Quote:
Originally Posted by vigneshkumar31 Can you let us into your mind about why chose this over the competition? Im in a similar scenario and would like a peek  |
Cars considered/ignored:
Endeavour: Loved the new Endeavour, the 3.2 is powerful and has all the gadgets. But it has IMHO badly designed interiors. A car that is bigger from the outside has such paucity of seating inside! unbelievable. It is tight inside and big outside. My preference is the exact opposite. And the sun/moon roof is also like a small addition, especially compared to the Kodiaq.
Fortuner: Loved the new Fortuner. More modern looks. The interiors with its wood inserts had almost a retro look (not in a good way though). And the small windscreen with a high dashboard is not to my liking. Plus, the ride was still bumpy.
Hexa: We test drove the Hexa and liked it. For a Tata product, it is really nice. None of us disliked it. We did seriously consider buying one, breaking one of my older axioms - never buy a new Tata or Mahindra product till it is in the second iteration of the product life cycle - no recalls and initial customers are treated as guinea pigs and they will launch a V2 with the fixes!
Innova: Did not consider the Innova. We absolutely hate the Innova. It just screams cab/taxi.
The big Germans + JLR
Did not seriously consider any of the luxury German brands. I think they signal things that is not really who I am, so did not want to waste my money. However, I did test drive the GLS. Liked the car over all, but am not ready to plonk ~90L for a car, common, who do I think I am! Considered the Discovery Sport and did a test drive (in the US), liked the car - However in India Land Rover does not inspire confidence from a reliability point of view. Plus, the trims I like were in my opinion pushing the costs upwards. Also as this will be our primary ride for long drives, I couldn’t take a risk of buying an expensive luxury car that is unreliable.
Our requirements: Mostly 4 adults on board, but a few long trips a year with 6 adults + a child on board. So, needed a 5+2 option. Plus have an option of going off road. It had to be a SUV. And did I mention Sun Roof. Wifey wanted a sun roof, so that got added to our must haves. I still think it is an underserved segment of the market in India. Is Hyundai listening - get us the LWB Santa Fe (
https://www.hyundaiusa.com/santa-fe/comparison.aspx)
Fast forward 2018. Beginning of this year someone mentioned Skoda Kodiaq. And I was like, “Skoda with it's bad service reputations and finicky electronics”. Yup, the same one. Was not really interested.
Then one day saw the official review of the Kodiaq up and read through the whole thing on one sitting. And could not help but admire the gushing review, almost read like a couple of fanboys writing up on their favourite brand/toy. A little research unearthed that there is a small minority in India that swears by Skoda.
Plus, I guess age caught up with me to the surprise of a few of my fellow SUV owners who accused me of softening up. While I loved sitting high up I had begun to crave for a decent ride and some creature comforts.
Skoda Kodiaq:
Read the TBHP review, registered my interest on the Skoda site, got a call in one day. In Bangalore there is only one test drive car, so had to wait for a week. Took a test drive and decided to buy the car.
The whole car felt just right. To give you an analogy it felt like moving from a Blackberry to an apple iPhone. An upgrade from my old Endy. The third row is tight, I would rate it similar to the new Endeavour, but given the low height of the Kodiaq it is not that painful to get in.
Went with the nearest dealership, in my case TAFE Access. I was satisfied with the whole sales process. Very professional. They agreed to all my normal asks - my own insurance, PDI. No discounts though (remember this was Jan'18)
There was the usual car sales man talk of heavy demand, long waiting periods and an imminent price rise. I smiled and went ahead with my booking without compromising on the colour choice – Black. The car was delivered in 2 weeks.