[Behemoth]

Let me introduce to you the latest member in our family: The "Ruby Raptor". She is fast, aggressive and at the same time frugal and efficient like a Raptor.

Our current rides : Skoda Yeti Ambiente (Dec 2010) - mine, XUV5OO W6 (with my BIL), Skoda Laura Ambiente MT (Mar 2012) with my wife. The Honda Civic 1.8 V AT, after serving us for close to three years, has been transferred (on company lease) to someone else in the same company where my wife was working earlier.

Our Key criteria for the car were: It should be a fuel efficient diesel car, with good fit finish, good interiors and good driving dynamics. It would be used by my wife for commuting to Nehru Place from Gurgaon (almost 32 Kms one side).

During our selection process, we evaluated and considered almost all cars in the range of 9-16 lacs and it was 4 weeks selection process. Some of the cars that we considered were:

1) Skoda Rapid (Diesel): Good package overall with very good engine. The plasticky interiors were a little bit of a putoff and the front driver armrest foiling with the handbrake completely blew it! It was shot down by my wife for being an ergonomic design failure, because of this design flaw! The Drive quality was quite comfortable and it has a better suspension/ Driving dynamics than the Vento.

2) Volkswagen Vento (Diesel Highline): Very similar to the Rapid (or vice versa!) but the interior colour theme is better and the finish is better than the Rapid. We liked the Blue colour of the Vento a lot and has almost finalized the Vento, but my wife noticed that the driver armrest was identical to the Rapid and hence it was also dropped immediately from the list!

3) Ford Fiesta (New, Diesel) - We liked the overall design and the driving dynamics. The engine is also very quiet and refined and pulls well. However the interiors look a bit drab with the Grey and black colour scheme and do not seem spacious at all. We had a Ford Fiesta (Classic) diesel for 4 1/2 years before the Civic and we were very happy with it. However even compared to the old Fiesta, the new Fiesta does not seem to be an improvement at all and in fact we found the inside space less in the new Fiesta (especially Headroom). The sloping lines of the new Fiesta's design have taken away quite a bit of the inside space and at the price at which Ford wants to sell it, it is not good value for money.

4) XUV5OO : We already have a XUV5OO in our family (with my BIL) and we also drive it quite frequently. We also thought whether we should go for another XUV5OO for my wife and after a lot of deliberations we decided against it for the following reasons:
- It is a new car and the technology is still not stable enough for it to be the main ride for my wife
- The size and the bulk of the XUV make it cumbersome for city driving and tight parkings
- The lucky draw process made it completely unpredictable on IF and WHEN we would it even if we booked it!
- It is not environment friendly to take a 7-seater SUV to office when only one person will be using it! The Mileage that we get from the XUV currently is 13-14 Kmpl and ideally we want a car which is more fuel efficient than this.

5) Chevrolet Cruze : We liked the overall looks of the car, but the moment we sat inside the car, it somehow felt very claustrophobic, especially in the rear. The Dark interior colours also make the space seem much smaller than it actually is. The sloping rear roof also leaves very little space for the head. Surprisingly it is very big from the outside and has very little space inside, which is at least in my books, not a practical design for today's green design era.

6) Skoda Superb: This is one beast that both me and my wife have been constantly drooling over since the past 2 years! Unfortunately it is really huge and the 1.8 TSI AT Petrol version is the only sub 20L variant and moving from the Civic AT to the Superb Petrol AT did not make any economic sense! The diesel version is clearly over our budgets at around 23L on road and we did not want to put in as much. Also, for a self drive vehicle, it is not an ideal choice as one would feel like the driver of a Limo! So this was also dropped. Incidentally, it was the Rosso Brunello (maroon) colour of the Superb that we were great fans of.

7) Skoda Laura : We have evaluated the Laura right from the time that we had bought the Yeti and it was over the Laura that we had chosen the Yeti - due to its offroad nature and compact size. Now that we were looking to replace our Civic, we are ready to replace it with another sedan. We test drove the Laura and found it much more comfortable and quiet that the Yeti and liked the overall fit finish , which was comparable to the Civic and the Yeti.
What sealed the deal for us was the mileage of the Diesel variant from all the other reviews (18-20kmpl) and the Rosso Brunello colour being available in the Ambiente variant too!

Dealership Experience:
We had purchased our earlier Yeti through Giriraj Motors and the experience with them during the 16 months of ownership has been positive and we chose to go with them again for our Laura.We closed the deal and got delivery in 10 Days from booking (which was also a criteria as we need the car before the 1st March!).

The total landed price to us was 15 Lacs, (ex-showroom price ~13.3 Lacs (-50K discount on 2011 stock -17.5K corporate discount) + Registration + Road tax ~ 90K + Skoda Assure + extended warranty ~65K + OEM Leather seats).

We took the Delivery on 27th Feb and I had also carried out the TBHP PDI on 26th Feb in daytime and found everything perfect.
The car had covered 11km on the ODO when we took the delivery.

Within the first 100 Kms of driving, I took the decision to get the Goodyear Eagle NCT5 tyres changed and chose Michelin Primacy LC tyres in the stock size. In retrospect, It was a good decision and the Primacy LCs have almost 40% less road noise, especially at speeds above 80Kmph) and also have improved comfort by 20-30% (my guess!). There is also no Booming thud when the tyres hit a pothole and it is a much more subdued noise. The Stock Goodyears were actually quite bad and Michelin Primacy are a step much higher than the original tyres. The cost of this swapover was Rs 6900 for all 4 tyres total - had got it done on the T-Mart at Sohna road Gurgaon.

Driving impressions
Now some initial experiences from the first 200 Kms and a brief comparison in terms of driving experience from our Yeti:

1) Interior space and Interior finish: The fit and finish in the Laura is top notch, but there are some interior squeaks (typically because of harder plastics being used) The space inside the Laura and the Yeti is very similar as they are built on the exactly same VW Golf platform. The colour schemes are slightly different - The Laura has light beige interiors, which the Yeti has a Mushroom Beige type interior colour. One good thing about the Laura as compared to the Civic is that the front visibility is very good and you can clearly see out of the front windshield without the dash blocking your view at all. In the Civic, the inside dash was really huge and it was difficult to predict just how much space there was in front of the car! It is also easier to make tight U-turns with the Laura due to this. Legroom is good in both the cars and seating positions are equally comfortable. However personally I prefer the seats of the Laura more, as the back support is good.


2) Engine, power and driving thrill: The Laura comes with a 2.0 L TDI Engine tuned at 110 BHP and 250 Nm peak torque @1500-2500 rpm mated to a 5 speed manual transmission. This engine is quite silent once it warms up and is a pleasure to drive. From the outside, one can hear the diesel noise, but once inside, it is barely audible. In the Yeti, the same engine is tuned for 140 Bhp and 320 Nm torque from 1750-2500 rpm. The Yeti engine sounds noisy and Growly compared to the Laura's which is more refined and silent. (maybe it is due to better NVH suppresion in the Laura). One more reason why I feel that less engine noise goes inside the Laura's cabin is that there is approx 15 cm space of empty space between the engine and the cabin in the engine bay, whereas in the Yeti, this space is less than 3 Cms! The engine being closer the cabin is also causing more engine noise being transmitted to the cabin.

In real world performance, though we have not tested the Laura flat out (till we complete the run period of at least 1000 Kms, we do not want to test its limits), I feel that the Laura would only be marginally slower than the Yeti, as the Yeti weighs almost 120 Kgs more than the Laura, due to the additional 4x4 drivetrain.

3) Ride quality and suspension: The Ride quality of the Laura is much better than the Yeti, as it is the typical sedan vs SUV stance and lower CG vs higher CG. Out of the SUVs, the Yeti probably has the best ride quality due to its suspension setup, but end of the day, a sedan will always be more comfortable and planted than any SUV for city driving, and the Laura just proves it again! The advantage that the Yeti has over the Laura for City driving is that the Yeti has a smaller turning dia (5m vs 5.6m) and is more maneuverable, but the Laura has a steering which required less effort, so this advantage is almost nullified! The other advantage is the length of the Yeti is ~4.2 m while the Laura is ~4.5 m and 1 ft shorter length of the Yeti helps it fit into parking slots much more easily.
The Michelin tyres of the Laura are also helping it score highly on the ride comfort aspect and I now feel that I need to go in for a change on my Yeti tyres ASAP! Unfortunately there are no Highway terrain tyres available yet for the Yeti in the stock size 215/60R16 and I am not too keen for a change of tyre size as I don't want to risk invalidating the warranty! So far I have covered 20K kms on the Yeti and am ready to run the tyres till another 10K Kms before I have to change the tyres (or before we head to Leh in Aug this year).. whichever is earlier!


4) Boot space and versatility: The Laura has a class leading bootspace (560L) and the seats can also be pushed forward to accommodate more luggage. The parcel shelf too can be removed to liberate slightly more space.

The Yeti has slightly less space in different configurations as below, but the advantage is the higher height of the load space vs longer depth. The boot space in various seat configuration in the Yeti is:
a) rear seats fully reclined and pushed backwards, and parcel shelf in place: 320 L
b) Rear seats partially reclined and pushed forward, with parcel shelf: 410 L
c) Rear seats partially reclined and pushed forward, without parcel shelf: 690 L (rear view is blocked, but rear parking sensors will serve their purpose).
d) Rear seats folded down (all) : 1200 L +
e) Rear seats removed:1600 L+

On of the reasons why we had opted for the Yeti earlier was that we could take our 6 Year old Labrador along with us in the Yeti, which would not have been possible in a sedan (at least not without giving up the entire rear seat to him!)

4) Airconditioning and heating: The AC in the Laura and the Yeti is comparable and does take some time to cool down. I am planning to get the Laura also fitted with 3M sunfilm (as we had done in the Yeti), which should help reduce the solar load. The Yeti being black does tend to get heated up more.
In this front, the Civic's AC was absolutely the best and would chill the cabin within 1 minute. The Laura and the Yeti typically take 3-5 Minutes, depending on the cabin temperature. One of the reasons why this is the case is that the Laura and the Yeti have a Variable flow air conditioning, and when you start the engine, it takes 90 seconds to buildup the full refrigerant flow to load the compressor and engine gradually. The Civic's AC was the normal full flow type with cutoff, which used to start immediately at full capacity when you switched on the engine. The Variable flow airconditioning is newer technology and saves fuel, but initially takes a little longer to cool.

5) Lighting (exterior and interior): The headlights on the Laura are better (in my preference!) as they have the option of switching on both beams together due to the Headlight assembly setup which has projector lens based optics for the main beams and reflector assemblies for the high beam. The beam spread and focus are good and better than the Yeti. The Yeti has a typical H4 Single reflector based headlight setup with single reflector optics, in which the same H4 bulb with high and low beams is housed and at a time, only one of the beams can be switched on. One of the upgrades I had done to my Yeti's headlight was to swap the bulbs with Philips +100% Xtreme bulbs and the light output is much better now. Other change which I did was to raise the aim level of the foglights so that the coverage was almost similar to the low beams. So now when I switch on both the main beams and the foglamps, I get twice as much light in the low beam area and when switching to high beam on the headlamps, the foglamps can fill in the low beam area well.

The interior illumination on both the cars is simple and effective. The dials on the speedo and Tacho are lit in White light and are simple and aesthetic.

6) ICE: The ICE on both our Laura and the Yeti is exactly the same: Skoda Swing system, with 8 speakers, mounted on the doors. However I felt that the sound on the Laura is marginally better than in the Yeti, probably due to speaker positioning and smaller inside space. The stock system is quite good in terms of sound quality and for us, serves most of our audiophile needs!

7) Cost of running!! : Both the Laura and the Yeti are extremely frugal and efficient in their use of fuel (diesel in both cases). So far the Laura is returning an average of 20-22 Kmpl (by the MID) and the Yeti is returning 16-18Kmpl (again by the MID). I have also done tank to tank calculations on the Yeti and the MID is only slightly optimistic by 2%, and is fairly accurate in my case. For the Laura, haven't yet got a chance to do a tankful check!
Both cars are economical to run and given than my wife will drive around 70kms every day (2-ways) to office, this was one of our top criteria in the choice of a car.

8) Others: The ORVMs of Laura are better and wider than the Yeti's , but the driver side mirror is non-convex and is plain - which reduces the field of view - it would have been good if they had offered a convex mirror here too, like the passenger side mirror!
Overall: I would rate the Laura a 9/10 and the Yeti a 8/10. The ownership experience will continue as we clock the miles on the Ruby Raptor! Many of you may be wondering as to why we took the step of getting another Skoda in the family, inspite of all the A.S.S stories on TBHP. Well, the value proposition that it offered was very good in this class, and thankfully I have seen their service attitude changing drastically over the past 1 1/2 years and now they are very responsive and even proactive in their service approach. So we took this step of inducting another Skoda into the family and hope that we will not be disappointed!


We will also miss the Civic that we had as it had very good handling and racing car like dynamics. The only letdowns of the Civic because of which we let it go were: Low mileage (8.5 Kmpl on petrol) as it an Automatic variant and Suspension being soft and low ground clearance, causing bottoming out, even with 3 people, on the notorious speed breakers of Gurgaon.
The build quality and dependability of the Civic were fantastic and it was an emotional moment for us when we handed over the keys to the future owner!

Post Budget update: We are happy that we bought the Laura just before the Budget , as post the Budget, the prices have gone up by almost 45K due to the increase in excise duties.

We will continue to share updates on the Ruby Raptor as we clock the miles on our beast!

(PS: There are many more pics on our Yeti on my other threads if you would like to see the Yeti pics
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ra-xuv5oo.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...km-driven.html)
Regards,
Behemoth

[.anshuman]

Thread moved here from Assembly line section. Thanks for sharing the review with us

[C300]

Behemoth, many congratulations on your new Skoda Laura.

Its elegant and beautiful and with that fuel economy it offers unmatched VFM.
Love the choice of the colour (I guess Fiat also offers similar colour on the Linea and Punto.)

I liked the comparison with Yeti in your post. Hope you keep on providing us with snippets of comparison between the two beauties.

[vb-saan]

I was actually thinking yesterday, where is the Laura ownership report from Behemoth

As usual great review, and thanks for the comparison with the Yeti.

I feel the Rosso Brunello looks much better on the Laura than the Superb.

You mentioned about OEM leather seats. Is it the same as what is available in the Elegance and L&K trims? What was the cost for getting this done?

[vinj14]

Congrats mate! The rosso brunello was available only in the l&k trim when i bought my laura. Guess its part of the change in the new lauras along with the black floor carpets.
Enjoy this stunning piece of machinery!
Get yourself a vcds cable and start having more fun!!

[_raVan_]

Congratulations Behemoth! Loved the color on the car It looks really great. I have mentioned this before and mentioning it here too, the only thing I dont like in the Laura is the lack of steering mounted controls and ACC across all the trims. It could have made Laura an unbeatable package in its segment.

One thing I noticed, doesnt any of the Korean and Japanese cars tickle you? You didnt mention any amongst Altis, Civic, Accord and Verna.

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Congratulations Behemoth.

Laura is a lovely car. Very nicely written review there.
Is this a new colour in Laura? I have just recently seen this colour and it looks good.

One more Laura joins the Gurgaon gang. Would love to see the car in the next meet.

CHEERS

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by _raVan_

One thing I noticed, doesnt any of the Korean and Japanese cars tickle you? You didnt mention any amongst Altis, Civic, Accord and Verna.

Maybe you did not read through the post fully. He has mentioned that the Laura came in as a replacement for the Civic

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Thread moved here from Assembly line section. Thanks for sharing the review with us

Thanks Anshuman!

Originally Posted by C300

Behemoth, many congratulations on your new Skoda Laura.
I liked the comparison with Yeti in your post. Hope you keep on providing us with snippets of comparison between the two beauties.

Thanks C300! Yes, I love to do comparison and relative benchmarking and in fact all my ownership threads are comparisons! Even over the years, I have even seen my references changing as we changed our cars! Hopefully the next benchmark will be set by either a Bimmer or a Landie

Originally Posted by vb-san

I was actually thinking yesterday, where is the Laura ownership report from Behemoth
As usual great review, and thanks for the comparison with the Yeti.
I feel the Rosso Brunello looks much better on the Laura than the Superb.

You mentioned about OEM leather seats. Is it the same as what is available in the Elegance and L&K trims? What was the cost for getting this done?

Thanks VB-San! Got a little delayed due to personal urgencies!
It really is a nice colour and adds character to the car. We had always loved this colour when we had seen it on the Linea initially and then on the Superb. Now when it became available in the Laura, we went for it!
We got the seats as part of a bundle offer in the price for an additional 25K , which the Skoda guys claimed cost 45K, and the rest was given as a discount. We had seen the quality of the leather seats before it was fitted on the seats (they take out the seats, remove the fabric and then install the leather seat covers) and it seemed good quality to me (though I am no leather expert!). The colour however is light beige, which does tend to get dirty quickly!

Originally Posted by vinj14

Get yourself a vcds cable and start having more fun!!

Yes, already have the VCDS from Ross-Tech (got it a year back for my Yeti- If you recall I had also asked you on your thread on where to get it!;-)
Thanks!

Originally Posted by _raVan_

Congratulations Behemoth! Loved the color on the car It looks really great. I have mentioned this before and mentioning it here too, the only thing I dont like in the Laura is the lack of steering mounted controls and ACC across all the trims. It could have made Laura an unbeatable package in its segment.
One thing I noticed, doesnt any of the Korean and Japanese cars tickle you? You didnt mention any amongst Altis, Civic, Accord and Verna.

Thanks RaVan! Yes, I am surprised they have still not added the Steering controls to the feature list in the Ambiente and the Elegance - it is normally available in most cars even a segment below. Auto Climate control is actually there (partially) with automatic temperature based regulation.
Skoda have two variants of the ACC - "Climatic control" (which is there in this variant), which regulates the temperature automatically by controlling the flow of cold/ hot air and flow regulation of the refrigerant. The Second variant is the "Climatronic control" which in in L&K and the Yeti Elegance regulates fan speed, Cold/ hot air flow and inside /outside air automatically.
We have already had a Civic for 3 years, and have replaced the Civic with the Laura! The Civic was becoming too expensive to run, especially as it was a Petrol AT! Also, as the commuting distance for my wife increased from 30Km daily to almost 75Kms, we decided to go for a Diesel car! As a comparison, the Civic would have costed us in Fuel cost alone - 14000 per month while the Laura will cost us 4000 per month to run the same distance of approx 1600 kms per month! Ironically, even if the monthly EMI for a diesel sedan is Rs 2500 higher per month (due to 1 lacs higher loan amount for a 4 year loan) the saving on the monthly cash outflow is still Rs 7500!) Diesel Economics!

We also did test-drive the Altis Diesel as one of the options and it just wasn't any fun to drive! As a self driven car, it feels a little laidback and less responsive and the engine has a typical clattery note, which is not there in the Laura. However as a chaffeur driven car it may have been a good choice. But both me and my wife are enthusiasts and like to drive ourselves and give more weightage to the self-drive experience than the backseat experience!

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

Congratulations Behemoth.

Laura is a lovely car. Very nicely written review there.
Is this a new colour in Laura? I have just recently seen this colour and it looks good.

One more Laura joins the Gurgaon gang. Would love to see the car in the next meet.

CHEERS

Thanks Buddy! Look forward to meeting up with the gang soon!

Regards,
Behemoth

[razor4077]

Lovely report, thanks for sharing. The car looks great in this colour, and I too hope that Skoda a.s.s will continue to serve you well. For me, the Laura is the best sub-20L option, especially if the car is self-driven. All the best!

[.anshuman]

Congratulations Behemoth!! Finally the much awaited ownership report is here. Having read your earlier reports, i was waiting for Laura's review with comparisons to Yeti, and it was worth waiting for.

This new shade looks awesome in pics, though i haven't seen it in person. Is it the same shade as the one offered in Superb?

I drove the 110hp MT before buying my car, the power delivery is even more linear than the 140hp variant, with gearing to match driveability is fabulous.

Do you plan to activate any of the features through VAG COM?

Originally Posted by Behemoth

During our selection process, we evaluated and considered almost all cars in the range

You missed VW Jetta in list, my pick amongst the MTs.

Dealership Experience:
We had purchased our earlier Yeti through Giriraj Motors and the experience with them during the 16 months of ownership has been positive and we chose to go with them again for our Laura.We closed the deal and got delivery in 10 Days from booking (which was also a criteria as we need the car before the 1st March!).

The sales staff is better than VW in Gurgaon but since Jai Auto and Giriraj are owned by the same person, they share the service center. The service staff is not as good as sales team, but i have no reason to be worried till my car is fine. I have heard good feedback on Fahrenheit Skoda in Delhi, will give the car to them for next service.

Within the first 100 Kms of driving, I took the decision to get the Goodyear Eagle NCT5 tyres changed and chose Michelin Primacy LC tyres in the stock size. In retrospect, It was a good decision and the Primacy LCs have almost 40% less road noise, especially at speeds above 80Kmph) and also have improved comfort by 20-30% (my guess!). There is also no Booming thud when the tyres hit a pothole and it is a much more subdued noise. The Stock Goodyears were actually quite bad and Michelin Primacy are a step much higher than the original tyres. The cost of this swapover was Rs 6900 for all 4 tyres total - had got it done on the T-Mart at Sohna road Gurgaon.

Very good choice. NCT5 are not good tires. I am glad i moved to Yokohamas, would have gone for Yoko DB if roads around were any better.


Keep us updated. See you at the next Gurgaon quick meet.

[Santoshbhat]

Congrats on the car Behemoth! Rosso brunello being a rare colour among Lauras gives you some amount of exclusivity.

I switched to Michelin Primacy LCs for my TSI as well, which I bought last year. Even though I swapped the 65 profile 15" Goodyears for 55 profile 16" Michelins , I still found an improvement in ride quality. The tyres grip the road very well in all weather conditions. They compliment the good suspension and brakes set up on the Laura very well.

Your comparison reviews are always a pleasure to read. Keep em' coming and drive safe

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Congratulations Behemoth!! Finally the much awaited ownership report is here. Having read your earlier reports, i was waiting for Laura's review with comparisons to Yeti, and it was worth waiting for.
This new shade looks awesome in pics, though i haven't seen it in person. Is it the same shade as the one offered in Superb?
I drove the 110hp MT before buying my car, the power delivery is even more linear than the 140hp variant, with gearing to match driveability is fabulous.
Do you plan to activate any of the features through VAG COM?
You missed VW Jetta in list, my pick amongst the MTs.

Thanks Anshuman!
Yes, its the same colour as the Superb and also suits the Laura well.
Yes, even I felt the power delivery to be more linear than my Yeti, but nothing beats the kick in the back feeling which the 140 Bhp engine gives after 2000 rpm!
VCDS - certainly, but after a few days!
We did see the new Jetta, but the new design seemed a little plain jane and now all their cars are so similar - Vento, Jetta and Passat and don't have a distinct character like Skoda!

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Congrats on the car Behemoth! Rosso brunello being a rare colour among Lauras gives you some amount of exclusivity.

Thanks Santosh!

Regards,
Behemoth

[jacksons]

congratulation Behemoth, Laura is best looking car and quite practical in its category. one thing is missing for a car cost so much is Audio controls on steering wheel.
So when is next Gurgoan meet for our treat.

[Durango Dude]

Congrats on the Laura. I was also keenly reading about your tyre upgrade as my Elantra is due for one and have been keen on Michelin Primacy LC ever since it was launched in India.