontinent puppy on a string in a lamp post factory.

 

I can't comment on many KIA cars but I have to say that my mothers KIA Picanto 1.1LX Auto, surpassed all expectations and it's actually a very nice little car to drive.

 

Several friends have also had a drive and all comment that it feels like a much more expensive car. I'm not suggesting that the Picanto is the greatest car in the world, it isn't but it's certainly a nice little run around.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The Cee'd certainly is a very good car, too. In 2009, I drove one back to back with a Golf (both of them nearly new) and the Kia was nippier, more comfortable and felt better-made.

[gtd2000]

The Cee'd certainly is a very good car, too. In 2009, I drove one back to back with a Golf (both of them nearly new) and the Kia was nippier, more comfortable and felt better-made.

 

And to kick the VW in the balls, it's probably more reliable too!

 

The VW will still win on residuals of course...

 

What I don't understand is....why is a VW based car (A Skoda) manufactured in CZ more reliable than a "real" VW manufactured in D from the same bits?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Two reasons for that:

 

i) the Skoda probably is a bit more likely to have a petrol engine as opposed to DPF, DMF and WHY

 

ii) Perception. People expect a VW to really be reliable, therefore they will be slightly miffed if they have 3 minor niggles that need to be sorted under warranty. With a Skoda, the same 3 niggles will not cause as much annoyance (as long as they get fixed, that is!). Surveys like JD Powers measure customer satisfaction, not engineering impeccability (or the lack thereof).

[dollywobbler]

A Skoda owning friend suggested another reason. Any 'new' stuff in the VAG range always pops up on VWs and Audis first. Stuff like diesels allied to auto boxes. Then it eventually filters down to the lesser marques, by which time any bugs have been ironed out.

 

I don't believe that it's just down to perception. People don't expect a Skoda to have issues these days and they'll be just as miffed as someone with any other new car if problems strike. I don't believe that more Skodas are petrol either. If you've gone for the value brand, you'll want value fuel too.

[Felly Magic]

Skoda sell more diesel than petrol, you should see the waiting list for oil burning Skodas now, its insane. Nigh on a year now! There are issues with the DPF, especially on the CR170 engine. Superbs have issues with water ingress into the cabin, and door seal issues plague Octavias & Fabias.

 

Back onto the idiot with the Magentis. He bought it second hand to start with, so won't have paid a great deal for it, and he expects to get back no doubt what he has seen them on the forecourt for

[Cavcraft]

Skoda sell more diesel than petrol, you should see the waiting list for oil burning Skodas now, its insane. Nigh on a year now! There are issues with the DPF, especially on the CR170 engine. Superbs have issues with water ingress into the cabin, and door seal issues plague Octavias & Fabias.

 

Back onto the idiot with the Magentis. He bought it second hand to start with, so won't have paid a great deal for it, and he expects to get back no doubt what he has seen them on the forecourt for

 

Nice to see VAG learnt their lesson from B5/B5.5 Passats then?

[Pete-M]

My work runs Skodas pretty much exclusively now as we really don't have any problems with them, and ours get abused. They get maintained properly, but they get hammered for 20k miles in four or five months more often than not.

 

Early current shape Superbs had problems with the water pumps leaking but on the ones we've had that has been it. Nothing else has gone wrong with 'em. Last winter a chap managed to break a wiper mechanism but he was trying to shift six inches of frozen snow and ice with the wipers alone. That's enough to break the wipers on anything.

 

The old Pisshat shape Superbs have trim issues with glovebox handles snapping and the little cubby hole by the armrest is almost always broken. Clutches and DMFs only seem to last 70k being abused by random drivers.

 

Octavias knock gear linkage bushes and drop links out at 50-60k if they're abused, and the DMFs seem to last 70-80k when driven exclusively in town.

 

Our local Skoda dealer is about the best I've ever dealt with. The local VW dealer is pretty shit. The local SEAT dealer is a disaster. Take something to Skoda and it gets fixed with no arguments / warranty issues or repeat visits, VW don't fix anything first time and argue about warranty costs on stuff they have to replace, SEAT replace things without asking when they've been told to phone before doing so and then charge extortionate amounts for parts claiming that almost everything is not under warranty. They've also got a spectacularly grumpy service manager. We no longer buy SEAT or VW stuff because their service departments are shit - not as shit as the local Vauxhall dealer, but on a scale of 1-10 for satisfaction they're -2438950923489050928340580928349059048329059028304858230509243088390590238050928039459823094590483290580328.