Hello
I'm new to the forum.
Just been reading up and researching all I can about the new Toledo and Skoda Rapid over the last couple of weeks. As a taxi driver I've decided to go for a new Toledo as my current car's licence expires at the end of March and is past it's age limit.
I ordered the new car yesterday in Passion red, for delivery 2nd April. It seems like it ticks just about all the right boxes for me in the job. I'm currently driving an old shape Octavia (04 plate) which with over 300K miles is still giving back around 50 mpg throughout the day and is extremely reliable. The mpg on the new Seat might be optimistic in the
brochure, but I'm still expecting some improvement. This is my first car with a DPF though, so time will tell how this goes. Read about some horror stories. Can't get a new diesel car without one it seems due to crappy EU regulations, so something I couldn't really avoid.
Spec ordered is an SX model, which is not listed in the
brochure I know. It's a special made on the production line for taxi use only (it appears on the log book as SX). It's basically an S model with the 1.6 Ecomotive diesel, with a couple of extras essential for taxi use across the UK. There are two S features cancelled out to balance up the costs (namely manually controlled mirrors instead of electric ones and there's no alarm box, though all the other security features are there... it just can't make a noise!)
Got a decent enough deal... £12,995 financed over 60 months with no deposit. Dealer's couldn't get anywhere near this. However, it is an offer to the taxi trade only.
I always said I'd not get a new car for the job again after I bought a new Skoda Superb 10 years ago. It was a lovely car and worked fine for seven years. But the finance was heavy. Though ten years on this deal is better than that one, and the car is only slightly less specced.
The leg room in the back appealed to me (I'm 6ft 2") and I'm constantly being asked to move my seat forward in the Octavia. The boot of course is more than adequate. The fuel consumption should be better too and the stop/start system will be new to me. See how that goes. The only gripe is that there isn't electric windows in the back. Can be very annoying when customers get out of the back and have left the windows down. Can't understand why the S model gets electric/heated wing mirrors but not electric rear windows. Strange! I may need to take a screwdriver to the window winders if it becomes a
problem. Haha!
Anyway, I'll see how things go and post back with how it works. Looking forward to the new car, but as ever the novelty will wear off quick. Just hope to get get a decent saving on fuel to offset some of the finance cost and that it proves as reliable as the trusty Octavia. If I can save just £25 - £30 a week then that's around £100 of the finance offset.