[ajmat]

Considering the level of electronic competence vis a vis the complexity of the car. I would avoid modifying the headlights.

[artofzen]

Also wouldnt modifying it from outside void the warranty?.

I thought these guys were so jumpy that they say the warranty will be void even if you upsize the wheels!!.Atleast "Toyota Smiles" package will be void for Innovas if we upgrade the wheels (according to Kerala dealers)

[shuvd]

Skoda A.S.S. did say that warranty will be void if I put HIDs (in Octy, not Laura). But, I had no issues. They didn't check and I didn't have to go for a warranty claim either. Touch wood!!
Honda guys are pretty cool that way!
But, I guess Ajmat is right. No use taking risk.

[anandbhat]

Originally Posted by quicksilver

That's a lovely car pal. Great colour choice, should look good with a very light tint.


The brighter side is that you don't have to spend a fortune on replacing these should a need ever arise. The old Octy headlights tend to fade over 3 or 4 years of regular usage. Is it something to do with the plastic?

Thanks!
No plan to modify for atleast one year!

Originally Posted by zoom_vroom

COngrats on your fantastic purchase.
Laura looks hot in Red.
Do post your initial ownership review once past 1000k on the odo.
Happy and Safe driving !!!

Thank you sir!

Originally Posted by carbaliga

Congratulations Anand. The red looks impressive in Skoda. What is the warranty offered by Skoda on Laura? Awaiting the interior pictures and offcourse the Stanley Leather dress on the skoda.

Regards

Thank you!
Warranty is upto 2yrs, unlimited mileage.

Originally Posted by shuvd

Congrats Anand. The car looks HOT! As you already have projectors, you can upgrade to HIDs.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Dashing! that's what I can say now. The biege colour of stanley leather seat cover looks perfect match to the body colour. Congrats on your new buy.

Thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by aditya.86

Hey anand nice choice of color for both the car and the seats. Both go along really well. Enjoy your ride.

Thank you!!

Originally Posted by artofzen

Looks Yummy!!!

Can imagine how it will look with RS kit and 17" alloys.Gulp!!!

I think I should not modify atleast for the time being.

Originally Posted by Superleggera

The car looks GREAT in RED. Congrats buddy. Pls do post the iniital drive and ownership impressions..

Thank you!

Originally Posted by shuvd

@ Anand - You can get aftermarket kits from 6k onwards. One suggestion: try not to go over 6000K. They look cool but are ineffective.

Thanks for the info. I'll wait for current head lamps to die before opting for a new one!

Originally Posted by artofzen

Also wouldnt modifying it from outside void the warranty?.

I thought these guys were so jumpy that they say the warranty will be void even if you upsize the wheels!!.Atleast "Toyota Smiles" package will be void for Innovas if we upgrade the wheels (according to Kerala dealers)

Agreed. I was told that i cannot do any modification, even the ones that come with top-end version!!

[anandbhat]

Time to jott down first impressions!
ICE is very good. Especially the bass effect. And, one can set the volume for various conditions, such as, I have adjusted a setting, such that, when I put reverse gear, ICE volume drops to very low (almost mute) level.
There are couple of other settings to be explored yet!

Drivability is excellent!!
Turbo lag? almost non existing.
Feels very decent for city drive for a diesel engine! except for its size...
Have been maintaining 1500-2000 rpm range. Max I rev is 2500-2800 rpm (I read in the manual that I have to maintain 3/4th of red line, which means around 3000rpm).
When AC is switched on, engine noise increases considerably, but I don't see any increase in the rpm, so it is more load on the engine.
Drive quality is amazing, takes any pot holes, humps with ease!
Seats are comfirtable (Will have to check this out on highway drive)
Feels solid built... Some how I was feeling this car is much more muscular compared to my 4yr old Accent Viva.

To be continued...

[androdev]

Congrats! Thats a stunning colour with excellent leather trim! Welcome to LOC - laura owners club - Bangalore chapter :-)

[skydiver]

Anand, Congrats on getting the Laura..hope u'll have miles of fun driving the beauty

U mentioned that u also checked jetta...can u let us know what are the points considered which make u go for Laura instead of jetta.. just curious as many of us at the forum may be..

thanks

[anandbhat]

Originally Posted by androdev

Congrats! Thats a stunning colour with excellent leather trim! Welcome to LOC - laura owners club - Bangalore chapter :-)

Thanks androdev!
Is there such a club in Bangalore? Could I get more details?

[snaronikar]

Good first hand impressions, Anand.

Originally Posted by anandbhat

Thanks androdev!
Is there such a club in Bangalore? Could I get more details?

.He might be joking, buddy. AFAIK, there is no such club as LOC unless it is made by androdev.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by anandbhat

Thanks androdev!
Is there such a club in Bangalore? Could I get more details?

No such club, though we could start one. Looks like there are some decent numbers. I just logged a request to T-BHP mods for "Group" feature.

[anandbhat]

Originally Posted by skydiver

Anand, Congrats on getting the Laura..hope u'll have miles of fun driving the beauty

U mentioned that u also checked jetta...can u let us know what are the points considered which make u go for Laura instead of jetta.. just curious as many of us at the forum may be..

thanks

Thanks Skydiver!
See below discussion on Jetta experience. I have detailed pluses and minuses of both the cars that was up on my list.
In summary, I liked Jetta a lot, but I would have bought it if I were to buy the car an year later!

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-driven-2.html

Originally Posted by androdev

No such club, though we could start one. Looks like there are some decent numbers. I just logged a request to T-BHP mods for "Group" feature.

That would be nice, since the posts here on Laura are limited compared to other cars..

[anandbhat]

500km update comes and 5 days of ownership!

About the car:
Positives first:
+ Controls are laid out pretty well on the dash board.
-> Easy to access ICE, AC control
-> Can setup ICE volume to a fixed level when gear is shifted to reverse
Here you could change the volume to say very low. This is very useful, because typically one would want more attention while reversing the vehicle.
-> All most all controls available on the turn indicator stick & wiper stick.
-> I found it very useful the control for trip computer, you could easily keep checking average speed, average fuel consumption, dynamic fuel consumption and how many kilometers to re fuel.

+ Truly is drivers car. It is a great pleasure to drive it.
-> Especially for highway drive, it is very comfortable
-> Suspension can eat away almost any thing thrown at it!
-> Humps/pot holes can be easily maneuvered, it doesn't feel like you are jumping over a hump or a pot hole (though you feel a small thud, it is not bumpy)

+ This vehicle does glide on the road with ease, and even at 80kpl (that was the max speed I hit, because its still in run-in).
A point worth noting here, my wife was asking me why am I driving so slow, even when I was at 80kpl, on my accent she used to scream at me any thing beyond 60-70kpl! I was taken a back for a surprise, and then she clarifies me saying I thought I you are driving at 30-40kpl!! Literally you don't feel like at that speed.
Still need to check stability beyond 100kpl, For now, I'm convinced it should be good (but any way have to wait till I complete 1500km on the odo).

+ You never feel like you're driving a big car.
I could easily cruise through the bad roads between Maddur and Malavalli during our trip to Shivanasamudra on Saturday! I could easily maneuver through all the pot holes.

+ Rain sensor is good, though uncomfortable at times.
It did help to a great extent when wiper blades change its speed depending on speed at which I was driving and amount of rain it poured on us. I would have definitely kept my one finger on the stick all the time, but this sensor minimized it to a great extent

+ auto dimming RVM is useful as well. It cuts the glare to a good extent, and I had to never worry about vehicles coming behind me with high beam on the highway.

+ Turbo lag is pretty much non existant on this car! That coul dbe because turbo kicks off at 1500rpm, while idle is set at 900rpm. So in no time, you are in the turbo band.

+ Every time I pressed the accelerator, I reach about 2500rpm before shifting the gear and I am already at 1500 rpm in the higher gear so I again get turbo effect.
Once I'm in 5th gear, I could already reach 80kpl with no hesitation!! that is really cool. It takes on so easily!
And at 80kpl, I'm just above 1500rpm, sufficient enough for the turbo to be kicked on, and cruising at that speed was a good thing for running in my car!

+ Cubbyholes are many in this car. Only other car I had liked so much from this angle was Honda city & Civic. Laura is no exception. There are plenty of places in the cabin to through in various stuff.
Drawer below co-driver seat is good to keep a small note pad, map, etc.
cooled glove box is nice and pretty deep as well.
a small glove box below adjuscent to stearing wheel is kinda nice, to keep fuel bils, coins and such things
sun glass holder is handy. Glove box on the top-center of the dash is nice for tissue papers, etc.
Though, center armrest has storage, it is pretty small (better than Jetta's though).

+ netted partition is another +, since I could keep the first aid kit and manual tied in a safe corner place!

Having talked about so many minute + points, now comes some that could have been better.

- AC is not very effective (takes quite a bit of time to get the cabin cold enough
- AC fan at slow speed is actually little high
- Cluster illumination brightness cannot be controlled much towards lower light (lowest lighted illumination is on the brighter side!)
- User Manual is difficult to interpret and understand... I felt it is a very different way of representing things in English (Hyundai, which I can compare on the other hand has better illustration), I had to actually see the air pressure spec on the fuel lid, and no mention in the manual!
- Conflicting material in the user manual is also found in some places (e.g. It says need to run the engine without revving before stopping/starting cold engine for a minute or so, but also mentions that even 30sec wait in signals you should turn off the engine to save fuel)
- No special mention about taking care of the turbo, etc.
- Interestingly, first 4km of the journey consumes much more fuel compared to consumption after that


Next report awaited once I complete 1000km. Will keep you posted!

[abhinav.gupta88]

Hey dude
nice review there
I would want you to advice one thing later.
I have heard that when the speed increases to more than 120 or something, the volume increases on the ICE.

Do idle the car for 1 minute before you start the car and at the end of your day.
Will help in increasing like of your turbo!

Don't always rely on the Trip computer because it is not that accurate.
Did a fuel efficiency run ( not on mine but a brother's deisel a/t)

Trip showed 630 km, refueled, needed 45 litres.
However the efficiency on the trip computer showed 6.5 l/100km
So be a bit careful
Skoda's are pretty stable
I recently did 190 in my car and still very stable.


Also wanted to ask you, did you activate things like anti hijack on it.
Try it its good.
Doors automatically lock at 20kmph!

[anandbhat]

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

Hey dude
nice review there
I would want you to advice one thing later.
I have heard that when the speed increases to more than 120 or something, the volume increases on the ICE.

Do idle the car for 1 minute before you start the car and at the end of your day.
Will help in increasing like of your turbo!

Don't always rely on the Trip computer because it is not that accurate.
Did a fuel efficiency run ( not on mine but a brother's deisel a/t)

Trip showed 630 km, refueled, needed 45 litres.
However the efficiency on the trip computer showed 6.5 l/100km
So be a bit careful
Skoda's are pretty stable
I recently did 190 in my car and still very stable.


Also wanted to ask you, did you activate things like anti hijack on it.
Try it its good.
Doors automatically lock at 20kmph!

Thanks Abhinav!
Yes. actually it is 80km on my car for ICE to increase volume. you can actually set this volume to any number, and activate it. It is kinda cool, but for now I have left to to my normal volume itself.
Yes, I'm strictly following 1min rule! But I need to do this 4 times a day, because once I reach office, I would not take the car out till evening, so every time I plan to stop my car for longer time it is kept idle for a min. I think I need to try and get a turbo timer for this!

thanks for the advice. I'm yet to refuel, still more than half tank left

Could you please let me know how to enable anti-hijack?

Actually door locks as soon as you cross 15kpl,, but there is a problem, which is, if you pull the door open lever twice, door opens, this has been a big problem for me because of my naughty kid...

[aks_karthik]

Originally Posted by anandbhat

Actually door locks as soon as you cross 15kpl,, but there is a problem, which is, if you pull the door open lever twice, door opens, this has been a big problem for me because of my naughty kid...

is it so,Then it's not a good sign.No safety na.
yes i already read somewhere about the volume increases automatically on depending upon speed.Good Feature.
The Button are little cumbersome.Lot of buttons in both turn indicator stick & wiper stick.
In L&K,Cruise Control too added in wiper stick.
So many options in Audio System too.
Need to get hands on for full utilization.