Skoda Octavia reliability and servicing cost issue

I have been following the discussions on this forum regarding Skoda (VW) reliability and running costs and thought I would share my experience. I work for major national company with branches throughout NZ.In 2010 the firm made the decision to replace the entire petrol car fleetwith modern common rail diesels mostly Skoda Octavias (mainly DSG lifbacks, and some 6spd wagons both 2 and 4wd).When new the Skodas were a solid nice handling car with lots of features.However now that they are all up around 100,000km the four in my branch all have lots of body squeaks and rattles and have proven expensive to service.These are all cars which do no town commuting and most journeys are 100km or more non stop with some of that on gravel roads.Fuel economy is very good.The Skoda I mostly drive (98,000km) has just had a front wheel bearing replaced ($500 at the dealers). One of the DSG cars has started to shudder when reversing uphill and is jerky when cold. Speaking with the fleet manager today the Skodas have proven to be not cost effective because of the reliability and agent servicing costs.The most recent fleet purchases are diesel Hyundais.Based on my experience, I would not own a diesel Skoda (basically they are a VW Golf with different body).

Well yea thats good information based on experience, This is what alot of people miss out on. If you can afford the extra cost then these sorts of cars are nice, most of us would just like to spend the minimum and have a reliable car that lasts along time, which is why you do the research and hope for the best. Thanks.

This is interesting, the complete opposite of what other companies have found. I would really like to see the figures that back up the Hyundai diesels being more cost effective, I have never been able to get the numbers to even look remotely good with Hyundai's. Although to be fair I have mostly crunched the numbers on their vans.

If they change to Hyundai's please come back after another 100'000km and post a similar update. Its worth pointing out that the fleet manager is comparing a car you have experience with, with one you have no experience with. I wonder if they have any idea what Hyundai NZ are actually like to deal with, and how they would feel if they were told one of their vehicles needed a $20'000 repair with 70'000km on the clock. I have seen two incidences of that happening now. it makes $500 for a wheel bearing seem trivial.

Also, having seen how Skoda's and Hyundai's are put together, if the Skoda's are rattly at 100'000km I dread to think what state the Hyundai's are going to be in. I would suggest you encourage your fleet manager to have a good look at both cars, pull some trim away and look at how things are held together first hand.

I agree regarding the agent service costs, some are just absurd and I won't go near my local agent. However these are easily negated by using a third party VW specialist, which is something your company should look into. High cost servicing is not something you need to live with and is definitely not the fault of the car, considering VW parts are some of the most inexpensive on the market (due to volume and the way they are distributed). I think VW need to sort out their dealers though, as do some other manufacturers.

Thanks for posting this though, good or bad its great to hear first hand experience.

BTW, can you keep us posted with the shuddery DSG unit!

This will be a good test of your local agent if your company decides to do something about it.

Usually its one of the following things:

* Worn clutch (like any manual car it can happen and more quickly if abused) if it isand its done similar milage to yours I would blame the driver and not the car.

* Loose engine/transmission mounts, if this has happened I would almost guarantee its a cambelt driven engine (like the 2.0 petrol) and the dealer has not replaced the stretch bolts in the mounts with new like they are supposed to when they have done the service. That or the mounts have been undone and not replaced for some other reason.

* Transmission just needs a re-set, this is the most likely cause and just gives the transmission a chance to re-learn the takeup points of the clutch etc. Its cheap and easy to do which is good.

* If you are unlucky it could be the mechatronics. The good thing with this is because of the excellent design of the transmission it dosn't have to be overly expensive. Parts can be had from about $800 and replacement is quick and easy so if the quote is high alarm bells should sound.

I would be interested to hear what it was.

Apparently some of the other branches received some Hyundai i30s when most branches like ours got Skodas.As far as the bean counters are concerned the Hyundais have proved to be the better car.I haven't personally driven one so can't compare the driving experience or build quality.

O.K well that makes it a much more fair comparison. Pity we don't have the figures though, I would love to know more specifically how its not adding up. The dealers much be charging some pretty crazy money to tip the balance significantly is about all I can think of. Although, in fairness the i30 is a lot better on diesel when you run comparisons than the Hyundai vans so fuel consumption could be near enough the same leaving just servicing to tip the balance.

EDIT, thought a bit more about this. I wonder if they havn't set the service intervals to variable. If that's not turned on the service intervals may be as frequent as the Hyundai's. That would make a huge difference to the costs. On variable service intervals can go right up to 50'000km if driven lightly, don't expect that with a reps vehicle though, but my money says they will at least double if currently on 15'000km fixed.