I visited Skoda Showroom in Gurgaon last Sunday with Wife.
I was surprised to know that there is only one Skoda Showroom in Gurgaon!
The showroom was too crowded and a lot of people were waiting for the Test Drive. So didn't take any pics or TD.
A little Background
We were looking for a new ride in 2020. But after Covid, we didn't drive much in 2020 and 2021. We don't think we would be driving much even in year 2022. And there is no point in buying a new car to just have it parked. And we are still very happy with our Honda City.
So, this gives us more than a year of time to finalize our next Car. Also our Son is just 1.5 yr old. So, we want him to grow up a little ( 2-3 yrs ) and acknowledge that we got a new Car.
We would prefer a C-SUV since we need a better Ground Clearance. Although we didn't feel underbody scapping issue in Honda City much except for some speed breakers, the driving style is a major reason for that. A better ground clearance would give us more freedom.
By late 2023 or early 2024, we'll also have options of more C-SUVs from Ford, Citroen and Toyota ( hopefully not a rebadged Maruti ). Lets see how these fare against our set of requirements.
We are yet to decide between a SUV looking one or Crossover looking one. If we go for an SUV looking one, we would book a Tata Harrier.
Also, if nothing else works, Tata Harrier it is.
We checked out the Style Variant. Our observations are as below. We compared things more with our current Honda City ( 2016 Model ) and VW Polo that we owned 5 years back.
Exterior:- Me and my wife loved the shape and size of Kushaq. Just perfect to what we are looking for. A crossover styled C-SUV which is not ( un-necessarily ) botched up to look like an SUV.
- A lot of us have compared Kushaq with S-Cross. We personally felt it to be more like 1st Gen Creta. A little less in height though ( as compared to 1st Gen Creta ).
- Carbon Steel looked best ( for us ). Silver and White color looked great. Didn't quite like the Orange and Red one.
- Build quality felt a lot better than our Honda City. Wife was impressed with the heaviness on the doors and compared it to VW Polo.
- We also liked the alloy wheels design.
Interior:- The dashboard looked really good. the large piano black insert and carbon-fiber like detailing.
- We loved the position of floating touchscreen unit. It looks floated and doesn't intrude into the front view.
- Wife loved the two-spoked steering wheel. There were no wrinkles on the steering wheel. I'm more concerned with how practical ( and ergonomic ) it would be on longer drives. But still looks good.
- The front and rear seats have good bolstering ( and support ). The ride will be a lot comfortable for 4. 5th adult passenger will suffer even in short rides.
- Rear seat leg space felt better than even our Honda City.
- Sunroof felt similar to that of Honda City and we were happy with it.
- Apart from the above points, everything else on the interior completely disappointed. To make matter worse, we had a look at the Skoda Octavia's interior.
- Coming from a beige interior, the grey felt dull and claustrophobia even with the sunroof open.
- Didn't like the analog instruments. We would have preferred a digital cockpit.
- The fit and finish of interior was not at all good. The car seat covers must be changed.
- The plastics felt of cheap quality.
- The 3 pointed belt for the middle passenger at rear actually makes the passenger ( sitting behind driver ) uneasy.
Conclusion:
Although we are really happy with the shape, size and exterior looks of Kushaq, the interior is more of a disappointment. So, we would wait for the Taigun and see if its interiors are better than Kushaq's. Or if the rumored L&K or Monte Carlo variant of Kushaq. If not, we'll see if facelift version of Kushaq / Taigun solves these problems.
v/s Kia Seltos.
We also checked Kia Seltos after Kushaq. The impressions are as below:
- The exterior looks are more ( botched up ) to look like an SUV. But, we didn't dislike it. Although, I think Kia Seltos looks good, Wife is not that impressed.
- The exterior build quality is a big disappointment especially after Kushaq. I believe our Honda City has better build quality. Wife didn't like it a bit.
- Interior quality felt a lot better than Kushaq. The seats covers, plastic quality and the beige-black combination.
- We liked Kushaq's Dashboard over Seltos'. Especially, the placement of Touchscreen is better in Kushaq.
- Seltos has a slightly better feature list than Kushaq as per our requirements ( Digital Cockpit, 360 degree camera, HUD, front parking sensors ).
Overall, Kushaq suits our requirements a lot better than Kia Seltos. But not the current Kushaq.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Behemoth Well let me address this part of your query as I had missed it last time! I have seen the Nexon and it is a nice package and the EV is also a nice car. But with a real range of 200km it does not fit my bill.
...
I personally would not feel safe in an Indian Electric car (yet) - but after 4-5 years I am sure my next car will be electric. |
Frankly, I agree with you. Its not yet time for a fully electic car in India. But, since you have 2-3 cars at home, I thought you may consider.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Guna I wonder, is there a different model the so called premium brands follow when it comes to incentivizing the sales team? Normally, the sales team gets paid better if they sell more. But that does't seem to be the case here.
I had a similar experience with Apple stores when I was trying to get a quotation for MacBook. They simply seemed uninterested in selling. |
Actually, it is more of a dealership or the sales person problem. 5 years back, when I went to Ring Road Honda in Gurgaon, they seemed completely uninterested. Infact the sales person left us in between and attended another customer ( So rude !). This was probably because we arrived at the showroom in our Hyundai Eon and sales person thought we are just here for some AC.
So, we went to Infinity Honda ( also in Gurgaon ), they also saw that we came in Hyundai Eon. But they attended us well, gave us all the details we needed and resolved all of our queries with honesty. And we ended up buying Honda City VX CVT from there.