[Pedaltothefloor]

Skoda Laura RS, why is there a debate?

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I would go a step further too though I really like Suhaas' suggestion of the Superb. I would venture to suggest an used Merc or Passat even! One should be able to pull off a middle aged E Class if one looks hard enough, especially up North.

Thanks Shankar Sir

I was going to suggest a used E-Class too, but for 15 lakhs you might find a few high-mileage examples. Plus, there is a danger of landing up with a hotel taxi. Also, Mercedes' running costs are rather exorbitant. if the OP is looking for a 15 lakh car, I'm sure he wouldn't want to spend money on running-costs on a car that otherwise costs 50 lakhs. Regular services will cost him a whole lot more than cars in the 15-20 lakh bracket

Passat is a good option also, but I'd still say a Superb is the first choice. It scores over the Passat in terms of leg-room, which is of high priority here (rear-eat cmfort)

Originally Posted by Pedaltothefloor

Skoda Laura RS, why is there a debate?

Laura RS is available with a petrol engine. OP does 60,000 kilometers in a year. That sort of running more than justifies a diesel car. That's the debate.

Had Skoda introcued a diesel variant of the RS, it would have been an open-shut case.

[ipsanand]

Originally Posted by ghostrider

No one I know with a Jetta or a Laura gets 17-19 in the city.

My 1 month old Jetta at 2500Km mileage shows me an average of 16.6 KMPL, mix of city and highway driving 50:50. Gives 15 in city conditions.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by ipsanand

My 1 month old Jetta at 2500Km mileage shows me an average of 16.6 KMPL, mix of city and highway driving 50:50. Gives 15 in city conditions.

Congratulations on the Jetta. You're one of the lucky ones when it comes to the FE... a colleague at work gets about 12-13 in the city.
The MID on my Cruze shows me between 13-14 and when I fill it up, the actual FE's about 1kpl less than what the MID reported as the average for that tank.

Anyway... I think the best advice we could give the OP is to personally TD the cars and pick the one that appeals to him the best. His shortlist is absolutely fine - each of these cars has pros and cons - so now it'll come down to personal preference I guess.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by ghostrider

No one I know with a Jetta or a Laura gets 17-19 in the city.

Yes the Jetta's nice to look at but at the end of the day you spend all your time INSIDE the car, not outside it. And on the inside you've got fewer toys and creature comforts than you'll find on a 6-lac i20 or Swift. Say what you want but at the end of the day the creature comforts matter tremendously.

The FE figures of Jetta by most users on the forum have been reported to be around 18-19 kmpl and that was my reference.

As far as travelling inside the car part, well in that case I would rate safety as the topmost criterion and the Jetta leaves the cruze far behind in that aspect. Also the Jetta has lesser turbo lag compared to the cruze and so would be better to drive in the city where the car would anyways be spending most of its time I guess.

[drchernish]

Chevrolet Cruze LT:14.63
Chevrolet Cruze LTZ:16.52
Chevrolet Cruze LTZ AT:17.53

Skoda Laura 2.0 tdi MT ambition:16.88
Skoda Laura 2.0 tdi MT elegance:18.68
Skoda Laura 2.0 tdi AT ambition:18.22
Skoda Laura 2.0 tdi AT elegance:19.89
Skoda Laura 2.0 tdi AT L&K:22.03

Volskwagen Jetta 2.0 tdi Trendline M/T:17.83
Volskwagen Jetta 2.0 tdi Comfortline M/T:18.54
Volskwagen Jetta 2.0 tdi Highline M/T:21.45
Volskwagen Jetta 2.0 tdi Highline A/T:22.54

All prices on road delhi from a leading car magazine June edition.Now can somebody factor in the discounts going on this prices.If for example somebody can get a 1.5 lac discount on skoda tdi mt elegance bringing the price down to 18.68-1.5=17.18 which is just 60000 rs short of cruze ltz translating into a value for money proposition for skoda.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

As far as travelling inside the car part, well in that case I would rate safety as the topmost criterion and the Jetta leaves the cruze far behind in that aspect.

Please state facts, not opinions.
Euro NCAP actually rates the Cruze as one of the highest in its segment, higher than the Jetta.

CRUZE:
Frontal Impact: 16
Side Impact: 8
Side Impact pole: 7.4
Rear Impact: 3.1

JETTA:
Frontal Impact: 15.2
Side Impact: 8
Side Impact pole: 7.1
Rear Impact: 3.3

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by ghostrider

Please state facts, not opinions.
Euro NCAP actually rates the Cruze as one of the highest in its segment, higher than the Jetta.

CRUZE:
Frontal Impact: 16
Side Impact: 8
Side Impact pole: 7.4
Rear Impact: 3.1

JETTA:
Frontal Impact: 15.2
Side Impact: 8
Side Impact pole: 7.1
Rear Impact: 3.3

Do keep in mind that the Euro NCAP rating spec car may not be the one being sold out here.
The Jetta has 6 airbags, unlike the Indian cruze which has only 2.

Personally, Akhilesh, I would recommend the Jetta.
It has the power, balanced ride and handling, its newer and fresher unlike the Laura which some say is to be replaced soon, and more importantly, more leg space in the back.
Alternately, the Laura would be my pick as a safe vehicle, followed by the Altis simply due to the lack of power - though it meets all your other requirements.
If you want to really think out of the box, then get an Etios D for the chauffeur driven moments, and a pre-owned Laura TSi for when you want to drive . Avoid german tech-savvy used cars like the Superb, and used mercs / bmws.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Do keep in mind that the Euro NCAP rating spec car may not be the one being sold out here.
The Jetta has 6 airbags, unlike the Indian cruze which has only 2.

Thats a fair point, but Euro NCAP places less emphasis on airbags in their scoring system. What they do place emphasis on is cage rigidity, deformation, tensile strength of the materials, cabin intrusion of materials, and of course...rigidity. The jury's still out over whether airbags really do save lives. A personal example that I could offer is what happened about 4 years ago to my ex-girlfriend... her Accord was involved in a full-frontal collision (she was sitting in front, the driver had dozed off behind the wheel and wandered on to the opposite side of the road) at a combined speed of over 100 kph when it hit the car coming in the opposite direction and not a single airbag deployed. What saved her life was the seatbelt, deformation zones and the rigidity of the cabin.

So you see.... the Jetta may not "leave the Cruze far behind" just because it has more airbags.

Anyway, we're going OT.

OP, a lot of people recommend the Laura and the Jetta based on your
requirements. They're both good cars. Personally, given your requirements, I'd recommend the Laura....but please TD all the cars exhaustively and see which one you prefer best.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by ghostrider

The jury's still out over whether airbags really do save lives. A personal example that I could offer is what happened about 4 years ago to my ex-girlfriend(...)

So you see.... the Jetta may not "leave the Cruze far behind" just because it has more airbags.

Ghostrider, anecdotal experience may vary but in general the belief is that more airbags = better and that is a fair assessment to make, all other things being equal.

OP, a lot of people recommend the Laura and the Jetta based on your
requirements. They're both good cars. Personally, given your requirements, I'd recommend the Laura....but please TD all the cars exhaustively and see which one you prefer best.

While I do feel the Jetta is a gorgeous car and packed with just the right features (climatronic omission IMHO is nt such a big deal as long as the manual AC works perfectly, for example), a significant premium over the Laura, which enjoys significant brand cachet in this country, doesn't seem warranted. Then again the Laura TDI gets the 140 BHP version only in the DSG variant, while the Jetta gets it in a yummy 6-speed manual as well! Choose wisely

[shankar.balan]

Once you get used to this it is very hard to get unused to it. My wife vastly prefers the Ac temp to be a bit warmer on her side and I like it chilled, so believe me the Dual Zone Climatronics in the Yeti have averted many a spat!

[Turbo car]

I suggest Vento Highline TDI or even the Skoda Rapid elegance model.

Granted that you have a budget of 15 L but no need to stretch it to the maximum if you can get all your need covered for less than that amount.

[drchernish]

Comparative prices for diesel variants, ex-showroom Delhi:

New Chevrolet Cruze
LT MT – Rs 13.85 lakh
LTZ MT – Rs 14.77 lakh
LTZ AT – Rs 15.67 lakh

Volkswagen Jetta TDI
Trendline MT – Rs 14.93 lakh
Comfortline MT – Rs 16.41 lakh
Highline MT – Rs 18.05 lakh
Highline AT – Rs 18.90 lakh

Skoda Laura TDI
Ambiente MT – Rs 14.48 lakh
Ambiente AT – Rs 15.65 lakh
Elegance MT – Rs 16.05 lakh
Elegance AT – Rs 17.1 lakh
L&K AT – Rs 18.98 lakh

Renault Fluence diesel
E2 – Rs 12.99 lakh
E4 – Rs 15.20 lakh

Toyota Corolla Altis diesel
D-4D J – Rs 12 lakh
D-4D G – Rs 13.96 lakh
D-4D VX – Rs 15.23 lakh


This is from Autocar's article about new cruze.

[mudittandon]

Whatever you do, please do *not* go for a used Superb. Or a used Laura for that matter. Once either of these cars have any major engine work done, they keep causing nagging issues. The trouble with a used Skoda is that you can never be sure if there was any major engine work in the past or not -- and if there was some major work, you cant be sure.

My personal opinion: try the new Cruze out. It's really a beautiful car. And one of the few landmark cars globally that has enabled GM to really hit Toyota and Honda in this price segment. I cant remember anything before this.

PS - in your requirements for a car, you havent mentioned one very important thing - which one do you LIKE? Which car in this segment, if any, do you WANT more? You already have all the facts now, and you know which cars are a 'no'. I think now, you need to just peacefully think and imagine yourself in all the cars that you havent said 'no' to. And when all the mess of specifications etc is clear, and the dust settles, you'll be able to slowly see yourself in one car. Buy that one.

[drchernish]

Well had almost decided on cruze LTZ model when watched the Autocar's comparison with jetta. The Jetta trend line is at the same price range as cruze LTZ -Now what do team bhp members suggest-cruze LTZ vs jetta trendline. Let the wars begin.