I can see massive alterations in all the infotainment systems. Too many distractions too much to alter and touch and when you’re not looking ahead of you as you should be how long will it take before serious accidents if not already have occurred because of them. I know they have the voice control and soon to come chat gpt. But it’s a car not a space ship and the whole idea of the car is to drive and enjoy it. I’ve sold my edition 45 loved the car but time to move on just wasn’t the same as my mark 7 performance. Just looking at the stagnation of the mark 8’s across the models and autotrader is full of them and the prices are dropping or they’re not selling so my thought was now sell whilst you can rather than when you have to. Much of that was to do with future concerns over support from VW when warranty expires. I can see expensive troubles coming. So now looking at Skoda practicality.
If you know anything about cars, and VW software issues on MK 8 it still takes a real leap of faith to buy one second hand from a VW authorised dealer with the 2 years warranty, its completely reckless to buy one from anyone else with standard warranty. But there will be plenty still who just buy a car on face value and have no idea to the issues, but you right, Auto Trader is definitely showing the ripple effect and can see that continuing with MK 8 prices dropping more and more as more cars reach end of leases, deals etc and get handed/traded back
I really, really wanted to convince myself that going for a MK 8 would be ok, that by time i picked one up second hand all these issues would be in the past, but that's not the case, you cannot pick any MK 8 up and be guaranteed there will be no software issues, and as the MK 8.5 (which is still an unproven commodity software wise, and with ridiculously added AI also) is out of my price band, its late MK 7.5 all the way for us, already picked up an immaculate 2019 R for the wife, and when the BMW driving at moment lease finishes, be looking at as late MK 7.5 as can secure at that time as replacement. Unlike owning older cars in past, where latest tech was light or not there, pretty much everything you could want is on MK 7.5, and as just stated, there is argument you are actually gaining over newer models, with the buttons and switches still in place
@Hertsman; agree 100%.
Based on my previous car buying habits, I’d now be in the very early stages of thinking about what car will be replacing my current car. However, there’s very little out there that’s tempting me, especially with hot hatches seemingly becoming a dying breed.
I’ve owned VW’s for the last 22.5 years so I’m brand loyal unless something happens that royally p155e5 me off (either poor dealer service or a Friday afternoon lemon of a car) - that’s why I’ve moved away from other brands in the past. However, there’s nothing in VW’s current line up that I’d want if I were to buy a brand new car, and VW’s recent track record on software issues would be a big red flag for me. Build quality of my current VW isn’t as good as the previous one, but mechanically it’s been faultless and everything works as it should, so I’ll probably be keeping it for a few more years.
The VW dealership I use has made three attempts in the last 12 months to persuade me to buy a new car with a ‘fantastic deal’ (the salesperson’s words, not mine
). I’ve not been tempted or curious enough to find out more about the so called fantastic deal. My current car is 3.5 years old and has covered less than 16k miles so should have plenty of life left in it, so I’ll probably be investing in a good warranty rather than throwing money at a new car.
If I do decide to change my car, it might be time to switch brands and also buy a ‘normal’ car (i.e. not a hot hatch) as the opportunity to use a hot hatch’s potential on the UK’s congested roads is becoming less and less. I also only drive around 4,500 miles a year these days, so a ‘normal’ car would probably fit the bill just fine.
