[.anshuman]

Thank You Everyone. I am so surprised to see so many liking the Laura(Coz we don't have many Lauras on the Forum).

Originally Posted by vaisakhr

How much is the on road price?

Please post detailed review and pics. Eagerly waiting for more.

^OTR = 15.?? Lakh Rupees. I will only be able to tell you the final price after i get the car registered.

Originally Posted by oxyzen

I am sure Laura is a much better car than elantra.

^Yup it is, but it also more than 50% more expensive.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Congrats anshuman, even we are considering the Laura as the next car, probably sometime next year. I think the L&K is brilliant.

Get some nice stanley seats, luckily you can customise it.

^ L&K come with a HUGE equipment list, go for it if budget permits. I was on a already stretched budget. Stanley leather planned.

Originally Posted by Akki_5

Congratulations! Mine is a white too
Here is my ownership report and some neat VAG-COM tricks - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...g-vag-com.html

^ Akki, I have gone through your thread. I also plan to customise the car similarly. See you on your thread.

Originally Posted by PlatzdaTurbo

Congrats on the Laura! The DSG is sure to make extensive mile-munching a piece of cake !
By the way, apart ACC, what are the other features that the L&K has that the other 2 trim levels dont ? specifically yours ?
Also is the 160hp tsi Laura now available in L&K trim ?

^ I have already started feeling the difference. One hand, one leg and lots of processing power of my brain is now free all the time, thanks to the AT. The DSG does not take out the driving pleasure out the experience. I was driving a Nissan Sentra AT in Malaysia for last 10 days, though it had a good engine, it was not as close to fun to drive.

Check out the Laura website to see the equipment difference between various variants. I do miss Leather seats, ACC, ESP, more Airbags and Cruise control.

Originally Posted by aks_karthik

Everytime i am in the buying process of cars, Definitely Laura is in the list.Once i booked and canceled too after a lot of dilemma.
Still It's my dream machine....
One day i might buy a Skoda Laura L&K DSG in Balck or Cappuccino Beige shade.

I wanted to buy this car for long. Budget never permitted me to, now after the Engine upgrade the car became more tempting.

Originally Posted by Cesc

You bought this from Giriraj or Jai Auto? Please do share the buying experience also.

Also by any chance did you enquire about any possibility of the Laura RS trim (that was on display during the Auto Expo in Delhi) coming to our shores?

^ I bought the car from Giriraj. I did not enquire about the RS, AFAIK it will be coming only with the TSi with MT.

Originally Posted by GTO

Coming from the Elantra, you'll be very happy with driving around the Laura DSG common-rail.

I'm not a fan of Skoda's OEM leather seats. Well, you can always get Stanley next year?
The sole flaw in the Laura's driving experience(Steering feel). Not only at parking speeds, but I also feel its too light & lifeless at 150 kph.

^ Yup the Laura is lot more involving to drive. It's much more faster than i earlier imagined. Thanks to loads of torque available from low down it's always eager run away. Acceleration is quite close to what i felt in 320d, shifts better.

The Steering might not be as good as the good old Octavia but still it's better than all other Diesel cars in the segment(Altis, Jetta, Cruze & Sonata) and even amongst the petrols only the Civic does have a better PS.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

mmm ... that's a beauty! You my friend are a brave man - two of the brands most notorious for service are in your garage (replacing two of the most trusted ones - Maruti & Hyundai)

Time for a gaon meet?

Let's keep our fingers crossed till 15k kms figure arrives. The Altis D might be the easiest to own car in segment, but is so boring to drive that i would have been better off with the Elantra. The Cruze is not the wisest decision either, it depreciates faster. Petrols are strict no for me.

Let's plan a Gurgaon meat soon. Some treats due from my side.

Originally Posted by blackbeast

Please share dealership experience and discounts/offers with us.

Did you get a quote from hyundai ? at what price ?

^ Dealership experience was very good, the dealer delivered what he promised. His behaviour was fit for a dealership selling premium cars(Way way better than VW).

No, i did ask for the Sonata's price. I have driven the Sonata CRDi earlier, i does not suit my requirements.(Though a excellent car for Families.)

Originally Posted by noopster

But I agree with your analysis 100%- the DSG is unmatched, 140 BHP on a 2 liter diesel engine is an incredible value prop. and the car's interiors, boot space, ICE and general look and feel are the icing on the cake. Here's wishing you many happy miles in this mean machine!

^ Not only the 140bhp but the best part is the Engine pulls from as low as 1400rpm and still does not run out of grunt till 4500rpm. This is huge improvement over earlier PD engines.

Originally Posted by ashish22

Well this car indeed is the best AT diesel this side of 20 lacs.

^ For the fun to drive factor, no diesel below 320d can beat it(I know Superb exists but it's more focussed on comfort).

Originally Posted by arunkk

I thought you were soo much in love with your Elantra that you will never give her away.

How is the under thigh support? Waiting eagerly for your extensive report & comparisons.

And now I wonder why do you always choose brands which are not so good in the after sales department. Just curious

^ If budget would have permitted, i would not have sold the Elantra off.

Under thigh support feels good, will report in detail once i spend more time with the car. Pics coming real soon.

Maybe because i listen more to my heart when buying a car.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

I have been constantly eyeing it ever since it launched with the new engine. Please post a detailed ownership review and tons of pics.

And yes, do let us know if you face GC issues with this car since that is probably the single biggest area where the Yeti scores over it.

I feel that the Laura's rear bench is better than the Yeti for 3 people. Am I correct?

^Detailed report and Pics coming soon. GC is very important for me too, GC is better than the Cruze. Will tell you more about it once i spend more time with the car.

Comparison to Yeti is coming soon.

Originally Posted by ACM

Enjoy the best 0-100 experience this side of 25L .

Posting some random 0-140kph figures from ACI, Just for reference.
(All figures in Secs.)
Linea T-Jet in 28.2
Cruze AT in 19.54
Swift 1.2 in 30.25
Laura TSi in 15.69
Altis P in 22.33
Altis D in 36.78
Civic MT in 18.58
Laura 140 DSG in 16.54
Vento D in 24.34
Verna in 21.88
Linea D in 30.80
Audi Q7 4.2tdi in 12.07
Vento P in 25.48
ANHC in 20.29secs

[.anshuman]

Post#1 and Post#2 on Page#1 have been updated with detailed pictures and drive report.

[ashish22]

Excellent updated review. So is this your first AT?? How does it feel to drive an AT after being used to driving MT cars. The only thing which keeps me wary of AT cars is that it might rob you of the driver involvement. How has been your transition from a MT to AT?

Looking at the pics i can say skoda has done a top notch job with the build and finish quality of the interiors. This is one thing which i sorely miss in my Cruze. Oh and the max legroom looks enormous!

[kutlee]

nice car. Those floor mats are not sufficient. Upgrade it.

[duke]

Nice review, even though my Laura is the older version, it has never given me a yard less than 17kmpl till date. The Older L&K had a lot more features which they've taken out from the new L&K (e.g. No Sunroof). I'm 80,000 kms down on the Laura and it still drives like it came out of the showroom.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by duke

Nice review, even though my Laura is the older version, it has never given me a yard less than 17kmpl till date. The Older L&K had a lot more features which they've taken out from the new L&K (e.g. No Sunroof). I'm 80,000 kms down on the Laura and it still drives like it came out of the showroom.

That is precisely what makes it so desirable. An extremely well built car with awesome highway manners, a stonker of a diesel engine, the best autobox in the country today, luxurious and spacious interiors for 5 and wonderful FE figures to boot.
What more could one ask for?

[moose56]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

What more could one ask for?

Better A.S.S


btw great choice anshuman i own a verna and always wanted to upgrade to a laura but after reading the horror skoda stories here i decided to wait for the new elantra

[download2live]

OH MY GOD!!! YOU BOUGHT A SKODA!!!!

Wow....I still remember how you absolutley tore the FIAT After Sales Service apart with your incisive but true observations.

I bet Skoda showroom guys are not familiar with your Team-BHP avtaar. Were they? If they were then talk about guts!!!!!
If I was in the Manager shoes I would burn the whole showroom down rather than hand over the keys of a Skoda to you.

Just joking.

But hey, Nice taste as far as cars go. Many congratulations on the purchase. Hope that you enjoy the car and clock millions of miles on her.

[vsk2009]

Congrats ansuman! Good choice. What was the reason for opting out Jetta?

[better4worse]

Hey Anshuman....Many congrats on the fantastic buy !

GTO is spot on when he says....'white' is the new 'black ! This is third pristine white Laura buy I've heard of in the last one week. Seriously weren't you tempted by the Superb ?!

[ACM]

Anshuman - you can change the setting in MID from ltr/100kms to km/ltr in the settings menu for the MID activiated by keeping pressed the up-down setting toggle switch at the end of the RHS stalk for 2 sec or so.

In the settings menu there would be multiple minor setting that you can change.

[v.anand]

Congrats @.anshuman on the new Laura. Sure, you have two wonderful car brands with horrible service reputation in your stable, which is common with me.

IMO, the only big downer in Ambiente trim is the 15 inch wheels, the looks of which don't do justice to the size and handling ability of the car. I upgraded to 16 inchers of Elegance at the time of delivery of Laura TSI and added Michelin comfort rubber, have been very happy with this swap. Also wanted to change the seats to leather but the quality of fabric is terrific, so wanted to use it for an year before upgrading to Stanley leather.

@ACM, are you sure the MID fuel consumption settings can be changed in versions lower than L&K? The difference is L&K comes with Maxidot display and the others don't. Will be glad if its possible but I tried and couldn't.

[Akki_5]

I ran a display test on the MID of my Elegance thru VAG-COM and there is no way this display can show km/ltr on the screen. Don't know about the L&K's MaxiDot though.

[Vid6639]

Till now I never even knew that one could get the Ambiente version with the DSG box. I always thought that the DSG was available only with the L&K.

This is really good VFM. Ambiente with DSG priced a little more than Civic AT.

Congrats Anshuman. Even for the Ambiemte trim, the car looks really well kitted out.

With the Ambiente DSG I wonder how the Jetta even sells.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by ashish22

So is this your first AT?? How does it feel to drive an AT after being used to driving MT cars. The only thing which keeps me wary of AT cars is that it might rob you of the driver involvement. How has been your transition from a MT to AT?

Yup this is my first AT. But i have driven AT cars a lot so i always knew what to expect here. The DSG is much much more fun to drive compared to the conventional autoboxes. Last month i hired a Nissan Sentra in Langkawi for more than a week, that autobox made me miss the MT, but DSG is seriously very good. I keep the car on Tiptronic mode on empty highways and shift back to D when traffic arrives.

Originally Posted by kutlee

nice car. Those floor mats are not sufficient. Upgrade it.

They are freebies offered by the dealer, will upgrade soon.

Originally Posted by duke

Nice review, even though my Laura is the older version, it has never given me a yard less than 17kmpl till date. I'm 80,000 kms down on the Laura and it still drives like it came out of the showroom.

Even i am very happy with the FE figures i am getting initially. Good to know your trouble free ownership with the car. Even i pln to keep the car for a long to come.

Originally Posted by vsk2009

What was the reason for opting out Jetta?

I did not even consider the Jetta. The design feels atleast a decade old, the engine is only available in lower state of tune with only MT option and replacement is due soon. Plus there is no point bashing the VW sales staff again here.

Originally Posted by better4worse

Seriously weren't you tempted by the Superb ?!

Superb is a very tempting car, but it is a lot more expensive(Out of my budget) and Laura being lighter and more agile is a better car to drive.

Originally Posted by v.anand

IMO, the only big downer in Ambiente trim is the 15 inch wheels, the looks of which don't do justice to the size and handling ability of the car.

I am actually happier with 15 inchers, i do have visit places with no roads, i love the little extra cushion they provide.

Originally Posted by vid6639

With the Ambiente DSG I wonder how the Jetta even sells.

Check out the sales figures, Jetta barely sells. It only comes with a MT with 110hp state of tune. The dealers have an air of Attitude+Arrogance unseen earlier.