[Stribog]

Originally Posted by curiousnewbie

What else you were expecting ? This is India and people have strong(not justifying it but it is what it is) opinions here. You go to harrier thread and some might call you anti national for buying non tata/Mahindra car.



You already quoted the answer to this in your post. Those who bought Seltos/Creta must be having their reasons. But justifying your Korean purchase on a “Kushaq thread” is just strange. Looks more like buyer’s remorse than anything else. A happy and content customer would never care about what others say. This thread is about information gathering which would help you make an informed decision. If you have already made a decision and it’s not Kushaq then why bother with this thread ?

Again, you don't seem to understand

If the discussion is the merits or demerits of the Kushaq, there would be no need to discuss any other brand.

But when Skoda fanboys repeatedly talk about the Koreans and cast aspersions on the sanity of anyone buying it, then those aspersions need to be put to bed.

There is no "buyers remorse" here But only fanboys who refuse to accept that a car is a deeply individual preference. I understand it, many non Skoda / VAG fanboys accept it, but unfortunately this clique doesn't.

If you went and purchased a Kushaq at Rs 30l, I would not make a single judgement on you, because its your money, your preferences, your car. I will simply applaud you and move on. But VAG fan boys sadly seem to lack this maturity.

So maybe in the next VAG review, maybe they should stick to reviewing a car on its own merits? And mind you comparisons are A okay. But nonsense like "am a superior human being because I got a VAG, and everyone else is an uncaring monster who don't know cars and also don't care for their families" is not.

[vishy76]

What I liked:
• Top notch build quality. Consistent panel gaps and excellent paint quality with little to no orange peel visible
• Loaded to the gill with features. Style variant gets LED projector headlamps, ventilated seats, sunroof and the likes
• Wheelbase is a lot longer than expected for a car of this length. Very roomy rear seats (in terms of legroom)
• Comes with a comprehensive safety feature list including 6-airbags, ABS, EBD, EDL, TPMS and the likes
• Good variant and feature spread. I believe the Kushaq offers just the right number of variants with even the base trim coming well kitted
• Both the 1.0 and 1.5 TSIs cover most of the buyer base. 1.0 for the fuel economy and budget conscious buyer, 1.5 TSI for the enthusiast or someone who doesn’t mind splurging for the “top end” variant

What I didn’t like:
• Quality of some interior bits is iffy. Parts like the ac vent controllers, steering mounted scrollers and the likes don’t feel like they will last the distance
• The DQ200 is not the most reliable gearbox out there (though Skoda does claim they have strengthened the mechatronics)
• I believe this is a good car, but not a “great” car. A price band of around 9.5L to 16 odd lakhs ex showroom would have made it an even more compelling proposition
• Some misses in terms of features. Height adjustable seatbelts, a proper rough road package with a proper sump guard for the gearbox and oil sump, digital cockpit and colour adjustable ambient lighting are conspicuous of their absence. Top end AT doesn’t even get curtain or shoulder airbags
• Though the rear legroom isn’t an issue, seating three abreast at the rear is still a challenge due to the reasons I have highlighted below
• Skoda’s after sales and the unproven long-term reliability of the engines is still a worry in my opinion

Introduction
Friendly bhpian porsche_guy and I both went to check the Kushaq out at the nearest Skoda dealer. This experience as a whole was quite unique as:

- He owns a 2014 Vento 1.6 MPI Manual and yours truly owns a 2014 Jetta TDI manual. Both of us would benchmark both these cars (The Vento especially) against the Kushaq

- Both of us have visited numerous dealerships to check out cars before including Hyundai/Kia, Tata, Maruti Suzuki and the likes. This was the first time we were walking into a Skoda dealership to check out a brand-new mass-market product and I think many readers here will echo the same sentiment.
This is literally a "make it or break it" car for Skoda India. It’s what the Jeep Compass was to FCA (or rather couldn't be) or the Ecosport was to Ford.

Exteriors and Build
The car exceeded expectations in this department. The first thing that caught my eye when I saw the car up-close were the tight panel gaps. Shut lines are very consistent all throughout. The laser welded roof which sits perfectly flush with the car and the neatly integrated spoiler (most manufacturers mess up and leave an ugly gap here) on the hatch, along with the paint quality (evident especially on this honey orange shade) are exactly in line with what you would expect from a German car.

Coming to the headlamps, these are the LED Projectors with the LED DRLs on the top end Style variant. Notice the engraving inside. You have to give it to Skoda for paying attention to these finer details:



Halogen fog lamps are set a lot higher than one would expect them to be. This leaves a rather ungainly blank at the bottom of the bumper in the form of a plastic insert at the bottom of the bumper:


Top notch paint quality and tight panel gaps. Little to no orange peel visible and this Honey Orange shade also has a very prominent metallic effect:


Skoda badged insert on the front fender is tastelessly done in our opinion:


17 inch diamond cut alloys finished in dual tone shod with rather clumsy 205/55 Apollo Alnacs (don’t know what it is with VW/Skoda and pathetic OE tyres). Note the lug nut caps here. I found these alloys to look classy, porsche_guy thinks otherwise:


Frameless wipers or at least covers for the spindles on these (similar to what Tata does) would have looked much better. Washer jets are neatly concealed underneath the bonnet on a cowl panel:


In typical VAG style, the chassis number is neatly accommodated in a recess below the windscreen. Easily visible, but only physically accessible from under the bonnet:


Non-functional roof rails feel solid enough but you can’t load anything onto them. Notice the laser welded roof which eliminates the need for any black beading (due to the use of spot welds on other cars):


Door handle with a chrome strip running between it. Request sensors for the keyless start/stop system are available on both the driver and passenger sides (are you listening Hyundai?):


Very well integrated spoiler. Tight panel gaps all round:


Rear end looks neat for the most, except for the chrome strip at the bottom of the bootlid which we found to be extremely tacky. The Kushaq follows Skoda’s new convention of omitting the logo and spelling “S-K-O-D-A” out instead:



95RON is the optimum spec of fuel for this TSI. 91 is the least you can go down to:


Very weirdly, it seems the sticker on the driver door sill dictates one should follow the TPMS recommendations on the infotainment and set pressures accordingly. Would have been nice to have the numbers included here itself:


Full cladding in the front and rear wheel wells. Kudos to Skoda for that:



A parting shot:

[vishy76]

Interiors
The interiors of the Kushaq are ergonomically well appointed. I found everything where it should have been in typical German fashion. What I didn’t quite like was the attention to smaller details that you naturally expect from a German car that is priced above competition.

The dash design is quite unconventional considering what we have seen before from VW/Skoda. Gone are the smaller touchscreens integrated into the lower half of the dash flanked by buttons and in comes the tablet like infotainment system. I didn’t get a chance to experience the HU unfortunately, so I wont pass verdicts on it.

The two spoke steering (which porsche_guy will elaborate on further) is set in front of a rather simple looking analog cluster. While I personally love the analog dials (especially the temperature and fuel guages), I didn't quite like the MID. Its a monochrome unit similar to the one seen on the 3rd gen pre-faclift Octavia and numerous other PQ platform VAG cars too. A colour MID would have definitely been a welcome addition considering competition has now moved onto fully digital instrument clusters (something its VW sibling has the bragging rights to).

Commanding driving position. What I love is the fact that the bonnet is clearly visible from the driver's seat:


Just to the right of the steering are the headlamp controls. The headlamp control switch looks dull and could have done with some chrome or aluminium. To its left is the headlamp leveler scroller:


Centre console with the larger than life infotainment screen and the two ac vents placed below. porsche_guy thinks the high set infotainment screen makes it far easier to view it on the move and complements the commanding driving position perfectly.

On the other hand, the low set ac vents are a bit counter intuitive. Hot air usually rises up and cold air sinks towards the bottom. Thus its better to have ac vents placed high up in the cabin (a practice one follows even in home air conditioning systems).

Most of the plastics on the dash area and door pads are hard to touch. They aren’t shiny (like I noted on the Seltos), but they aren’t really upto 18-20L German car standards either. The piano black finish (used extensively on the dash and the recess for the interior door handles) is a fingerprint magnet.

The one material I did really like was the textured grey finish. A welcome change in a sea of piano black and carbon fibre plastics seen in the Kushaq as well as its Korean counterparts:


Map lights and sunroof controls. The slider for the sunroof felt very flimsy to touch and use. Twin LED map lights look premium. Nope, that isn’t a sunglass holder at the back, its just a dummy panel:


VW seems to have a fetish with deleting leather wraps on handbrakes. The Polo/Vento saw it first and now the Kushaq doesn’t have one. The handbrake is possibly the worst part in the entire cabin to touch:


With the passenger seat pushed all the way forward. I could stretch out comfortably:


Nifty phone holder offered with the seat back pocket. The seatback isn’t hard like the Seltos/Creta in spite of having the ventilated seat setup. Having said that, the rexin like material used here doesn’t really set standards for quality:


Rear armrest is composed of the exact same material. It doesn’t have the satisfying click into place action that the previous VAGs had. It just drops down abruptly and sits there, Also the leather trim doesn’t seem to be quite well fitting. Notice the tastefully applied orange stitching in the background on the seat:


Another issue that crops up is the fact that the rear armrest (even in its stowed position) protrudes out a bit. This coupled with the fact that the seats for the rear passengers sitting towards the sides are contoured aggressively, means I was sitting a bit higher than the other two passengers would and even a bit towards the front. The only saving grace for the middle passenger is the floor hump in the middle isn’t very high:

Window switch console feels durable but the plastics surrounding it feel low rent. Overall quality of plastics on the doorpads and the dash won't set benchmarks for quality as we have seen with so many other Germans:


AC vent controls feel very flimsy. To shut the vent, slide the chrome tab all the way to the left. Engravings on top of the vent dictate the same. I would have liked it if they could be open and shut simply by sliding up and down (like in so many other cars). A proper air volume controller is conspicuous of its absence on all of the vents!


Headliner feels more hard wearing than plush. The upside is that the upholstery won’t sag with age while the downside is that it doesn’t feel very premium to touch:


Eeks. The entire headliner around the map light console flexes when you push it hard. Not expected from a Skoda:


Grab handles are provided for all occupants (including the driver). They don't have a damped feel though. Its surprising a manufacturer like Skoda who set these standards has become oblivious to them. Don't miss the coat hook:


Two USB-C ports at the bottom of the rear AC vents. Nifty addition:


Engine Bay

1-litre TSI leaves a lot of space unused in the engine bay. It’s the exact same unit seen in the Polo/Vento/Rapid:


Uniquely, this car came equipped with a SEBANG battery (I am used to seeing VARTAs and Exides as OE batteries on VAGs):


ECU sits towards the right of the battery. Gets its own cowl on top. Positioning is very similar to my Jetta:


Coolant expansion tank sees a change in shape as compared to yesteryear VAGs. Also comes equipped with a nifty coolant level sensor to warn you if the level drops too low:


The charge air cooler placed underneath here:


Wiper washer fluid cap is placed towards the right-hand side near the headlamp. Very easy to access:


Disturbing to see absolutely no underbody protection here. The oil filter (cylindrical piece placed horizontally towards the centre- left of this image at the very front), the oil sump (black in colour) and the gearbox (right) are all exposed to the elements outside:

[porsche_guy]

So on a random sunday morning, I gave a call to Ananth(BHPian Vishy76). The Skoda Kushaq had just recently launched and we were dying to have a look at this important "make it or break it car" from Skoda in India. So the plan was set and we decided to meet up at the local dealership for a thorough look around the car and here are my observations apart from Ananth's. The variant we got to see was the Style 1.0 TSI MT in Honey Orange colour. Since he has dug deep into the likes and dislikes and various other aspects, I have made sure to have not overlapped with his review. These are my observations-

Exteriors

The first look at the car as we entered was the front 3 quarters. To be honest, it comes off as a rather imposing car with a vertical nose which enhances its "SUVness" which is quite needed considering its compact proportions. That said, this clearly is not a hustler unlike its rivals like say the Creta.



The front profile is dominated with the signature Skoda grille which is quite large in size, again to enhance its proportions. Below it is a neatly done number plate recess. Notice the well concealed tow hook cover on the left. Below the lower air dam is the faux skid plate which looks horrible.



A look at the headlamp and foglight cluster. While Ananth doesn't mind, I find it to be quite odd looking. IMO The front end would have had a cleaner look if the fog lamp was put below, in the dummy air vent which is very apparent.



Coming to the rear three quarters, it is very straightforward without any excess chrome or busy elements ala Seltos. The boot looks truncated which is an absolute puzzler for me considering that this isn't a sub4m vehicle at all anyways.



The rear profile gives a heavy Volvo-esque vibe with the slim, boomerang shaped taillamps and the S-K-O-D-A lettering. It has a nice, clean and sleek look. The only downer for me here is the chrome strip but given the average indian customer, I can see why skoda did it. Only 3 parking sensors and the cheap looking wiper make me go


The wheel design is a bit controversial among us. While Vishy76 is a fan of them, I find them quite ugly. They're shod with 205/55 R17 rubber from Apollo. Good tyre size but average quality.


Some other smaller details-

Indicator slightly juts out from the ORVM housing. Beware of bikers!



The beautiful detailing on the taillamps; should have been all LED units


Shark fin Antenna is finished in black; juts out IMO but Ananth loves it.



Paint quality and panel gaps are quite good. This colour(Honey orange) is very pretty and honestly pictures don't do justice to it. The quality is typically VAG with a rich colour and little orange peel effect. Panel gaps are also quite good. They are consistent in most places and quite tight. However I must point out, my Vento still has even tighter panel gaps.


Here is the Kushaq in Tornado Red and Candy White-

[porsche_guy]

Interiors

As soon as you open the door, you notice the thickness of them. They feel quite substantial and have a solid typical VAG thud. Something that surprised me in a good way after the claimed 95% localization levels.


The interiors are nice, however you will be disappointed with the part quality if you're coming from a proper VAG from before. The dash has a good layout and ergos for the most part are bang on. The gear lever fits nicely into your hands and other switch gear is also placed conveniently. One thing I should point out is the positioning of the touchscreen which falls into the driver's field of view making it easier to operate while on the move unlike the Creta's or the Brezza's units which would have you take your eyes off the road to operate them.



The steering is nice and chunky to hold. It looks quite cool too and the two spoke design adds flair to the cabin. The leather on the steering feels quite strange and rough to touch. The buttons also have a lot of play in them and don't feel quite as premium as one would have thought. Ananth says the Seltos he checked out few months back had better quality steering mounted controls.

Here is the view from my eye level after adjusting the seat to my position-


As you can see, the bonnet is clearly visible and the view out is quite wide. Headroom was also good enough for me.

We operated the clutch and gearshift while the car was off and surprisingly the clutch was incredibly soft and had a good linear feel to it. Pedals are also well placed and at the same height unlike my Vento where the clutch pedal is a bit higher than the others. The gearshift action was quite precise and had short throws but wasn't as slick as one would have expected. Maybe my expectations were too high coming from the absolutely amazing gearshift action on my Vento?. On a serious note though, we checked a Brezza right afterwards and it had a much better shift action.




The start stop button was conveniently placed away from the reach of passengers. It lights up when the door is open and stays on till about 8 seconds after shutting the door.


Arguably the most important feature in today's days. It's often called this car's drawback since it doesn't have the large panoramic one but I feel for the size of the car, this is more than enough. One neat touch is that Skoda has provided a proper hard and opaque cover instead of just cheapening out with a translucent one like in the previous Octavia. Exposed mechanicals look super ugly.

Wireless charger (with a nice little phone shaped mould) provided. Lack of Type A USB ports is disappointing.

Centre console. AC Controls are based on a touchscreen but the markers are stickers and don't disappear



Skoda Sound tweeters look nice


Driver gets a grab handle as well! Not a common sight.


Front seats are nice and chunky unlike the Polo triplets which have tight and thin front seats. Good bolstering too. Centre console has good storage and the armrest(feels nice though not very useful) folds up to reveal a nice, large compartment. Here is a small water bottle for comparison



Moving on to the rear seat, it is very spacious. Chauffeur driven guys will love this. It becomes a limo with the front seat all the way forward! The floor hump is also gone and the long wheelbase means the centre passenger isn't punished. Here is BHPian Vishy76 (5'11)in the middle. He says the backrest protrudes too much and is hard meaning this is a 5 seater only for the occasional trips. Two USB Type-C chargers are also provided under the AC vents. The seats on the sides have good bolstering and the seat material also feels nice and soft to touch. Headrest and three point seatbelt for the middle passenger is awesome!


Horrid panel gap between the rear door card and B pillar


Now, for the most controversial thing on the entire car, Boot Space!

I and Vishy76 both agree that the boot is large enough for most people. While 385L is a bit too less on paper, the boot is very nicely shaped and usable. There are even cubbyholes given on the two rear corners. Here is my L sized helmet for comparison( along with some Skoda accessories).



The boot gets a handle instead of the more common recess to close it

[porsche_guy]

Verdict

Both, me and Vishy76 unanimously agreed on the fact that the Kushaq is a good package. Acceptable quality levels, a good feature list and a spacious cabin. However what was extremely apparent was that the Kushaq simply couldn't match up to the levels of finesse of his Jetta or for the fact, even my Vento. We simply couldn't digest the dilution in quality, especially with a Skoda badge on the hood. Both of us were looking forward to this critical launch since the past few months as we were not able to find suitable replacements of both our cars and hoped the Kushaq will be the one. However, that didn't happen and coming out of the showroom, we were sure that this pursuit is not going to end soon.

We even asked a fellow gentleman there who was looking to replace his WR-V but even he said the same thing that its a good car, just not a great one. Skoda is 90% there but in such a crowded segment, it is the last 10% that matters. What doesn't help matters is that the car is overpriced by atleast 1.5 to 2 lakhs across variants and we feel it will do about 1500 units a month, Far below Skoda's 5000 units target.

PS: Sorry for the poor quality pics. Clicked on a smartphone

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by volkman10

--- this pricing is over ambitious. (+ by 1.5 lakhs variant-variant)

When the hype settles down this will do at most ~ 1500 copies /month in the first year.
--

Originally Posted by porsche_guy

Verdict

---What doesn't help matters is that the car is overpriced by atleast 1.5 to 2 lakhs across variants and we feel it will do about 1500 units a month--

+1 and had the same thoughts on how Kushaq will do going forward.

Nice obesrvations in the short review.

Will however keenly visit the showroom once the 1.5L ( MT is of interest) arrives and all eyes are now to see how the Taigun pans out in quality as pricing will surely be on the higher side.

[speedfreak01]

Kushaq ambition in tornado red.

Source - Skoda kushaq club india FB page.

[nitkel]

One of the few cars which look premium on the outside but equally cut-price on the inside. This is a "neither here nor there" product from Skoda and the mixed reviews reflect it. Only if they could have made the interiors premium too, they would have hit the ball out of the park even at this price!

[maverickNerd]

Originally Posted by nitkel

One of the few cars which look premium on the outside but equally cut-price on the inside. This is a "neither here nor there" product from Skoda and the mixed reviews reflect it. Only if they could have made the interiors premium too, they would have hit the ball out of the park even at this price!

I don't agree with this, yes there are some interior quality issue but still I found the interior quality same as Seltos/Creta, except boot lid cover and seat cover from back side.

It might be that quality is not meeting German standard, and this is already said by Skoda/Volkswagen owners but it is still good overall.

If you go for nitpicking, you will find Seltos/Creta also has some quality issues in plastic lower down cabin. Example: Glovebox of Seltos/Creta is of very light quality than Kushaq, Kushaq has adjustable middle hand rest but Koreans have completely useless hand rest.

[AMG Power]

On the Hyundai vs Skoda / VW debate:

At the highest level of the game, where manufacturers throw everything they have to prove that their cars have the best performance, handling and reliability, Hyundai have trounced Skoda / VW.

Hyundai have won the world rally championship (WRC) twice in a row - in 2019 and 2020 - beating not just VW / Skoda but all the other manufacturers.

Which goes to show that at the highest level, Hyundai’s engineering prowess is amongst the best in the world. It’s no surprise then that their 1.4 GTX turbo in the Kia Seltos is faster than Kushaq’s 1.5 TSI even though it has a smaller displacement and lower power output. The Seltos isn’t a bad handler either.

H O W E V E R

Hyundai know that it doesn’t make business sense to give anything more than commercially acceptable quality to the customer. They also know that 99% of Indian customers would prefer a Bose system to a 5 star crash test rating, an air purifier to handling prowess, and Christmas tree lights to door thuds.

So Hyundai gives the customer what he wants and laughs all the way to the bank.

You can’t blame someone for being successful in business.

Now a new dimension to Skoda customers horror stories:

In addition to the trauma, horror and cheating that takes place in Skoda ASS, a new dimension has emerged - it now takes 20 days after booking to get a slot to service your car at most Skoda dealerships. And this is before the Kushaq onslaught. Once Kushaq’s pile up at the ASS, one will probably have to wait much longer to get your car serviced.

Sure, new dealerships are being appointed but they appear to be on top of the Himalayas, in the middle of the desert or in Timbuktu, not in areas where there are customer bases or where there are pileups. (read metros).

Most of the new dealerships in the vague places will close down in a year or two.

So, going forward, prepare to wait in a long queue before you are traumatized (read your car is serviced) by the Skoda ASS.

[Pancham]

I dont think any Skoda executive wakes up in the morning and thinks "Lets sprinkle a few bad quality parts in the upcoming Kushaq which is also our most important offering the Indian market. Indians deserve some bad quality parts". Nah!

I think its more about economies of scale and if they provide a PERFECT vehicle how their cost could go up and that would entail them to sell a 'minimum' number of vehicles to break even.

Perhaps, Skoda knows they cannot sell that 'minimum' number which could well be in the range of ~ 7k-10k per month. Hence they agree upon a middle ground. A business decision perhaps. This could be one of the reasons for not being able to provide as many features as a Creta.

Skoda is going through the same thing with Hyundai/Kia, what Hyundai went through when competing with Maruti in the mid to late 2000s.

We all know Skoda cannot sell that many no matter what. Even if they put gold and diamonds in the AC vents Indians wont buy as many as they would in case of a Creta/Sonet.

Hence, based on a cost benefit analysis they may have ended up compromising on a few parts. They are running a business after all and their acceptable thresholds in terms of sales numbers could be based on their internal calculations and agreements within the management and stakeholders.

This is just my view.

As for Skoda vs. Hyundai, enough has been said. I have owned (and lived with) 2 Hyundai cars in the past 10 years and I can for sure say that I am not touching another Hyundai in the next decade or so. The steering module issue in my i20 (the issue has plagued several other Hyundais as well) which made the steering lose power and made it stiff was a dangerous problem in my view and Hyundai, despite knowing this, never made an attempt to fix/recall/provide goodwill warranty. That itself shows their attitude towards customers/Indian market. This is one of many problems that plague Hyundai cars but no one seems to talk about it. Skoda at least acknowledges the gearbox issues here. The DQ200 can leave you stranded but a steering module conking off in the highway can reduce you to living inside a photo frame within hours.

Hyundais are nice cars for the first 3-4 years but they don't age well. You will see when you own one past 5 years.

Overall, I think the Kushaq is a superb package and at 15.58L OTR in Kolkata, the Ambition trim with 1.0 AT will be my pick.

Attaching the price list for reference.

EDIT: Notice there are no handling charges.

[Col Mehta]

Thank you, vishy76 and porsche_guy.

Exactly my thoughts on the car - it looks like a typical Skoda from outside but it disappoints the moment you see and feel the interior quality and overall fit and finish which is very ordinary and doesn't justify the premium price.

We were eagerly waiting for this one but like for many others, it just wasn't worth it.

[Raghu M]

Not sure if anyone got a chance to read this. Well, looks like Skoda is responding to issues at least. Not sure how this problem (which is prevalent across brands) will be addressed by Skoda.

https://www.carblogindia.com/skoda-k...d-malpractice/

[Venkatesh]

Skoda Kushaq has received over 2,000 bookings in just a week since its launch, with the 1.0 TSI AT emerging as the most popular choice.



The 1.0 TSI AT Ambition is proving to be the most popular variant with garnering around 40 percent of total 1.0 TSI orders.

The Carbon-Steel colour is the most preferred by buyers, followed by white and orange.

Source