Team-BHP - The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI
Team-BHP

Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)
-   Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/)
-   -   The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/153439-phantom-my-pre-worshipped-skoda-laura-1-8l-tsi.html)

“If you can park it and not turn around to look at it – You haven’t bought the right car”

This story was true for my Black mamba – Vento Tdi
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...0-000-kms.html

until this arrived
The Phantom
The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI-laura-intro.jpg

I’ve been closely following Team-Bhp Laura Tsi Owners threads for a long time who have been a great contributor in my buying decision. My dream to fulfill my initial automotive lust is completed by the Laura Tsi.

Black has always been my favorite color, hence when I saw the ad for the Tsi in black I bugged SwanandIndamdar to at least go and check the car. Finally he agreed.

The car was not washed and it was very dirty. Seeing that, all my emotions and motivations went through the drain water which flowing besides me at the dealer. Left that place, then went on searching for other cars.

P.S: There were no alternatives considered during the search.:D

Even I went to Mumbai to check the cars. However, many of them had shoddy service records. Came back to this car’s service and found that all the services were done by Skoda. This gave me a moral boost.

We again visited the dealer. With Swanand’s Excellent & efficient bargaining tactics, I got a sweet deal and paid the amount there, got the car home. Thank you very very much Swanand.

I took the car to pick up my wife from office. I even parked it besides her, she ignored as she was waiting for the Vento. After everything came in place, she was speechless (Mix of shock + happiness) which was priceless!

Next, the Car visited Tune-Up Plus where the BHP gang was already there. Little did they know that I had bought the car! Every one checked the car in detail! Amey, Himanshu , Adi, Abhijeet thank you very much!

Initial ownership
I had bought the car at 52XXX kms ODO in May 2014 and as of now it is 58XXX kms.

Likes
Dislikes
Additions in the car

Overall build quality and fit & finish
I always loved the design of Octavia MK2 FL because I donot like much of lines and curves on car. I rather like is simple and boxy. Overall build quality is top notch and It feels like a tank. The attention to detail is very precise in Laura, small and significant details makes it a driver's delight.


Interior design, quality, space and comfort
I always loved the Laura’s interior and the top notch quality of Skoda. The comfort level is increased to a whole new level as compared to the vento. Besides the engine, the attention to detail is the second best thing to love in the Skoda Laura.

The seat covers are leather (Nappa?) and feeling is really nice. However I'm tempted to upgrade them to black leather. Will it be a good idea?

And, I did not buy this car for Space.

Interior is lovely in the Laura (standard european). It was not a big change for me as I came from a vento.
However, the steering is bit in the heavier side in comparison to Vento. But on high speeds the steering just weighs in and the car planted to the road.

Love the attention to detail that Skoda has implemented.[/left]

HU and Music Quality
I'm a sucker for EDM. Laura's 8-speaker set (as they say) does the job. However, I do not like the Swing player a lot. The only option is to play through CDs or Aux port. I might go in for replacement of HU, Component speakers and a woofer.

Recently the right hand driver side speaker is giving a jarring noise while playing bassy music. I had taken the car to of the accessory shop and he told that its just vibration. The speaker seems okay, only damping is needed.

Is it possible to upgrade to the LnK speaker setup in the Tsi? If yes, please guide me.


Equipment levels
Always loved the equipment levels of LnK and superb. And I’ve seen members here upgrading the equipment through VAGtune and other vendors. I'm very fond of Coming home lights, i'll search the forum more for the modifications.

Engine performance & drivability in the city
For me, driving the Tsi in stop and go traffic is bit cumbersome than Vento. It’s difficult to be in the turbo range in traffic, you can feel the turbo lag easily.And when the turbo kicks-in someone would be there in front of you and you have to brake hard!

Engine performance & drivability on the highway
In Highway, the Tsi is bliss to drive and it’s already described a lot in the forum. I went on a Goa drive, once it comes in turbo range, it’s insane!. Also during the expressway run, the car does insane speeds in no time. May be, thats the reason the first upgrade should be bigger brakes.

This would be my first Tsi. The car doesn’t jumps initially neither does give a big kick when the turbo spools(as compared to Vento). However, once it gains momentum, it’s tough to stop it.

May be other Tsi owners can confirm this behavior?

Gearshift and transmission quality is slick and after the tyre change I can only hear faint hum of the petrol engine. However once it guns down more than 3000 RPM, the sound of the stock exhaust is awesome. (Millteck in my mind)

The "kitna deti hai" Question
In City, I am getting 10.5 kmpl. While on a Goa ride I got around 12 kmpl (with heavy foot and frequent 3 digit speed burst). I was also astonished when I saw the car can attain this figure :Shockked::
The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI-laura-mileage.jpg

Suspension & ride quality
This is the part I hate the most. Laura Tsi’s Suspension is stiff and I still can feel the pot-hole thuds while drive (I’ve read that the suspension is very stiff in Tsi).

However, once on highway all my worries are gone. This car is on rails in staright lines!. But sometimes(rarely) on highspeed turns (eg. in expressway), the car doesnot feel much planted. May be it was rain water playing spoilsport. I will re-check it again.

Can the shock absorbers be lowered or it is better to go with bilstein setup?

Performance after the tyre upgrade
I ditched the stock NCTs sometime back as they had hardened and replaced it with Yokohama v550 205 60 R15. Initial drive was nice and they are very silent. I took it on expressway, and the stopping power of the car has increased drastically. They perform nice on turns, but I need to test it more as it was raining heavily the time I tested it on expressway.

All thanks to Amey for his suggestion


Lights
Laura's HL throw is adequate. However, combine it with fog lamps the lighting is really good, but i still like the xenon lamps of VRS and LnK Version. The light throw would be far better as well.
I'm tempted to change the low beam projector bulbs to HID 4300k.
The only glitch would be there would be a error light throwing up.

Cost of upkeep & maintenance
After I bought the car, I’ve just serviced it once (total bill was about 14k). I will provide the details once I fetch the bill. The glitch I found that it drinks a lot of oil. Almost every 2000 kms I need to to-up the oil a bit.

When I asked about these in Skoda, at first they were clue-less and were looking at each other's face! Later on, SA came up and said that it is normal with Tsi. Since, then I've been carrying a liter of Shell helix ultra 5W40 with the car. I've topped up atleast 2 times with a regular interval of 1500 to 2000 kms.
Maybe other members can confirm?

The fogging of front windscreen and side mirrors has become regular in monsoons. I've never faced these kind of issues in any of my previous cars.
Is this common? What is the remedy?

VAG-COM Activation
I've already activated the below from Skoda
I've read that needle sweep can be activated as well during VAG-COM. I asked the same to the SA, but they are unaware about it.
What else can be activated on the stock Laura Tsi?

After Market Additions
Besides the tyres everything else is stock The Skoda Wheel Cap logos where missing while i bought it. Hence ordered them from China (Took whole one month to arrive) and they are of new skoda logos.
I'm also thinking of changing the changing the front and back skoda emblems
I also included a VRS logo and number plate lights. I made a mistake of ordering blue number plate lights instead of white!
Thanks MoralFiber for the ebay links!

The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI-vrs.jpg



Thank you very much for your patience!
I'll keep updating the thread.

Some more pictures.
The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI-laura-front.jpg

The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI-dsc_0241.jpg

The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI-dsc_0255.jpg

The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI-laura-side-2.jpg

The Phantom: My pre-worshipped Skoda Laura 1.8L TSI-laura-scenic.jpg

Latest Update:
I've always loved the Xenon Lamps of LnK version.
Hence went ahead and installed the HID Kit in lower beam projector.
They were from P8 brand with 4300K

The Light throw has improved drastically. Absolutely in love with it.
I also did a expressway run in the upgraded light, I must say they are way better than stock lamps.
It doesnot blind the on-coming traffic as well.

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

Congrats and welcome to the TSi gang.
We should catch up sometime.

Ride is not stiff, something may be wrong with your suspension. 58K means a suspension check is due.
And I think it's not the turbo lag as much as it's the gearing. 1st is very short I think.

Cheers!

Congrats! Looks great in black. clap:
Quote:

Originally Posted by mikon (Post 3484996)
“If you can park it and not turn around to look at it – You haven’t bought the right car”

Absolutely true, and i have mentioned this in some other threads as well. :thumbs up Without this, the car just reduces as a tool of transport from point A to point B! :thumbs up

Congrats on your new ride. Looks like Laura TSI's are making their way into the used car market. Its a great buy for enthusiasts and with the price gap between petrol and diesel coming down, a used Laura TSI makes solid sense for those who love to drive.

As Anand mentioned get the struts checked. The TSI is softly sprung, probably even more than the TDIs. Ride is quite compliant especially on the 15 inchers. I am running my TSI on 16 inch wheels with Bilstein struts. Even with this combination the ride is very compliant.

Also the oil consumption should not be so high, esp after so many kms. After about 30,000 kms, the oil consumption settled down in my TSI, which required a top up of just about 1/2 litre in between the 15,000 service interval.

Its a very very mod friendly car. You've got remaps, suspension upgrades, lowering springs, bigger brakes, loud exhausts and what not!

Quote:

Originally Posted by anandpadhye (Post 3522935)
Congrats and welcome to the TSi gang.
We should catch up sometime.

Ride is not stiff, something may be wrong with your suspension. 58K means a suspension check is due.
And I think it's not the turbo lag as much as it's the gearing. 1st is very short I think.

Cheers!

Thanks!
I think I need to do a suspension check-up then.
Any pointers where? Or, skoda service center will suffice?

After MAF sensor clean (thanks to Amey), the turbo lag has reduced. The car is bliss to drive.
Definitely, we should meet. Do buzz me. I'm in touch with all other pune members here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR (Post 3522979)
Congrats! Looks great in black. clap:


Absolutely true, and i have mentioned this in some other threads as well. :thumbs up Without this, the car just reduces as a tool of transport from point A to point B! :thumbs up

Thanks and exactly my thoughts.
However, some people do buy cars only as a tool of transport.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat (Post 3523055)
Congrats on your new ride. Looks like Laura TSI's are making their way into the used car market. Its a great buy for enthusiasts and with the price gap between petrol and diesel coming down, a used Laura TSI makes solid sense for those who love to drive.

As Anand mentioned get the struts checked. The TSI is softly sprung, probably even more than the TDIs. Ride is quite compliant especially on the 15 inchers. I am running my TSI on 16 inch wheels with Bilstein struts. Even with this combination the ride is very compliant.

Also the oil consumption should not be so high, esp after so many kms. After about 30,000 kms, the oil consumption settled down in my TSI, which required a top up of just about 1/2 litre in between the 15,000 service interval.

Its a very very mod friendly car. You've got remaps, suspension upgrades, lowering springs, bigger brakes, loud exhausts and what not!

Thanks santosh.
I was closely following your thread. Nice car!
I'll do a suspension check up and lets see what the mech says.
Might go in for bilstein later!

What might be the reason that engine drinks oil so frequently?:confused:
Skoda guys checked the whole setup, no leakage nothing.

Also, will lowering springs be fruitful with standard 15 inchers?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikon (Post 3523167)

What might be the reason that engine drinks oil so frequently?:confused:
Skoda guys checked the whole setup, no leakage nothing.

Also, will lowering springs be fruitful with standard 15 inchers?

How low is the oil level on the dip stick? I think the level varies slightly depending on the time when you check it. I suggest you don't top up , but just keep monitoring oil levels for an extended period. I don't think you are getting low oil light on the dash, are you?

I don't think lowering springs will go with 15 inchers. You will lose flexibility and the car will start scraping even slightly large speed breakers. I feel lowering springs go well with stage 2 remaps and mods.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat (Post 3523212)
How low is the oil level on the dip stick? I think the level varies slightly depending on the time when you check it. I suggest you don't top up , but just keep monitoring oil levels for an extended period. I don't think you are getting low oil light on the dash, are you?

I don't think lowering springs will go with 15 inchers. You will lose flexibility and the car will start scraping even slightly large speed breakers. I feel lowering springs go well with stage 2 remaps and mods.

Yes, I'm getting low oil-level light on the dash and also the oil level in dip-stick drops. Hence, I do the top-up.

Great, then I'll think suspension change after the current new tyre wears off.

Hey really nice car there. Have always liked the Laura Tsi.
Btw from where did you get your alloy wheels painted black?
I am interested in getting the alloy wheels on my Octavia Mk1 painted black.

Many many congratulations and have a great time with her. If there is one car which will be on top of my list when it comes to buying a new one it is going to be Laura , very happy with what the T-Jet is offering and i doubt i will ever feel the need or want to go to the BMW / Audi ranges but the Laura i.e. Octavia will always be on the wishlist!

Congratulations Mikon on your new car. 1.8 TSi would be a gem to drive on highways. Did you sell off your Vento TDi? If yes, how much did it clock on the odo and price you got for it?

Try Speed 97 once.:D

If your car is guzzling more oil than what other TSI owners have experienced, then there has to be an oil leak somewhere. 1) Check your head gasket. 2) Get the car on a hoist, take off the engine guard and do a thorough examination.
I recommend a suspension change at the Skoda dealership. Expensive but they give 1 year warranty. I burnt my fingers doing my RS suspension at an independent garage, which was not satisfactory, and then redoing it at the ASC.

Nice buy. Oil guzzling is common - and in my experience, tends to occur more in slow traffic and high temperature conditions. Having to top up every 1500 km or so is common. By the way, how much oil do you add when you top up? Do you take it all the way to the top on the dip stick (viz add more than 1 litre) or add just enough to turn off the oil warning light? Skoda famously claims that up to 0.5 litres per 1000 km is normal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by YCJ (Post 3524721)
Hey really nice car there. Have always liked the Laura Tsi.
Btw from where did you get your alloy wheels painted black?
I am interested in getting the alloy wheels on my Octavia Mk1 painted black.

Thank you very much!
I did it in a local workshop. However he told that since the original alloys are smooth, the paint wont last long. Maximum 8-9 months :confused:

Quote:

Originally Posted by puchoo (Post 3524911)
Many many congratulations and have a great time with her. If there is one car which will be on top of my list when it comes to buying a new one it is going to be Laura , very happy with what the T-Jet is offering and i doubt i will ever feel the need or want to go to the BMW / Audi ranges but the Laura i.e. Octavia will always be on the wishlist!

Thanks. I've driven a Tjet - I had a wheelspin in 2nd gear and that put a grin on my face.
Enjoy it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061 (Post 3525285)
Congratulations Mikon on your new car. 1.8 TSi would be a gem to drive on highways. Did you sell off your Vento TDi? If yes, how much did it clock on the odo and price you got for it?

Try Speed 97 once.:D

Thanks.
Yes, it is a gem actually. I am imagining how it would behave with Bilsteins! Till now, I'm filling regular fuel. I'll definitely try for Speed 97.

Vento is still there and it has clocked 80,xxx kms!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bomi (Post 3525742)
If your car is guzzling more oil than what other TSI owners have experienced, then there has to be an oil leak somewhere. 1) Check your head gasket. 2) Get the car on a hoist, take off the engine guard and do a thorough examination.
I recommend a suspension change at the Skoda dealership. Expensive but they give 1 year warranty. I burnt my fingers doing my RS suspension at an independent garage, which was not satisfactory, and then redoing it at the ASC.

For Oil guzzzling - I did the same things in Skoda workshop.
There is no leakage or anything, instead the SA said its pretty normal with Tsi.

For suspension - I'm thinking of going for Bilstein upgrade directly later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayek (Post 3525778)
Nice buy. Oil guzzling is common - and in my experience, tends to occur more in slow traffic and high temperature conditions. Having to top up every 1500 km or so is common. By the way, how much oil do you add when you top up? Do you take it all the way to the top on the dip stick (viz add more than 1 litre) or add just enough to turn off the oil warning light? Skoda famously claims that up to 0.5 litres per 1000 km is normal.

Thanks.
Yes, I do top-up every 2000kms or so with 400ml.
Did it couple of times with Shell Helix Ultra and car is running fine.
I've stopped worrying about it now.:)

Congrats on the Tsi Mikon :thumbs up
The Laura Tsi is the perfect used car for the enthusiasts in India, period.
The Laura looks amazing in black and the whole black theme is perfect.
I suggest you add a good spoiler to enhance the looks.
So any other mods planned? Milltek or stage 1? :D
I need a ride in your Tsi at the next meet.

Asit


All times are GMT +5.5. The time now is 19:47.