[Goldikam]

I've been closely following all the reviews for Slavia and been loving the way Slavia looks.
Almost finalised buying the 1.0 TC (since I need peace of mind, won't opt for the 1.5 DSG).

Now, watching all these other issues like EPC and more, almost lost faith in Skoda. Can't have a car which could stop any time.

Planning to wait for a year or so and buy a proper premium car.

Really disappointed in the overall scenario of Skoda right now.

[GreasyCarb55]

Originally Posted by voldemort

I feel she should push hard for a refund or replacement, and be given extended warranty and everything.


Is the Slavia a drool worthy car? I mean, I don't know. I have felt the old Octavia was drool worthy, but not the Slavia.


Thanks for pointing this out. In another thread I had mentioned that if I were to buy a VAG car, it would be a non-DSG. I suppose it doesn't really matter.

Actually, I think BMWs are rather reliable. Mercedes too, for the most part. Expensive to maintain, but fairly reliable. I don't think BMW and MB cars have a fundamentally flawed design. However, with VW/Skoda — especially the cheaper models — I have reasons to believe that the whole design is flawed.

I agree with all your points, the least they can to try and patch up this blunder is offer her free extended warranty. The Slavia is a good looking car but far from the best looking in it's segment.

The only VW group cars I would even consider buying that isn't a luxury brand like Audi or Porsche is the Octavia and even that is a 50/50. BMW and MB are expensive to maintain but otherwise reliable.

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Looks like even if you buy a non DSG Skoda also you won't be spared from the gremlins of Skoda. On top of it they're already deleting features like the 10" touchscreen blaming it on chip shortage. Skoda is a mass market car with all the 'trappings & idiosyncrasies' of a luxury German. Would give you the feel of what it's like to have a (Czech-)German in your garage before you buy one from the true blue German Big 3!

13 year old me was a little bummed out that my father wouldn't even consider the VW Vento when we were looking for a sub 20 lakh sedan to replace our WagonR in 2017 but now I understand why he bought a Honda City.

The only brand new german cars I would consider buying are the luxury brands like Audi, BMW, Mercedes etc. Only slight exception to this is the Octavia.

[arbardhan]

Originally Posted by ZB86

I am reaching out on behalf of a friend who purchased Slavia 1.0 TSI, AT on 24th March 2022 from Skoda TAFE Access, Bangalore. Within 3 weeks of delivery, and barely driving few hundred KMs her car ran into EPC / Auto Start Stop issue.

My Dec 2021 Polo TSI is at the dealer Service centre for a week for an EPC issue. The car does not even start due to fault - the engine is "COLD". It starts for a minute with the EPC light ON

I don't know what's going on.

[ananbanka]

Hello!

I've read quite a few threads on EPC errors and wanted to share what worked for me. I drive a 2021 Skoda Superb (2.0 TSi) and I noticed EPC errors a couple of weeks after I was done with the run-in period.

At first, I was obviously quite puzzled, and sent my car to the service centre. A quick test drive later, the team at Skoda claimed that there is nothing wrong and it must be a one-off incident. Accepting the fact, I continued driving my car till the issue popped up again, this time around with the Auto Start Stop Error. Sent my car to Skoda again, with the same feedback and 'solution'.

One night, when I was driving over the Electronic City fly-over, the error popped up again, and that's when it dawned on me! For me, the EPC always came on when I was speeding! Because I'd read how the EPC is related to the throttle system, I re-verified the quality of Shell V-Power. Here's the kicker, the exorbitantly priced Shell V-Power, is actually RON 91 fuel! And I always assumed that I was filling premium-grade petrol in my Superb.

Some quick research later, I came across XP95. IndianOil's RON 95 petrol, that's actually cheaper than Shell's V-Power. It's been over 6 months since that incident and the EPC never came on again - except, you guessed it, the one time I filled in Shell last month because I didn't have access to XP95!

For me, XP95 seems to have solved the problem of constant EPC errors and the auto start stop error. Can't claim this is the root cause, or a solution that will work for everyone, but I'd highly recommend all VAG car owners to move to XP95 if they're using petrol that is below RON 95. It doesn't command a very high premium and has definitely made a difference to how my car drives!

Hope this helps!

[venkyhere]

When will companies learn that the auto-start-stop feature is a bane, rather than a boon, in perennially traffic-start-crawl-stop-start-crawl-stop plagued cities in India. VAG products are mostly sold heavily in favour of urban buyers and such features can simply push the limits of the systems (alternator, it's regulator) into needless stress and accelerated ageing.

Nevertheless, my wild guess regarding the possiblities :

(a) an electrical leak, due to improper fit at factory (a lemon fit, main grounding cable between alternator and body or some such) , the start/stop feature getting used in a city like Bangalore, just squeezed the juice out of the alternator by making it run at full load

(b) a lemon alternator that managed to get through the supply chain Q&A sieve and find it's way to the assembly line.

[Guite]

All these complaints about the VAG 2.0 cars is worrying. I am used to the solid feel and comfort of a VW car. Now I want nothing but a VW for my next car. We have been watching and waiting the Kushaq and Taigun since last year, much before their launch. Launch happened and complaints galore. Another sibling launched and same sorry story.

There is no other heavy built, stable driver's car in the market. Fiat gone. Ford gone. VAG might just be shooting themself in the foot.

[VVN]

I am not at all aligned with the theory that new products will have teething issues. These statements are true for websites that are launched and undergo A/B testing. They fail to load at times and then the issues are resolved. Same with Mobile apps. There is a world of difference between a mobile app and a 15L car. These teething issues should be resolved when real world testing happens. No one is asking Skoda or VW to launch cars every year. Take your time, test for 6-12 months and then launch once you are confident that it doesn't have 'teething' issues. The sooner we get rid of this teething expectation, the sooner OEMs will realise that we Indians won't take half baked products. The same is true for Tata and M&M who more often than not, treat consumers as Beta testers.

I own a Honda City and I would love to own a car from the VAG stable one day. Lovely cars but massively let down by their A.S.S and their own inability to produce a reliable yet FTD vehicle. No brand is perfect. Even Toyota have their fair share of issues but those issues are rare and yet they sell almost the same number of cars per month as VAG (Maybe wrong here, haven't checked last months sales figures)

[drjaygoyal]

Originally Posted by GreasyCarb55

The only VW group cars I would even consider buying that isn't a luxury brand like Audi or Porsche is the Octavia and even that is a 50/50. BMW and MB are expensive to maintain but otherwise reliable.


The only brand new german cars I would consider buying are the luxury brands like Audi, BMW, Mercedes etc. Only slight exception to this is the Octavia.

Are you saying Porsche is Unreliable ? Because I am yet to hear anyone saying that.

[Ford5]

Does Skoda/VW do any real world testing for Indian road conditions?

I feel they just hook up the car to a dyno and drive it for x number of kilometres and claim they’ve done real world testing.

Hard to say their R&D don’t face any issue while testing cars… in a real world condition across Indian cities involving varying driving conditions, and if they do then why can’t they fix it before launch.

[GreasyCarb55]

Originally Posted by drjaygoyal

Are you saying Porsche is Unreliable ? Because I am yet to hear anyone saying that.

I am not saying that Porsche is unreliable, I was simply agreeing with the other person who said that BMW and Mercedes-Benz are expensive to maintain but reliable.

[BleueNinja]

While I truly feel bad for the lady here, I think we shouldn’t be quick to declare india 2.0 strategy an outright failure.

Yes, it is unacceptable for a car costing upwards of 20 lacs to have such issues be it harrier, safari, xuv700 or Kushaq for that matter.

I remember reading two posts on tbhp today, one was how an Octavia protected it’s driver in an accident that maybe any other car from reliable brands wouldn’t have and another post was how an year old Creta suffered a turbo failure while the family was on a road trip. We have seen quality issues with Koreans and japs for that matter.

Is VAG taking us Indian consumers for a ride by providing substandard products? Maybe. But the way I see it Atleast now we have an alternative to Creta/Seltos in form of Kushaq/Taigun. Yes they might lack the finesse that polo/vento/rapid has but they make up for it by providing a safer and a performance oriented car from a mass segment perspective and IMHO, fit and finish isn’t that bad and it seems a bit overhyped. I was recently in market looking out for a new car. I still remember how the Sales team at Kia and Hyundai have no other alternative but to plonk out a feature list when you mention safety ratings and Kushaq/Taigun in same breath. I remember an year back when sales executive at Kia were too arrogant to even attend a customer properly let alone offer a proper TD.

For all the horror stories we go through there are many owners who are happy with their VW cars. Slavia/Virtus along with City can revive the dying sedan segment and I am hopeful they do and this EPC issue is one of the few cases that surface.

I would stay away from that dreaded DSG tho GTO is right, VW/skoda should be ready for DQ200 issues as these cars age.

[Sidjohri]

Originally Posted by AKSarkar1

I'm sorry but I believe I have to play the devil's advocate for this particular thread even though I have been quite vocal critic of all the misses that VAG India has done with their India 2.0 strategy.

I fail to understand as to why 'new cars' are 'bound' to have 'new issues' or any issues whatsoever. Any new car launch usually happens after months of rigorous testing - every manufacturer has a dedicated division with a significant budget alocation to ensure that the product is reliable and roadworthy.

Consumers do not shell out their hard earned money to suffer and become guinea pigs for reporting 'new issues in new cars'. That too in huge numbers, especially from a manufacturer of global repute. Basic reliability and driveability should be a given irrespective of the life cycle stage of a car / product.

If one has to play the devil's advocate then s/he has to be on top with sound reasoning and logic. Am dumbstruck to see such comments from advocates who could do better by being more sensitive, empathetic and knowledgeable.

[ramji_or]

Oh Oh, the VW brands and their in-famous "Start-Stop" system, I own a 2013 VW Golf TDI and the "Start-Stop" system is a pain. It will work as usual and suddenly it wont start automatically and would force me to shift to "Park" and manually start the engine. This has happened so many times and once it left me on the receiving end of a road-rage incident.

Now it is a second-nature for me to get into the car, crank it and switch off the "Start-Stop" system. And even If I miss it, my wife would pay attention and do it as it has pissed her off so many times as well.

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by BleueNinja

I remember reading two posts on tbhp today, one was how an Octavia protected it’s driver in an accident that maybe any other car from reliable brands wouldn’t have and another post was how an year old Creta suffered a turbo failure while the family was on a road trip. We have seen quality issues with Koreans and japs for that matter.

Is VAG taking us Indian consumers for a ride by providing substandard products? Maybe. But the way I see it Atleast now we have an alternative to Creta/Seltos in form of Kushaq/Taigun. Yes they might lack the finesse that polo/vento/rapid has but they make up for it by providing a safer and a performance oriented car from a mass segment perspective and IMHO, fit and finish isn’t that bad and it seems a bit overhyped..

I guess when we are in the market to buy Koreans or Japanese cars, we know they are not the best in safety but are fairly reliable to get the job done. However we don't expect to pay premium for VAG safe cars and then the cars unexpectedly giving frequent troubles. Point I am trying to make is that with Koreans and Japanese, we know what we are buying but with VAG in India, one can just hope that his or her car doesn't turn out to be a lemon.

[CommitTran]

Originally Posted by ZB86

Hello Folks,

I am reaching out on behalf of a friend who purchased Slavia 1.0 TSI, AT on 24th March 2022 from Skoda TAFE Access, Bangalore. Within 3 weeks of delivery, and barely driving few hundred KMs her car ran into EPC / Auto Start Stop issue.

She handed over the car to the service center and their diagnosis was software upgrade. The car was handed over to her and she ran into the same error again after 11 days. From 5th May, 2022 her car has been lying at the service center, and it looks like the concerned people at the service center are quite clueless about the issue and are unable to fix it. The reasons given for possible causes also have been quite vague. For such an expensive car or any car for that matter, getting stranded can be a difficult experience. More so for a woman, if something like this happens at an odd hour can deflate your confidence in the car.

I am also an owner of 1.0 Slavia. For me One of the reason of choosing Slavia instead of Kushaq was EPC issue. I was under the impression that these things would have been fixed in Slavia.
Since the delivery of my car I am using Speed or XP95 just to be at the safer side and this posts proves that I was right.
So many horror stories are there for newly launched cars from different manufacturers including Skoda/VW 2.0 cars. If we had stricter consumer laws than I am sure these car manufacturers would not have taken things this lightly and have not treated us like UAT team of an IT company. Government have a major stake in this pie in terms of taxes and the least they could do is to protect us.
Whether the product costs 5 rupees of 50 crores, it should perform as promised or else the customer should get full refund.
The owner will left with no confidence on this car even if service center fixes these issues permanently, there is very high possiblity that she's may sold this vehicle once issues are fixed after taking a major financial and physiological hit. It's been almost two years since such issues are reported yet Skoda is brave enough to continue with same parts which shows that they don't care much.
Fear of such issues along with AC performance has already spoiled and killed my new car excitement and I have decided to strictly use it as a city car so as to always fill it with premium petrol. As soon as my finances are in a better place, I'll get rid of it as I would rather have my piece of mind. For me owning such cars are like being in a relationship with a toxic person who is good looking and fun sometimes but in the end the headache is not worth it.