[AlokSharma]

Originally Posted by MaverickKT

Coming to the extra features, I am disappointed to say that there is nothing more apart from 10" inch screen and with it also comes wireless CarPlay I guess.

• No Subwoofer/amp (Sales rep mentioned that is being offered only in Kushaq Monte Carlo, not even in Kushaq Edition) - this is a major miss, not sure how much of a difference would it make for my daily use.
• Chrome Garnish, puddle lamps, pillows & Edition badging is all part of Basic kit and will be fitted at the dealer only if we opt(pay extra) for it.

I'm not sure if the dealer is trying to save few bucks here saying that all the additional features are part of basic kit, but essentially the 19K premium we are paying on top of usual Style variant is for the 10" infotainment system and the premium color(it does look stunning even in the night).

I am surprised that the Lava Blue edition doesn't come with all those features as I had personally read a mail from Skoda to all dealers specifying that all the additional accesories are a part of the Lava Blue edition with the 10 inch infotainment system and the subwoofer.

Kindly check with them again. Hope you find it useful

Here is what was shared with me.

[nvssudheer]

Originally Posted by MaverickKT

I just had a sneak peek of my 1.5 DSG Edition Lava Blue which will be delivered tomorrow. I couldn't do a detailed PDI as the car reached showroom only at 7PM, so no point doing it in the night.
...

Hi, which Skoda dealer did you purchase from in Hyderabad? How long was the waiting period for the Lava Blue edition? Thanks

[Vibhav-Van]

Originally Posted by MaverickKT

Hope to have a delightful delivery experience come tomorrow.

Congratulations in advance, MaverickKT! Which dealer are you going with? It's sad that the subwoofer isn't being offered. Why is Skoda doing such random feature deletion like Ford?

Don't go for hood insulation unless you want absolute quietness. I thought of it initially, but began enjoying that Turbo's snarl so much that I thank myself for holding back.

For floor mats, I purchased a roll of noodle mat from a wholesale store near MGBS and eventually cut them to size myself.

You might want to consider ceramic coating for a colour as beautiful as Lava Blue.

[cityskody]

Originally Posted by Gotham

with which Dealer have you booked your car ?

I have booked my car with PPS Skoda - Mysore Road. As another user has pointed out, the kit is fitted after the car is registered. A couple of other sales reps have confirmed this. I am now awaiting registration of my car.

[cityskody]

Originally Posted by Gotham

Took the delivery of our Skody ( Named by our daughter) on Friday from Tafe Access St Marks Road , everything went as planned. Took the car to Tyre Professionals & got the MRF swapped with UC6 immediately.

Hello - Can you please DM me how much you paid extra to get the four MRF tires swapped with UC6 at Tyre Professionals. I'm very poor at negotiating and have no clue how much extra I would have to pay. I noticed my car has got Apollo Alnac tyres on them and want to swap them out for UC6. Thanks!

[rahul_jo]

Originally Posted by rahul_jo

So I've been driving Slavia for the last couple of days and the initial impressions are as follows...

1- The car simply feels light. A little too light on some occasions. Almost like a go kart.

2- At higher speeds under sudden acceleration it might make you feel slightly out of control. But it's in that very sensation that the essence of its fun factor resides.

3- The brakes are pretty sharp and take a little getting used to at first. They bite into the road with an unrelenting grip.

4- The steering feels light to the touch, yet heavy with purpose. It is a decent harmonious blend of responsiveness and control.

5- As you peer through the rearview mirror, your vision is constrained. The field of vision through the rear window is very tiny in my opinion.

6- The front seat angle pushes your body into a peculiar posture. It is at a slight incline under your thighs that simply can't be adjusted. I looked around but the incline isn't adjustable. Could cause back pain over longer drives.

7- And yes. The notorious issue of Slavia rattles is true. It's a brand new car but with each pothole the car seems to voice its protest with a lot of squeaky sounds coming from all over.

8- The sound system is pretty average but the infotainment screen is pretty neat.

9- My current daily driver is a F30 3 series and that feels completely planted on the road even at higher speeds but this Slavia drives like a fun go kart. It is a completely new yet exciting feeling.

After driving it for 2 days, I barely care about the other little niggles here or there because I had an awfully fun time driving it.

This also serves as a gentle reminder that not every aspect of the car needs to be exceptional to contribute to your overall experience.

Another observation -

The driver's side door judders and shakes consistently whenever a song comes on with some bass. Pretty poor quality of door plastics from skoda.

Don't know if anyone is experiencing this but this reminds me of those maruti van taxi's from a decade ago where the speaker used to cause the entire door plastic to rattle under loud music.

Plus the suspension seems a little too hard. Even the tiny road undulations transfer into the cabin. They gave me Ceat Secura tyres. Will upgrading the wheels help?

[SDx]

Originally Posted by rahul_jo

Plus the suspension seems a little too hard. Even the tiny road undulations transfer into the cabin. They gave me Ceat Secura tyres. Will upgrading the wheels help?

I feel the same way about my Taigun. Upgraded to Continental UC6 however it didn't help much. I wanted to get Michelin or Bridgestone but either same size was not available or manufacturing was more than 6 months old.

[MaverickKT]

Just took the delivery of my 1.5 DSG Lava Blue Edition in the evening. Got the pooja done and rested it for the night!

Originally Posted by Gotham

the 10" infotainment alone justifies the premium , wireless CarPlay is a bliss.

Congratulations for your new ride

It definitely is worth the premium! It is pretty crisp and smooth to navigate. Haven't explored it fully but the video quality of reverse camera feels out of place in this elegant piece of machinery. Not sure if a software fix can clear some of the blurriness but it felt like a vga camera on old nokia/samsung sets.

Originally Posted by AlokSharma

I am surprised that the Lava Blue edition doesn't come with all those features as I had personally read a mail from Skoda to all dealers specifying that all the additional accesories are a part of the Lava Blue edition with the 10 inch infotainment system and the subwoofer.

Kindly check with them again. Hope you find it useful

Here is what was shared with me.

I can't thank you enough for this!! I had literally shown this snap as a mail from another dealer and asked the sales rep to confirm it from his management. He did come back with good news and they agreed to install all of these with no extra cost. However that'll be delayed by a week or so as they don't have all those accessories ready and I didn't want to hold back the delivery for that. They promised to get them installed with in a week along with additional accessories I requested.

But the subwoofer is not going to come. He mentioned that they stopped offering a subwoofer in LB Edition post July confirming the information from some other users in this thread. Few lucky ones would've got one. I'm happy for them

Originally Posted by nvssudheer

Hi, which Skoda dealer did you purchase from in Hyderabad? How long was the waiting period for the Lava Blue edition? Thanks

I got it from PPS Hydernagar, they have a couple of other showrooms in different locations. I heard Mahavir Skoda is good too, my friend got couple of Kodiaqs from them few years back and feedback was positive.

Originally Posted by Vibhav-Van

Congratulations in advance, MaverickKT! Which dealer are you going with? It's sad that the subwoofer isn't being offered. Why is Skoda doing such random feature deletion like Ford?

Don't go for hood insulation unless you want absolute quietness. I thought of it initially, but began enjoying that Turbo's snarl so much that I thank myself for holding back.

For floor mats, I purchased a roll of noodle mat from a wholesale store near MGBS and eventually cut them to size myself.

You might want to consider ceramic coating for a colour as beautiful as Lava Blue.

Thank you!!

Reg. hood insulation, it is more of a heat insulation for the bonnet rather than sound insulation. It literally felt like a frying pan after 5 minutes drive from showroom to home. But will take a call after a month or so.

Floor mats, I got a lead for Pharoah 3D mats at Fast Tracks Car Care Jubilee Hills. Will give them a try tomorrow.

And for ceramic coating, I always felt it is a waste of money for few weeks of temporary shine and they won't help with stone chips on highways and annoying scratches from kids anyways. I'd rather invest that amount somewhere for returns and go for a repaint after 3-4 years if needed. And for the cost of PPF I can definitely get it repainted at least twice(I know for sure that repainting on Polo costs ~50k from showroom, so it'll be even less outside)

And I'm religiously going through the user manual for now and will share some updates and transition experience from Manual to DSG(I was driving a Stage 1 Manual Polo 1.0 TSI before this) over the weekend

[AlokSharma]

Originally Posted by MaverickKT

I can't thank you enough for this!! I had literally shown this snap as a mail from another dealer and asked the sales rep to confirm it from his management. He did come back with good news and they agreed to install all of these with no extra cost. However that'll be delayed by a week or so as they don't have all those accessories ready and I didn't want to hold back the delivery for that. They promised to get them installed with in a week along with additional accessories I requested.

But the subwoofer is not going to come. He mentioned that they stopped offering a subwoofer in LB Edition post July confirming the information from some other users in this thread. Few lucky ones would've got one. I'm happy for them

Hey Congratulations for the new car

On a different note, I am slightly disappointed that Skoda is undertaking booking from customers promising them couple of additional features in LB edition over the normal style variant but not delivering on the same.

They are deleting these features without giving a heads up and that is not professional.

But keeping this thing aside, how is the sound quality from the music system sans the subwoofer and amplifier ?

[MaverickKT]

Originally Posted by AlokSharma

Hey Congratulations for the new car

On a different note, I am slightly disappointed that Skoda is undertaking booking from customers promising them couple of additional features in LB edition over the normal style variant but not delivering on the same.

They are deleting these features without giving a heads up and that is not professional.

Yes and I believe it is more a fault with Skoda itself as the dealers themselves are not aware of a lot of things until we proactively ask them.

Best option in my opinion is to get an email/written confirmation from the dealer about the specific features that'll be delivered like the subwoofer and infotainment system. I'm not sure if dealers would do that straight away but we buyers should push them for detailed list of features before paying the booking amount and have that as proof when you get the vehicle allocation. They do ask for our written confirmation/signatures on many occasions and it is only fair that we get the same commitment from their end.

Originally Posted by AlokSharma

But keeping this thing aside, how is the sound quality from the music system sans the subwoofer and amplifier ?

My initial impressions after 40km of drive for about 2-3 hrs is, 8 speaker system is adequate for this cabin. Didn't try out different genres yet but nothing felt lacking in terms of audio quality. NVH levels are well contained and that helps a bit as well. I think subwoofer makes a difference when you/family are bass lovers and just a good to have gadget otherwise.

Brief Update:
The engine is super smooth, it just makes the car glide with minimal effort and the ACT was kicking in even at speeds of 25-30 if you're light on the gas. In the short run(30 km) I had this morning in normal traffic, fuel economy was showing as 13-14 kmpl. I was delighted to see that figure as many were quoting 5-6 kmpl during the run in period.
Swapped the stock CEAT tires for UC6, and straight away felt slightly lower road noise post that and imo it was a worthy and valuable upgrade @ 10k/-. These should last at least for 45-50k KMs under normal conditions.
Got the Pharaoh 3D mats for 9k/-, pricier by almost 2k compared to online but there is no stock anywhere else so decided to go for it.
Will continue posting the updates here as I get to drive it more.

[AlokSharma]

Originally Posted by MaverickKT

Yes and I believe it is more a fault with Skoda itself as the dealers themselves are not aware of a lot of things until we proactively ask them.

Best option in my opinion is to get an email/written confirmation from the dealer about the specific features that'll be delivered like the subwoofer and infotainment system. I'm not sure if dealers would do that straight away but we buyers should push them for detailed list of features before paying the booking amount and have that as proof when you get the vehicle allocation. They do ask for our written confirmation/signatures on many occasions and it is only fair that we get the same commitment from their end.

I have written a mail to the dealership and have asked them to take it up with Skoda. Below is the mail.

"I had booked the Skoda Slavia 1.5 DSG Lava Blue Edition on 13 Aug 2023.

I am writing this mail to you after speaking to couple of Slavia car owners who have recently received the deliveries of their Lava Blue edition.

I was disappointed to know that Skoda has deleted certain features in the Lava Blue Edition promised by them in writing in the 1st week of July. Apart from the 10 inch infotainment system and Subwoofer, there are other list of cosmetic features that were also a part of Lava Blue Edition.

Some of the car owners who recently received the deliveries either don't have the subwoofer and some don't even get the 10 inch system. Apart from this, the accesories are also not being factory fitted. This is being done by Skoda without informing either the dealerships or the car owners.

I request you to take this up with them as this negatively reflects on the brand image of Skoda among not only Skoda loyalists and potential buyers entrusting Skoda with their trust and money but also across the Indian Automotive spectrum.

I am in the process of patiently waiting for allocation and delivery of My Lava Blue edition. But such episodes are now making me nervous and making me rethink about my decision to buy the Slavia. Though I have no doubt about the car on the over-all aspects, but promising something and not delivering on it tantamounts to breach of trust which is something Skoda wouldn't want leading to affecting the overall brand image for them in the country where it has outlined ambitious plans for the near future.

I hereby request you to take this up with Skoda at your earliest.

Awaiting Skoda's clarification on the same."

Mail ends.

The whole heart of the matter is that certain features like bigger screen, subwoofer, amplier and those cosmetic changes is not a big deal breaker for me. But when Skoda is charging a premium for the LB edition and giving it in writing about the additional features, it leaves a bad taste when they don't deliver on these small things and to top it up not keeping either the dealerships or the end consumer updated on the same.

On other note, I was also informed about a periodic plant shutdown for maintenance at Skoda's end starting tomorrow for a week or two. This is a regular activity they do every 6 months or so for maintenance and upkeep. So one can expect some small delay in deliveries in the near future.

[MotorDev]

Originally Posted by AlokSharma

I have written a mail to the dealership and have asked them to take it up with Skoda. Below is the mail.

Forget the fancy 10-inch system and subwoofer; they have also omitted essential features, such as the string in the front door pockets . Our Skoda Slavia lacks this feature, and after researching on YouTube, it's evident that Skoda quietly removed it.

Before

After

[PaddleShifter]

Many a times, manufacturers remove an electrical or electronic equipment but retain the wiring harness that they have been installing. Adding the feature is super easy in such circumstances.

A query for those who have got their Slavia without sub woofer. Is it possible to check for the presence of the wiring harness for sub woofer?

[Gotham]

Originally Posted by MaverickKT

JIt definitely is worth the premium! It is pretty crisp and smooth to navigate. Haven't explored it fully but the video quality of reverse camera feels out of place in this elegant piece of machinery. Not sure if a software fix can clear some of the blurriness but it felt like a vga camera on old nokia/samsung sets.

The reverse camera quality is bummer but I've gotten used to it now , it's not a software issue but the limitation of the hardware ( Camera ) , I'm hoping one day we will get a after market plug & play upgrade option as the display is capable of good picture quality

Originally Posted by cityskody

Hello - Can you please DM me how much you paid extra to get the four MRF tires swapped with UC6 at Tyre Professionals. I'm very poor at negotiating and have no clue how much extra I would have to pay. I noticed my car has got Apollo Alnac tyres on them and want to swap them out for UC6. Thanks!

I got a buyback of approx 4k per tyre if I remember correctly , the catch was to ensure the tyres haven't run more than 80kms. Just tell them you saw many on TBHP getting 4k to 4.5k buyback on tyres so you expect nothing less.

Originally Posted by MotorDev

Forget the fancy 10-inch system and subwoofer; they have also omitted essential features, such as the string in the front door pockets . Our Skoda Slavia lacks this feature, and after researching on YouTube, it's evident that Skoda quietly removed it.

Before

Attachment 2498576

After

Attachment 2498579

This was good delete in my opinion , from what I know this little string was causing lot of door rattles. I was happy not to see this in my car

[cityskody]

Originally Posted by Gotham

I got a buyback of approx 4k per tyre if I remember correctly , the catch was to ensure the tyres haven't run more than 80kms. Just tell them you saw many on TBHP getting 4k to 4.5k buyback on tyres so you expect nothing less.

Thanks for the response. Just checking on google, I see UC6 costing around 9.5k per tyre. That would mean shelling out an extra 20k for swapping to UC6. The guys in Hyderabad are lucky since they are paying just 10k for the swap to UC6.