Team-BHP - Skoda Kushaq | A Close Look & Preview

From the previous camouflaged media drive it looked the part to be in competition with other compact SUVs with respect to size. But now, from pictures, the size looks more like sub compact SUVs. If that's true, this will be suitable to compete with Venue, Sonet, Magnite, Kiger category and that's disappointing.

With every launch, Skoda makes some other car/SUV look VFM. For eg when Karoq was launched it made Jeep Compass seem VFM. Octavia launch made superb look VFM, Kushaq 1.0 TSI launch will make polo look VFM (I know I am stretching my imagination too far lol:). But still if it does not match the size of Korean siblings and is priced more than that, then there is a good chance of many backing out from booking. The only saving grace for Kushaq will be the expectation that it will be a better handling and safe car than most others in the category. Lets hope for the best, as there are apprehensions just from the the pictures and not from first hand experience.

How is it customers keep opting for the DSG only to open threads on team bhp, complain, spend lakhs while facing wrong diagnosis issues, delays and loss of peace of mind.

VW knows that they can fool a certain set of people all the time because of our actions of buying DSG’s despite innumerable failures documented on team bhp. It looks like a unique sustainable business model for VW where buying increases in proportion to complaints.

So do we blame VW or do we blame ourselves?

Zac says DSG warranty will be honored without escalations. What happens if he is transferred? Do we take his twitter post and show it to ASS as a warranty card? Is SKODA warranty given by a single man on twitter or should it be in black and white on the warranty card given to each customer.

Zac refers to there being no issues with the DQ 380 and warranty will be honored and as expected a whole lot of customers lap it up thinking it’s the gospel truth and intend to buy DSG’s.

All this while we have another thread today on unresolved issues with the DQ 381!

So those buying the Kushaq DSG, please don’t blame the DQ 380 or VW anymore. Blame yourselves.

The only guarantee that VW can give on your DSG is that it WILL fail.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMG Power (Post 5088668)

How is it customers keep opting for the DSG only to open threads on team bhp, complain, spend lakhs while facing wrong diagnosis issues, delays and loss of peace of mind.

All this while we have another thread today on unresolved issues with the DQ 381!

So those buying the Kushaq DSG, please don’t blame the DQ 380 or VW anymore. Blame yourselves.

The only guarantee that VW can give on your DSG is that it WILL fail.

Well the DW 381 owner just posted that his replacement has been approved. Agreed the gearbox shouldn’t have failed so early in the life but no car is perfect in any way.

People buying all the different brands complaint all the time online, Hyundai, Kia, Maruti and Honda all have their fair share of problems and each has his own positives and negatives. No car is perfect, and every car we buy is a choice we make also from our heart along with our mind.

Buying a car is also an emotional decision and people are still buying VW groups DSGs probably because the driving experience offered by them is still better than the competition. Even the expensive Germans turn out with lots of problems at times but in no way a customer should blame himself if his car ends up having issues. What eventually matters is the after sales service he gets at that point of time and all the promises made during sale are kept.

Agreed Zac won’t always be around but not buying a new one because an old one HD problems isn’t the solution here. Only time will tell how well skoda treats the customer is their 2nd innings. But a lot of buyers of the brand still swear by it and still want to buy their cars even after facing so many problems, then they must be doing something right.

Even I feel a Taigun or Kushaq is a perfect update for my polo or many other polo owners, now or a couple of years later and no other car will give the same experience at this price point or will be a worthy update.

Quote:

Originally Posted by prateekchanana (Post 5088728)

Buying a car is also an emotional decision and people are still buying VW groups DSGs probably because the driving experience offered by them is still better than the competition. Even the expensive Germans turn out with lots of problems at times but in no way a customer should blame himself if his car ends up having issues. What eventually matters is the after sales service he gets at that point of time and all the promises made during sale are kept.

The driving experience is the hook, no doubt.

There is no way a Skoda can provide customer service anywhere near that of the major manufacturers, there isn't enough business to support a big network of after sales points. Their vehicles themselves do not last on our roads either, all in all an informed customer knows he is taking a risk when sensible options are available - it's okay to feel guilty when you are stranded somewhere during a road trip and the nearest Skoda dealer is well nowhere near.

Coming to the vehicle itself , I hope the vehicle itself is more loyal to the brand than their dealers (such things happen too), if you have spent any amount of time on our forum which is an archaeological record of Skoda crimes, they aren't getting the benefit of doubt, not one bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kosfactor (Post 5088776)

There is no way a Skoda can provide customer service anywhere near that of the major manufacturers, there isn't enough business to support a big network of after sales points. Their vehicles themselves do not last on our roads either, all in all an informed customer knows he is taking a risk when sensible options are available - it's okay to feel guilty when you are stranded somewhere during a road trip and the nearest Skoda dealer is well nowhere near.

Agreed sir, their dealerships are much much less but so are for many other expensive brands but people still buy them, because no one considers the car will fail them in the middle of the road some day. And at that point the RSA and after sales are all that matter.

But there can not be one defined line for sensible options, at the time of purchase we just hope this one is. Like we purchased a Honda city CVT in 2013 thinking it is, And it lost colors on steering buttons in 9 months. We complained to Honda and they told us we are not using it right and must have scratched it unintentionally, escalated the issue everywhere and the best we got was to cover 50% cost. It was a small part but we refused to accept it as we knew it’s not our fault. When the car was an year old, on the middle of the highway the AC gave up and we showed to a local garage and they showed us ice forming around the coils which stopped cooling. Had to stop every 20/30 mins in 5 hour journey. Got the same replaced under warranty but should’ve never happened in an year old car.

A year later the car started making weird sound when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear 8/10 times. We had atleast 5/6 visits and 10/15 days car stayed at dealerships to rectify it and they could never find anything. In the last month of warranty the car was at service centre for almost 15 days the issue still existed 2/10 times and they refused to offer us any sort of extended warranty on gearbox. We even considered selling the car, afraid we might land up with a major bill post warranty but kept the car and reduced using it much and the issue is still there. My cousin wanted a car in 2015, who already had a jazz, which they loved to the core, and hence almost finalised city and I told him to have a look at vento. He bought the 1.2 DSG and has had 0 issues till date and everyone in the family prefers to drive it over the Jazz now and they feel jazz is simply a boring car to drive in comparison. City was a very sensible choice for us but we still ended up like this and he knew about VW reputation and is still more happy with a VW than a Honda.

I think we are going off topic and we should get back to Kushaq but when something negative happens, people always come online and write about it. There are so many cases of Hyundai-Kia DSG heat up issues as well but people still buy it ignoring it or hoping theirs will last well. But when everything is good with the car people don’t come online to say look our car is running perfectly fine just how it was supposed to. So let’s hope all the owners of Kushaq and every other car end up with their perfect cars which run many many miles with them without any failures or issues. :thumbs up