[Y@SH]

Needed to change our 3 year old Sx4 which had clocked 32k kms. We needed something more upmarket and obviously had to be of a segment above.

What I needed:
- Bigger car (of a segment above)
- Comfortable interiors
- Ride and Handling has to be spot on
- Reliability
- Build quality like the germans (My Merc just amazes me every-time I sit in it)
- Good Music System
- Oh yes a Diesel, how can we forget that


Budget: Around 15-18Lakhs.


Contenders:

• New Fiesta: Just felt like testdriving this car. Went to SC Ford at Malad. Exterior wise it looks like from a segment above and turns my head everytime I see one on-road. Loved the way this car looks, the fluidic design really looks out of the world. The body of the car is very solid and feels better built than my friends vento. The steel is of a higher grade than the one used for this range of cars and it is evident. The interiors were very funky and futuristic as well. Loved the wing like shaped centre console. All the controls were driver oriented and that I liked! Few plastics are bad but I forgive ford. The handling since it was the fiesta was just superb I asked the sales rep "Are you sure this is the diesel??". In my opinion it is the best C segment car, but a slightly overpriced.

• Cruze: Went to AVK at versova. First look and wow, love the in-your-face grill. Solid exterior build quality was really built like a tank. The interiors are of better quality than the fiesta and I was expecting the quality of much lower quality, I was surely impressed with the work GM has done. The doors shut with a thud, the interior design was amazing, I liked every bit of it untill the test-drive. Although the car has amazing power the clutch spoils every bit of the drive. Its like driving a aged old TATA, the kickback was very bad. Didnt enjoy it AT ALL
  
  

• Laura:AVK and the skoda showroom are neighbors! The dealer was Autobahn. Walked inside the showroom and the receptionist greeted us immediately, asked which car would we like to have a look at and made us meet the Sr. Sales Manager, Nikunj. It was Nikunj who should us the car in the showroom. Really liked the interiors of, the car on display had optional wood and leather which looked good. Didnt even take a TD as I have driven it before. The Laura was in the color I wanted in, BLACK. Boy, she looked stunning. It had to be this.

Varient:
TDI Ambient, MT


Cost & Discounts:
Autobahn had 50%off on the Skoda Shield which was immediately a saving of appx 30k. The owner of the dealership Mr. Choksi is my dads good old friend.
We got an additional discount of 30k.
The laura which was on display had the optional wood inserts and leather, the package was for 50,000. We took that as well since it made the interiors feel classy.
The total came to around Rs.16.80L with Company registration & Insurance offered by the dealer.

D-Day:

Went the showroom on the 16th of Feb 2012 to get the delivery of my new Laura. The car had 52kms on the odo and we did the pooja and drove off.




The car just 4 days old covered 200kms and here are my impressions, too early to give FE figures will surely keep you guys updated.


Likes:

• The understated looks of the car is simply stunning.
• Music system is a boombox, really like it, 8 speakers what more can you ask for?
• Ride quality is superb (maintaining 30psi)
• Comfortable for four occupants, fifth one is not welcomed!
• AC is a chiller
• Engine is barely audible, cant say its a diesel
• Discovered some Audi parts in the engine bay
• My base carpet is black and not beige!! YESSSS, Skoda finally heard us BHPians! No pain to maintain beige carpet.
• The TDI's grunt!!! Just love touching the red line everytime, but then it comes to my mind that this is the run-in period.

Dislikes:

• No USB
• Skoda Swing players display is not good, I dont need a touch screen but the music system should have better display
• No skoda, dual horn. This one goes Peep Peep, Why Skoda!?!
• No steering mounted controls
• Skoda removed some useful features like cooled glovebox, automatic rain sensing wipers
• Dated way to recline the front seats, it has a rotary knob which is hard to locate and turn.
• Beige plastic door sills, and other plastics around the sill get dirty with foot marks.

Shootout Time:

[suhaas307]

Note From Team-BHP Support-Team: Thread moved from Assembly Line to Test Drives & Initial Ownership Reports section. Thanks for sharing!

[vigsom]

Y@SH,

Congrats !!!

now you'd do well to maintain the gloss.

If you can spend half an hour a month , please use some Meguiar's Speed glaze polish ; very easy to apply and wipe off.

The results are fantastic.

[mayankjha1806]

Congratulations, its a fantastic looking, car. Skoda Laura looks real good in any color, but somehow black looks the best. Some of your dislikes are real deal beaker these days like a better functional HU, i personally like multifunctional HU. Also no USB is like living in dark ages, Skoda needs to add these sooner then later.

I agree with the driving comments on Laura, it has one of the most amazing rides, just perfect, neither too harsh, nor too soft.

[drmohitg]

Congrats on your new ride. The car looks excellent in black. The leather seats look really upmarket. Is it stanley?

Offtopic: When is your Evoque coming?

[Abhinav667]

Originally Posted by Y@SH

Dislikes:

• No USB
• Skoda Swing players display is not good, I dont need a touch screen but the music system should have better display
• No skoda, dual horn. This one goes Peep Peep, Why Skoda!?!
• No steering mounted controls
• Skoda removed some useful features like cooled glovebox, automatic rain sensing wipers
• Dated way to recline the front seats, it has a rotary knob which is hard to locate and turn.
• Beige plastic door sills, and other plastics around the sill get dirty with foot marks.

First of all congratulations on the Laura! The black looks great, and suits the Laura very well. Also, the wooden inserts look neat!

Now, I was reading up on the Laura a couple of days ago and this is what I came across . Should help you knock off some points from the dislike section.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...legance-5.html

Since, the Skoda dealer is a friend of yours, I think getting all these parts shouldn't be a problem for you.

[Y@SH]

Originally Posted by vigsom

,
If you can spend half an hour a month , please use some Meguiar's Speed glaze polish ; very easy to apply and wipe off.

The results are fantastic.

Thanks Vigsom! Isint collinite better than Meguiar's Speed glaze polish? I have been following the collinite thread on Team BHP and people have said it is better. I am unsure which collinite to order for darker shades 845 or 915, can you please help me out? I have no idea.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Congratulations, its a fantastic looking, car. Skoda Laura looks real good in any color, but somehow black looks the best. .

Thanks Mayankjha

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Congrats on your new ride. The car looks excellent in black. The leather seats look really upmarket. Is it stanley?

Offtopic: When is your Evoque coming?

Thanks DrMohitg. No, these are not stanleys but are of OEM quality. I took a TD of the laura elegance since they didn't have manual in ambientw and I found the leather of that and this of the same quality. Also they removed the fabric and then installed the leather. About the Evoque, we took a TD of it and although my dad really liked it I didnt like it at-all because of its compactness. Although interior wise its not cramped but from outside due to its compactness looks like a 35Lakh car! I have told my dad that we will also check out the cayenne and the new M class. Lets see what happens

Originally Posted by Abhinav667

Now, I was reading up on the Laura a couple of days ago and this is what I came across . Should help you knock off some points from the dislike section.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...legance-5.html

Since, the Skoda dealer is a friend of yours, I think getting all these parts shouldn't be a problem for you.

Thanks Abhinav,
Thanks! vinj14's car is a DSG so getting the Vrs steering is out, as it comes with paddle shifters. No mods planned for now may install the BOLERO couple of years down the line.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Lovely looker that Laura. My pal too bought one recently and is as pleased as punch with it! It is one heck of a great car though frankly between you and me, I preferred the looks of the older gen one!
All the best and Cheerio!

Thanks Shankar,
The TDI is a really punchy engine! Just love the way it sounds!!

[shankar.balan]

Lovely looker that Laura. My pal too bought one recently and is as pleased as punch with it! It is one heck of a great car though frankly between you and me, I preferred the looks of the older gen one!
All the best and Cheerio!

[vb-saan]

Congratulations! When I first read through and saw the pics, thought you wrongly mentioned the variant as Ambiente (seeing the wood inserts and leather seats ). On re-reading got to spot the 50K add-ons. Black looks great on the Laura. Excellent indeed.

Is the steering leather wrapped in the Ambiente/Ambition?

[Y@SH]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Congratulations! When I first read through and saw the pics, thought you wrongly mentioned the variant as Ambiente (seeing the wood inserts and leather seats ). On re-reading got to spot the 50K add-ons. Black looks great on the Laura. Excellent indeed.

Is the steering leather wrapped in the Ambiente/Ambition?

Thanks Vb-San! Yeah as I have mentioned both are of OEM quality, can be easily mistaken for the elegance model, in-fact in the showroom I had a quick glance at the car on display which was an ambiente (it had this options pack) and asked the sales rep weather it was the elegance model, I aslo realized that it was an ambiente as it didnt have ACC.

Yes the steering wheel and the parking brake lever is leather wrapped. I will post HQ picture's of the interiors soon.

[goutham_r]

congrats mate! nice crisp review.
The floor mats are they textile and since when did they change the color of the floor carpet ? or is it an option? black certainly is more the more practical choice for our conditions. Keeping the beige clean is a real pain.

[Ford5]

The laura's interiors continue to mesmerize me even today. Very classy and well built. Congrats on the new car y@sh

[_raVan_]

Congratulations on your Laura She looks incredible in Black. Loved your leather seats.

Considering the segment, Skoda should have provided the steering mounted controls, ACC and USB port in all models (except for maybe the Active variant). But alas.

[Santoshbhat]

Congratulations on the Black Beauty! The car looks classy in black.

Interesting to note that Skoda have changed the base carpets to black. But to be honest it looks to be a bit of a mismatch with the rest of the interiors. Suggest you Get 3D floor mats. They suit the Laura very well.

Any reason why Jetta MT was never in your list of probables? Given that it comes in 140 hp state of tune Vs. 110 hp of the Laura MT.

Drive Safe!

[DeKay]

Congratulation Yash! The Laura looks stunning. But, I have a question. Didn't you consider the new Jetta?
A manual Jetta has 30 more horses under the hood, which surely enhance the driving pleasure.
I will be booking a new car soon, of the same segment and would love to hear your views in this matter.

PS - Skoda offers huge discounts. Didn't you try and push?