Golf 6 Wagon

[VW Convert]

Also, the Golf wagon is built in Mexico from what I have been reading, while the Octavia's are built in Europe in the Czech Reupublic. Just hope siesta doesnt conicide with your Golf Wagon build

Let's separate perception from reality in regards build quality from Mexico or any other country for that matter. I had a Mexican built Jetta and now have an Eos (built in Portugal) the build quality on both cars is exceptional.

When companies such as VW build build factories in other countries they build replicas of their German factories and set up identical work processes and as car assembly is so highly automated these days, there is much greater uniformity in build quality. The nett result is that the difference in build quality from country to country is negligible.

And for all those out there that have the perception of build quality of cars built in Germany being superior because of all the meticulous German factory workers, I suggest you take a trip to Germany and go see some car assembly plants, a significant majority of factory floor workers are from former Eastern bloc and other less developed countries.

Cheers

George

[Golf Loon]

I heard that only VWA have the wagons at the mo and no decision to sell them here has yet been made.

I hope they do though.

[K1W1]

All RHD 3 Series BMW's and C class Mercedes (with the exception of the top of the line sports models) have been assembled in South Africa for around 10 years. The first M class Mercedes models came from the USA.
Most Honda cars in Australia come from Thailand.
RHD Nissan Pathfinders are assembled in Portugal.
My last Land Rover was assembled in Britain with an Austrian made motor, Japanese manufactured gearbox, US manufactured rear diff, mainly French made lenses on the indicators and lights and a Japanese stereo fitted in Australia.
Who cares where a car is assembled? What you are buying is the manufacturers reputation and their ability and willingness to support it.

[woofy]

The last line is what has upheld Skoda in other countries, I truly hope we will start seeing it visibly here.

Does it matter where a car is assembled, I would say probably yes. Merc are a bad example, quality control there wherever they have been assembled has been bad for a long time. BMW are better but again questionable.

I do know that SA made Golfs seem to have more rattles than from anywhere else, and that US made anything, eg Mazda 6s are awful over there, and seem to have problems not seen elsewhere. I haven't heard of any issues coming from Thailand carwise. On a similar vein though I know Nintendo have had more issues since they moved manufacturing from Japan to China even with more modern factories, so that doesn't always count.

In the case of Skoda people seem to point out that they have more success due to the most modern factories out of VAG, I would be more expecting that its the work ethic of the workers themselves, unlike over here, anyone working for Skoda seems to have a pride in their work, they haven't become jaded, or complain about the myriad of crap people who have been in Westernised countries do. I know a few German guys via my company, and they themselves don't buy German cars as they think they are overpriced for the quality, one even has a Roomster as he found it better built than his previous A3.

Not so much here anymore, just had a recent reminder of that-I had a fence and gate put in this week, which wasn't a cheapo job. It was mostly done when I last saw it but the gate was taken away to be done at the guys house and it was put in while I was away. I get back to find that unlike the fence, the wood used was probably not first grade, one was cracked so bad you could see through it, and one panel is split from the screw and a section of it about to fall off due to that. Several panels have multiple screw holes where they kept moving the screw until the hit the frame. It was obvious to Stevie Wonder, so not sure why you would leave a gate like that, but again for some people it may have been good enough. I sent him an email to say it was stuffed and could he fix it before the weekend is out. He is coming by tomorrow morning to do it. I'm sure it would have been easier for him to just do it right the first time, but who knows maybe his son the apprentice who keeps appearing and disappearing on the job did it and he didn't see his crap work.

If you have a dig around Briskoda there is a thread someone posted about a tour of the Skoda plants, from their description, there definitely is a lot of manual labour still going on the assembly line, now if someone is pissed at their employer, they might not care about torqueing a bolt right over someone who is glad to have their job. A lot of rattles seem to come from the last things put in, which inevitably are done by hand.

Despite all that, these will come up against the Skodas and it might mean that they drop the pretence and lower prices somewhat as they will lose the advantage they have had at the moment.

[Frufru]

It is well known fact that VW has had big problems with reliability of vehicles produced in Mexico. There is a reason behind a poor perception of VW vehicles reliability in US market!! On the other hand, VW did quite a lot lately there so their quality must have improved. Mind you they still decided to shut down production in Puebla in Mexico I have heard.

I still think that when I look at dishwasher or anything build in Germany it just have something solid in it, unlike a dishwasher assembled in Turkey from the same manufacturer. There are awful lot of Germans in Germany to think that Wolfsburg assembly is manned by someone else.

So overall, I would say it is a factor for me where the goods were manufactured. On the other hand, car assemblies these days use the parts from different suppliers, so Golfs assembled in SA still have considerable amount of parts from Germany (or Czech Republic for that matter).

[G-rig]

As others have mentioned I'd just get a Skoda.. but only if there were significant savings. A golf wagon doesn't seem right and is still a fairly small car.

[Jake02]

They had the old-gen (or pre-facelift as that's what the Mk6 Golf is - a facelifted Mk 5) wagon at the Sydney Motorshow in 2006 and I thought it to be pretty boring and uninteresting. I think it's good that they're bringing it out because I'm a wagon person and small wagons is a class that needs to be more popular.

BUT VWA are shooting Skoda in the foot here. All of us in the Skoda Club know just how wonderful the Octavia is, but what about Average Joe who knows nothing about Skoda and would go for a VW because it's more well-known. It annoys me greatly that VW would do that to Skoda. But if it's a Golf wagon then it'll be Golf priced, meaning weedy base engines Would be the majority seller and I've never seen a FL Octavia wagon base - 1.6FSI/1.9TDI - spec, it's always the RS or 1.8TSI/2.0TDI so maybe Skoda won't be affected that greatly. Buyers might find the Golf abit small I dunno, but God I hope it fails - the Octavia is a hell of alot better car! (Y)

[anthony]

The Golf wagon has been a huge sucess in Europe,as well as in the USA and Brazil,where it is sold as the Jetta Sportwagon,and Argentina,where it is sold as the Vento wagon.

[Golf Loon]

It surely doesnt need to be about the Golf Wagon or the Skoda failing.

People will buy a VW who will never buy a Skoda.

The more VAG we see on the road, the better. Bring on the diversity of options I say.

[Antiplastix]

It surely doesnt need to be about the Golf Wagon or the Skoda failing.

People will buy a VW who will never buy a Skoda.

The more VAG we see on the road, the better. Bring on the diversity of options I say.

Yep, for some people the "Skoda" badge will never have the snob factor of "Audi" or even "VW". Thats their loss I think. My RS wagon is a great sports wagon for less than the price of a Commodore SV6 wagon and I dont really care what the neighbors think.