[car_guy1998]

Well, disappointed with the prices announced by Skoda!

I feel that Skoda has overpriced this car, which doesn't have 6 airbags in top-end AT (which is a shame for a 21L car) and TPMS and a Diesel engine as well, which Skoda/VW removed from the engine deliberately due to BS6! Even its competitors like Creta and Seltos have those 6 airbags and TPMS at a cheaper price and even the Sonet AT/DCT, which is nearly 5-6L cheaper than the Kushaq, has 6 airbags and TPMS! Another irony is, even Honda is offering 6 airbags from City VX itself, which is a mid variant, and 4 airbags in base variant V!

IMO, I feel 1.0 TSI AT is overpriced and instead, will go for Honda City ZX CVT, which has a spacious rear seat and has a proven 1.5 iVTEC engine along with reliable mechanicals and A.S.S, which is way better than Skoda, at that price or will go for its cheaper sibling, the Rapid, which has the same engine but drives well when to compared to its cousin!

The advantage which Koreans have over the Kushaq is the Diesel engine (has 6-speed Diesel AT as well, which is the best combo), better rear-seat comfort than the Kushaq, and has better dealership network when compared to Skoda! Barring safety, the Koreans have a better package than the Kushaq! I hope Kia will listen to the feedback given by the customers and improve the structural integrity of the Seltos and offer additional safety features from the base version itself, which will be a better bet and the Kushaq will be facing the heat from the Seltos as well as Creta if they offer those additional safety features from the base version!

Now, I feel that the waiting period of the Creta/Seltos/Sonet along with Honda City will get increased, thanks to disastrous pricing by Skoda!

The Kushaq is for the enthusiasts, who want performance as well as build quality while the Creta/Seltos is for the people, who want bling, better rear-seat comfort, and the dealership network!

I was planning to replace my 2014 City iDTEC with the Kushaq soon, but now, I'll have to look for somewhere else!

I hope that Skoda will be introducing the discounts of around 50K-1L on the Kushaq after the initial hoopla dies!

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by Rigid Rotor

Those panels appear to be the covers for the wheel well, which as in any car, does intrude into the rear cabin area. However, those panels appear to continue upwards vertically, whereas in most other vehicles, the seat back is flared outwards into that area.

We need to instead, check out detailed specs - what are the rear and front wheel tracks? If these are narrower than the competition - then that's the primary reason for the reduced width and not primarily those panels.

Thanks! After reading your post I just did a quick check. Kushaq is based on the Kamiq and this is what I found.

You can see that in some variants of Kamiq this area is padded and they should have gone for the similar approach in Kushaq with slightly modified seat contours. That should have resolved the rear seat space issue for the 5th passengers up to some extend. I also noticed a tag in the same area.


Kamiq has 9 airbag opation and this space is where they install rear side airbags. That is the reason for vertical extension of the plastic panel.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Kamiq has 9 airbag opation and this space is where they install rear side airbags. That is the reason for vertical extension of the plastic panel.
Attachment 2173046

You are right. Rear side airbags are not part of the seat but are housed in the panel next to the seat. Here is a pic of the same from S class rear seat.

[Chrome6Boy]

Originally Posted by ashis89

I am surprised and curious to see a lot of members listing/opting/booking the Sonet as an alternative to Kushaq.

Did Skoda get its competitor wrong? Or did I get the Kushaq's competition wrong? I hope that isn't the case.

While I understand the price overlap between Nexon/Venue/Sonet and Creta/Seltos, the Kushaq should rightly fall in the second bracket, given its price/dimension/engine options.

I wonder if people remember the Toyota Yaris launch a few years ago. It was marketed as a car which was a competitor to the City and Verna. However when people actually saw the car and they realised it was smaller, it disappeared off the sales chart despite Toyota being a highly regarded brand. Few could digest buying a smaller car than the City and Verna for a similar price. Perhaps size wasn't the only issue but for us Indians it often is.

Is Kushaq really competing with the Seltos or the Sonet?

The 4m rule is an arbitrary number enforced by the government and I don't know if anyone can really justify Kushaq's length being more than 4m as the reason for a much higher price. When Skoda decided to design Kushaq for India they made a decision to make it longer than 4m and still make it smaller than the Creta.

The Sonet is only smaller in length and is bigger in the remaining dimensions. The Sonet / Venue also offer a 1.0 turbo with even better features and a proven ASS at a lower price. The only difference being the length by a few cms.

I doubt Skoda is targetting 8,000 cars a month, it looks like it was purely a marketing gimmick. The announced price removed any thought of them competing with Kia and Hyundai.

I am a big VAG fan and love my 5 year old Vento TSI. My DSG has died once and was luckily replaced under warranty and even despite that it is a phenomenal car and I don't regret buying it for an instant.

If the Kushaq was sub 4m and priced accordingly with the same engine and gearbox options I would have seriously considered. I think they got greedy, so my search for the Vento TSI's replacement continues.

This is only my personal opinion, and I wish the people who have booked the Kushq many KMs of fun and safety!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Rigid Rotor

Those panels appear to be the covers for the wheel well, which as in any car, does intrude into the rear cabin area. However, those panels appear to continue upwards vertically, whereas in most other vehicles, the seat back is flared outwards into that area.

We need to instead, check out detailed specs - what are the rear and front wheel tracks? If these are narrower than the competition - then that's the primary reason for the reduced width and not primarily those panels.

The front and rear wheel tracks are indeed smaller than competition. For example - Rear track is 1516mm in the Kushaq as against 1573mm in the Seltos.

Infact, the rear track is smaller than several sub-4m SUVs, just like the overall width! Some examples below -

Vitara Brezza - Rear track 1505mm

Skoda Kushaq - Rear track 1516mm

Ford Ecosport - Rear track 1524mm
TATA Nexon - Rear track 1530mm
Nissan Magnite - 1535mm
Mahindra XUV 3OO - Rear track 1563mm

Renault Duster - Rear track 1567mm
Kia Seltos - 1573mm





(Ignore the AWD, image is from export market. Source )

Also, in order to liberate maximum legroom from the compact dimensions, the rear bench in the Kushaq is placed closer to the wheel wells as opposed to the competition. Resulting in a larger wheel well intrusion into the seating area that they couldn't cover up with the seats.

View from the boot, as compared to the Seltos. Kushaq seats are just near the highest part of the wheel well, whereas they are further ahead of the wheel wells in the Seltos.

[rpm]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Seltos got dropped the moment the crash results came out. Personally I find the Sonet better built than Seltos and if the Sonet were crash tested it would probably get 4 stars like the Venue as it is on same platform.

With all due respect, Sir, I think you are making a grave error by extrapolating the crash performance of the the international Venue to the Indian Sonet and Indian Venue. You should give BHPian RSR's thread a look, if your primary reason for dropping the Seltos was its poor crash performance.

Here (Are Indian Hyundais different from developed market Hyundais? If so, how?) is his post which compares the structural differences between the Indian Venue and International Venue.

Here (Are Indian Kias different from developed-market Kias? If so, how?) is the superstructure of the Sonet for comparison.

Here (Are Indian Kias different from developed-market Kias? If so, how?) is the difference between the Indian and international Seltos. It shows how the removal of the red (UHSS) steel in the pillar and few other regions impacted the crash rating of the Indian Seltos. Granted that crash ratings across NCAPs aren't directly comparable. But if you look at the ODB score for Australian Seltos, it scored 5.54/8, which, when doubled, translates to 11.08/16 (ANCAP halves this score according to their current protocol). If, hypothetically, GNCAP used the same injury assessment criteria for the head and chest region (which I'll outright say is slightly different in reality), but the overall scoring and rating criteria remained the same as the current protocol, the Australian Seltos would score 11.08/16 (ODB) + 1/1 (SBR) = 12.08/17 overall, which would make it eligible for a 4-star rating at GNCAP in this hypothetical scenario.

In fact, the Australian Venue, despite getting an overall 4-star rating in ANCAP, scored 7.21/8 in ODB test, which translates to 14.42/16 when doubled to get the actual score for ODB test. It has, in fact, outperformed the Australian Seltos in this particular test. The only reason it got an overall 4-star rating was because it scored 62% in safety assist, which is less than the threshold 70% required for a 5-star rating at ANCAP. In fact, assuming the hypothetical scenario I outlined for Australian Seltos, the Australian Venue would score 14.42 (ODB) + 1/1 (SBR) = 15.42/17 overall at GNCAP (given similar head and chest assessment criteria), which would give it a full 5-star rating.

But this applies only to the Australian variants in this hypothetical scenario. The same can't be conclusively said for the Indian variants with missing UHSS reinforcements.

I would humbly request you to reconsider your evaluation and extrapolation of international Venue's crash rating to the Indian Sonet, given the missing UHSS reinforcements on the Indian variant, if your reason for dropping the Seltos was its dismal crash rating itself. However, if you do wish to proceed with the Sonet regardless, I would still wish you all the best.

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by ACe_10

With respect to the larger observation in your post, this 12-18 lakh segment is targeted at persons doing reasonably well financially and have a decent paying job/business and are looking to throw a bit of money for a 'nice' car..

If that was the case there would not be so many cost cutting. Plus there was no need to develop Kushaq and the Kamiq could have been manufactured locally instead to target well to do people.
.

Originally Posted by ACe_10

Plus Skoda/VW have never targeted the mass market and they are not doing so now with Kushaq - like it or not, their products are always at a premium. Look at how they have historically priced the polo/rapid/vento vs their competitors.

Make no mistake, Skoda is targeting the mass market crossover like the Creta and Seltos. The entry level pricing tells you they want numbers to sustain their existence in India. Their dealers are bleeding money for so long which is why they came up with India 2.0 strategy.
Zac himself has said he intends to change the Indian perspective that these "entry level Skoda cars are too expensive and not worth the service hassle" image their brand has from the days of Fabia.

The only variant a prospective Creta and Seltos segment buyer would look at is the 1.0 ltr 3cylinder turbo petrol manual Kushaq because the next variant much like the Rapid has a too hefty price gap. I know people complain the Seltos and Creta has too many variants but they don't realise that the extra variants filling every lakh will force buyers of sub4m cars to consider going a segment upwards. That is the Korean secret to sales success.

[Travelling_Monk]

I just booked Kushaq Style 1.0 MT variant, found it to be perfectly suiting my requirements. I had earlier booked a Seltos 1.5 HTX variant which I had cancelled due to safety issues. I am not an agressive driver and rarely drive above 100kph. Skoda on the other hand is infact a few grand cheaper than the same Seltos variant with power figures more or less the same, but the biggest USP with the Skoda here is the safety and build quality and useful features with 6 airbags, ventilated seats and infotainment with subwoofer compared to 2 airbags and useless gimmicks such as remote start-stop and mood lightings and build quality which we all know about.

I believed Skoda has nailed it especially the 1.0 MT style variant which is cheaper than the Koreans and safer too. Eagerly waiting for the delivery which is promised within 21st of July.

[TJ02]

Hi Guys,

I was very curiously following Kushaq's launch event timelines. The pricing has disappointed me a lot. I am a big fan of VAG cars and even own a few of them. Now after seeing the prices of Kushaq and cost cutting on some interior parts I am suddenly feeling Seltos Diesel Automatic makes more sense or a fully loaded Sonet GTX+ Diesel Automatic. I never even thought of Diesel Automatic from Koreans but the Kushaq pricing does not seem to be VFM.

Can you tell which cars make real sense to buy in 15 to 20 lac price bracket and are a delight for an enthusiast? Seltos popped up when I read GTO's comments on Diesel Seltos AT. Please suggest which cars can I look for enthusiastic driving in this price bracket.

[Vid6639]

Is there some confusion on the 6 airbags?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtS3SKTydKQ

This interview seems to indicate that only the 1.5L TSI DSG is missing the 6 airbags and the 1.0L TSI AT still gets 6 airbags?

He specifically mentioned 1.5 DSG and never the 1.0L TSI AT.

[07CR]

So everyone knows the Kushaq lacks in specs, yet is priced at par with the Hyundai/Kia Twins. But how much does it lack? Was surprised to find out by a massive margin! Just check the below snaps.

Edit-
1) Antiglare rear mirror is for the ORVM
2) No. of speakers+SubWoofer has been mentioned.

Glossary-
Green Color= Best of three
Blue Color= 2nd Best of three
Red Color= Last of three

Even if one leaves the performance parameters outside (thought by many to be the trump card of 1.5 AT over competition), Kushaq still lags by quite a long margin. Performance is more or less similar for all three cars. No wonder there is such an uproar against the Kushaq since the price unveil. Few parameters in Koreans like way better ASS, better interior room for 5, Reliability, better interior quality aren't even considered here.

[ACe_10]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

If that was the case there would not be so many cost cutting.

The argument would be that cost-cutting was necessary to fit the car into the 12-18 lakhs price bracket. In any event, my comment has been taken a bit out of context - I was taking about the preference of buyers in the 12-18 lakhs bracket generally in response to another post and not specifically about Skoda


[/quote]

Make no mistake, Skoda is targeting the mass market crossover like the Creta and Seltos. Zac himself has said he intends to change the Indian perspective that these "entry level Skoda cars are too expensive and not worth the service hassle" image their brand has from the days of Fabia.
[/quote]


As the saying goes, 'see what they do and not what they say'. Skoda has not come out its top end variant yet - we are comparing Skoda's mid variant to KIA/Hyundai's top variant. The next variant (or two) will easily IMO be 2-3 lakhs INR more expensive than the Koreans.

[abhishek_hch]

Originally Posted by 07CR

Even if one leaves the performance parameters outside (thought by many to be the trump card of 1.5 AT over competition), Kushaq still lags by quite a long margin. Performance is more or less similar for all three cars. No wonder there is such an uproar against the Kushaq since the price unveil. Few parameters in Koreans like way better ASS, better interior room for 5, Reliability, better interior quality aren't even considered here.

Extremely good analysis! However, one doesn't really need to get into this much to understand that Kushaq lags on features, it is as clear as day. If you want best in class features or good ASS experience you go for the Koreans.

Regarding reliability Koreans have much to answer for especially in the brakes department (perhaps as much as VW on DSG), it's just that it hasn't gotten them as much bad press. Between a bad brake & a bad gearbox, the choice is pretty obvious!

Now, the long term reliability of Hyundai DCT is an unknown variable right now. The lead indicators are not very bright or encouraging. A clear verdict on if the Hyundai DCT is extremely reliable is atleast 3 years away. And God forbid, if it isn't then how will Hyundai-Kia deal with it is also unknown.

Do Koreans have good room for 5? By no stretch of imagination! And let's park our comments on interiors till we see the car in person.

To be fair let's give the Skoda guys sometime to atleast stabilise the assembly line! Initial niggles are known across industry, so no point in hanging these guys by the rope here. They being Germans will in all likelihood get out of it much quicker.

It's also as clear as day that if you want strong build and good driving experience you sacrifice some features, write a heftier cheque & look beyond the Koreans.

So all in all a good analysis but output is pretty much what's known all around.

[volkman10]

Skoda deprioritizing the production of the 1.5 variant ?. Further delayed

.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by 07CR

So everyone knows the Kushaq lacks in specs, yet is priced at par with the Hyundai/Kia Twins. But how much does it lack? Was surprised to find out by a massive margin! Just check the below snaps.

Thank you ,I get it now - I was under the impression that at least VAG fans would be just fine with Kushaq, the missing features list is not making Skoda looking all that clever. What is more interesting here is that Creta & Seltos are not the same vehicle.