[joules]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Thanks for the appreciation Joules.
Underneath, both the Laura and the Jetta are very similar in terms of design and construction. But in terms of external design philosophy, I find the VW cars to be looking too much alike and don't have their own uniqueness. The Laura in its current form still looks more expressive than the Jetta, which is quite plain jane. Also, the way that VW and Skoda are positioned, there will be a few features extra in the Jetta, for around 2-3 lacs higher price, depending on the variant. So over to you to take the call on which features you want. I personally found the Laura more value for money and Skoda was a known animal for us (we also have a Yeti) and we felt more comfortable with the Skoda team rather than the VW team (which I have found extremely arrogant and unresponsive in my pre-sales experiences with them!).
But let this not bias you and you should base your decision on the local dealership that you are in touch with.

(For more details on the Laura DSG experience, you can also go through Anshuman's Laura DSG ownership thread.)

All the best!

Regards,
Behemoth

You're right there..It is definitely true value for money as compared to the Jetta.The car is for my dad actually and he hates to be chauffeured.He needs a car for it's performance and fuel econ.Hope that he'll get used to the AT gearbox.

Thanx again.

regards,Joules

[joules]

Thanx anshuman for the quick comparison.You said it,the fun to drive factor.I guess,the Laura it is.Moreover, I don't have the patience to wait for 3 months for the Jetta

Joules

[Turbo car]

@ Behemoth...congratulations on buying one of the best cars around..!!!

Did you TD the Elegance 2.0 TDI CR MT ? what are the real differences between the Ambition and Elegance MT models from an users point of view ? The price differences between the tow models is nearly 1.5 L. Are the changes between these two models only cosmetic in nature ?

[an_and]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Thanks Anshuman!


Yes, I am surprised they have still not added the Steering controls to the feature list in the Ambiente and the Elegance - it is normally available in most cars even a segment below. Auto Climate control is actually there (partially) with automatic temperature based regulation.
Skoda have two variants of the ACC - "Climatic control" (which is there in this variant), which regulates the temperature automatically by controlling the flow of cold/ hot air and flow regulation of the refrigerant. The Second variant is the "Climatronic control" which in in L&K and the Yeti Elegance regulates fan speed, Cold/ hot air flow and inside /outside air automatically.

I did not quite understand this.. what does the automatic control in the ambient do. Does it allow you to set the temperature inside, and then is that temperature maintained? The brochure clearly mentions that the airconditioner in ambient is "MANUAL". Please clarify.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Turbo car

@ Behemoth...congratulations on buying one of the best cars around..!!!

Did you TD the Elegance 2.0 TDI CR MT ? what are the real differences between the Ambition and Elegance MT models from an users point of view ? The price differences between the tow models is nearly 1.5 L. Are the changes between these two models only cosmetic in nature ?

Thanks Turbo Car.
Some of the differences that the Elegance has vs the Ambiente:
1) Leather seats instead of fabric (we got aftermarket leather covers fitted to overcome this!)
2) HID Xenon headlights instead of halogens. (we are ok with halogens, since the Laura has double optic lights and both High and low beams can be switched on together and lighting is pretty good).
3) Electrically folding ORVMs (Ambiente does not have this - but no problems)
4) Bolero Audio system with touch screen and 6 CD changer and steering mounted controls instead of Swing. (in terms of sound, the swing system is also very good, so no worries here too)

The price difference between the two is almost 1.5 L +, and we felt that Ambiente would also be perfect for us. Anyway, we had started with a budget of a Vento / Rapid and ultimately moved higher to this!

Originally Posted by an_and

I did not quite understand this.. what does the automatic control in the ambient do. Does it allow you to set the temperature inside, and then is that temperature maintained? The brochure clearly mentions that the airconditioner in ambient is "MANUAL". Please clarify.

Hi An_and,
In the lower variants like Ambiente, Skoda have a "Climatic control" system, where you have a temperature based controller which regulates the refrigerant flow volume (and hence engine load and fuel efficiency) through the VRF (variable refrigerant flow technology) compressor. Based on the temperature that you select (through the rotary dial), it will maintain the same cabin temperature by controlling the refrigerant flow to the compressor. However, it will not control the blower speed and this is to be chosen manually. It will also mix the right volume of cold / hot air to get the right temperature (like in winters).

In the higher models, with "Climatronic Controls" you sent the temperature and it will control the refrigerant volume AND the blower speed AND fresh/ recirculate mode to maintain the correct cabin temperature. Also, it has an odor sensor which will automatically revert to inside air when there is a smell in outside air and switch back to outside air if it is clean.

Regards,
Behemoth

[an_and]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Hi An_and,
In the lower variants like Ambiente, Skoda have a "Climatic control" system, where you have a temperature based controller which regulates the refrigerant flow volume (and hence engine load and fuel efficiency) through the VRF (variable refrigerant flow technology) compressor. Based on the temperature that you select (through the rotary dial), it will maintain the same cabin temperature by controlling the refrigerant flow to the compressor. However, it will not control the blower speed and this is to be chosen manually. It will also mix the right volume of cold / hot air to get the right temperature (like in winters).

In the higher models, with "Climatronic Controls" you sent the temperature and it will control the refrigerant volume AND the blower speed AND fresh/ recirculate mode to maintain the correct cabin temperature. Also, it has an odor sensor which will automatically revert to inside air when there is a smell in outside air and switch back to outside air if it is clean.

Regards,
Behemoth

Thanks Behemoth, I was not aware of this. It would greatly help if you can post a picture of this. If this is possible, I will chose buying the Laura Ambient Auto over the Cruze AT that I am currently considering.... :-)

Thanks again, for pointing out the differences between the ambient and the elegance version, does not seem to be that big a difference, and one can comfortably chose the ambient.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Thanks Turbo Car.
Some of the differences that the Elegance has vs the Ambiente:
1) Leather seats instead of fabric (we got aftermarket leather covers fitted to overcome this!)
2) HID Xenon headlights instead of halogens. (we are ok with halogens, since the Laura has double optic lights and both High and low beams can be switched on together and lighting is pretty good).
3) Electrically folding ORVMs (Ambiente does not have this - but no problems)
4) Bolero Audio system with touch screen and 6 CD changer and steering mounted controls instead of Swing. (in terms of sound, the swing system is also very good, so no worries here too)

The price difference between the two is almost 1.5 L +, and we felt that Ambiente would also be perfect for us. Anyway, we had started with a budget of a Vento / Rapid and ultimately moved higher to this!

If I may add a few corrections

1) The elegance comes with the same Halogen projectors as the Ambition. Only the L&K gets Xenons.
2) Elegance gets the same Swing Audio player as the Ambition. Only L&K gets Bolero with touch screen.

The important differences between Elegance and Ambition in my view
1) Leather seats
2) Electrically foldable rear view mirrors
3) 16" Alloys and tyres
4) Rain sensing wipers
5) Auto dimming IRVM

Skoda website mentions heated seats for Elegance , which I seriously doubt.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

The important differences between Elegance and Ambition in my view
1) Leather seats
2) Electrically foldable rear view mirrors
3) 16" Alloys and tyres
4) Rain sensing wipers
5) Auto dimming IRVM

Skoda website mentions heated seats for Elegance , which I seriously doubt.

It does have heated seats, wood trim, and climate control. There might be 1 or 2 minor things too.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Skoda website mentions heated seats for Elegance , which I seriously doubt.

Doesnt the L&K have heated front seats? I believe it does.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

If I may add a few corrections

1) The elegance comes with the same Halogen projectors as the Ambition. Only the L&K gets Xenons.
2) Elegance gets the same Swing Audio player as the Ambition. Only L&K gets Bolero with touch screen.

The important differences between Elegance and Ambition in my view
1) Leather seats
2) Electrically foldable rear view mirrors
3) 16" Alloys and tyres
4) Rain sensing wipers
5) Auto dimming IRVM

Skoda website mentions heated seats for Elegance , which I seriously doubt.

Thanks Santosh
It is also possible that they may have downgraded the specs on the elegance variant too. I remember that they were offering Hid xenons at that time. Could be possible that they were offering aftermarket fitment at dealer level though.
Skoda do rejig their variants once a while. They have also done it with the Yeti ambiente in the past when they changed over to ambition.
Regards
Behemoth

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Thanks Santosh
It is also possible that they may have downgraded the specs on the elegance variant too. I remember that they were offering Hid xenons at that time. Could be possible that they were offering aftermarket fitment at dealer level though.
Skoda do rejig their variants once a while. They have also done it with the Yeti ambiente in the past when they changed over to ambition.
Regards
Behemoth

Yeah they do rejig the features in their variants every now and then based on competition , pricing pressures etc... That's why you'll invariably find that * mark in the feature list! The pre 2011 Ambient was very good value as it came with some extra delight features which have now been restricted to the Elegance only.

I remembered these feature distinctions since I was keen on ACC and 16" wheels for my TSi. In fact I would have lapped up an L&K if they had offered it with the TSi engine. Why they think the petrol car buyer doesn't need extra features beats me. Maybe they want them to save the money to pay for the fuel bills!

[magikrider]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Thanks Turbo Car.
Some of the differences that the Elegance has vs the Ambiente:
1) Leather seats instead of fabric (we got aftermarket leather covers fitted to overcome this!)
2) HID Xenon headlights instead of halogens. (we are ok with halogens, since the Laura has double optic lights and both High and low beams can be switched on together and lighting is pretty good).
3) Electrically folding ORVMs (Ambiente does not have this - but no problems)
4) Bolero Audio system with touch screen and 6 CD changer and steering mounted controls instead of Swing. (in terms of sound, the swing system is also very good, so no worries here too)

The price difference between the two is almost 1.5 L +, and we felt that Ambiente would also be perfect for us. Anyway, we had started with a budget of a Vento / Rapid and ultimately moved higher to this!

are you sure the elegance variant comes with touchscreen audio system and steering mounted audio controls? i thought that comes only with the top of the line L&K. also if it does come with all these, is it also present with the DSG elegance variant?

P.S. - checked with a skoda dealer and was informed that the above mentioned features are still not available with the Elegance variant.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by magikrider

are you sure the elegance variant comes with touchscreen audio system and steering mounted audio controls? i thought that comes only with the top of the line L&K. also if it does come with all these, is it also present with the DSG elegance variant?

P.S. - checked with a skoda dealer and was informed that the above mentioned features are still not available with the Elegance variant.

Thanks, Seems like it is with the swing system only, as Santosh has also rechecked. Guess I must have confused with the Yeti Elegance, which comes with a Bolero system. My Bad!

For people who would like to compare the feature levels of the variants, please see the link:
http://www.skoda-auto.co.in/ind/mode.../Features.aspx

Since the time I bought my Laura (Ambiente), they have also changed the variant levels to 4: Active, Ambition, Elegance and L&K from the earlier Ambiente, Elegance and L&K.
Regards,
Behemoth

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Since the time I bought my Laura (Ambiente), they have also changed the variant levels to 4: Active, Ambition, Elegance and L&K from the earlier Ambiente, Elegance and L&K.
Regards,
Behemoth

Active has been there from before the time you bought your Laura, except its only available on the petrol.

[Behemoth]

Hi All,

A small update to our Ruby Raptor. One of my gripes about our Laura was the very low field of width of the RHS Outside rear view mirror and I was constantly on the lookout to solve this problem.
So finally I found a solution on ebay Uk:
SKODA OCTAVIA 2009-ON WIDE ANGLE REPLACEMENT MIRROR GLASS | eBay
Quickly ordered it and got delivery flat in 5 days!

Here's how it looks on my Laura:


(Apologies for the rainy pic, it has been raining recently!)

This addition is 100% required for the Laura as the flat RHS mirror is really dangerous and has a bad blind spot.
The Mirror that I installed is convex and has a much wider field of view and also has a separate blind spot zone (marked by the line) where the curvature is even higher to aid visibility.
The Mirror has to be stuck on top of the original mirror with a good double sided tape and does not damage it in any way.

(PS: I have no commercial interest in this product and am purely sharing my own experience and I feel that this can help a lot of Laura owners who must be facing the same issue with the RHS mirror. This same mirror design is also common to the Superb so they may also consider this upgrade.)

Regards,
Behemoth