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-   -   Princess of the Czech: Skoda Laura DSG comes home (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/114206-princess-czech-skoda-laura-dsg-comes-home-7.html)

The features you can activate via VCDS are:

- DRLS
- Needle Staging
- Cornering Fogs
- Auto Lock (car locks when it touches 15kmph)

This is the first update to thread. Its been almost 9 months and 12000 kms(approx.). We,ve had a joyous ownership experience of the laura till now albeit a few problems.

The car is due for its first service in the next two months. Most of the laura's mileage comes from long trips and vacations. I just need a reason to get behind the wheel of the laura. Since the first service was coming up, i needed to get a few things cleared before hand.

First off, the bad bits/problems noticed as of date:

• The ride is pretty stiff at slow speeds which is quite annoying. especially in bad roads. The suspension makes sure that you know and feel each and every bump on the road. Although the bumps itself are cushioned quite well, it doesn't iron them out like say an innova!
• The rattle from the boot is a never ending problem. I've tried various fixes with no success. Drove around with the parcel tray removed, played around with the rubber boot-lid stoppers and still can't eliminate that rattle.
• There is a new noise that has started recently. It comes from the passenger portion of the dash between the door and the glovebox. Its the sort of noise you get from an untuned radio. I checked and its not the speaker system.
• ABS kicks in more often than before. I had never felt the ABS work during the first 6 months. Could be the wearing tyres(too soon) or due to more agressive driving since i've got used to the car.
• The Left DRL bulb keeps going off. The first time was while driving to Kabini in some truly horrific roads. The base of the bulb had some how melted and had shorted the terminals. I was able to fix it by scraping of the melted portion. But since then it keeps going off. Have to find some LED ones soon.I tried various stores. Nobody in and around my locality seems to have heard of LED bulbs with that sort of connector. I am skeptical about ordering them online.
• Traction control - How do you know its actually working? I was driving in some bad roads with no asphalt with Four people onboard and luggage. It was a hilly area with lots of inclines and roads were ridden with potholes. so had to snake my way and could do speeds of 5 or 10 km/h! Here every time I prod on the throttle a little hard the wheels used to spin up and you get the flashing TC symbol on the cluster. I had to let off the gas and brake and then gently feather the throttle. This would have been a lot easier in a manual. My question is What TC actually doing? It was mostly me who was keeping the wheels from spinning and when it was little off balance the wheels spun so the obviously there was no "Traction Control" happening here.
• The two horns seem to be working with their own minds. Some times only one of them sound and other times none of them want to make any noise. This happens ocassionally and doesnt look like a recurring problem anyway a few days ago I checked and cleaned the connectors, will have to wait and see if that solved it.

I have also noticed the poor quality of paint on the car. I had got the paint protection package from 3M and regularly polish the car(meguiars). Different layers of paint have chipped of in various regions around the car. Although they are in minute areas, its still a point of concern considering one of the USP of the car is its build quality. Here are some pictures that describe the problem:






Also is there a possible fix for the above pinholes or should i just ignore them?

Ofcourse the ownership wouldn't be joyous if there werent some good bits to owning the laura. But i have only listed the niggles as thats what most of them would be looking for in an ownership thread. :)

• The laura is an absolute fab to drive. The DSG+140BHP combo is almost perfect. A few more horses wouldnt hurt though. But you can really feel all the power and torque thats sort of like a wave, Starts from 1st gear and goes all the way to 6th without skipping a beat or getting stressed out.
• The handling is something you should try for yourself. For a big family sedan with Some 500lts of boot space it really handles superbly. I managed to push the car to almost 200kph, it still holds its stance and feels completely planted. (this was on the NICE road- I wouldn't recommend this to others because the surface is very bumpy and uneven. this gets amplified at higher speeds)
• All the electricals inside the car work as good as new.

I can still appreciate the points on which i was hooked on to the laura initially. Nothing has diminished.

The laura picked up two small bruisings near the front left fog lamp and on the underside of the left foot step. This was when the car was new and we weren't used to the size and turning radius of the car. Here is a pic of the damage:


I spoke to the Service people about this and they said the only fix is to replace the front bumper.



I didn't ask him for the cost of the job but should i go for it or is there any other way to fix it. Also I have a zero depreciation insurance policy. And it is almost the end of the policy year (another 2months) How can i make use of this insurance? As we havent made a claim on any previous car till date we are not sure what the procedure is. What exactly do i get in this add-on cover? Can both the damages be fixed under insurance? I want to get this clarified as soon as possible since i would like get all of it done when the car goes for the first service. And also if i do decide to go for the fix then i should inform the A.S.S and place an order for the bumper before hand.

Well Skoda India offers paintwork warranty for 3 years - http://skoda-auto.co.in/ind/service/...eragePage.aspx
So you should definitely raise some hue and cry as is clear from your photos that there is definitely something wrong with the paintwork.

Also-
- You should get the DRL housing and bulb changed
- Horns can also be replaced under warranty
- The ASC can do a full scan of the car to go the root of the problem of your other issues like ABS etc.
- Rattles need to be checked manually by a properly trained personnel

Thank you for sharing that. I Had no idea that skoda offered a paint defect warranty. That is why i took lightly. I will for sure show it in the A.S.S and get their opinion.

Its quite shocking to see the pictures where the paint has given away.I have owned Laura tsi for 2 years,believe me never had any such issues from original paint.But had similar problems where I had carried out paint job following an accident.The job was done by ***.But from your snaps it is seen that the patches are there all over.

It is better you take up this matter with your dealer quite seriously as soon as possible. It is not small money that you have shelled out and it is neither an amby nor a padmini to expect these sort of surprises.Once you contact your *** let us know their stance.

Regarding the rattles you have mentioned, I too had both the rattles and had umpteen futile attempts to fix it.Even the *** guys were unable to fix the same.I remember seeing a thread on this rattle issue somewhere in the forum.

Brgds
Sree

Hi there goutham,

Following your thread since day one! Some of the problems we face are similar.
Even I had the annoying rattle from the boot, which when the car went for its 5000km checkup was traced to the light bulb or the tool case in the boot.
I still get the slight noise from between the door and the glovebox it sounds like thermocol! I yet have to get it fixed but can live with it as its not annoying nor instantly noticeable.

Hey. These seem to be generic problems with the model itself. It is strange to see that Skoda has not corrected such a widespread and simple issue!
I Will remove the spare tyre, toolkit and drive around to check if it can be fixed.

Where can I get Meguiar shampoo in Bangalore?

Did you get Paint protection done on your car? Any feedback?

I am planning to get it done for my Rapid.

Meguiars Shampoo can be got at any 3M car care outlets.

If you are interested in paint protection, either head to 3M Car Care, HSR layout or get in touch with ULTIMATE DETAILERZ group via facebook. The UD Guys visit your home and do the wash, wax everything at your doorstep.

Paint protection needs to be taken care of with regular cleaning and stuff which the 3m guys and even UD guys will explain to you.

Cheers.
Drive safe!!

The Laura just completed 1 year of loyal service. So I Just wanted to post some updates.

1st Service(16000kms): We had just come home from a 3000km. Maharashtra tour and dropped her off in the service station the very next day. Service had the usual jobs. Oil, Fuel, Air, AC Filters were all replaced, Engine oil changed, Brakes cleaned, etc. No Extras. The Job was done in one day and the approx. bill was Rs. 9500.
The Car was extra smooth and as good as new. I had no complaints about the service.

19600kms: There was noticeable Grinding noise from the front brakes at slow parking speeds. Only noticed this after a long drive and trying to park the car. Went to A.S.S straight away as i thought the Pads needed replacement. They opened up the brakes and showed me that the pads had easily another 15000kms of life in them. And the noise was may be to to some stones getting embedded in to them .Anyway got the brakes cleaned also the discs checked. The brakes still make the same noise. Although the brakes work as they should and functionally have not degraded, So just decided to let it go.

January 5th 20200 kms: Exactly a year done. I'll point out some of the facts you would be expecting to here.:

• Engine is still as refined and smooth an absolute gem. Have not had a single reliability issue. Power, Torque every things just the way it was when it was new. Gearbox functions smoothly with the exact gear shifts you expect. Having lived with it for a year, you get into full sync with the gearbox. I know exactly what to do, how much throttle to give to get the gearbox to shift my desired gear.
  
• All the Electronics work as it should, No failures. All knobs and switched still as firm and sturdy as they were when it was new. The build quality that initially impressed us so much is still there without the slightest hint of wear.
  
• The interiors have gotten a little smudged with quite a lot of stains. Have to get the interiors cleaned, I know 3M does good job so should go see them.
  
• The paintwork is still pretty good. Those defects i have pointed out in my previous posts, most of them were caused due to stones hitting from other cars and trucks. They are very tiny and I'm not sure if its a good idea to get them fixed with patchwork. I go to 3M once in 6 months and get their POWERSHINE package done and also polish it regularly so the sheen of the car is still there. Thinking of getting the Paint Sealant package done to remove the small amount of swirl marks and also some other minor scratches.
  
• The car had two major Bruises on the front fender and the passenger side bottom running board. Got them fixed at ALI's Garage, for cheap 3500 bucks. The work is excellent the paint finish mathces exactly to the rest of the car. I Don't think even the guys at skoda could do a job as good as this and not to mention cost. I highly recommend this place for any kind of bodywork. The place does not look much but don't be fooled, his clientèle includes RR evoques, mercs, bimmers (7 series).
  
• Had to get a puncture on the tyre fixed with some heat treatment and stuff. The OE good years are not that strong, a 10mm bolt that had pierced made quite a nasty tear on the tyre. anyway using that one as a spare now. Another 10000kms. and all five tyres will be replaced with some good michelins or yokos.

So overall there Laura has been easy maintenance till date contrary to popular belief the German marque vehicles are "high Maintenance". Also the car still drives like new and shows no signs of ageing.

I got the Philips HID 6000K for the low beams with error free ballasts. Fitting them was an easy 1 hour job. 4300k is the stock xenon color and also the brightest. I wanted a slight hint of blue so got the 6000K. It goes very well with the white body. Since the sit in projectors, they still have the same crisp cut-off so absolutely no glare.
Here are some pics. Will take some pice in the night and post it soon.





The White parking light is a w5w t10 Philips 6000k LED.


I want to activate some of the features like needle staging, coming home/leaving home lights etc. Does any one in Bangalore have Vag-COM cable that I could borrow and Know-how of the software? please:

Even I noticed some grinding noise from the brakes, took it to the service centre and it was traced to a stone stuck between the pad and the disc. So I think your's needs to be cleaned properly or maybe its from the other tyre. The same noise came up few months back too, didn't want to take it to the service centre so I told my driver to spray water with force between the pads and the disc and it worked!


I got my projector bulbs changed to Philips Crystal Vision which is 4,300K. They look like xenons, didn't have to get any relay installed or wires cut. Simple plugout-plug in. Got free W5W bulbs too. The upgrade just costed Rs 1,300

Regarding VAG Activation (Go to your dealer or borrow a cable)

Enable dial staging (the speedo and tacho sweeps to maximum value and return to 0) after turning ignition on
This one is available in the adaption, so there's no need for any long codings, bits and bytes
- enter module 17 - Instruments
- click 10 - Adaptation
- select channel from the drop-down menu and scroll downwards until you find Staging
- select "Active" from the new value drop-down meny
- click Do it!

I Got all the four sets of brake pads cleaned and the callipers greased from skoda A.S.S but the sound is still there. Its a faint one and not very loud. Like i said before, you can only hear it when windows are rolled down and you are at parking speeds.

Hey Goutham_r, wondering if you did anything specific to prevent bulb warning when you installed the HID parking bulbs? Or did they just work fine without anything but a simple stock replacement.

Appreciate your response.

Thx,
Sanju