Škoda Laura - A Class of its Own!

[ST7677]

May be Skoda will soon realize it's pricing mistake and introduce a 2.0TDI PD engine on New Octavia!
(Like it did by replacing 2.0 Petrol engine with 1.8T)

We have all seen TBHPs response that it is over priced, now I am waiting to see the sales figure of New Octavia to see the market response...

Inspite of waiting for over 8 months, I dropped the idea of buying this car, the day I came to know of it's Indian name (which was before knowing it's price).
How can a mfg be so insensitive to the local culture??? I am sure they will get punished for this

[Insane Devil]

Originally Posted by amit

Busa, the DSG is not called a Automatic but a clutchless manual. You have drive the DSG to understand how good it is. Just to give you a example, a DSG automatic vehicle is actually faster from 0-100 then a car with manual transmission.

Insane Devil, did the salesguy tell you that VW's automatic transmissions are adpative? They actually sense the driving style of the driver and within 4 shifts adapt to the driving style by changing shift patterns. So, if your father has a light foot, you will feel the car shifting "leisurely" and if you are a heavy foot driver, then the shift will adapt to your style in 4 shifts.

Wow! u serious, amit!??? i never knew that! and no, the sales person didnt tell me no stuff like that! he didnt even know the car good! he didnt even know that the Armrest box is also having AC vent! i had to tell him that!

but one thing i did make a note of , my dad took a testdrive yesterday, and in his driving, the current consumption showed 8-8.5lt and in my driving it showed 9.5 to 10 lt, in light footed mode.

[kbk_75]

Originally Posted by Insane Devil

Aseem, when a good Car manufacturer does try to give us Indians all the features , then ppl think its not "value for money" and "over priced".

the Laura is the perfect example of a Car Company giving the Indians all that they should be having, and now ppl avoid it coz its too pricey. but the regular Skoda Octavia is not pricy coz it does not have most of the features, and ppl actually dont wanna shell out much for features that they aint gonna be using much.

I think it is commendable that Skoda brought the new Octavia here fully-loaded, but I think they are trying to pull the wool over the car buying public's eyes by charging far more for this car than they ought to under the guise of adding many new "features" (electronic mods, a new gearbox and cylinder head). Educated car-buyers are not blind to this.

I feel they should axe the old Octavia and sell only this car as the new Octavia (instead of behaving like Maruti and selling successive generations of the same car as different models). They should segregate within the model like they do the world over, by having a low cost "entry level" car with the old engine and similar electronic toys to the old car, with a marginal price hike over the old Octy, and people would definitely buy it in decent quantities.

Then maybe offer a "higher trim" version with the same old engine and all the new electronic features and charge maybe 1.5-2 lakhs more for it.

Finally, offer the new 2 Litre engine with all the bells and whistles that the current "Laura" has and charge another 2 lakh premium for it. Then, the people who appreciate the performance benefit the new engine offers would not mind paying more for a fully-loaded top spec car with a vastly better engine.

The problem is Skoda is cutting major costs on the re-tooling required for building a new engine while charging a MASSIVE premium for a new "model" by trying to distract customers with all the electronic "features".

I think most people would not find the "Laura" over-priced if Skoda had put the 2 litre block into the engine-bay instead of trying to save costs and opting for the old 1.9 litre block with a modified head. The point I am making is, if you wanna save costs and not re-tool for a new engine block, then at least pass on the savings to your customers as well. You can throw all the bells and whistles in the world into a car, but most people will not find those "features" worth a 50% price hike.

On the other hand, plop the new engine into the thing and suddenly a 50% price hike would be a lot easier to swallow. It would still be comparitively expensive, but then if you offered various engine and trim combinations, there would be a product at various price points to satisfy all demands.

Lastly, I really hope that they bring the new Octavia RS here with the 2 litre FSI engine and not try to bull**** their customers again by offering a new vRS model with the new body and some electronic gizmos and retain the old RS engine.

[kbk_75]

BTW, does anyone know if the 2 litre diesel requires low-sulphur diesel to run properly? That could be the basic reason they chose not to bring that block here.

As an aside, does anyone know what Turbojet / Hi Speed Diesel really is? Are either of these premium diesel brands low sulphur or do they just contain some "nameless" additives?

[Insane Devil]

the MAIN and ONLY reason not to get the 2 LT Diesel engine to india is that they are not able to price the car below 20Lk with the 2lt engine.

As it is the Laura is quiet pricey, so they do not want to scare away the, currently few, buyers like me by pricing it almost close to the Superb!

[kbk_75]

Well there's a sure sign of the immaturity of India's car market. So what if a top-of-the-line smaller car runs close in price to a lower spec bigger one? I think it would be great to have a wide choice of engines and spec instead of "superficial" model variants based on things like coloured mirrors and electric everything.

Still, given the size of our car market I suppose its too much to expect. Oh well, I'm just waiting with baited breath to see if the vRS "Laura" makes it here and not the cooled-down RS version.

[karthik247]

Guys, just got a testdrive of the Skoda Laura today evening.

I really liked the plush interiors. Its pretty much got everything. Leather feels really good and the plastic is of nice quality and has a nice feeling too. All the controls are almost near ur reach. The small display is useful while reversing and also displays tyre pressure, AC controls and the music sys menu. Well the backseat still remains a writeoff. Nuting much to say, it almost felt similar to the Octavia's. The ride is very smooth indeed. And there is no cabin noise giving u a peaceful ride even in the city traffic. There is a noteable difference in power due to the new injection system. It feel more refined and pick up is a notch better. The DGS gearbox was good. I can't say more cuz i haven't driven any auto car in India till now.

The styling is very sharp, with the comletely new front. Not eveyone may like the design, but still looks good to me.

And now a few pix...

[dipen]

The alloys also seem to be a writeoff. They look like the same as on the Octy Elegance which are pretty bland.

Alloys could definately have been better.

[kbk_75]

I test drove the Laura myself yesterday and what can I say? It's pretty much what I expected it to be.

Pros:
New gearbox is super slick
Better rear leg-room (vs old Octavia)
Newer looking (vs old Octavia)
Better rear visibility (vs old Octavia)
Decent size boot

Cons:
Hideously over-priced
Not very powerful
Back seat not comfortable

Sum-up: Lots of toys in the car. Plenty of electonic gadgetery. Bottom line is it's way too underpowered to compete in the D segment and it doesn't feel very special when you're in the back seat. This car is not going to work against cars like the Honda Accord and even my four year old Mondeo. The only thing its better at is fuel economy. Skoda desperately needs to reconsider their pricing and / or offer lower spec variants and more powerful engine.

[Beemer]

Originally Posted by kbk_75

Bottom line is it's way too underpowered to compete in the D segment and it doesn't feel very special when you're in the back seat. This car is not going to work against cars like the Honda Accord and even my four year old Mondeo. The only thing its better at is fuel economy. Skoda desperately needs to reconsider their pricing and / or offer lower spec variants and more powerful engine.

Spot on kbk_75 . you know, all these not so good ,honest ,practical reviews about the Laura makes me feel even more happy and satisfied with my decision that i should not opt for this car .

Yup,all of us (except few) agree that the Laura is way way overpriced and in real is a c+ segment car , no ways it matches the D segment competition ..

[kbk_75]

Of course it's C segment; it's the VW golf platform for heaven's sake!

[ST7677]

Yeah it's the new Golf (A5) platform, the same one used is Audi A4!

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by ST7677

Yeah it's the new Golf (A5) platform, the same one used is Audi A4!

Ahh no, it is used in the Audi A3

[ponjo]

Hey, is there any more news / new info on the Petes tuned Laura? If there is, could someone please post some information on it.

[kbk_75]

Originally Posted by Insane Devil

the MAIN and ONLY reason not to get the 2 LT Diesel engine to india is that they are not able to price the car below 20Lk with the 2lt engine.

As it is the Laura is quiet pricey, so they do not want to scare away the, currently few, buyers like me by pricing it almost close to the Superb!

Actually, I think I've discovered the MAIN reason they aren't gonna slot that engine into this car in its current trim and that is because the VW Passat is gonna launch with the 2 Litre PDI engine with all the goodies that the Laura comes with. No way they will let the Skoda tick all the boxes the VW ticks, will they?

Now that VW should be VERY interesting indeed...