[gpagedar]

Originally Posted by dragntailonfire

My Skoda SA later confirmed the downgrade. He also mentioned that the wireless charging will be removed, and to make things worse, a price hike of around 50k from next month on wards.

Deletion of wireless charging is not something I’d be too concerned about. Wireless chargers at best prevent the charge from dropping …. wired charging is always preferable though a bit inconvenient.

Downgrading of the infotainment to 8” is something altogether different.

With very little choice in sedans manufacturers seem to be having a free run.

[rahil_29]

Originally Posted by dragntailonfire

My Skoda SA later confirmed the downgrade. He also mentioned that the wireless charging will be removed, and to make things worse, a price hike of around 50k from next month on wards.

This doesn't sound right. Skoda surely has to provide price protection as well as feature protection in this case to people who have booked the car earlier. It's been more than 2 months that I have booked my Style 1.0 and the delivery is nowhere in sight. I am really hoping that Skoda plays it right to people who are in a similar situation like me.

[ron178]

Originally Posted by vihangm3

This is highly disappointing and we are planning to cancel our booking instead of compromising with an after infotainment unit.

Does anyone know if this is the dreadful unit from the Rapid TSI? This is disappointing, the Slavia and Virtus had a clear advantage over the City in their superior infotainment system.

[aniket13]

Isn't this literally cheating? I could understand if this was a midlife cost-cutting thought, but how could you do this to a brand new product. You launch a car with high-end features, attract customers (and bookings) through the said features, and then delete those features? How does this make sense?

So now what about the umpteen reviews, blogs, and YouTube videos already published, singing high praises of the "Overall Package" - wouldn't those be misleading? Skoda seems highly motivated to piss off its customers by downgrading the car before it has even picked up momentum. That's a segment-first, but not sure something you'd want to boast about.

[Bimmer_Sage]

Originally Posted by ron178

Does anyone know if this is the dreadful unit from the Rapid TSI? This is disappointing, the Slavia and Virtus had a clear advantage over the City in their superior infotainment system.

Exactly! The only two things that city lacked was ventilated seats and a slick infotainment. If they can add the ventilated seats I’d be sold .

[rajshenoy]

Hmmm, I think Skoda management realised that this Slavia will cannibalise Kushaq sales and now trying to differentiate. OR is this a ploy to make sure people rush to showrooms and boost sales figures ?

[shibujp]

Assuming that this is being done by VW and Skoda to tide over the chip crisis, it would be sensible to put off purchases of either car for 6 months to a year.

Hopefully they will bring back the deleted features by then.

Thanks,
Shibu.

[amit1agrawal]

When I booked in March my SA told me that Skoda is going to increase the prices from June. I didn't take it seriously as Slavia is already over-priced. I am already having second thoughts as interior parts quality is not to the level expected at this price point and now feature deletion plus price hike. Hope they honour the features and price for customers who have booked till May.

I am sure of opting out if the above news comes true.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by vihangm3

Oh well! Removal of wireless charger too is something new, our Skoda SA is probably hiding it in fear of cancellation of the booking. The premium for Slavia would be nowhere justified with the increased price next month.

If it is so and I sense some major booking cancellation numbers awaiting soon for Slavia. Hope Skoda doesn't get the same fortune as their friends from Ford and GM!

While this is definitely not a good news, if it was just music system and wireless charger , don't see a reason for cancellation. If you liked rest of the car, especially engine, ride, handling please donot cancel car for cheap electronic stuff. Price hike is something to be watchful, if the hike is overshooting your budget or now comparable with higher segment cars, then worth considering cancellation.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

If you liked rest of the car, especially engine, ride, handling please donot cancel car for cheap electronic stuff.

Totally thumbs up.

Anyway, wireless charging is highly overrated and simply not suited to high end smartphones. From what I've read on TBHP and other forums, people usually stop using wireless charging after some time.

[aniketi]

I think base model of Slavia makes most sense now. Its priced sensibly and people can add few goodies later like Alloys, Infotainment system etc. One can save lot of money and keep adding whatever they like over period.

[Siddarth_Ramani]

Well I don't care much about ICE, this is actually sad. On one hand prices are going up astronomically and taxes are high as well. Its as if govt is hell bent on treating cars as luxury. On the other hand, losing features is adding more fuel to the fire. Taxing cars heavily when there's no robust public transportation is actually bad for the economy. But who's gonna listen, this is India 'Hamare yahan aisa hi chalta hai'

[robby0707]

Originally Posted by rahul_jo

Just test drove the 1.0 and then the DSG 1.5 back to back. I liked the 1.5 more.

My SA told me that the current DSG has gone through many updates and in the past 2 years hasn't seen any major failure.

He also pressed that majority of the DSG's that were failing were all diesel but the petrol is pretty reliable. Is this true?

No that is not true! In fact, majority of the failures were happening with the DQ200 gearbox which came with the petrol models in general. The SA is taking you for a ride. My SA even tried to convince me that the DQ 200 is a wet clutch unit.

[W16rocks]

Originally Posted by Siddarth_Ramani

Well I don't care much about ICE, this is actually sad. On one hand prices are going up astronomically and taxes are high as well. Its as if govt is hell bent on treating cars as luxury. On the other hand, losing features is adding more fuel to the fire. Taxing cars heavily when there's no robust public transportation is actually bad for the economy. But who's gonna listen, this is India 'Hamare yahan aisa hi chalta hai'

I feel it is more about the management of such companies who want to have high sales but they Will price their products at a premium over the competition and then delete the features, this car’s top models are at the price point of City Hybrid which is a much better vfm offer due to ADAS and many more features also an advanced and fuel efficient engine.

Blaming the government for every decision and problem is just outrageous the problem lies with such companies and not the government.

[trailblazer13]

Deleting such tangible features so soon after a launch is sad. Skoda is giving their brand a beating with this. To top it, instead of compensating a buyer they are increasing the prices.

Hope this ICE swap is temporary.