[ulag62442]

Hi folks, wanted to post some thoughts here regarding the Slavia TD i took recently and hopefully get some inputs/feedback to help me make my decision.

So i was one of the earliest people to book the Slavia, having done so online on Nov 18th itself. But then for some reason or the other i delayed the actual purchase. The Skoda team stopped following up with me as well. I hadnt even done a test drive. At some points i also thought of cancelling the booking but never got around to do it. Some of the factors behind this were: 1/if i should really buy a new car considering my current hatchback has done <30k kms. 2/ Was the Slavia actually VFM? I was seeing many of the complaints in this forum and felt maybe it wasnt worth dropping 20 large ones on it. 3/ Are there better cars with better VFM around the corner - City Hybrid, Toyota Hyryder, Virtus, Honda HRV etc. 4/ Should i go for one segment higher and get a Compass or Tuscon.

I saw a lot of these new launches and were underwhelmed by them. Nothing really caught my attention and made me go out and cancel my Slavia booking. The Honda City Hybrid came closest to this but the small bootspace was a complete downer. On the Slavia side, the new infotainment system and removal of sub-woofers further caused me to just delay considering it.

Recently i did 2 highway trips on NH44 in Tamil Nadu after a long time. This really brought back for me the joy of the highway trips and somewhere I began to feel that I need to upgrade my car. I plan to do a few more highway trips by end of the year.

Now, that brought me back to the market and i decided to check out the Jeep Compass and Skoda Slavia. To cut to the chase, the Slavia 1.5 AT just blew me away in the test drive. Now, im not anywhere close to being an enthusiast and I drive pretty sedately. But i could just feel the refinement in the drive. Acceleration was just exciting with an immediate power surge but even the creep of the car when just leaving the brake was super smooth with a decent surge. I found myself just cruising through tight traffic and narrow roads just pressing and leaving the brake. The ride quality was good and the suspension handled patchy roads much better than i expected. The elevated seating position was comfortable and really gave me confidence in the drive. Looking at images and reviews online, i was disappointed with the smaller infotainment system, hard plastics in the car at this price point, lack of insulation in the bonnet etc. But when i was driving, these things were the last on my mind as i was just enjoying how smooth the car felt. I dont know if this was some halo effect of my first drive on an automatic transmission but it felt good. I also tried the 1.0L AT and while it was almost the same, it wasn't as satisfactory. I could feel the lag in the acceleration and it didn't move forward as smoothly. The 2 things I definitely did not like was: 1) the music quality which though loud seemed like it was only coming from the tweeter near the driver. Though it has 8 speakers I couldnt feel any surround effect. 2) The rear visibility through the rear window seems very limited esp coming from my current car.

Next I did a test drive of the Jeep Compass Limited Petrol AT. This was a car i was truly excited to drive. The interiors are plush and totally premium and my friend who had bought this last year had been raving about its drive quality compared to its peers. But, surprise of surprises, right after driving the Slavia 1.5, the Jeep Compass underwhelmed me. I felt there was a noticeable lag on acceleration and it wasnt as smooth as the Slavia. I could also hear/feel the engine grunting on acceleration which was completely absent on the Slavia even though it doesnt have bonnet insulation. While the interiors were great, i felt the seating position felt more cramped on the left side due to the gearbox area. It didnt feel as comfortable as the Slavia. I could be completely wrong on the suspension but the Compass suspension felt more bouncy in the front and back compared to the Slavia which absorbed the shocks better. The cabin overall is more spacious and the ac cooling seemed faster/better. The music sound quality was miles ahead of the Slavia. But again just thinking on the drive, it did not match up to my perception of the Slavia. The creep when leaving the brakes felt more sluggish on the Jeep compared to Slavia so it may not be as good in city traffic. Ofcourse the mileage is an order lower than the Slavia as well and boot space is lesser as well. The build quality of Jeep Compass though is solid and I would feel very secure in its cabin on long highway trips or even sending my parents with a driver in it.

Again, I'm not a car enthusiast who has driven too many cars and so im not sure if i am completely off in my assessment here. If so, it would be great to get feedback/inputs from members on this forum. I'm also thinking of TDing Hector and Kia Carens but the long booking times of these cars are a put off. Both Slavia and Compass are being promised to be delivered in less than a month based on colour.

So this is the choice i need to make: Put in 22L on the Slavia 1.5 and compromise on a premium luxury feel in the car for a great drive or put 10L more (a big stretch on my budget) on the Compass and have the FEEL of a premium car but in a drive that is less fun than the Slavia. What do you guys think?

[audioholic]

Realised that we can code the instrument display to any colour. Initially I thought we could only choose between the Blue and Red of VW and Yellow of the Slavia. But turns out that any color can be configured Now wondering what's best.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by ulag62442

So this is the choice i need to make: Put in 22L on the Slavia 1.5 and compromise on a premium luxury feel in the car for a great drive or put 10L more (a big stretch on my budget) on the Compass and have the FEEL of a premium car but in a drive that is less fun than the Slavia. What do you guys think?

It all comes down to what you prefer- driving experience or a premium experience. That'll help you make a decision. If you're still confused, try getting your family's input too.

[neochanger]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Realised that we can code the instrument display to any colour. Initially I thought we could only choose between the Blue and Red of VW and Yellow of the Slavia. But turns out that any color can be configured Now wondering what's best.

Try all black and see how it looks.. maybe it will give a full-blown flowing appearance.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by ulag62442

So this is the choice i need to make: Put in 22L on the Slavia 1.5 and compromise on a premium luxury feel in the car for a great drive or put 10L more (a big stretch on my budget) on the Compass and have the FEEL of a premium car but in a drive that is less fun than the Slavia. What do you guys think?

Here’s my view and its going to be biased since I just booked a Compass. To be honest, there are great reviews for the 1.5 Tsi and its gearbox and I think this engine and gearbox combination is one of the best around. However, as a car in itself, the Slavia seems a bit non-skoda like. I have owned a Rapid earlier and I somehow felt that the Kushaq, Slavia and its VW cousins lacked the very build that defined VW and Skoda in India. I could be wrong, but I'm not sure how well these new set of cars will hold up after 4-6 years. Whereas the Compass is in a different league. It’s expensive, but its build quality feels uncompromised. I really liked the Petrol DCT and its not as bad as people make it to be. But I switched to Diesel since i drive in peak Bangalore traffic every day and the fuel efficiency of the petrol compass is not good in such situations.

Here’s my suggestion, test drive the 1.0 TSI in the Slavia again, I think its a very good engine with a more reliable TC box. If you pick that you would end up saving a lot. On the other hand if you can afford to stretch to the Compass and if you are going to retain it for a good number of years, then its not a bad call either. But choose Compass petrol only if you are not driving around in really bad traffic conditions are every day.

[catchdoon]

Hi Folks,

Purchased Slavia Style 1.0 AT in Tornado Red back in July 2022. Post delivery on 12th July, the car has clocked 4200+ Kms so far. Most miles have been from Navi Mumbai to Rohtak & back.


Initial Observations -

1. The car is an absolute pleasure to drive. Though a downgrade from 2L TDI Jetta but no complaints whatsoever. The car drives steady even at higher speeds. I touched 160 Kph once on the open stretch between Udaipur & Chittorgarh & I was impressed. Loved the way the steering got heavy. NVH levels are very nicely tamed.

2. As far as FE is concerned, on the Highways when CC is set at 110, I got a figure of 15.8-16.2. Obviously, higher FE towards 80-90-ish range. City FE ranges anywhere from 8-12 Kmpl depending on how slow-moving the traffic is. Overall Mileage so far is attached here. For a more practical approach, I follow & track only the Full Tank method.


3. Using Seat ventilation does affect the FE. However, so far, I've not personally seen the AC of the car not working optimally. I'm very much satisfied w/ the cooling power. But I've observed that at 24C, the Auto Mode isn't effective - It doesn't begin to cool & sorta blows pseudo-warm air which is very surprising. Keeping the temperature at 23.5C starts to do wonders. This I personally feel is a misconfiguration from Skoda. I'd love to be stand corrected though.

4. On the Highways, I did use the manual mode most of the time as I felt that the car was taking time to learn when to shift up quite late. Even w/ the Soft Pedal, the revving would be close to 2.8k RPM until the shift up happened. So around 2.2k RPM when I would lift my foot up from A-pedal, there would be a shift up which I personally felt was the right spot. So eventually I gave up the D mode & went to M mode & did enjoy it more.

5. Honestly, for the initial 100Kms, the Bucket Seats did not give me the comfort I was looking for but eventually I guess my body adjusted. This was one concern for me while I had done extensive TD of the car.

6. The curved approach of the Front Pax door trim is a :thumbs-down for me as for the support for the left elbow is pretty far from the normal reach. One has to extend self to ensure that the hand/elbow is resting.

7. I had my concerns initially w/ only 2 Disc Brakes in the front. However, the braking aspect of the car is brilliant. At any speed, you have total confidence in the car & the response is amazing. I did try 100-0 on the empty stretch couple of times while riding to Rohtak & had no issues whatsoever.

8. There's gonna be a difference between 1L TC & 1.5L DSG - no doubt but at no point did I feel that the car is inadequate during my 1400Km run in 2 Days. The car felt peppy when needed. The car feels hungry for more miles as you keep munching. Also, I've used 91 Octane throughout.

9. Finally, the build quality feels solid & confidence-inspiring. Having owned Jetta for 9+ years, I don't see a degradation in the build quality. Would be a 19-20 if not more or at par.


Two snaps that I clicked 3 days ago post spending almost 5-6 hours washing & self-detailing the car.

[TechnoBloop]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Realised that we can code the instrument display to any colour. Initially I thought we could only choose between the Blue and Red of VW and Yellow of the Slavia. But turns out that any color can be configured Now wondering what's best.

What?? Are these many colors available for the instrument cluster? I thought only the Red, Blue and Yellow colors were available.
In my opinion, stick with the yellow. The copper colored applique on the dashboard really matches the yellow of instrument cluster!
Green also looks great. But the pink and purple are giving me nightclub vibes, lol

[FrAgile]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Realised that we can code the instrument display to any colour. Initially I thought we could only choose between the Blue and Red of VW and Yellow of the Slavia. But turns out that any color can be configured Now wondering what's best.

Try orange too once. It will either look sporty and stellar or will appeal very cheap. To be very honest, these colors look very cheap and like shades of after-market ambient lighting that you get .

I am sure that these might be looking really good in real life but one thing I have observed so far, these Skoda-VW digital clusters that they are using are not picturesque at all, but they look stellar in real life.

[rish_arora]

Came across the video of a road trip to Ladakh in Slavia 1.5 MT. The owner claims that he face only a few GC issues during the whole trip. Also, he got the underbody checked after the trip from the SVC and there were no issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9NBLALfROc

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by neochanger

Try all black and see how it looks.. maybe it will give a full-blown flowing appearance.

This was a good idea. Tried it out today and it looks pretty simple and neat.







For now have stuck to a bright red since I wasn't a fan of the stock yellow colour. Thinking of converting the beige strip to carbon fiber and then this dark theme will come handy

Coincidentally the VW Virtus launched in Mexico has this all black theme as well.

[neochanger]

Originally Posted by audioholic

This was a good idea. Tried it out today and it looks pretty simple and neat.

For now have stuck to a bright red since I wasn't a fan of the stock yellow colour. Thinking of converting the beige strip to carbon fiber and then this dark theme will come handy

Looks great! Can we play around with some of the background graphics too? The semi-circular designs on both sides look odd that’s why in any color, the cluster doesn’t feel stylish. If we can somehow off the side designs or black them out, using bright red/blue etc may result in better looks. Till then this black one is my favourite. If I ever get this cable and software stuff, will definitely customise mine.

[FrAgile]

Originally Posted by catchdoon

Purchased Slavia Style 1.0 AT in Tornado Red back in July 2022. Post delivery on 12th July, the car has clocked 4200+ Kms so far.

Congratulations on the purchase. This car is truly an all rounder and the best alternative to the segment king Honda City. I personally feel that this is the best choice amongst all options keeping in mind VFM proportion available in 15-20L price bracket and a better product compared to the pseudo SUVs if one plans to travel with the family as the extra boot space comes in very handy.

I do have some questions/answers/opinions on some of the points that you mentioned in your post.

4. On the Highways, I did use the manual mode most of the time as I felt that the car was taking time to learn when to shift up quite late. Even w/ the Soft Pedal, the revving would be close to 2.8k RPM until the shift up happened. So around 2.2k RPM when I would lift my foot up from A-pedal, there would be a shift up which I personally felt was the right spot. So eventually I gave up the D mode & went to M mode & did enjoy it more.

This seems strange. Were you in the D mode or S mode? In S mode, the gearbox is tuned to keep the revs in the rev band where the turbo is already spooled up for quicker response time and acceleration without any lag. In these newer cars Skoda VW has tuned these gearboxes to shift up early in interest of fuel economy, meaning this behavior of the gearbox appears to be unusual. If in D mode, it might be possible that gearbox first adapts to the driving input and then responds accordingly.

5. Honestly, for the initial 100Kms, the Bucket Seats did not give me the comfort I was looking for but eventually I guess my body adjusted. This was one concern for me while I had done extensive TD of the car.

Coming from the likes of Honda, Hyundai, Innova Crysta and Maruti, the seats at first seem a bit too narrow because one is usually used to either wide or sofa like seats or non bolstered budget seats. In my case also, it took time but got adjusted to these sort of seats pretty soon. The bolsters become comfy after a point of time.

6. The curved approach of the Front Pax door trim is a :thumbs down for me as for the support for the left elbow is pretty far from the normal reach. One has to extend self to ensure that the hand/elbow is resting.

There is an unusual distance between the seats and the door pad which is quite noticeable once the person starts using the car regularly. It wasn't observed during showroom visits or test drives. This is where I wish that Skoda gave a bit more wider and bigger seats like seen in the Octavia. If not exactly, they could have made it 80% similar. The upholstery of the seats, especially the back part of the front seats is very very poorly finished for a car whose top variant costs upwards of 20L on road. The stitching is very abrupt and irregular and at some parts it seems like the stitching would tear apart and the foam will get visible. Skimping on features and the other fit finish aspects is still acceptable but giving such cheap upholstery which one sees and feels every moment one enters the car is not acceptable.

Another small observation after usage is that the Handbrake, when disengaged still remains quite a bit high than it should be making it appear like it's engaged. For comparison, in Honda City, when the handbrake is engaged, the max height it reaches to is half of what Slavia's handbrake appears when disengaged which led to major confusions and scares in the initial days.

8. Also, I've used 91 Octane throughout.

Do use the XP95 from Indian Oil and share your experience . It might return a marginally better FE with improvement in NVH, smoothness and better engine characteristics / response times.

We would love to hear updates after you put more miles on the Odo. Also, do share the service experience of a Skoda and if you find VW's sales and service better than Skoda or if it's vice versa.

[catchdoon]

Originally Posted by FrAgile

Congratulations on the purchase. This car is truly an all rounder and the best alternative ...... if one plans to travel with the family as the extra boot space comes in very handy.

Agreed 100%

I do have some questions/answers/opinions on some of the points that you mentioned in your post.


This seems strange. Were you in the D mode or S mode? If in D mode, it might be possible that gearbox first adapts to the driving input and then responds accordingly.

I was in D Mode. Now that you mentioned it, I'm surprised that I've myself never used S mode until now.
The seeming explanation might be the ECU learning curve.

Coming from the likes of Honda, Hyundai, Innova Crysta and Maruti, the seats at first seem a bit too narrow ....

Yea, after these many kms driven, my body has adapted to the seat design.

Another small observation after usage is that the Handbrake, when disengaged still remains quite a bit high than it should be making it appear like it's engaged.

How so true. There have been couple of instances where involuntary my hand went to disengage the HB only to realize that it's already disengaged. The HB is more like in the handrest position.

Do use the XP95 from Indian Oil and share your experience . It might return a marginally better FE with improvement in NVH, smoothness and better engine characteristics / response times.

Honestly, my experience w.r.t FE hasn't been great w/ earlier Petrol Cars so I no longer spend those extra bucks. However, will give 1 Full Tank method to test all aspects.

We would love to hear updates after you put more miles on the Odo. Also, do share the service experience of a Skoda and if you find VW's sales and service better than Skoda or if it's vice versa.

Sure mate. Will keep posting at regular intervals.

[volkman10]

Skoda Slavia just can't keep up with the Honda City in terms of volumes. Honda City will rule this segment and seems the Hybrid variant is doing wonders for them.




Source: Auto Punditz

[peugeot96]

My slavia active is now almost 6 months old with 9k on the odo. Here are some updates.

1. Car remains bullet proof. No rattles squeaks or any sign of wear and tear.

2. I had a 6k km trip in a xuv700. I felt it was like a cross between a pogo stick and a skateboard. Even limiting our running to 300km a day left me with aches and pains. The electronics and fancy gizmos were impressive though. The slavia is almost divine in comparison in the sense you can walk away with no ill effects after even 700-800 km in the driver seat in one go. It does seem somewhat barebones from a feature standpoint but I do have the base model.

3. The brake noise reported previously went away after i started using a karcher pressure washer to clean my car. I guess some dust build up occurs and needs to be removed.
4. Mileage is around 15 when driven uhhmmmm.... aggressively . 20 at normal highway cruising. It drops to 12 in really bad traffic.

5. Every drive is a non event due to secure manners, plush ride and brilliant seats. That said it will deliver the thrills when you want it to.

I call a spade a spade even if I own it but so far this has been the best car I have had. It has even impressed my family to the point that our trusty Innova may get replaced by a Kodiak.