Taxi Driver Online

has anyone any views on the new skoda superb, i like the look of the car,,long wheelbase limo like , but does it perform well. I m trying to decide between the vag passat tdi and superb. he only issue concerning me really is if i need to sell the car some time later,,the passat may hold its price but skoda may go belly up due to the badge,,anythoughts ???

For work on a day to day basis and running costs, insurance ect I have been told the Scoda is exactly what it says, superb.

If I was choosing between the two I would go for the Scoda, as I have heard such good things about good warranty, insurance costs and miles per gallon, low servicing and repair, reliability and the like.

Apart from the badge it looks like a real nice exec car, I am told comfortable and with a large boot. Scoda's do not have the same stigma they once had and I for one am seeing more and more on the road especially in our trade.

As for the performance, take one for a test drive, why not it's free?

Does anyone in this business worry about the resell value of a car these days when your more than likley going to put 250k on it before you sell it, yes ok the passat may appeal more in the second hand market and be easier to sell, but hell what is easier to sell once one of us has had our hands on it?

You never know Scoda's could become the trendy thing to have.

The smart PH driver who is looking for a good second hand, lets face it thats the only ones who will buy, will see the benefit, look at the Toyota carina, what a nothing of a car, but I see more of these five or six year olds running around plated up than anythiing else locally, the reason is they are cheap to buy, insure, run and maintain and above all are reliable.

Yep, if what I hear is true, I should want the savings now and worry about resale when it happens.

Regards

Eric

I was going to buy a Superb, but I have decided that the new Octavia is a better motor for me.

Now all I have got to do is to wait till the price comes down.

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IDFIMH

sussex what do you think is the main difference with the new octavia and the superb,,,apart from price that made you want one ??

The boot on the Octavia is simply quite spiffing.

It takes just about anything, and if you do a wheel-chair job, it fits in with loads of room to spare.

The back seats are also far better than the old Octavia, no more legs up to your chin.

I would go as far to say, that it's as good a vehicle to use as a PH in the towns and cities as anything since those good old Sierras.

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IDFIMH

there are several on our fleet and i would say they are great. im considering one myself for the next car. Huge amounts of space in the back and a nice big boot. 1.9tdi 130 comfort works out to be the best all rounder but theres a 2.5 V6 TDI if your budget streches to it.

and what if you choose an auto box,,??would the fuel economy be disastrous. I reckon it would be sheer luxury to have a diesal and auto to boot, would make those 12 hour weekend shifts a breeze, lol

The 'tiptronic' box seems to lose about 10 mpg on the smaller diesel Superb, but a lot less on the 2.5 TDI - official figures are, urban, extra-urban and combined respectively:

Manual

1.9 TDI 36.2 60.1 48.7

2.5 TDI 28.2 51.4 39.8

Tiptronic

1.9 TDI 28.0 50.4 39.2

2.5 TDI 24.4 48.7 35.8

Incdidentally, the Superb's boot is a bit dissapointing at 460 litres (as compared to 500 on the new-style Mondeo), but the new Octavia's is a humungus 560 litres, which is as big as anything you're likely to see on the road. Plus it's a hatchback as well, so there's always a good bit of useful space available above the parcel shelf.

Despite the new Octavias more spacious interior, it still has a kind of small car look about it, which is not surprising since it's based on the Golf platform

The Superb's rear legroom is ginormous as well, more than most exec/luxury class motors apparently - it's a pity they didn't make the boot a bit bigger and cut down on the rear legroom.

the difference in MPG between manual and auto has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. before you were looking at 10-15 mpg difference now, with newer cars its less that 10, 5 being average. but that with book stats. whever it works out the same on the streets is something else.

bear in mind that you'll be eating brake pads for breakfast with an auto.

have a look at whatcar.com and parkers.co.uk for the figures.

http://www.whatcar.com/

http://www.parkers.co.uk/

i've had a look at a couple of Volvo S80's, the book difference between the manual and an auto is 6.8 mpg combined. which on average would cost me an extra £12.50 every week in fuel. price worth paying? thats down to the individual taste and if you willing to pay the extra for the lazy/comfort factor.

i'd like to hear what others think about autos in taxi/PHV's.

too many conflicting views on auto diesals. Lets put it this way,,id want to search the living daylight out of the available figures, as the last thing i want is to finance the motor only to find out its a killer in fuel costs,in that case id be better to stick with my petrol avensis that is finance free. In that respect you cant beat the octavia, f. economy is the best anywhere, would love to hear from those who run autos please on fuel figures,,,cheers

The trouble is when you start getting on in life and still cabbying you need comfort, I have have run a Merc e300d for 8 years, taxi useage, auto box, the Mercs don't really breakdown, never failed taxi test or mot,even with a fault you get a tell tale sign something is wrong before it goes.

I reckon on the Merc e300d I was getting 30 odd to the gallon [diesel] around town, night time, the old 95 model merc has just been moved on after 450 thousands miles, guess where, to another taxi driver, my average yearly repair costs worked out at around 350 quid doing the jobs myself, [use to be forktruck engineer]

just bought 2001 Merc e320 cdi avantargarde automatic, bit pricey from Merc Stealership with 50 thou miles on clock, onboard computer showing [if you can rely on it] average mpg 31 mpg including rank tickover waiting for jobs

autobox sealed, no maintanance or top up, if a fault does occur in auto box, it will be the electronics in the autobox, have heard if the chip goes faulty only 50 quid to replace + any labour and oil.
Mercedes Tech said they never get problems with them

cabby with no left leg ache.

Once you drive an auto you don't really want to go back to clutch or am I just an idle sod.

bear in mind that you'll be eating brake pads for breakfast with an auto.

quote]

After a while after you have driven an auto you start to bear this in mind, braking costs money

regards.

It does if you get the right motor and creature comforts


regards.