[androdev]

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

Thanks Santosh!



Guess - this is logical; when the car is idling there is very little external air moving past the radiator which inturn creates more heat. The more heat the more the engine has to work to cool it down, obvisouly uses more fuel to do that. When the car is moving there is more kinetic energy pushing the car so the engine uses less fuel to move.

However MID showing up 25l or 50l per 100 kms - is absurd and I don't think it is accurate.



Let's say I hit Hyderabad highway in the night (traffic being light) with 50 liters of diesel in my tank and do this coasting in 5th Gear (which will bring about 40 to 50 kmph) and say I cover 500 kms like that....as per your theory - even after covering 500 kms - I should have 50 liters left intact in my tank? Is that what you are saying?

No, thats not what he meant. More details here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2369025

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

Guess - this is logical; when the car is idling there is very little external air moving past the radiator which inturn creates more heat. The more heat the more the engine has to work to cool it down, obvisouly uses more fuel to do that. When the car is moving there is more kinetic energy pushing the car so the engine uses less fuel to move.

However MID showing up 25l or 50l per 100 kms - is absurd and I don't think it is accurate.

It has nothing to do with air, heat or radiator! Just simple mathematics

The avg FE readout in the MID is computed by the trip computer as total fuel consumed for the total distance covered since last reset, which is then displayed as litres per 100 kms. Now lets put this in 2 scenrios.

Scenario 1 : You have covered a distance of 2 kms and consumed 0.20 litres of diesel. So the Avg fuel consumed will display 10 lts/ 100 kms.

Scenario 2 : You have covered a distance of 2 kms and consumed 0.2 lts of diesel and then you idle your car for a period of 1 hr. During the idling time of 1 hr your car consumes a further 0.8 ltr of diesel, but your car has not covered any distance. So now the avg FE will be 1 litre for 2 kms or 50 lts/ 100 kms. If you idle your car for a further 1 hr, the avg FE will fall to 90 lts/ 100 kms.

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

Let's say I hit Hyderabad highway in the night (traffic being light) with 50 liters of diesel in my tank and do this coasting in 5th Gear (which will bring about 40 to 50 kmph) and say I cover 500 kms like that....as per your theory - even after covering 500 kms - I should have 50 liters left intact in my tank? Is that what you are saying?

No . You cannot coast the entire 500 kms as there is friction and gravity slowing your car down. So you will need to hit the throttle which will mean you will need fuel. Just do an experiment. Drive upto a speed of 60 kph in 3rd gear. Then accelerate upto 80 kph still staying in third and let go of the throttle. Do not change the gear, nor press the clutch. You car which has built up momentum will move some distance, the speed will slowly start dropping. Observe the instantaneous fuel consumption read out on the MID between the time your car slows down from 80 kph to say.... 30 kph. It will show zero, which means you car has consumed zero litres of diesel for that distance, from the time you let go of the throttle at 80 and till your car reached a speed of 30.

This is a known technique for fuel saving and is called 'pulse and glide'. This link has some more information on it http://www.economist.com/blogs/babba...re_hypermiling

THis technique works well with the TSI motor as there is very little engine braking in 3rd gear and above. In diesels there may be more engine braking which will slow you down and hence may be counterproductive

[SafeDrive]

Originally Posted by androdev

Wow... are you guys serious about the on-road-prices you paid?! Bangalore on road prices for TSI MT is 17.82L ( 18.14L incl drive assure + ext warranty) and VRS is 20.56L (20.89L incl drive assure + ext warranty)

To get a car at 13.4L, on needs a 4.4L discount of tsi mt and 7.1L discount on vrs :-)

They had this offer running for a very short time post which they pulled the plug on it. One of my friends enquired on this a month later and did not get it. The vRS was going at a 2L discount and not 7L. It had an on road price of 19+L. The only point was that it was an older car - for me the VIN read Dec 2011 but the 4+L discount made it worth it for me.

[Shreyas Aterkar]

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

Congrats Shreyas! It's a detailed and well written ownership report supplimented with quality pictures. Enjoy your ride.

Quick Question: In your post you mentioned that "When I was anyways going to buy a 2011 car" Any reason why you were ready to buy almost a year old car? Was it because of the discounts?

Thanks maheshramaling! Well, when I bought the car, Skoda was not manufacturing TSIs or RSs, they had 2011 manufactured models at their factory which they were clearing. I loved the engine and was ok as long as PDI was fine. There is another point to be noted here that VIN for Laura indicates the manufacturing of the some components like chasis etc. Since its a CKD, the kits are then imported and then assembled at Aurangabad factory. Hence, I opted for Sept 2011 model which meant a high possibility of 2012 assembly. This was what I got. You can notice the application date of the protective covering as March 2012 in one of the PDI pics.

Originally Posted by i<3turbo

It wont void warranty and if u do run into any troubles u can always have it rwmapped to stock for free and put it back on for free

Ok, I feel I will run this beast for some time as stock and then decide. Would get in touch with you for any such mod though.

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

I know that people have changed using the VAG COM cable but I don't have one. Also - when enquired with service center - they said it's not possible due to VAS system restrictions. Looks like Skoda has configured those VAS system to be used basis certain parameters/ car.

In fact the service manager said when they were using VAG COM cable in the past - they were able to play around with the system much more freely.

I agree, service centre won't be able to do much as also confirmed by Akshay1234. But as he mentioned, one can take help of fellow bhpians to move forward on this front.

Originally Posted by SafeDrive

Congrats Shreyas! I bought one of these in Chennai at around the same time. Got mine in September 2012. Drive out price of 13.4L. The engine is really to die for. Mileage was not on my mind when I bought this but the cars given me between 10.5 and 16 for the 5k+ km that I've driven it. Taken me totally by surprise. I don't get this on my Swift

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Well if the vrs was still available.... hehhehehehehehe. It's sold out. Got mine at 13.4+1.3 on road Delhi.

If I had a Thane address I would also have got the car for 13.4 OTR. But I had to pay 70k more in Mumbai. Delhi/gurgaon people are lucky, gettting an RS for 15 is just too good, I was ready to stretch upto 16 for the RS but the best I was quoted was 16.5 to 16.75. I thought its better to get the ambition than spend additionally 2.5 lakhs and go overboard the budget.

Originally Posted by androdev

Wow... are you guys serious about the on-road-prices you paid?! Bangalore on road prices for TSI MT is 17.82L ( 18.14L incl drive assure + ext warranty) and VRS is 20.56L (20.89L incl drive assure + ext warranty)

To get a car at 13.4L, on needs a 4.4L discount of tsi mt and 7.1L discount on vrs :-)

OTR Mumbai was 17.1 lakhs including drive assure & ext. warranty. At the time I bought the car there were discounts in the range of 2.5 to 3 lakhs and if you could negotiate more all the better. I could get 3 lakhs. I guess 15-15.25 would have been possible at Banglore. No idea about what are the discounts now.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

The service centre will not be able to activate those, speak to a member like pz16 or akki_5 for help on that. They have VCDS cables, and both are very helpful.

Congrats on the car, it is the most fun car below 30l. Which 3M did you get the wrapping done at? Also did they remove the interior trim to do it? And did they handle the trim carefully? Any noises or squeeks after putting it back in?

Thanks akshay! I will certainly get in touch with fellow members and understand the way forward.

I got the carbon wrap done from 3M, Andheri. They did not remove the interior trim. The wrap is like a sticker so they stuck it on the trim and then carefully cut it to bring it in shape and then gave a very nice finish, if you look at it, you won't be able to make out that this has just been stuck over the original trim. And no squeeks or noises at all.

[maheshramaling]

Originally Posted by androdev

No, thats not what he meant. More details here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2369025

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

THis technique works well with the TSI motor as there is very little engine braking in 3rd gear and above. In diesels there may be more engine braking which will slow you down and hence may be counterproductive

Thanks androdev and Santosh!

I use this technique on a day to day basis & get to see the MID Fuel consumption figures dropping and agree that it uses less fuel while coasting in gear after building the momentum....but have my doubts on "Zero Fuel" being consumed while coasting in gear.

It is worthwhile to experiement and I will do that when I am on a free stretch or next long trip. Will post my observation after that.

Sorry Shreyas for hijaking your ownership thread on this topic.

Mods - is it possible to take out these posts which are on this coasting technique & create a separate thread?

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Shreyas Aterkar

I got the carbon wrap done from 3M, Andheri. They did not remove the interior trim. The wrap is like a sticker so they stuck it on the trim and then carefully cut it to bring it in shape and then gave a very nice finish, if you look at it, you won't be able to make out that this has just been stuck over the original trim. And no squeeks or noises at all.

In that case I certainly hope it doesn't peel off. Keep at eye on the edges, etc. Maybe not now, but after a few weeks or months there may be some peel. Keep us updated. Certainly looks very nice, and would go even better with my cars black interiors.

[Shreyas Aterkar]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Just do an experiment. Drive upto a speed of 60 kph in 3rd gear. Then accelerate upto 80 kph still staying in third and let go of the throttle. Do not change the gear, nor press the clutch. You car which has built up momentum will move some distance, the speed will slowly start dropping. Observe the instantaneous fuel consumption read out on the MID between the time your car slows down from 80 kph to say.... 30 kph. It will show zero, which means you car has consumed zero litres of diesel for that distance, from the time you let go of the throttle at 80 and till your car reached a speed of 30.

This is a known technique for fuel saving and is called 'pulse and glide'. This link has some more information on it http://www.economist.com/blogs/babba...re_hypermiling

THis technique works well with the TSI motor as there is very little engine braking in 3rd gear and above. In diesels there may be more engine braking which will slow you down and hence may be counterproductive

Thanks Santosh! Your posts have been informative. I tested it today while on my way to office and noticed that when I did lift the leg from the pedal, the fuel consumption started coming down and finally set at zero.

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

Sorry Shreyas for hijaking your ownership thread on this topic.

Mods - is it possible to take out these posts which are on this coasting technique & create a separate thread?

Not an issue, any enhancement of knowledge is always welcome.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

In that case I certainly hope it doesn't peel off. Keep at eye on the edges, etc. Maybe not now, but after a few weeks or months there may be some peel. Keep us updated. Certainly looks very nice, and would go even better with my cars black interiors.

Yes, thats needs to be monitored. But they have finished the edges really well. Actually each of these trims have some small gaps on edges and thats where the 3M guy used one of his thin tools to paste the remaining sticker into those small gaps. I think it should not be an issue, but nevertheless I will keep you guys updated about it.

Yes, this should go well with your black interiors. The 3m guys showed me a photograph of the old Hyundai Verna where the owner had put such wrap on the whole dashboard since the same had worn down due to age. The good part is that these can be removed hopefully without any damage to the original trim and the cost is also less, as I mentioned earlier, the cost of this job was close to Rs. 1800.

[W.A.G.7]

Hi Shreyas,

A very nice and a crisp review of the Laura. I am glad to see a petrol car and also a manual gearbox at that, in a sea of diesels and automatics! Your thread inspires confidence in Skoda again. I am also happy to read that you have had a pretty good experience with them and their dealer JMD auto. I always felt that the interiors of the Laura or for that matter any Skoda car look and feel so premium; that you feel that you are sitting in a luxury car costing >20L. Congrats on your new acquisition and enjoy the car! Please do keep your experiences posted here.

[Shreyas Aterkar]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Hi Shreyas,

A very nice and a crisp review of the Laura. I am glad to see a petrol car and also a manual gearbox at that, in a sea of diesels and automatics! Your thread inspires confidence in Skoda again. I am also happy to read that you have had a pretty good experience with them and their dealer JMD auto. I always felt that the interiors of the Laura or for that matter any Skoda car look and feel so premium; that you feel that you are sitting in a luxury car costing >20L. Congrats on your new acquisition and enjoy the car! Please do keep your experiences posted here.

Thanks W.A.G. 7! Well as I said, I haven't been able to convince myself to drive a diesel. Love high revving and refined engines. And Laura meets this very well. You are right, the interiors are of high quality, just thats cars form much lower segment are more feature rich. Not that I am complaining, the driving experience more than makes for these things.

I am keeping my fingers crossed with respect to the after sales experience. Just hope that I am not rubbed on the wrong side with it. The only saving grace is the petrol laura tsi ambition manual is the least complex of all the lauras and that hopefully should make it more reliable (in terms of tranmission, features etc.).

[d_himan]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

In that case I certainly hope it doesn't peel off. Keep at eye on the edges, etc. Maybe not now, but after a few weeks or months there may be some peel. Keep us updated. Certainly looks very nice, and would go even better with my cars black interiors.

Extremely unlikely to peel off in the near future! 3M claims that Dinoc usually stays put for around 12 yrs indoors/7 yrs+ with UV exposure.

I did this for my cupholder in the Accord a year and a half back and it has withstood well, with no signs of peeling off even at the edges (Street parking with direct sunlight, fluid spillage, frequent usage of the panel)

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ml#post2554442

Looks fantastic in the Laura!

[Shreyas Aterkar]

Originally Posted by d_himan

Extremely unlikely to peel off in the near future! 3M claims that Dinoc usually stays put for around 12 yrs indoors/7 yrs+ with UV exposure.

I did this for my cupholder in the Accord a year and a half back and it has withstood well, with no signs of peeling off even at the edges (Street parking with direct sunlight, fluid spillage, frequent usage of the panel)

Looks fantastic in the Laura!

The finishing of carbon wrap in your car is good. You may explore wrapping other parts of the trim nearby to give it a matching look.

I agree, the wrap looks good in Laura.

Some more information on this wrapping thing - When I went to 3M Andheri, they had 4 kinds of wrap - black mat, black glossy, black textured (this is the one that I got done) and white textured. They told me that they are going to get a total of ~ 50 shades for this wrap film. Should be good to match with the different trim levels of cars and make the car customized to individual tastes.

[anandpadhye]

Congrats Shreyas. It's a gem of a car. I have been thoroughly enjoying it for last 3 years.

BTW, I am running stock Goodyears (Eagle NCT 5, I think). They have been bad mouthed a lot on the internet but they are actually not that bad. I was glad that Rehaan also felt it during his vRS review and mentioned it quite forthcomingly on the forum.

Also, regarding the rear spoiler, I recently understood from another Laura thread that it's quite useless on a front wheel drive car (unless the purpose is to show off) and may actually be quite counter productive. So I gladly gave up on that - money saved. Of course, I am looking for a detailed technical discussion on this topic to understand the pros and cons of a rear spoiler on a FWD car...

There are thousand different ways to blow your money on a car, so pick carefully, it's fantastic car in stock form already.

Cheers!

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Shreyas Aterkar

I agree, the wrap looks good in Laura.

Some more information on this wrapping thing - When I went to 3M Andheri, they had 4 kinds of wrap - black mat, black glossy, black textured (this is the one that I got done) and white textured. They told me that they are going to get a total of ~ 50 shades for this wrap film. Should be good to match with the different trim levels of cars and make the car customized to individual tastes.

Good job with the update. That said, I actually felt the silver accents looks pretty nice (in comparison with the glossy faux wood finish in the Elegance and L&K). Did they mention that it is something which can be easily removed, without leaving any stains on?

Do keep updating the thread

[Shreyas Aterkar]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Congrats Shreyas. It's a gem of a car. I have been thoroughly enjoying it for last 3 years.

BTW, I am running stock Goodyears (Eagle NCT 5, I think). They have been bad mouthed a lot on the internet but they are actually not that bad. I was glad that Rehaan also felt it during his vRS review and mentioned it quite forthcomingly on the forum.

Thanks Anand! I also hope to keep this car for long and just pray that this runs as trouble free as did my esteem.

On the tyres, as I said, I couldn't experience the GY NCT5s for long as I changed the tyres the same day. Your experience with them seems to be good and that's what matters.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Also, regarding the rear spoiler, I recently understood from another Laura thread that it's quite useless on a front wheel drive car (unless the purpose is to show off) and may actually be quite counter productive. So I gladly gave up on that - money saved. Of course, I am looking for a detailed technical discussion on this topic to understand the pros and cons of a rear spoiler on a FWD car...

There are thousand different ways to blow your money on a car, so pick carefully, it's fantastic car in stock form already.

Cheers!

You rightly said, I would install spoiler mainly for looks, no other purpose as such. But this would be low in my priority. It will set me back by 12-17k. And as put by you, there are so many things that I would want to add to the car before going for it. I am seriously thinking of getting the RS steel pedals.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Good job with the update. That said, I actually felt the silver accents looks pretty nice (in comparison with the glossy faux wood finish in the Elegance and L&K). Did they mention that it is something which can be easily removed, without leaving any stains on?

Do keep updating the thread

Thanks buddy! I also feel that the silver accents look better than the faux wood trims. And they cost some 17k if you want to add those to ambition.

I actually applied it on part of the door trim first and then removed the wrap, didn't feel any difference, the surface was not even sticky. But this was done within a very short span of time. Not sure what would happen after removing it after a long time. My guess is it shouldn't be an issue, after all the surface that sticks to the trim is more like a film.

[arshjeet singh]

Dear Mr. Shreyas Aterkar,
thanks a lot for sharing your experience, its very descriptive & delightful to read.
i have a request to make with folded hands, please do not put the spoiler, it physically hurts when i think of that drill machine going in the boot-lid to make provision(s) for mounting that spoiler.
plus my point here is guys like me always look for used cars, and that too cars used by guys like you (who purchase cars listening to their hearts, who love their cars), hence if down the line, i am lucky enough to get a car like yours and used by a guy like you, it will be very hard for me to remove that Spoiler and fill those 4 holes. i had a tough time doing the same for my baleno which minus the spoiler was in pristine condition even after its 10 years long stint with the previous owner.
anyhow decision is always yours.

best regards
arshjeet.