Bye bye Jetta, hello Sportage, Skoda - fix your Yeti pricing

[BlackOctaviaRS]

I decided it was time for the Jetta to go, and was looking for a medium-SUV class car.

Tried CX5, Yeti, Dualis, ix35, Tiguan etc, and eventually settled on a Kia Sportage SLi Diesel 4wd, which I'm picking up next Friday. The Sportage has a similar level of trim to the 103TDI Yeti, but much, much better engine (135kW, 392nm torque), and better pricing. I got a decent price for the Sportage, and there was no way I could justify the extra $5-7k for a Yeti.

Skoda need to take a serious look at their pricing for the Yeti, or more and more people shopping for the class of car I was looking at are going to justify not buying a 103TDI Yeti. :face palm: The value just isn't there.

[BluChris]

Yep, just said similar in the Fabia thread. I see Yeti 77 is drive away pricing for now, but don't know about the 103. VWA need their heads read. Exclusive is one thing, uncompetitive another thing altogether. Is it that they can't get the stock, are afraid of cannibalising VW sales, have a 'unique' marketing strategy?

I'm not planning to sell my Octavia but if I were I'd struggle to buy another Skoda at present. I like the car, but only bought because the price was right for a risky new brand 3+ years ago. They haven't done enough to shore up the brand, have priced it too high/too close to VW and the dealer servicing is too expensive. If you're in the know you might realise you can get a deal, but the uninformed general public will look at the brand and the sticker price, then look elsewhere.

I hate talking the brand down, because the cars are really good. Its just that VWA need to learn from Skoda UK, to get the positioning, price and dealer support right

[VAG newbie]

How competitive are Korean cars in Europe and UK? Does Skoda price their cars similar to Korean cars in Europe and UK? I once heard my friend from UK saying that Asian cars are not that popular in UK, so Hyundai, Kia and Mazda are really struggling to get a market share in UK. I haven't been there myself so not sure if it's true.

Personally, I will never buy a Korean car, regardless of how cheap and how well equipt it is. My family have tried Korean products in a few occasions, mainly fooled by the feature and price. But we swear we will never use Korean ever again. The reliability is a joke. So now we'd rather spent more money on Japanese stuff.

In a way, Australians are really poorly treated by these car manufacturer. All are way over priced! These give Korean the opportunity to enter the market with a honest price, then for the Australian public, it becomes a good buy. But the fact is these Korean cars are stuff that people don't want in overseas market.

I personally am in the market for a luxury 7 seater SUV, and you will be surprised, nothing out there other than the Korean suits the need! The Japanese 7 seaters all come in thirsty V6 engines, for some reason they refuse diesel! The only diesel options are either in manual only (Which my wife can't drive), or way over priced (Pajero and Prado) that I might as well get European.

Yes, I agree yeti is over priced, but they are not the only one. This makes Korean a good buy. But that's not because they are good cars, just lack of option! At the moment I'm only left with Ford Territory as the only non Korean option that is around $55K.

Give me a 7 seater Superb TDI 4x4 Elegance for $55k, and I'll buy one tomorrow!

[Ocy_RS_TDi_Kombi]

I agree with peoples comments here re the Yeti pricing. I went to Richmond Skoda and asked about the release date for the Yeti 1.8 TSi. Was told its been delayed to at latest Sept this year. When I enquiried about price was told it'll be approx $2k cheaper than the diesel. The sales guy told me if I put an order in now I'll get the Yeti 1.8 TSi I want on the 1st shipment.

I asked for a 1.8 TSi Manual, Cuppacino Beige paint, Offroad pack, Xenons and Front & Rear Park Assist with auto park. As it'll be a lease car I asked for fleet pricing. Was told $38.5k. Sorry but I can get a Tiguan 132 TSi for similar money with similar options. I told the sales guy politely to pee off and walked out.

I don't get Skoda AUS pricing as it should be cheaper than an equivalent VW not the same or more. I know pricing will be confirmed closer to the release date but seriously a Yeti like that needs to be $4k cheaper to compete in this market.

VAG Newbie I had the same problem last year re a diesel medium/large 7 seat SUV. It came down to Kia Sorento or a Pajero. Ended up with the Pajero RX cause it's bulletproof (call it an old design if you will) and I do occasionally go into the bush upon which the Pajero would be better than the Kia. You can do a good deal on the Pajero just push hard and they'll come to the party.

Cheers

[Jake02]

I agree, the Yeti, Fabia and top end Superbs need their pricing lowered. The Octavia was in a similar position when it was launched, and the Superb in an even worse position (leather and sat-nav weren't standard in the Elegance, inexcusable for a $50k car) but they worked on it and the Octavia is hands down the best value medium sized car (90TSI) and the Superb close to the best value large car. The Yeti 77TSI pricing is fine, it just needs a lot more power (90TSI or don't bother with 2WD, lower 4x4 pricing with a lower-spec model), the 103TDI is at least $3k too expensive. It's a shame because if the Yeti was cheaper it would have won Wheels Car of the Year (it got one final vote, if it were cheaper I imagine more) because it is an excellent car, and certainly better than the (insert negative adjectives) Tiguan.

I struggle to make a case for liking the Fabia as Skoda just isn't serious enough with it worldwide. The only auto you can get worldwide is the 77kW 1.2TSI petrol (no auto diesel), there's no 6-speed manual, the maximum power you can get is 77kW (excluding the RS) and it's freaking ugly (it looked far better before the facelift and the wagon is even worse) with an interior that is bland, everything is black and the door handles are the flimsiest thing since the former NSW State Labor Government. Where's the flair!? Where's the fun!? VW is trying to bland down the Skoda range so that they don't threaten VW sales (like the new SEAT Toledo. Has anyone seen that car? It's even more bland than the new Jetta and that's saying something) and that's what I predict VW Australia is doing with Skoda Australia pricing. It really annoys me because Skoda could be such a bigger and better brand in Australia by now and they're taking sooooo long in doing literally everything. Not good enough!

(End of rant, apologies, it's been on my mind for a long time.)

[BlackOctaviaRS]

Personally, I will never buy a Korean car, regardless of how cheap and how well equipt it is. My family have tried Korean products in a few occasions, mainly fooled by the feature and price. But we swear we will never use Korean ever again. The reliability is a joke. So now we'd rather spent more money on Japanese stuff.

Sorry, but a 5 year warranty, plus changes to Australian consumer law, make buying a Korean car these days a very safe option compared to 10 years ago.

Seriously, if you're looking for a 7 seat SUV, wait a few months for the new Sorrento. The current model is a very good car, no reason the new one shouldn't be even better

[K1W1]

I
I struggle to make a case for liking the Fabia as Skoda just isn't serious enough with it worldwide.....
.......and it's freaking ugly

Jake what's happened? You were one of the loudest proponents of the merits and sales potential of the wonderful Fabia and now this? You can't change who am I going to argue with if we are both on the same side?

All in all though I'm glad to see that you are maturing enough to be more critical with you views. That's a good sign.

---------- Post added at 09:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 AM ----------

Sorry, but a 5 year warranty, plus changes to Australian consumer law, make buying a Korean car these days a very safe option compared to 10 years ago.

Absolutely. When we were looking for a car for our daughter last year I was stunned by how good the Hyundais and Kias were compared to others in the market in that range. If it had been my decision we would now have a Hyundai over the Swift (which is actually a great little car). By the time I change the VRS at the end of next year or thereabouts I think I will be seriously looking at the Sorrento and Hyundai equivalents as options. Apart form anything else we have a dealer 10 km away not 40 km as in Skoda.

[Brycem]

Just replaced octavia wagon with passat wagon. Looked at superb wagon but with better corporate pricing the passat was cheaper and better specced. This is crazy as in uk and Europe there is a significant step up from skodas to vws in pricing terms.

[Jake02]

Jake what's happened? You were one of the loudest proponents of the merits and sales potential of the wonderful Fabia and now this? You can't change who am I going to argue with if we are both on the same side?

Nawwww I'm flattered KIWI, that's the nicest thing you ever said to me! Haha, but seriously I did seriously like the Fabia when it came out (it seemed the first choice I'd have if I bought in the supermini class) and I still do, but the little things I didn't like have been adding up and I'm just not bothered by it anymore! And if I ever said the Fabia was a seller please shoot me; I've seen two (and know one owner who replaced a Trans Am with a Monte Carlo - odd true story) since they came out, despite the really positive reviews. I'm more positive about Yetis as I've seen at least ten of them, despite their pricing being more wrong than the Fabia's.

But seriously everyone, what can be done?

And BlackOctaviaRS, I'm surprised you could get a Sportage so quickly, have they fixed the supply issues or is your's a demo?

[K1W1]

But seriously everyone, what can be done?

They need to get a Fabia into the $16-$17k +ORC range that has the same equipment levels, warranty and cost of ownership as the competition. It also has to look good which is the real problem at the moment a mother warthog wouldn't want a baby looking like that. If they can't do that they should drop the car completely and concentrate on Octavia and above as "affordable" European quality.