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9th September 2012, 20:52 | #1 |
BHPian Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Udupi
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| Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Now my Skoda Laura 2.0 CR TDi Elegance MT is 10 days / 400 kms old and this is how I see it - Positives:
I don’t remember exactly how the craving started but vividly remember the research on net in this forum and other websites taking lot of my days and part of nights as well. Oh yes ! Seeing the solidly built European vehicles, reading about the quality of the driving pleasure, control and the comfort they offer, I was willing to take the gamble of slightly lower reliability. I have had practically trouble-free ownership of my 2 horses from Maruti stable (Zen Lx MPFI and Swift Dzire Vdi). The search started in July 2012. Only diesel vehicles were considered for their fuel efficiency and lower fuel cost and knowledge about how refined are present day diesel engines. This confidence was from good experience gained with Dzire Vdi. Vehicles considered were
I was told that vehicle would arrive by 4 pm and I could come to give away my present car (Dzire Vdi) and could have a look at the new vehicle being cleaned. Well, I went bit early, collected NOC on the Dzire and proceeded to showroom from where I went to service place. First look at the vehicle, I liked the color. I had an impression that Cappuccino beige was a lighter color with pinkish / reddish tinge. But looking at the car in flesh made me realize that it was darker and greenish which I liked better. I just checked the odometer which read 9 Kms !!. VIN matched to what they had given me in advance. Seats and other interior shining parts were covered with plastic. As they were cleaning it, I just had a look in to engine bay and everything looked in order and brand new. So I came away. Vehicle was promised to be delivered next day by 12noon. The D-Day ! 30/08/2012 Woke up early, finished all the work early. Called a taxi and myself, wife and daughter started from home in time. On the way, got a call from sales agent in charge that vehicle was ready!. In fact it turned out that he had confused a C. Beige Rapid with our vehicle as both were due for delivery. Can one confuse Rapid with a Laura? On reaching showroom they apologized. But I had made up my mind that little issues will not spoil my mood on a special day like this and as I was not at all in a hurry and was ready to spend few hours doing PDI and listening to SE explaining the features. I think one should take half day off to give them sufficient time to do everything in order. As it was a rainy day, they wanted to get the vehicle to showroom, remove water and wax it there itself and deliver. Hence the delay. I appreciated this. I was demonstrated most of the features on another Laura Ambiente trim in showroom and extra features available with Elegance were demonstrated with my own vehicle later. After a bouquet and sweets and photos of me receiving the key, we drove away to fill 10L diesel given by the dealer. I was expecting vehicle to stall sometime as low end torque is not much. Indeed it did at a speed breaker. But I was careful with the clutch and no further incidents during return. It was raining all the 60Kms of our return journey and I could experience the usage of wiper and lights. Coming from Maruti, only once did I confuse the lights stalk with wiper. Positives of the dealership (Tafe Access, Mangalore) 1. Brought the demo car twice to my door, 60Kms away from their showroom for test drive!. Renault, VW missed this for whatever excuse. 2. Offered a feedback form to be filled on the quality of the TD / demo. Toyota, Renault, Volkswagen missed this. 3. Followed the deal aggressively, offered discounts, made sure that a brand new vehicle with latest manufacture date was available to me as I requested. First sentence I heard from Toyota and VW Jetta sales agents was “Sir, there is a waiting period for this car!!. And repeated couple of times – you are supposed to get the impression that you are a privileged person as a car will be specially manufactured for you!! Also that car is in great demand, you won’t get it that easily! 4. On delivery day delivery was bit delayed, but the purpose was to deliver a dry, shining new car to me on a rainy day at the showroom 3 Kms away from their service station! 5. PDI was thorough, most of the features explained (not all the features mind you, as I thought the sales people were not sure what all features were available in which trims and again, it would take more than half a day if a knowledgeable sales agent were to explain a car enthusiast like me, to my satisfaction) including showing me where to jack the vehicle in case of puncture & how to remove wheel bolt caps! I did not have such luxury with my previous cars. They were just delivered assuming that a new car tire should not puncture and even when it does later, you know how to do it or you would find it from service manual. 6. All of them were quite polite. 7. The sales manager received all my phone calls and returned them if he couldn’t attend it, though I must have been one of the most demanding customer they had. Negatives of Dealership – 1. Went after 2 days to enable my auto lock feature. This was first meet with service team. I did not feel they would be able to handle if anything complicated happened to my vehicle. 2. After a week I am yet to register my vehicle in my district. This was promised to be done in few days. I heard it may happen in another 2-3 days. The car has run about 400Kms now. Driving seems easier now and its slightly smoother. Yet to make out fuel economy by tankful to tankful method. Fuel efficiency seems very good indeed seeing still only half tank seems to be empty. I will stick to OEM and won’t change anything (The thread “Guidelines to by a European car” influenced me on this). I ran out of my budget to change tires to Michelin PLCs and that will be the only change I will make in future as far as I can guess. Also I need help from other members regarding these –
Few photos of my beauty Last edited by dezrskb : 10th September 2012 at 07:45. |
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10th September 2012, 16:59 | #2 |
Team-BHP Support | Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing! |
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10th September 2012, 17:14 | #3 |
Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Congratulations on your selection. Yep the AC is weak. Keep it at 20-22 setting and keep blower at speed 4 or 5. Auto mode will normally make the blower go to setting 3 most of the times after the initial drive. Also recirculation mode does disable auto mode partially but some auto setting are still working in the back end. The mirrors of the model you have are probably not auto dimming. The seats cannot be covered with seats covers also due to front side airbags in some models. The beige leather seats and trims of the Laura don't really get that soiled and a once a quarter interior treatment would help a lot. But the beige plastic door handles and cloth bits do get spoilt a bit more. Go for 225/55/R16 Yoko ES501 when the warranty expires for a superior ride and grip combo. |
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The following BHPian Thanks ACM for this useful post: | dezrskb |
10th September 2012, 18:19 | #4 |
Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Congrats on the new car, dezrskb. So you went and got a Laura MT after all?! I think the Laura's strengths are the nice interiors (wood trim on yours works really well). As I'd already advised you, would have preferred the Vento TDI in a similar situation: almost same power, better power/weight ratio, slightly more spacious rear seat, better AC and way cheaper. But it seems you had your heart set on Skoda, which is cool. Trading 30 horses for the reliability of manual shift over DSG was probably the sensible thing though! Unlike the Jetta, the higher-tuned engine does not come with an MT on the Laura. Otherwise it would have been a compelling buy! All the best and do keep updating your ownership review. |
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10th September 2012, 18:21 | #5 | |
Senior - BHPian | Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Congratulations on the purchase dezrskb. The laura is truly a great car with adequate power for majority of the Indian needs. It indeed has the road presence and handling abilities which one expects from a car of this price. I wish you many happy miles of motoring and hope you dont face the "skoda troubles" during your ownership. Quote:
Take Care and Drive Safe. PS: A friend had once emailed the price list that I've attached. The new prices are the ones after Skoda's decision to localise the spares (hence reducing the price). EDIT: Got this from another thread on tbhp. Member manuc posted it after a repair on his laura. I hope it helps. Last edited by dZired : 10th September 2012 at 18:35. | |
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10th September 2012, 19:30 | #6 | |||
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| Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Quote:
Mirrors in this model are auto dimming for sure. They work well. I am not able to make out real strength of A/C or lack of it with this being rainy season and outside being cooler. I will follow your suggestion in summer surely. For the time being its quite sufficient at 25degrees You are right regarding the seat covers of course. I forgot about airbags. I think I will request others who have Elegance / L&K with beige leathers to let me know how they are maintaining color of the leathers. For first time you have suggested something other than Michelin PLC! Let me check it. Is it available widely? I guess price will be in same range though Quote:
I have no regrets for letting DSG go for some issues which I already mentioned. I agree most of the members in this forum advised to go for DSG AT and they are right in their perspective!. Anyway I have now MT but do you have any particular suggestions on driving style to avoid premature clutch wear out in this European car? (Other than regular precautions which I have been following in Dzire Vdi?) Interiors are indeed very nice. But the headache is about maintaining it in same color over next many years. Quote:
The scanned / photo of the spares is of Laura? Front windshield priced at 3K odd looks unbelievably good!. Yes. If Skoda is able to localize most of its parts, and dealers pull up their socks, I guess they will have good time. Last edited by dezrskb : 10th September 2012 at 19:35. Reason: wanted to add another line | |||
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10th September 2012, 19:56 | #7 | |
Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Quote:
Yoko's are positioned as a better value for money product than Michelin. Had used XMV8 from Michelin with 205/60/R16 for 43k kms of comfortable, effecient but boring drive followed by S-Drive 205/55/R16 Yoko for exciting, but back breaking drives for 30 k kms followed by YokoES501 for quite, comfortable and yet exciting (wider tyres) dive till now. The Central (Inside Car) side view mirrors is indeed auto dimming but though I have an L&K the side view mirror auto dimming is quite iffy - being controlled by the same sensor (that detects light on the inside mirror) does not really help. At times the light from the headlight at the rear is hits just one of the side view mirrors and it does not dim. Also at times when the Rear curtain is pulled down the auto dimming function does not work. Enjoy your drive. Last edited by ACM : 10th September 2012 at 19:58. | |
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10th September 2012, 19:58 | #8 | |
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| Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Quote:
Take it for some long drives on one of those winding roads you have near your place and you ll appreciate the highway dynamics of the Czech beau. May your tribe grow. | |
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The following BHPian Thanks n.devdath for this useful post: | dezrskb |
10th September 2012, 20:37 | #9 | |
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| Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Quote:
I have a question reg mirrors - How about convex mirror for right ORVM? Have you bought an aftermarket one? Plain mirror is a real pain. Also issue will be whether aftermarket one will be auto dimming. Elegance trim doesn't have rear curtains. So till now I have felt that auto dimming is sufficient in both overhead and outside rear view mirrors (I have noticed all lights turning greenish with no glare. that is auto dimming?) You have made me think about Yokohamas. If I need a good value for money tire in Yokohama with better driving comfort than the present Goodyear NCTs but should last around 40K, which one would it be? Wider tire like 225 has no troubles with extreme steering turns? | |
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10th September 2012, 21:08 | #10 |
Senior - BHPian | Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Congratulations dezrskb on a fine acquisition. - Auto AC should have 2 modes Low (left light on, on the Auto switch) and High (right light on). Kindly press twice to toggle to high mode. At least this is how it is on my Superb. Also Use OFF switch to toggle AC on/off. With that it remembers your last setting and you do not have to press recirc mode every time (again as per my experience from Superb; not sure about Laura) - It is a simple one minute job to convert km/l etc. and switch on DRL's through VAG. Although I am surprised to see the same cannot be done through the MID as is possible in the Superb. I also see a non touchscreen stereo. Isn't the Elegance trim supposed to come with a touchscreen ICE in Laura? Anyways, these minor issues apart, enjoy a fantastic ride with a solidly built vehicle. |
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10th September 2012, 21:56 | #11 | |
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| Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Quote:
I will try your suggestions on my A/c. I think it works same way in Laura too. ICE is not touchscreen here. A minor irritant but surely not a deal breaker for me. Customizations with DRLs and mileage units possible through only Maxidot display in L&K trim of Laura as far as I know. But VAG can surely do it in mine. Problem is Skoda uses some VAS (same functionality as VAG-COM?). Service personnel here either don't know how to do it through VAS or VAS doesnt have this functionality (not sure which). Last edited by dezrskb : 10th September 2012 at 22:09. | |
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10th September 2012, 22:02 | #12 | ||
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| Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Quote:
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11th September 2012, 00:00 | #13 | |
Senior - BHPian | Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Quote:
I just hope these prices dont just remain on paper since the same friend (who had emailed me the price list) paid Rs3700 for replacing a broken ORVM of his Fabia yesterday . Last edited by dZired : 11th September 2012 at 00:01. | |
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11th September 2012, 05:45 | #14 | |
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This is just to put things in perspective that it is not only the Euro boys who milk the market on the spare part prices. Even the Indo Japs do as can be seen! | |
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11th September 2012, 09:18 | #15 | |
Senior - BHPian | Re: Cappuccino Beige Czech Tank is here! My Skoda Laura 2.0 Elegance MT Quote:
The Laura looks great and its interiors are excellent. I guess those were your top two priorities. Enthusiasts like me will crib about the 30 less horses. Congratulations dezrskb !! | |
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