Škoda Laura - A Class of its Own!

[turboindia]

Hi guys,

Took delivery of the LAura a few days back. Just did my first 580 km drive. The tuning box is in already and the car moves much much better now. The best part I can see right off is the average i got at speeds of 120 - 140km. It is very much near 15kms to a lit. I drove a total of 875 km in the past 2 days and the average is 15.4. I think it is great. I have never got that in even the old Skoda 1.9 nor the RS. The car handles really well. The suspension is way above the old car and I personally feel it is worth every penny guys. You need to take it for a long drive.

The DSG is to die for. This is the first automatic that I actually found great to drive. I mean it guys it can be a very good manual. You can drive it exactly like a manual, the shifts are so quick in the triptronic mode too.

I'll write in details as soon as I get back by the end of the week,

The car is not the old Skoda at all. It is a completely different car.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by tifosikrishna

hi, a very well written review. if you notice, the intial reaction from many of the bhpians were that it looks too similar to octavia and the skoda india has screwed up with the pricing. but off late, after realising the whole gamut of features it comes with, i think opinion is slowly changing in favour of laura.

For the last fifty years or so, the Indian car buyer has gullibly consumed cars of internationally old and discontinued designs, at unfairly high prices.

A partial list:
The pre-Korean War, Jeep CJ-3B and its agricultural diesel engined relatives.
The 1957 Morris Oxford (Hindusthan Ambassador)
The 1963 Fiat 1100 (Premier Padmini)
The 1966 Fiat 124 (Premier 118NE)
The 1972 Vauxhall Victor (Hindustan Contessa)
We have the 1986 Suzuki Alto (still being sold as Maruti 800)

In keeping with this tradition, we have the Škoda Octavia which has been sold unchanged in India for the last four years.

Then a new Škoda Octavia was presented on 2nd March 2004 in the 2004 Geneva International Motor Show. This new Škoda Octavia has modern technologies such as fuel direct injection for the petrol version, DSG six-speed gearbox (6 forward gears, one reverse gear), and a new multilink rear suspension.

The BorgWarner DualTronic Direct-Shift Gearbox (DSG) uses two clutches to achieve fast shifts. The engine drives two clutch packs simultaneously.
The outer clutch pack drives gears 1, 3, and 5 (and reverse), while the inner clutch pack drives gears 2, 4, and 6. While the car is in gear using one clutch pack, the next upper gear can be pre-selected on the other clutch pack. This lets upshifts occur in an impressive 8 milliseconds as opposed to the normal 1000 milliseconds, typical of ordinary gearboxes.

The new Octavia also has a rounded more-aerodynamic front end and larger wrap-around tail-lights
http://www.germancarfans.com/news/20...413.022.1L.jpg
http://www.germancarfans.com/photos/...04/1039big.jpg
For how many more years will the older Octavia still be foisted on us as a new car?

In December we learned that the older and the newer generation will be concurrently sold in India as two different models with two different pricings.
The four-year old Škoda Octavia will continue to be sold in India as a new Škoda Octavia. And the 2004 Škoda Octavia upgrade, will be "introduced" to the Indian consumer as a whole new model called Škoda Laura!

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by turboindia

Hi guys,

Took delivery of the LAura a few days back. Just did my first 580 km drive. The tuning box is in already and the car moves much much better now. The best part I can see right off is the average i got at speeds of 120 - 140km. It is very much near 15kms to a lit. I drove a total of 875 km in the past 2 days and the average is 15.4. I think it is great. I have never got that in even the old Skoda 1.9 nor the RS. The car handles really well. The suspension is way above the old car and I personally feel it is worth every penny guys. You need to take it for a long drive.

The DSG is to die for. This is the first automatic that I actually found great to drive. I mean it guys it can be a very good manual. You can drive it exactly like a manual, the shifts are so quick in the triptronic mode too.

I'll write in details as soon as I get back by the end of the week,

The car is not the old Skoda at all. It is a completely different car.

Pete, Have been waiting to here your review on the car. Glad to see its doing well and you being contempt with your purchase. I did check out the car in the showroom and loved it for its features.Didnt get a chance to drive it then but what turned me off was that it looked too much like the Octavia from the front and the fiesta from the back so if exteriors r anything to go by it doesnt really feel like a 17 lakh car.Once u step in the story totally chances tho.
Its time to upgrade from my Accord 2.3 as its been 3 yrs and I have considered the Laura as one of the options even tho i really like the v6 accord better for its performance and looks, but that car is way to common now. Just eager to see the firgures u get with your performance box and then decide between the laura and the new camry.
However i had one question...my dad is probably gonna be getting the E280 Cdi and if i get the Laura fitted with your tuning box will i be able to use the same box in the E280 too?

[turboindia]

Originally Posted by Sahil

However i had one question...my dad is probably gonna be getting the E280 Cdi and if i get the Laura fitted with your tuning box will i be able to use the same box in the E280 too?

Sorry you wont be able to use the same box for 2 different cars. They have completely different boxes,

[jeetu4444]

turboindia can u plz give us more on your laura.i want to know is it worth buying it . as for now iam confused between manual and auto (dsg).its has 1 lakh diff betwen the 2.thanx waiting for ur reply

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by jeetu4444

turboindia can u plz give us more on your laura.i want to know is it worth buying it . as for now iam confused between manual and auto (dsg).its has 1 lakh diff betwen the 2.thanx waiting for ur reply

Jeetu...an autobox is approx 1 lakh more no matter which car you buy.
I for one think its worth the 1 lakh since you stay in bombay and an autobox in our traffic is god blessing literally! I dont see my self buying a manual car for city driving now that I am hooked to auto. And for the power aspect an autobox can perform almost as well as a manual if you get the nack of it in due time or knowing when to push the pedal. Also now days with triptronic i really dont miss a manual shift even on open roads.

[turboindia]

The DSG is one of the best auto's I have driven till date and if it was me I would take the auto 100%.

I have not found any problems on it so far and I am real happy with the purchase.

[Dippy]

Pete congo on your new car. Tell me that you have bought a black one

And how about some pictures of your new possession

[TRANSAM]

Pete, great choice of car, congratulation.was curious to know if you had decided on her or did you compare the laura with the accord or mondeo ghia, in all aspects before buying the car or simply took a test drive and decided??

[turboindia]

Originally Posted by TRANSAM

Pete, great choice of car, congratulation.was curious to know if you had decided on her or did you compare the laura with the accord or mondeo ghia, in all aspects before buying the car or simply took a test drive and decided??

The gearbox bowled me over when i took the test drive and later on compariosion i felt we had a much economical car in the Laura so took it,

[EVO6]

Hey Peter,
I am getting 19-20 kmpl (highway) and 16-17 kmpl (urban) on my 1.9 TDI with Pete's Box...
Cheers

[turboindia]

Originally Posted by EVO6

Hey Peter,
I am getting 19-20 kmpl (highway) and 16-17 kmpl (urban) on my 1.9 TDI with Pete's Box...
Cheers

That is what I have always been telling you. Difficult to believe you can actually have both power and economics, isn't it??

Have fun

[jeetu4444]

hey pete can u plz post some interior pic of your car.and can u tell me how much power can we increase in the laura.( bhp) wat average u getting ?do u have any idea wat avg does manual laura gives.thanx

[ponjo]

Any idea as to how the Laura sales are coming along? Also when can we expect the petrol FSI engines in India?

[turboindia]

Originally Posted by jeetu4444

hey pete can u plz post some interior pic of your car.and can u tell me how much power can we increase in the laura.( bhp) wat average u getting ?do u have any idea wat avg does manual laura gives.thanx

Our cars interiors have been changed so you would not get an idea of how it actually looks but still when I get the chance I'll take some images.
The power increase I had written earlier on and the Tuning box takes the laura to 130 bhp with 300 NM of torque.Average is around 13-14 in city and 16-18 in highway
I have no idea about the manuals avg but I guess it should be around the same,

Rgds,

Peter