Skoda Laura AT - My experiences [YMMV]

[anandpadhye]

Hi guys,

Saw a very tempting ad in economic times - EMI as low as Rs.1684 per month per lakh, 7 years loan, etc - this coupled with the 3 years maintenance holiday announced by Skoda, I went to the dealer (Accumen Motors, Pune) to check out the Laura...
At 10 AM, there was nobody from sales team...had to leave my name and number.

Got a call from them, told them I want a TD. He says - "Sir, aap really khareednewaale ho kya?" (Suddenly my 3 years of interaction with Deccan Honda felt pleasant!)....

I told him i was at his showroom (that too on their invitation per the newspaper ad) and I can not visit them again and can he bring the car to my office for TD...

He was shocked! He had never heard of any customer requesting him a get the TD car to a customer's address....

Does Skoda offer a TD only at their showroom?

And now a technical question -

I tried the rear seating comfort while I was in the showroom - pretty cramped (as told by everyone here), but another problem I felt - the headrests came in my way - can they be adjusted for their tilt? They move up and down but can their angle be changed?

Sorry I have to ask this here - there was no way to get this answered from their dealer!

Long live Honda...
Thanks,

[BUSA]

Did you forget to mention the lane change indicators?

AFAIK, the Laura doesnot have it.

Poor Before Sales Service by Skoda, you can wonder what will be After, anand?

[androdev]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Does Skoda offer a TD only at their showroom?

Dealers don't take office addresses as seriously as home addresses - because lot of people just take them for a ride! OTH home addresses and family TDs are more credible for a dealer - esp if you have an upmarket home address :-)

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Does Skoda offer a TD only at their showroom?

Not at all. I have had the Superb sent to me for a test drive in the past at my office. All companies offer test drives outside the showroom, I for one have only test driven cars sent to me at the office.

Thats why i wonder at times why RR has a showroom at Atria... although it gives them great marketing mileage coz of the location but would a serious RR customer actually go down there to checkout/test drive the car !

[kumar2007]

Originally Posted by BUSA

AFAIK, the Laura doesnot have it.

Poor Before Sales Service by Skoda, you can wonder what will be After, anand?

Actually the Laura has the lane change indicators.

[BUSA]

Originally Posted by kumar2007

Actually the Laura has the lane change indicators.

Our country has no lanes, so is the feature useful?

[kumar2007]

Originally Posted by BUSA

Our country has no lanes, so is the feature useful?

Very valid point.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by BUSA

Our country has no lanes, so is the feature useful?

Lane change indicators are extremely helpful in any driving conditions. Unlike the regular turn indicators that stay permanently on until the steering wheel has turned a certain amount, the lane change indicators give a couple of blinks only....irrespective of how much the steering wheel has turned.

[anandpadhye]

I am getting a TD today (finally, after writing to Skoda India about their dealer behavior)....but a sad fact came out - they don't keep TD cars so the sales guy called me on Monday apologizing for not responding fast enough and said he is trying arrange a car (hinting that he will get one of the customer cars that come in for service!!!).


So its not only OUR TATA who do that, THEY also do the same...:-(

Anyway, want to know the service costs for laura, can exisitng owners please provide an idea? The sales guy told me that Skoda gets a bad name due to their default usage of synthetic oil (Rs. 3300 straight for oil). Also they change fuel, oil and air filter at every service so the regular service costs aroung Rs. 6000 for Laura. Having said that, what are the costs of incidental things like A/C cleaning, clutch plate replacement, suspention overhaul, etc...


Thanks in advance and hoping to get a response (it would be great if I could know before I meet the sales guy as he is coming with his best and finaloffer and i am asking him for that 3 years maintenance holiday they published some time back - he is saying that's only for Octavia and not Laura, and I am not accepting that).

[androdev]

Our country has no lanes, so is the feature useful?

No lanes but plenty of lane changes. I find this feature very useful (unlike the cruise control)

[kumar2007]

Took the car on a highway [Bang-Chitradurga] and found the cruise control fun. That said, I am a bit of a gizmo freak ;-)

[vkiran_2000]

Hi all,

Got the second Laura ambiente to be delivered in Bangalore. A red one at that !
It doen not have (all) the frills and goodies but I love the drive. The major plus points are:

1. Very "connected" driving experience. Feels sloid and sure footed.
2. SUperb ride quality. even on Bangalore roads.
3. Did a sprint on the Nandi expressway and found it as sure footed as the Accord (my runner up choice).
4. Superb gear shift. The short throw stick feels waaay better than many petrol cars.
5. Killer looks. I can see jaws drop visibly for the Corrida red beauty. I hope the eveil eye stays away and I can keep stratches and dents out for a while at least!

The nifty cubby holes and built quality is very positive. Overall, I have no gripes about this car till now.

[vkiran_2000]

Hi all, forgot to link to the pics....Picasa Web Albums - Vishwa - Our new Skoda...

[Ravveendrra]

Deepak has listed out all the goodies in the car - it does come with a whole lot more than other cars in the segment.

I have done about 11000 km in my manual L&K Laura and have found it to be troublefree. (My horn conked out but was replaced without a fuss under warranty.)

My only contributions to this thread -

1) The time lag between depressing the accelerator and the car taking off seems to be restricted to the DSG box (an awesome box for an A/T). The test car with DSG had the lag but my M/T does not.

2) The FE of the M/T is about 12 to 13 kmpl in city traffic.

3) The lane change indicators are very useful.

4) I found the cruise control absolutely useless on our highways, I keep coming out of it after about 3 minutes because I have to brake.

5) Most of the functions like lights, wipers, display, locking, ICE interface etc. can be set using the MFD controls on the stalks.

6) The Laura sticks to the road like a leech. The ride is firm so the handling is good. The passengers might complain but I DRIVE!

7) Grime and dust (not to mention leaves and twigs) get into the groove under the rear windshield.

Cheers.

[anandpadhye]

[quote=Ravveendrra;702508]
1) The time lag between depressing the accelerator and the car taking off seems to be restricted to the DSG box (an awesome box for an A/T). The test car with DSG had the lag but my M/T does not.


/quote]

I test drove a Laura L&K Manual and there was a lag. It was a bit disappointing as I thought it was a powerful car.

Swift D was extrmely responsive to my accelrator input!!!

May be the Multijet CRDi engine is leages ahead of the Pumpe Duss...

Yes, DSG is absolutely stunning with manual control on gearshifts with no shift shocks and shift lag at all...