Team-BHP - Skoda Kushaq Review

Get real, Skoda is the king of bling, the whole marketing spiel is based on the kit you get relative to more expensive cars, that's what simply clever is. The Octavia might trump the Elantra, but that's not the case in this segment, the Creta invented it and now you've got the Seltos, combined they sell 4 times what skoda plans to in a few years from now. The Koreans have 3 engines and 5 transmission on offer they're not on a back foot, I guess they'll double down and increase prices.

We are supposed to be in awe of the safety, build quality, handling and ambience. Safety is untested as of now, less airbags equal more safety because of sheet metal thickness, right. Build quality, a completely arbitrary opinion, the Creta and the Seltos don't feel like tin cans at all, they're the direct competition. Handling is pretty much at par for the Creta and Seltos, at legal speeds nobody is going to give it a second thought. The Kushaq has dreary interiors, look at the drab color combination and poor finish of the steering wheel, yes it's going to hold up really well. The Creta and Seltos have good interiors and the Creta panoramic sunroof is awesome, a proper luxury feature.

You can go against the tide and pick up what the market has dropped, be prepared for a long ownership period, dicey service and disastrous depreciation. No diesel, overpriced automatics with less airbags and skoda service, looks like a clear winner.

Quote:

Originally Posted by C300 (Post 5092931)

rl: ��

Wow. What a thread. Creta/Seltos owners out in force justifying their decision to buy a 2 star rated car for 2 million.
From all the reviews its clear that Kushaq trumps Korean twins in key parameters. Its a mechanically sorted package. The base 1.0 MT offers great value.

The Korean twins stretch between 10-20 otr, the Kushaq hasn't been tested for safety yet and its based on a cut price localisation platform with a focus on cost cutting. What key parameters did the Kushaq trump the Koreans on? Why would anyone choose a stressed 1 litre 3 cylinder turbo over an equally powerful 1.5 NA the Koreans offer, for dreadful economy?

Quote:

Originally Posted by John316_WRC (Post 5092747)

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Kushaq has better insulation, better ride over broken roads, better usable boot space and overall a more premium feel.

https://youtu.be/0JGbovKODOY

In the video they smartly just moved luggages out of Creta and didnt even try to fit all . Creta can easily accommodate all of them used in the video. They even mentioned lower loading lip as an advantage with Kushaq :)

They clearly ignored the irregularities in interior quality of Kushaq which has got shoddy bits (quite unlike Skoda). Creta has got very consistent fit and finish throughout.

Infotainment system being better in Skoda is something I would take with a pinch of salt.

I am attaching the photos from the video to demonstrate how Creta's boot could have been better utilised. It definitely has got more depth in boot to accommodate more odd items and carry bags

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbokick (Post 5092975)

In the video they smartly just moved luggages out of Creta and didnt even try to fit all . Creta can easily accommodate all of them used in the video. They even mentioned lower loading lip as an advantage with Kushaq :)

I am attaching the photos from the video to demonstrate how Creta's boot could have been better utilised. It definitely has got more depth in boot to accommodate more odd items and carry bags

This is what I have been saying all along regarding the boot space and this reaffirms the actual measurements I had taken of the Creta.. It has a very Shallow boot space and it cannot accommodate luggage (even in this video, it taken in much less luggage than the Kushaq). Good that they demonstrated with actual luggage and people can now see the real difference.

Even though I have cancelled my Kushaq booking, I am still planning to see and test drive the car once it is available in the Gurgaon showroom after 6th July (when the cars reach them). I will share my observations on the car once I see and drive the car.
Though I have booked the Sonet GTX+ Diesel AT Dual Tone (at an on road price of almost 16 Lacs), I will still consider the Kushaq Ambition 1.0 TSI AT, which is also close to 16 Lacs on road. Delivery of my Sonet is still at least 18-19 weeks, so waiting and watching for any better options I can get in the Interim. I would have gone ahead with my initial Kushaq Style 1.0 TSI AT booking (on road close to 18) If and only if they would have retained the 6 airbags also in the Auto version. Hopefully they will get some sense and relaunch a better version (hopefully Monte Carlo with 6 airbags and also Digital Driver display) soon.
The Challenge however remains that I drive close to 105 kms every day and with a Diesel Auto Sonet I would get around 15-16 Kmpl mileage and spend around 600 Rupees per day on Fuel alone. While with a Petrol Auto 1.0, I would end up spending almost double of that. So with 22 days of driving, the running cost difference is 13,000 per month or over 1.5 lacs over a year and even if I calculate the cost over 6 years, the running cost difference is over 9 lacs!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behemoth (Post 5093114)

The Challenge however remains that I drive close to 105 kms every day and with a Diesel Auto Sonet I would get around 15-16 Kmpl mileage and spend around 600 Rupees per day on Fuel alone. While with a Petrol Auto 1.0, I would end up spending almost double of that. So with 22 days of driving, the running cost difference is 13,000 per month or over 1.5 lacs over a year and even if I calculate the cost over 6 years, the running cost difference is over 9 lacs!

To add to it, the resale value of the diesel Sonet will be significantly higher than a petrol Kushaq and the service and maintenance costs will also be cheaper. So you could add a further 3 lakh worth of savings making a difference of 12 lakh over 6 years! To conclude, if this is intended to be a "commuter/beater car" for you then it makes no sense to spend on the Kushaq. If it were a lifestyle purchase then I would take the Kushaq or Seltos over a Sonet anyday!

Quote:

Originally Posted by heydj (Post 5092945)

Btw since when did Indians start worrying about airbags so much, last I checked we cared about touch screen info systems more then Airbags. That said top end model should have had all airbags.

Isnt this a good change that Indians are concerned about safety while paying 20L? Kushaq might be a real good product but just saying it 'safe' without being crash tested is stretching it too far. You never know you might get a shocker like Seltos which scored 5 stars for Australian model and barely scored 3 in GNCAP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbokick (Post 5092975)

In the video they smartly just moved luggages out of Creta and didnt even try to fit all . Creta can easily accommodate all of them used in the video. They even mentioned lower loading lip as an advantage with Kushaq :)

I am attaching the photos from the video to demonstrate how Creta's boot could have been better utilised. It definitely has got more depth in boot to accommodate more odd items and carry bags

Yesterday my friend who owns a seltos dropped me to airport from my home, i had 2 bags, and to be true it is not possible to stack two bags one upon other in any case. As i mentioned earlier on this forum that a practical boot is what is imp, my Polo’s boot was way more practical and useful than my uncle’s swift boot.

People will choose any of the cars based on their personal preferences, and to me the offerings from the brands in the respective segment are aggressively matched based on their selling benchmarks.
Koreans wants to sell on bigger car, more gimmikcy features, Skoda wants to sell on a well balanced package of ride handling and usable features.

As far as my suggestion goes to any car buyer in any segment, my advice is simple check the cars in person don’t go by words of mouth just visit the showrooms spend a bit time with the product, analyse compare and make the decision, because at the end of the day you are the one going to spend most time with your buy.

In my case i ended up buying Polo even if i wanted a Rapid, because i listened to too many advices you don’t need a bigger car you should save money, smaller car means easy to drive easy park etc etc, but what happened at the end is i used to just pin point Rapid whenever i see one when i was driving my Polo (which very much liked). And a year later i sold my Polo and gone for Rapid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amitshippie (Post 5093159)

Also it seems Skoda may upgrade 1.5TSI model with more airbags.

They must add the missing airbags on their top AT models too and judging by the backlash, I think its only a matter of time before they will indeed. Their arguments on the Kushaq having all its electronic safety features like brake assist and whatever other alphabet soup he mentioned is fluffy.

On a lighter note, what if one of Skoda's competitor vehicles without all that gizmodry comes and rams into someone's kushaq (because those cars skid easy, can't brake properly, aren't European safe, etc). Surely the 6 airbags will be relevant then for the Kushaq occupants isn't it?

Honestly, give it all 6 airbags and if I was hypothetically looking at Creta vs Kushaq, my sense is I'd pick the 1.5 DSG Style and take my chances with the gearbox. Even at current pricing. (Of course, I do owe a visit to Skoda for a fully informed opinion but just going by what I've seen, read and my sense of what the Skoda will be like). I might even consider saving a few and picking the 1.0 A/T if I had to make that decision to set off against the DSG risk, if I was confident it was mostly for city usage.