EXSCOOBY

another vote for the 2 litre golf
i love mine, it hasnt been run in yet, but once run in jabbasport will get my moola and ill have a quick car

Flat 4x4

Two helpful answers (I hope) !

1) Marlborough in West London are joint Subaru - Skoda dealers.
I got a good price to swap on my Impreza for a 4x4 Turbo Octavia in 2002

2) The fuel consumption is MUCH better on the 1.8T VAG engine in any
state of tune. I averaged 24mpg in my Impreza and 29.5mpg in the Octy
(Regularly 35mpg on the motorway)

p.s. The vRS and 4x4 use the same engine - but in different ECU states of 'tune'. The MPG figure for my 4x4 was with 220bhp. Bear in mind that the vRS is longer geared and only FWD, so the MPG is even better.

Buy one.

Flat 4x4

... Just depends what you mean by tune - there are at least 4 other 4x4 drivers I know of with 210-235bhp and one with significantly more.

I didn't want to go more than 220bhp as my previous Impreza imploded with very modest tuning. You're right though - all gearboxes have their limits - including the vRS, and the 6 speed TT box is normally used for taking the 4x4 much further.

I've nothing but praise for Jabbasport's remap/rechip skills - they have a 4x4 as a demo car. I say that in comparison with Ecutek, AMD and Oettinger (RSD) who I've used for previous cars.

Aaquil

If you want to tune you would need the Octavia 4X4 to get the power down wouldn't you? Especially if you want to push the 250BHP limit etc.?

Flat 4x4

You're right - use the guide prices for your car as nothing more than a guide to a 'ballpark value' so at least you have an idea if its worth looking at a particular car. As you say the car being sold has flexibility as does your car.

I normally look at the franchised dealers prices (eg on Skoda.co.uk) to get an idead of the range of similar spec/age/mileage cars I'm after. Then go to the dealer with an idea in your mind of what they'll probably let it go for.
eg, If its £9995 work on the basis that you could get it for £8995. Let them offer what they want for yours (which will be low to average) then tell them you're not really bothered about your trade in value, but only how much you have to spend on top of it. I'd start with saying you can manage about £3000 on top of your car. When they stop laughing/crying then say it really looks like the car you want and if you can do a deal now, you'll put a credit card) deposit down. That normally works - so you won't get the '£3000 deal' but you'll end up with a decent price to swap.

A lot depends on how long they've had their car, and how bad the trade is on used Subarus (>3 or 4 years old). At the end of the day, there's always another dealer.

ps. I sold my 4x4 Octavia (great car) and know which dealer has it... and how much you'd probably get it for...

Flat 4x4

Yes and Yes. PM me for a clue

Flat 4x4

ok

bucski

many thanks for all your suggestions. I'm sure the skoda is a great car but I couldn't bring myself to buy one, no disrespect.
The seat leon or a golf tdi are top of the list.
Its gonna really wind me up when the scoob has to go!

Flat 4x4

bucski

No offence but you are stark raving bonkers

Mind you when I got my first Legacy Turbo in 1993 everyone took the P*ss. Well worth it in the end as the Impreza Turbo came out early the next year

(6 4x4 Subarus, 3 4x4 Audis and 1 4x4 Skoda later)

Flat

logiclee

Just remember everytime you look at VW badge it will have cost you about £2000 more than the same car with a Skoda badge on it. It will also cost you more to run, more to service and be less reliable than the same car with the Skoda badge on it.

I quite like the Skoda image at the moment, it's not too far off from Subaru's image when the Impreza first came out.
When I first talked about Subaru's everyone thought I was mad, they were thought of as rusty farmers cars. Only those really into rallying who saw what Colin and prodrive were doing in the Legacy in the British Rally Championship and WRC could see the potential of the raod car.
All that happened since is well known obviously. Skoda now have the products, they are doing very well in all the surveys and VAG have recently funded a full WRC program for the Fabia. Maybe the street cred issue isn't too far off either.

Cheers
Lee

Petem95

Skoda probably have the fastest improving image of any car manufacturer at the moment - and this can only be a good thing for future re-sale values.

The Fabia vRS is a great little car - 130bhp can easily be upped to about 180ish, and even with the standard output I think it was Autocar managed 0-60 in a very respectable 7.2 seconds.

My mum has a 1.4 Fabia and the build really is excellent, and it has things like metal interior door handles, whereas the new Polo and even Golf have plastic (at least on the lower models).

Servicing isnt really that cheap however, small service (every 10k) is 169 and the one at every 20k is approx 250.....

Flat 4x4

Bob

You're not being realistic expecting a 180bhp Octavia to perform like an Impreza in standard form - that's clear from the figures. With 220bhp+ you're getting closer - which is what most ex Scooby owners do when they've bought one

Mind you, I had a similar feeling as you when I went to swap my A4 Quattro V6 TDi(chipped) for a UK WRX - it felt marginally faster and nothing more. Didn't bother in the end.

Flat

Petem95

Trade-in values for scoobs seem to have died in the last year or so? Must be oversupply from all these import places, along with massive petrol prices putting people off them?

logiclee

I would tell her to have a ring round Pete.

Our local dealer charges £89 for the yearly and £140 for the two year service on the Fabia and that's with synthetic oil.
For the Octavia it's £160 but that's for a car on variable servicing with one service every two years or 20000miles for petrol, 30000miles for diesel.

It's best to find original small Skoda dealers rather than the new large multi brand, big name, type of dealer.

Cheers
Lee

Flat 4x4

Glad to hear you might have found a half sensible dealer - PM me how you get on - interested to know if its the one I used.

My girlfriend was <almost> upset when the 220bhp 4x4 went. She found it so easy to drive (clutch, gearbox,driving position, visibility etc) and the worst mpg I ever had from a tank was when she used it on a business trip. Not that she admitted to racing anyone.

She hated the Impreza because it was "noisy, jerky, thirsty and uncomfortable and everyone wanted to race you" (end quote!). For her, the peformance just did not compensate.

If you manage to track mine down, Jabbasport me did a nice remap for £425 If I'd kept it and run it into the ground, I would have lowered it and fitted some bigger front discs and pads, but left the engine alone, as it was so driveable

Flat 4x4

They only do the 4x4 with a turbo. Dealers ads are sometimes wrong. I found mine by mistake because it was on the web as a '2.0 Ambiente' !

From what you've said,

If you want sporty looks / trim / handling buy the vRS and then have it remapped.
If you're not bothered about unexciting looks and can accept a more comfort-based drive, but with potential, buy a 4x4.

Flat 4x4

A bad day indeed = don't give up! At least you'll have an idea by now of the true value of your Impreza so you can deal with that in mind.

It will probably mean that some old dears will be towing a caravan with my old one. Like to see their faces when their foot slips off the brake and onto the accelerator
"a bit nippy these Skodas, aren't they Albert?"