[nikhilv12]

Hello guys,

After a lot of confusion and deliberation, finally went and booked a Laura ambient yesterday.

The two cars, I had to decide between were the Skoda Laura ambient and the VW jetta trendline.

Though I feel that jetta might have been a better vehicle, the dealer and their staff did not impress me! The staff in particular, as they just kept on blabbering about the features, which the car didn’t even have! For example, the sales manager told me that the jetta trendline had 12 speakers and 8 air bags. He even 'promised' me that the car will not give a mileage if less than 18Km/l in the city and 25Km/l on the highway!
Another reason for not opting jetta was that there is no VW service center in Trivandrum. Though the sales manager assured me that it will come up in 6 months time and that the car will be taken by them, in a trailer to cochin service center, if at all any problem creeps in, I just could not trust him anymore!

And then there was the Skoda Laura. The car is not that much different than the jetta, infact I feel that it only looks different, and shares all the mechanicals with the jetta. But the Skoda had its plus points-

• It was cheaper by 1L
• It has better space
• There is a full fledged skoda dealership in Trivandrum
• Gives better mileage (according to Autocar)
• Has been in the market for some time now
• It had better ground clearance (not that it really matters for me, but it is a plus point)

Both the cars came with the 3yr/50,000 km maintenance scheme. VW was offering me free insurance, and 20,000Rs cash discount, which includes the corporate discount. Where as Skoda is offering me 50% of insurance, 10,000Rs worth of accessories and a 15,000Rs corporate discount.

So finally decided to go for the Skoda on Saturday, got the invoice from the dealer and applied for finance in SBI. And booked the car yesterday.

The sales manager told me that they have a car in stock in the cochin yard, and car can be brought to Trivandrum at any time. So waiting for the finance to be processed at the bank, which will be hopefully done by Friday!

[jesal]

nice , congrats, i love the car too but will never pay for skoda in india surely. how much did u pay for the car? the price in bombay is 13.8 ? how much is the jetta then cheaper than the civic eh mate ?

[nikhilv12]

The On-road price for the laura is 14.48L and that for the jetta is 15.52L

[androdev]

Congrats Nikhil. I did not know they had black in Ambiente. Very nice. Good luck keeping it clean though ;-)

[shuvd]

Congratulations Nikhil. The Laura's a good, solid car. And, looks gangster in black! With the 3 years/50k Kms thingy, you can't go wrong with the car.

The Ambiente comes with 15"s right? Get a set of 16"s. For starters.

[Mysticeyes]

Congrats on the new purchase Nikhil. May you have a great time with the new car. Hope everything went fine from the dealer's end. did you interact with Mr. Kabeer, Sharon & Faizal? My experience during the pre-purchase was a mixedbag, which i have detailed in the Fabia thread. Hope you had a nice experience. The service guys are also reckless.Guess its due to monopoly.

I didn't say to discourage you..just to make u aware of the tricks they may play so when are you taking delivery of your car?

[jkdas]

Congrats Nikil.

Any mods in mind?

[artofzen]

Nikhil, Congrats. What are the deals they offered?

I am yet to get the chrome exhaust tip. I changed the wheels to 17" Lenso. It is so hard to source 112 pcd alloys in Cochin. The only ready pieces are Borbets costing nearly 25K per wheel.

[nikhilv12]

Originally Posted by androdev

Congrats Nikhil. I did not know they had black in Ambiente. Very nice. Good luck keeping it clean though ;-)

They launched the magic black color in ambiend around 4 months ago.

Originally Posted by shuvd

Congratulations Nikhil. The Laura's a good, solid car. And, looks gangster in black! With the 3 years/50k Kms thingy, you can't go wrong with the car.

The Ambiente comes with 15"s right? Get a set of 16"s. For starters.

Was planning to get 17" actually.

Originally Posted by Mysticeyes

Congrats on the new purchase Nikhil. May you have a great time with the new car. Hope everything went fine from the dealer's end. did you interact with Mr. Kabeer, Sharon & Faizal? My experience during the pre-purchase was a mixedbag, which i have detailed in the Fabia thread. Hope you had a nice experience. The service guys are also reckless.Guess its due to monopoly.

I didn't say to discourage you..just to make u aware of the tricks they may play so when are you taking delivery of your car?

I know Faisal for some time now, and my dad knows Ben, GM of skoda for Kerala. so haven't had any problems till now.

Originally Posted by jkdas

Congrats Nikil.

Any mods in mind?

Thanks JK, have mods in mind, but modding a Laura is DAMN expensive!!

Originally Posted by artofzen

Nikhil, Congrats. What are the deals they offered?

I am yet to get the chrome exhaust tip. I changed the wheels to 17" Lenso. It is so hard to source 112 pcd alloys in Cochin. The only ready pieces are Borbets costing nearly 25K per wheel.

I am having the same problem of sourcing some good wheels for the Laura!
Global tyres told that only 3 models are available in Lenso and HR, and i didn't like any of them!

[lurker]

nikhil, some pics please of your black Laura.

[androdev]

IMHO, Skoda vRS 17" wheels look really class.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Congrats on the purchase dude.
It would be better if you take 16" instead of 17"

Firstly the indian roads and secondly the drop in Fuel economy are the reasons i would not advice you to go above 16"

[nikhilv12]

Originally Posted by lurker

nikhil, some pics please of your black Laura.

I will post the pics, as soon as i get the car.

Originally Posted by androdev

IMHO, Skoda vRS 17" wheels look really class.

ya, i like them, but they have a huge offset. If i do not find anything good, ill buy them. The dealer is offering them at 10,000 a piece. and a buyback of the stock wheels and tyres for 28,000 rs

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

Congrats on the purchase dude.
It would be better if you take 16" instead of 17"

Firstly the indian roads and secondly the drop in Fuel economy are the reasons i would not advice you to go above 16"

Well, i had a swift with 16" wheels, i was very happy with it. so wanted to try out 17" and i don't think mileage would drop that much, the stock tyre is 205 and ill be getting 225 whereas in my swift, i had 205, in place of the stock 165!!

[nikhilv12]

Hi guys,

Got the car yesterday noon, the transactions with the dealer was very smooth and i paid a total of 14.05L for the car.

The cars simply too good, at least as far as i am concerned. I have already driven 150Kms! and touched a max of 130Km/h. I haven't driven much above 3000rpm as of now.

Some points which i really like about the car-

• Very smooth and easy to drive.
• The torque surge when the turbo kicks in is just too good.
• Handling is good.
• The SQ of the music system with 4 components is very nice.
• The car is very comfortable too.

And some points which i don't like-

• The light interiors get dirty very fast.
• There is a bit of throttle lag.
• It stalls very easily.

At the end of the day, i am very happy with the car, and love to drive it around.
And ya, HAPPY NEW YEAR guys.

[madhokritesh]

Congrats on the purchase dude. And post some pics when you get the car.