[jalajprakash]

What I Like:

• The constant unending pull of the motor
• Built like a tank
• Ferocious 1.8TSi motor
• Excellent gearbox, requires little to no effort
• Extremely Silent
• Upgradability
• Stellar all 4 disk brakes
• Massive boot
• Feels planted on high speeds.

What I don't Like:

• Only 2 airbags
• No climate control
• High fuel consumption in the city
• Maruti 800 style knob to change the seat incline
• Scary Skoda ASS stories
• Expensive spares
• Bouncy suspension
• Beige interiors

Reasons for replacement:

• The car that Laura is replacing is a 2010 Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire ZDi which had been driven 77k kms. We did not require a diesel anymore as running was not the same anymore and we also happen to have an Innova Diesel which can take over Diesel duties. Also with the NGT having some kind of unexplained hatred towards diesel vehicles it made sense to add a nice petrol vehicle to the garage. Mom did not like the Swift Dzire one bit and we knew how flimsy it is and wouldn’t really save anyone in a highway accident. Recently managed to get dad on-board the lateral upgrades train and he agreed for the first time to buy a used car.

Requirements for replacement:

• Had to be petrol considering the recent bans against Diesel in the NCR region. Had to be a segment higher than the Dzire because it’s not really an upgrade otherwise. A little sturdier than the Swift and with better Highway stability. I’ve heard the Innova whine while trying to do 100km/h in fifth gear and it’s not pleasant to hear. It’s worth mentioning that my dad has a soft spot for Skoda’s for their build quality (physical structure) even though we’ve never owned one, but from public perception alone.

Options Considered:

• Skoda Octavia TSI 1.8 AT (New) : Dad wanted a new Skoda Octavia but due to the price hike where previously the Laura started at around 14L and highest variant was 17L (petrol), the new highest variant Style+ is priced at 24L OTR which was definitely outside our budget as of right now. To be honest, it’s a great car with 8 airbags, paddle shifters from factory and even CarPlay.
  
  
• Skoda Octavia TSI 1.8 AT (Used) : Next we thought about picking up a used Skoda Octavia but the only variants on sale in the used market were the Elegance models without the 8 airbags and quite inferior in spec compared to the Style+ model. Prices for these models with still up in the high teens and if we were going to pay for these then it would be better to just go for a new Style+ instead. Dad did really want one of these cars but I convinced my dad otherwise.
  
  
• Skoda Octavia TSI 1.4 MT (New) : It didn’t really make sense to buy a inferior spec car (No Style+ available) with a smaller engine and a manual gearbox and still pay high teen prices for it. As a self-acclaimed driving enthusiast, if there is a bigger more powerful engine on offer, I would hate myself forever if I got the slower version. Haha
  
  
• Jetta TSI 1.4 (New and Used) : Nah, dad was definitely biased toward the Skoda. Even though I informed him that the Jetta is an Octavia/Laura with a different skin, he was never really interested and neither was I because of the inferior motor.
  
  
• Skoda Laura TSI 1.8 MT (Used) : Now this is the car that I was personally gunning for, because as much as I would love to bring a new Octavia 1.8TSi AT Style+ home, I know the financial situation is currently tight due to a funds being diverted towards my studies in the US (last year left!). We are by no means uncomfortable but it just means that we couldn’t make big flashy purchases. It made sense to buy the Laura 1.8 TSi since it was essentially the same motor as the new Octavia without the problem-plagued DSG. Nobody at home had yet caught the AT fever and were still used to dealing with manuals in heavy traffic. Heavily used early model year TSi motors go for dirt cheap prices (for how good of a car it is) at around 3-4L while lightly used later year examples are available for 6-7L. That is some real VFM for how much car you’re getting. The build quality is better than anything you can find new for the same price and if you’ve got the budget you can sprinkle in some nice upgrades to keep it up to date and fun to drive.

[jalajprakash]

Search :

• To start my search I started scouring all different websites for used cars, but realized that while some websites had cars that others didn’t, OLX had most of the cars listed so decided to stick to OLX for my future searches. The only site from which I was getting responses regarding the Swift Dzire I had put up for sale was OLX so that didn’t hurt either. My search criteria was as following : 2010+ Skoda Laura Petrol starting from least km driven (Max 30k) in the Delhi/Gurgaon area. I was initially only listing down the ads that met the criteria and not calling them because I wanted to handle the sale of the Swift Dzire first and then focus on the buy, but my parents told me that it might be a good experience trying to juggle both together (in life you don’t really get the privilege of handling one thing at a time either) especially since buyers for the Dzire visit mostly on the weekends and I had plenty time during the weekday.
  
  
• I called the Mahindra First Choice dealer first because they seemed to have some clean low mileage TSis on their OLX account and called them regarding the same, but then I read the Mahindra First Choice thread on TBhp and decided it would be best to avoid them altogether. I have told them that I am no longer looking to buy a vehicle but they still keep calling.
  
  
• The first private car owner that I tried to contact didn’t have his phone number listed on OLX so I approached him through chat and he gave me his sister’s phone number who was in current possession of the car. My dad told me to bring along a expert mechanic with me who would be able to evaluate the car. The problem was that before I went abroad for my studies, I was located in Jaipur and knew a ton of expert mechanics, this wasn’t the case in Delhi. So I started to club together a Pre-Purchase Inspection list, combining things from the TeamBHP and other resources on the internet. A really good resource that I found was www.myspinny.com which has a ton of good information in their blog regarding used car evaluation. Further probing revealed that they also had a Pre-Purchase Inspection service which can be availed for Rs 750/- so I decided to go ahead and book an appointment.

Disclaimer : Not related to MySpinny in any manner.

• The next day I met with the Expert from myspinny right before we went to talk to the seller and he seemed like a knowledgeable fellow. He informed me that he had been a SA at Toyota, Volkswagen and Honda in the past and has been working in the automobile service industry for over 22 years now. I informed him that he was to be representing me while looking at the car and he was not to sell his services to the seller (they are a used car website after all) and he agreed to it. After initial confusion in tracking down the location, we got there and looked at the car. It looked fairly dusty, and initial impressions were 7/10 and something I specially noticed was the aftermarket HU which meant that electricals must have been tampered with. I must commend that the guy was extremely thorough in his checking, he started with looking at the all documents and once satisfied, moved on to the car itself, looking at outer physical defects. While he was doing this, I tried hooking up an ELM327 adapter to the OBDII port in hopes of picking up any error and can now say with absolute confidence that it is useless when it comes VAG cars. LOL. After identifying all physical scratches and dents, he took pictures of the car from all possible angles and then checked all the car fluids he could check, finally off we went for a test drive. The car displayed no problems in the test drive with the air conditioning (known problem that is expensive to fix) or with how it drove. The car was supple over speed breakers and accelerated really well when the throttle was pinned. After the test drive we returned to the initial location and returned the key to their driver who was accompanying us the whole time. The expert then sat with me in my car and gave me his report which I’ll upload in the future as well as his personal nod of approval because the car seemed clean and genuinely used. He said he was doubtful about the front bumper being repainted so that was something that could be checked further but other than that the car seemed perfect. I did face some problems with MySpinny afterwards but I’ll detail that in a different post.

• In the evening I tried calling Giriraj motors (dealer for Skoda in Gurgaon) and they informed me that even though the car had been bought in Gurgaon, the last two services had taken place in Autobahn, Mumbai and to contact them for service details. This was not a surprise since the seller did say that he took the car with him to Mumbai when he shifted there temporarily before leaving for Singapore. But Autobahn was really uncooperative when I called them asking about the service history of the car. They cited privacy concerns but their excuses were found to be lies as explained later.
  
  
• Because I wanted to be extremely thorough in my search, I next informed the buyer that I would like to take his car to the Skoda Service Center to have it looked over and also asked him about the aftermarket HU and the scratches. This spooked him a little bit because he sent me the following message “You’ve got so many problems with the car, man. Are you sure you want to buy the car?” After explaining to him that I was just being thorough in my search and if he wasn’t comfortable with me exploring the history of the car, then I wouldn’t be comfortable buying the car, he said fair enough.
  
  
• The next afternoon I arrived at the seller’s location and then took the car with the driver in tow. I had messaged newtonMeter the previous evening because he had a VAGCOM cable and lived closeby. I first took the car to his place and he plugged in and ran some tests. His initial report is attached.
  
  

• Thursday,21,July,2016,13:39:39:05031VCDS -- Windows Based VAG/VAS Emulator Running on Windows 7 x64VCDS Version: 15.7.1.0 (x64)Data version: 20150904www.Ross-Tech.comVIN: TMBCKD1Z4BA****** License Plate: ****----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  Gateway Installation List: 7N0 907 530 C01
  -Engine -- Status: Malfunction 101003
  -ABS Brakes -- Status: Malfunction 001004
  -Steering Angle -- Status: OK 000008
  -Auto HVAC -- Status: Malfunction 001009
  -Cent. Elect. -- Status: Malfunction 001010
  -Park/Steer Assist -- Status: OK 000015
  -Airbags -- Status: OK 000016
  -Steering wheel -- Status: OK 000017
  -Instruments -- Status: Malfunction 001019
  -CAN Gateway -- Status: Malfunction 001025
  -Immobilizer -- Status: OK 000042
  -Door Elect, Driver -- Status: Malfunction 001044
  -Steering Assist -- Status: Malfunction 001046
  -Central Conv. -- Status: OK 000052
  -Door Elect, Pass. -- Status: OK 000056
  -Radio -- Status: OK 000062
  -Door, Rear Left -- Status: OK 000072
  -Door, Rear Right -- Status: OK 0000
  

• But he said this report doesn’t exactly mean that these problems are still existent in the car. He cleared the codes and ran the test again. The only problems that came up this time were regarding *Exhaust emissions* and *CANBUS support*. I could understand the CANBUS since the aftermarket CASKA HU was not CANBUS compatible but the Exhaust emissions error would require further probing. I would like to thank him profusely for helping out a fellow forum member out of the blue. We did a couple runs to test out how the car drove and then admired newtonMeter’s car a little after which I left for the service center.

• Reached Giriraj Motors and talked to the receptionist who set me up with an SA within minutes. The SA was really understanding and helpful, he shared complete service records of the car with me. He explained to me that the company can share details of the last 2 services with a person, if they come in with a registration number and VIN (which I had), since I had brought the whole car with me they shared any and all details of the car with me. (This shows that Autobahn Mumbai was being uncooperative for no reason at all). The background check of the car came out to be clean as there was nothing except regular services. An interesting point that came up was that the car had been serviced last in Mumbai at 143xx kms and the car was currently at 146xx kms. Considering the distance from Mumbai to Gurgaon is greater than 300kms, I was really surprised and wished to bring this issue up with the seller, but the SA explained that Skoda dealers often provide a service where they can help transport your car in a car carrier for a small fee, which seemed like a good explanation. The checkup was supposed to take 2-3 hours but I explained to the SA that I had come all the way from Delhi and wanted to get back at a decent time so he hurried the process along for me. I also requested that I be explained each and every check that happened to the car, which he said isn’t allowed but he would try his best.

• Even though I wasn’t really expecting it, true to his word he called me outside 10 minutes later and asked me to sit inside the car as the engine mechanic would go over the car using the dealer VCDS system. The mechanic faced some problems with a faulty laptop and went missing for 15 minutes and then returned after we asked around. The “owner” himself being there seems to make quite a difference. He finally started the VCDS scan, and the same two errors popped up. He did tie the CANBUS error to the aftermarket HU, and then he further looked into the Emissions fault. He explained to me that the emissions fault was apparently a charcoal filter in the car, which is meant to absorb the fumes from the fuel so that the fumes don’t enter the fuel line which had become clogged/saturated. He said that it shouldn’t make any difference to the car and should come unclogged if the car is driven regularly. I still enquired the cost of replacing such a filter which was told to be around 12k which was an acceptable amount. After this the mechanic checked all the fluids in the car as well as the battery voltage which all seemed to be in order. The mechanic gave me his nod of approval for the health of the car. A bodyshop person was also pulled aside for a quick check as to whether any panels had been repainted and he also gave it a clean bill of health.

• Armed with all the service records, I went home and finalized the deal with the buyer deducting the price of the possible replacement of the charcoal filter from our previously agreed on price and delivered the cheque the next Monday after collecting all the documents of the car as well as the car itself. After much running around the SDM Gurgaon (RTO only handles commercial vehicles in Gurgaon, who knew?) the car is finally home.

[jalajprakash]

Number of kms at the time of writing this review:

I've driven the car for approximately 200 kms. She currently has 14800 kms on the odometer.

Usage pattern:

The car will mainly be used on Highway trips to Jaipur once or twice a month and then if we go out for a dinner or a weekend trip. The Innova is still there to take the brunt of long daily runs.

The driver will only get to drive this when parents are going to Jaipur without me.

Exterior styling & design:
If I had to provide one word to describe the Laura, it would be elegant. I will admit that I like the design of the new Octavia better but you’ve gotta work with what you have. The Exterior has great potential since the VRS kit can be added for instant upgrade in looks.

Overall build quality, fit & finish, paint quality and panel gaps:

The car is a definite upgrade in build quality compared to our previous car which is evident from the solid thud that each door makes upon closing. Fit and finish is tight but the paint needs a detailing since the car has been stored out in the open without any cleaning before purchase.

There is a cringing thud that the rear suspension makes when going over a tall hump which I think is because of the stock shock absorbers. It doesn’t make any noise if driven extremely gently but any speed over a hump and the car doesn’t like it. This might be corrected with an aftermarket suspension.

Wheels & Tyres:

The Skoda Laura is definitely under-tired with 195/65/R15 in both the front and the rear. The stock GoodYear Eagle NCT5s are nothing spectacular and will be replaced sooner rather than later. With the stock setup if one floors the accelerator, the traction control has to kick in on both the first and the second gear to keep the wheelspin in check.

The 15" rims look elegant but not exactly spectacular and will be replaced. I was thinking Momo Revenge in 17” Brushed Gold but feel free to make suggestions.

An example below


Fortunately, with the upgrade in rim size, the tires will have to be replaced as well. Will be switching to Michelin PS3s. That'll further improve the ride quality & grip.

Interior design & quality

The fit and finish of the interior is a lot more premium compared to our previous cars, with more surfaces being covered in soft touch material. Although I’m not the biggest fan of beige interiors and am already planning to get the interior color changed to black the same way Robimahanta did.

His car interior attached below



Interior space & comfort

I usually only sit in the front because of my 6’3” height and am completely comfortable with the seat pushed all the way back. The front seats are supportive and don’t trigger fatigue for a long time. As good as the seats might be in normal use, they’re absolute trash for the track, I was hanging on to the steering wheel for dear life during the turns at BIC. Will look into a seat upgrade but from past searches, nicer aftermarket seats are extremely expensive.

Driving position, ergonomics, controls & MID

I usually drive with the seat all the way back and lowered as far as possible. In normal circumstances, I do like the driving position and am able to reach all buttons required. I had some trouble figuring out how to control the MID but other Delhi BHPians came to the rescue (shoutout to RohanDheman) It’s controlled by a up-down switch at the end of the right stalk. I might look into swapping in the MID to the Maxidot cluster from the L&K which is nicer and a plug and play solution from what I know.

Visibility & size of mirrors

Visibility all around is great and the mirrors do their job well! The last owner installed an aftermarket HU which included a high quality rear view camera which comes in quite handy. It’s funny though, that my dad who has never used a rear view camera, still looks over his shoulder to try and reverse the car and struggles.

Air conditioner cooling & effectiveness

I am used to Michigan winters (-10 deg C avg in December) and usually require a strong A/C when in Delhi over the summer. The air conditioner kept me satisfactorily cool during this past summer in Delhi but had this quite irritating problem of creating a patch of mist on the outside of the windshield when you turn it all the way up. RohanDheman did tell me that it’s an easy fix at the Skoda ASS where they put a piece of cardboard inside the dash to block the air but I am yet to visit the service station to get this fixed.

Audio system & sound quality

The audio system in the car is stock with the exception of the HU. I’m not the biggest audiophile and would rather listen to nice engine rev anyways. For my requirements, the audio system is more than good enough. The Caska HU on the other hand is not my favorite thing about the car, I would like to swap it with a touchscreen Skoda system at sometime in the future. It’s not an urgent upgrade though since it’s fully functional and not causing any problems.

Interior storage, practicality & boot space

One of the major reasons why my dad did like the car was the impressive boot space thanks to the hatch-style opening boot. The car can easily take at least 1.5x the luggage our Swift DZire did. The space inside is also not lacking, there’s space for 1L bottles all round and then additional seat back pockets fulfill all our needs.

Engine performance & driveability in the city

On normal petrol (87 RON?) the engine is not the happiest lugging in the lower rev ranges and will stall if you’re not careful. My parents who are used to extremely torquey diesels which can pull from very low revs have stalled the car a couple times but they’re starting to do better. Unfortunately, traffic jams is what one faces normally inside Delhi. Power is more than adequate for the city with wheelspin in 1st and 2nd gear if you really pin the throttle. I did fill up Speed (87 RON+ anti-knock)/(91 RON) once and the engine is a lot happier close to idle.

Engine performance & driveability on the highway

On the highway, the car will comfortable cruise at 100/120 in 6th gear. It is usually one of the most swift and quick cars on the highway and overtaking slow SUVs and trucks is never a problem. I do feel that the gear ratios are set up fairly closely since I usually end up shifting from 1 → 2 → 4 → 6 and the 3rd and 5th gears end up not being used. I must add that the car is so nice to drive on the highway that I was recently informed that when travelling from Delhi to Jaipur my dad decided to drive the Laura himself instead of taking a driver in the Innova as usual.

Additional comments on the engine

The track is the only place where you will notice that the engine might be lacking some punch but that just might be me, because my engine is absolutely stock while all my peers at the track had highly tuned cars. The engine has a lot of potential though, with upgrades available internationally that can reliably push the horsepower closer to 400hp. In stock form, the engine has zero turbo lag and pulls hard all the way to 6000rpm which is because of stock low boost pressure.

Gearshift & clutch

The gearknob in the car is fairly notchy with a short throw, but takes little to no effort to shift. This is very different from the Swift Dzire we had previously, which leads to my parents sometimes missing 2nd gear and going directly into 4th when shifting from 1st. I have instructed them to be nicer to the gearknob and not use as much force. I personally face zero problems. The clutch travel is fairly longer when compared to the swift and sometimes requires me to sit closer to the wheel.

Overall NVH levels

NVH levels inside the car are awesome. The petrol engine is super quiet to the point where sometimes you don’t even know if the engine is on, as long as you don’t look at the rev counter. My dad has tried to crank the engine a couple times when it was already on just because he didn’t realise it. To be honest, this is my reasoning for justifying a sport exhaust/ straight pipe system as an addition. Haha. Wind noise is not a problem but road noise is fairly loud due to the 4 year old NCT5 tires. These tires are on their way out though so it should be fixed soon.

Fuel efficiency: City and Highway

If everything so far has been fabulous then this is where the car is merely mediocre. The car is made for open stretches and does not do well when stuck in traffic jams. I’ve seen the FE drop down to 4-6kmpl when the traffic is bad in Delhi and I do end up visiting the pump more often. To be honest though, this does not come as a shock to me and I was fully expecting such an FE. On the highway, I have been able to extract upto 16kmpl at average speeds of 100-120kph. I’m sure you can do even better at closer to 80kph but usually I have places I need to be and can’t just sit on the highway trying to extract FE.



Suspension & ride quality

The suspension is quite supple, and in my personal opinion, a little on the softer side. It’s great for the bad patches around Delhi and Gurgaon and adds to comfortable ride quality. But as soon as you corner hard, the car loses traction and has very low lateral grip. The same soft and supple suspension takes away from your confidence at higher speeds as well. Since I will be visiting the track fairly frequently, a suspension upgrade to coilovers is definitely in order.

Handling, on-road behaviour, grip levels, stability, body roll & turning radius

The car is fairly agile and changes direction quickly but I do think that the car is undertired from the factory with 195 section tires. It loses traction in both 1st and 2nd gear if you pin the throttle and it does struggle when turning hard as well. When I do change the tires, I will upsize it to 225 section which I think should be adequate and also make the stance better.

Steering

-->

I’m not the biggest fan of the 4 spoke Skoda steering. It is a tad bit too thin but still provides good road feedback and weighting according to speed. I will be switching the wheel to the newer version 3 spoke with perforated letter/alcantara soon though, so no problemo.

Braking

The brakes are really good for city and highway use with 4-wheel disk + ABS + ESC. The pedal feel is good and predictable. But if you haven’t already identified the common theme here, it’s not good enough for track use. If you start pounding on the stock brakes at the Buddh circuit, you will destroy them because they just can’t take that kind of continuous abuse. A big brake kit off the Jetta GLI is in order and should be here soon. Usually, a big brake kit is closer to the tune of 1.35L but the one of off the GLI only uses bigger vented and cross-drilled rotors and a different caliper pin but shares the rest of the architecture so it is only 30k INR.

Ground clearance

Ground clearance right now is not a problem at all, I have not scraped the car anywhere. I have even visited the moon crater surface that is available for hard-core offroaders in certain streets of Gurgaon. Haha. I’m assuming for this to become more of a problem once I have the coilovers + bigger rims + thinner tires.

Any niggles, problems or part replacements

I have not faced any problems just yet, but I feel it is too early to make a judgement. I did choose a fairly safe product though. Most of Skoda nightmares have been related to the 7-speed DSG.

Quality of after-sales service

My first experience with the Skoda ASS @ Giriraj Motors has been positive. I took the car for a pre-purchase inspection myself and the SA there really worked with me. Initially, it was supposed to take about 4 hours total but I informed the SA that I kinda had to travel back to Delhi after the whole process, he pulled aside a couple technicians and had work started instantly. He even complied with my request to be able to observe the car the whole while and ask the technician some questions. I even tried to tip the SA for helping me out on a short timeline but he refused saying that this was his job and his pleasure. I usually like to develop a good relationship with a single SA and have not faced any problems until now.

Cost of upkeep & maintenance

The initial inspection of the car costed me close to 3.5k but I haven’t spent money on anything else since the SA gave it a clean bill of health with no consumables required.


Upgrades Planned as of now:

Not in any particular order but this would be Stage 1, before I look into getting more power.

- VRS Flat Bottom Steering Wheel
- VRS Bodykit
- Interior Recolor to Black
- Bilstein/KW/Forge Coilover Suspension
- Straight Pipe Exhaust (still looking into others, I really want it to crackle and pop)
- Stock Big Brake Kit (from Jetta GLI)
- Tires - Michelin P3ST
- Rims - Momo Revenge in Gold 17"/18"
- Fatigue detection module
- Highline ESP module
- Stage I Remap
- Spulen Boost Pipe
- Stainless Steel Brake Lines

BIC Circuit:

- On its first trip (also my first trip) to the Buddh International Circuit, the car in it's current condition, absolutely bone stock with 4 year old GoodYear NCT5 tires was able to put down a time of 2:59:221 . I believe the limiting factors were the suspension, brakes, tires and my experience on the track. Hopefully, all of these can be remedied and I will provide an update when I visit BIC next.

Pictures:























*Just an indication of how hard that suspension is working in the corners. I was hanging on to the steering wheel for dear life in sharp corners. Haha






*The age of the Goodyear NCT5s can definitely be seen in comparison to all that sport rubber around.

[GTO]

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

[Dr.Naren]

Very good and detailed review. This car has huge potential. Stage 2/3 remap ( with bigger turbo), upgraded brakes and suspension would be killer

[maglev]

Originally Posted by jalajprakash

What I Like:

Congratulations Jalaj Prakash!

That's a very nice and clean TSI. I've seen it in person, and was very close to buying it.

Good to know that it was picked up by fellow BHPian

[MacBa]

Congrats Jalaj! So finally you've been able to find a nice example. I believe it is the same car that you mentioned about in the best used enthusiast's car under 6 lakhs. The car is almost brand new as per the odo. Wish you many happy miles with it!

[jalajprakash]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Very good and detailed review. This car has huge potential. Stage 2/3 remap ( with bigger turbo), upgraded brakes and suspension would be killer

Confirmed huge potential. I have researched a lot into it and here is a list of parts that I shortlisted that should go on to my car at some point in it's life.

Click on the picture and then zoom in!


The higher end of the potential of this platform has been explored by none other than TeamBHPian prithwi-81 here in Delhi. That car is definitely an inspiration. Link : http://northernautosports.com/2016/0...rs-the-tabahi/

Originally Posted by maglev

Congratulations Jalaj Prakash!

That's a very nice and clean TSI. I've seen it in person, and was very close to buying it.

Good to know that it was picked up by fellow BHPian

Thanks maglev, I knew there were a couple other people looking at it and that is why I moved with a careful but quick pace. The fact that I was on vacation definitely helped because I could devote my weekdays to the search while usually people are restricted to weekends.

Hope you find one though, and join in on the fun!

Originally Posted by MacBa

Congrats Jalaj! So finally you've been able to find a nice example. I believe it is the same car that you mentioned about in the best used enthusiast's car under 6 lakhs. The car is almost brand new as per the odo. Wish you many happy miles with it!

Thanks MacBa, it is the same car indeed, I still truly believe that the 1.8 TSi Laura offers the most bang for your buck in the used performance car market as of right now. It has also turned out to be an excellent highway cruiser which is just "sone pe suhaga" Haha. Hope you find one too!

Also, another piece of advice for anyone looking for a 1.8 TSi Laura or any other performance oriented car for that matter would be to judge the owner as well when looking at the car. The previous owner for this car was in his 40s and seemed to have bought it as a luxury car instead of a performance one. He chose petrol because he had very low running and most of the miles on the car were put on it's travel between Gurgaon and Bombay. This led me to believe that the car must have been driven nicely, mostly by a chauffeur, and not abused hard.

In comparison, another car that came up on my radar, was owned by a guy in his 20s. He had cheap off-brand rims and some "Rally Sports" stickers on it. This car I would believe would've been driven very hard and well abused. Probably not the best idea to choose such a car.

[GT145]

Originally Posted by jalajprakash

The 15" rims look elegant but not exactly spectacular and will be replaced. I was thinking Momo Revenge in 17” Brushed Gold but feel free to make suggestions.

Congrats !! Laura is one hot machine and even hotter with 1.8 TSI engine.

Momo Revenge is one of the most commonly used alloys here in India. MSW 85, Momo Rush, Sparco Assetogara are some possible options if you want something classy.

[maglev]

Originally Posted by jalajprakash

Thanks maglev, I knew there were a couple other people looking at it and that is why I moved with a careful but quick pace. The fact that I was on vacation definitely helped because I could devote my weekdays to the search while usually people are restricted to weekends.

Hope you find one though, and join in on the fun!

You are right I was only looking on weekends, but nonetheless I've just picked up a Jetta 2.0 TDI (from a fellow BHPian).

Secondly, looking at your upgrade list, I am glad you picked up the Skoda as my list is far shorter.

Let me know whenever you are in Delhi next, would like to meet up and get some advice on mods for my car.

Cheers!

[avinash_clt]

Congratulations for picking up a pristine 1.8TSI. It is indeed the most bang for buck performance car in the used market and has immense tuning potential if one fancies so. With the current Octavia 1.8TSI not being offered with a MT, these will continue to remain unique and humble unsuspecting drivers

Originally Posted by jalajprakash

Wheels & Tyres:

The 15" rims look elegant but not exactly spectacular and will be replaced. I was thinking Momo Revenge in 17” Brushed Gold but feel free to make suggestions.

With respect to outright grip 225/45 R17 won't add any over the good rubber available in 225/50 R16. On the contrary the extra sidewall for 16" ones will provide a lot of peace of mind on the highway. Yes you can go for 225/40 R18 too, but from personal experience 225/50 R16 on the right set of rims do just fine. Unless you are going for the light-weight wheel from OZ/MSW etc mostly likely the 17"/18" will just add extra unsprung weight. Since you are going for suspension upgrades which will involve lowering the car, the benefits of 17/18" narrow sidewall tyres reducing body roll is also greatly diminished and would add no more than cosmetic benefits.

225/50 R16 - I would suggest Michelin PS3 or Yoko Advan-Sport.
225/45 R17 - Michelin PS3 or Yoko Advan-Sport or Hankook S1 Evo-2. All top-spec performance summer tyres.

Engine performance & driveability in the city

On normal petrol (87 RON?) the engine is not the happiest lugging in the lower rev ranges and will stall if you’re not careful. I did fill up Speed (87 RON+ anti-knock)/(91 RON) once and the engine is a lot happier close to idle.

Regular petrol is 91RON itself. Speed will be just additives to it, no change in Octane rating. Personally I haven't felt any difference with the premium branded fuels. The one that made difference however was Speed 97, predictably so with its RON97 rating. In fact Delhi was the only place where I tried it, the time when I got to drive across the lengths of best of the Indian highway and fell more in love with the car and this particular engine.

Ground clearance

Ground clearance right now is not a problem at all, I have not scraped the car anywhere.
I’m assuming for this to become more of a problem once I have the coilovers + bigger rims + thinner tires.

Our cars are running on the stock 'Rough Road Package' suspension which at 164mm GC, makes the car sit 25mm more than the standard suspension package used in the same cars in Europe. With coil overs, you would be thus dropping the car by at least 40-50 mm from its current state.

[jalajprakash]

Originally Posted by maglev

You are right I was only looking on weekends, but nonetheless I've just picked up a Jetta 2.0 TDI (from a fellow BHPian).

Secondly, looking at your upgrade list, I am glad you picked up the Skoda as my list is far shorter.

Let me know whenever you are in Delhi next, would like to meet up and get some advice on mods for my car.

Cheers!

Congrats on the Jetta! I will be back in Delhi for 3 weeks in December and hopefully permanently after May 2017. Are you part of the D-Bhpians WhatsApp group? We usually try to plan some meets on there (without much success)

Originally Posted by avinash_clt

With respect to outright grip 225/45 R17 won't add any over the good rubber available in 225/50 R16. On the contrary the extra sidewall for 16" ones will provide a lot of peace of mind on the highway. Yes you can go for 225/40 R18 too, but from personal experience 225/50 R16 on the right set of rims do just fine. Unless you are going for the light-weight wheel from OZ/MSW etc mostly likely the 17"/18" will just add extra unsprung weight. Since you are going for suspension upgrades which will involve lowering the car, the benefits of 17/18" narrow sidewall tyres reducing body roll is also greatly diminished and would add no more than cosmetic benefits.

I actually need minimum 17" for the big brake kit. If I ever want to upsize to 6 piston brakes, I again need 17" minimum.

Regular petrol is 91RON itself. Speed will be just additives to it, no change in Octane rating. Personally I haven't felt any difference with the premium branded fuels. The one that made difference however was Speed 97, predictably so with its RON97 rating. In fact Delhi was the only place where I tried it, the time when I got to drive across the lengths of best of the Indian highway and fell more in love with the car and this particular engine.

I just wasn't sure if normal petrol is 87 or 91 RON. For me, there was actually a noticeable difference between Normal (91 RON) and Speed (91 RON + Anti-knock additives) at crawling speeds. When using Normal fuel, the car is more prone to stalling at low RPMs. When I put in Speed, the engine doesn't really lug at low RPMs anymore. I am yet to try out Speed 97 but I fear that once I try it, I'll have a tough time going back to Normal petrol

Our cars are running on the stock 'Rough Road Package' suspension which at 164mm GC, makes the car sit 25mm more than the standard suspension package used in the same cars in Europe. With coil overs, you would be thus dropping the car by at least 40-50 mm from its current state.

I was aware of this fact and this is why when I do order the coilovers, I will also be ordering the ECS Aluminum Street Shield Skid Plate which replaces the OE plastic unit. Just a lot more protection for the underbody once the car is lowered.

[petrolhead_neel]

Congrats.

The Laura TSI is definitely one of my favourite cars that landed on our roads. Classic looks, fabulous engine and the build quality makes this a proper enthusiast car, not to forget the superb mod potential. Also, loved the ownership review. Please do keep updating the thread as time commences and she munches more miles.

Having a weekend car is always special.

Also, I remember reading your Ford Fusion review sometime back. Is she still with you?

Neel

P.S.: Black inserts on the interior look sick!

[anuragbagur]

Congrats Sir! The Laura 1.8 TSI is a true sleeper car in every sense. This car currently is the most mod friendly car in India - both performance and cosmetic combined! There are innumerable cosmetic updates you can buy in superskoda.com and milotec.de

I have modded my Laura 1.8 TSI to Pete's Stage II and will be posting a detailed thread very soon. Enjoy the car for years to come!

[niteshsharmab]

Congratulations on a great purchase, gem of a car indeed. Even I am getting a good condition 38,000Km run TSI for 4Lacs. Very tempted to buy it but the thought of as high Rs 1Lac annual maintenance for Skoda is keeping me away. What do you think will be an average annual maintenance for this vehicle for next 4 to 5 years. Enjoy your new ride. Cheers.