I know this is a GTI forum but...

[dubber36]

I'm pretty sure the original Octavia vRS had a rear strut brace too, although not across the strut tower tops, but diagonal bracing from a horizontal beam in the floor where the rear seats hinged, up to the strut towers. That was far from harsh.

[king monkey]

The general set up of the car is more driver focused than the many vag hot hatches I've had. Not sure how much the brace adds to that firmness. I've read that they're making subtle changes to the year model 19 in terms of ride. I really should have spent a little more time messing the the drive settings tbh to get a more accurate feel.

If there's no TCR news by January I'll go back for another look I think.

There's also a few popping up on auto trader for 23k now. Residuals are unproven to say the least.

I'll probably play it safe and get an R in the end. 

[monkeyhanger]

£470pm! Wow. The local dealer told me they’d sold 1. Yep ONE.

Apparently it’s nothing about the finance, it’s badge snobbery that’s hurting sales. 

Badge snobbery drives lack of demand, lack of demand drives poor residuals, poor residuals drive high monthly PCP payments despite reasonable RRP.

The only way to make a high depreciating car reasonable on the monthlies is to offer 0% finance and big discounts.

[monkeyhanger]

Hyundai and Kia are on the up. 5 or 7 year warranty obviously far better than what VW offer, and it will probably be more reliable than VW too. Interior not quite as nice as VW though.

Would I have one? Well, in the future maybe. But not quite yet, and not at that price.

The only Kias and Hyundais with better than average reliability are the rock bottom of the range tiny £7k pensioner shopping trolleys with the absolute minimum level of equipnent and electrics. Once you get into the reasonably equipped sportages etc. reliability is distictly average. Warranty is an insurance scheme - VW can give you a 5 year warranty for £500, i'm sure thet could give you a 7 year warranty for £1000. For Hyundai/Kia its not confidence in amazing reliability - they already priced extended warranty in.

VW don't want to give you access to a 7 year warranty - they already have great new car sales and want us all to keep buying a new one every 3 years. Kia just want you to buy a car, even if you keep it 7 years. Hyundais used to come with 7 year warranty, now its 5 - they didn't get any less reliable, they just got established enough in the UK market enough for a 7 year warranty not to be the primary selling point.

[Guzzle]

Hyundai and Kia are on the up. 5 or 7 year warranty obviously far better than what VW offer, and it will probably be more reliable than VW too. Interior not quite as nice as VW though.

Would I have one? Well, in the future maybe. But not quite yet, and not at that price.

The only Kias and Hyundais with better than average reliability are the rock bottom of the range tiny £7k pensioner shopping trolleys with the absolute minimum level of equipnent and electrics. Once you get into the reasonably equipped sportages etc. reliability is distictly average. Warranty is an insurance scheme - VW can give you a 5 year warranty for £500, i'm sure thet could give you a 7 year warranty for £1000. For Hyundai/Kia its not confidence in amazing reliability - they already priced extended warranty in.

VW don't want to give you access to a 7 year warranty - they already have great new car sales and want us all to keep buying a new one every 3 years. Kia just want you to buy a car, even if you keep it 7 years. Hyundais used to come with 7 year warranty, now its 5 - they didn't get any less reliable, they just got established enough in the UK market enough for a 7 year warranty not to be the primary selling point.

I've not had a Hyundai or Kia to be able to speak from experience, but just about every survey I've seen shows VW below both Hyundai and Kia for reliability. I know these things can be down to perception as much as anything else, and therefore surveys should be taken with a pinch of salt. But my Mk5 had poor reliability once it got beyond 5 years old. One problem after another. It's no wonder VW don't want to give you access to a 7 year warranty, it would have cost them thousands on my Mk5. For that reason I doubt I'd keep any VAG car to that age again. I'm not picking on VW, my father's Land Rover wasn't much better. If Kia want to offer a 7 year warranty at no additional cost, then no doubt there are people that will snatch their arm off.

I do seem to recall the slogan 'if only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen'. Seems VW no longer use reliability as a selling point.

[monkeyhanger]

For one horrendous VW at 5-8 years old, there'll be 10 good ones, you don't hear many people broadcssting their glee that their 9 year old Golf has just sailed through its latest MOT. My dad usually keeps his for 6 years/120k miles, and hasn't had to pay for anything major out of warranty yet. I've never kept a new VW (i'm on my 9th) out of warranty to know what might go, but worst I have had is a new turbo on a 2003 Polo 1.9TDI and another Turbo on my R. Never had a fault that has left the car immobilised at the roadside.

There are a fair few exceptions for that 7 year warranty, my colleague has a 6 year old Kia Sportage and the electric sunroof jammed open dufing a torrential downpour. They fixed it but would nit do anything about the incidental soaking the interior got. One of many things wrong with that car. Residuals on the Sportage are reasonable though.

No innovation in a Kia or a Hyundai, most tech is a generation behind the big playwrs like VAG, Ford, GM etc. They just copy old tech as soon as they can -minimising development costs.

I wouldn't have one right now.

[king monkey]

Some interesting point here about the warranties. I plan on keeping my next car for a while so it’s a bonus.

As far as the tech goes, I really wouldn’t expect Hyundai to be leading the way in fairness. It’s not what their price point is about.

Speaking of which, I’ve had another call from them today. New quote, with no changes from me, at £323pm. That’s some climb down. 

[Exonian]

I keep seeing my local dealer's demo i30N zooming about.
It's in that lovely blue colour and does look a nice car with a lot of cues taken from VW and Audi sporty hatches.

[TurboTrev]

I don't think Hyundais have ever come with a 7 year warranty, but they were the first company to introduce a 5 year warranty back in 2002.  They say on their website that any warranty claims made in the 5th year will be treated the same as a claim being made in the 1st year, which is how it should be.  I have a 5 year extended warranty on my Clubsport and it will be interesting to see how VW treat any claim I make in the 5th year.  From what I've read recently, people seem to be struggling with making claims in the 1st year, never mind the 5th.

[king monkey]

Good to hear that about the warranty. Not so good about the Vw one. I plan to keep my next car 5-6 years which means I’ll get a personal loan as it’s by far the cheapest route from what I’ve seen. I will need an extended warranty so not good news on the Vw front.

Residuals worry me in that car as it has no history at all. At least I can make a rough prediction with a gti, R, s3 or the mythical TCR (which I’d probably base on any edition model if it’s a limited run).

That blue is really nice in the flesh. It'd look awful on a non performance model though.

I agree on the styling too. They have gone very German hot hatch. Not surprising though.