[Ravich]

Originally Posted by holysmoke

Hmm..
I have the same engine in my car. I was advised to fill up premium fuel if possible. What to do? I dont mind paying the extra buck or two for speed, but im not gonna pay for speed 97 or something like that.

Dont know if you have a Superb or Laura. Laura manual page 219 - says "engines which need 95 RON unleaded premium can also be run on unleaded regular petrol 91 RON. This however results in a slight loss in performance"...
" Do not use any petrol additives . Use a fuel complying with the standard"..

So I am sticking to regular unleaded ! 97 octane - expensive and not available everywhere I guess.

[Easynow]

Whatever made you think you are going overboard:P. I can imagine how difficult it must be to keep those revvs low. I am feel like lynching myself for having asked for delivery at the end of the month. Can't wait for my beauty. Now you owe us pics Ravi. Not just of the Laura but also the optra.

PS: I would much rather refer to the Laura as TSI or PDI for the diesel. My tongue seems to do a jiggle everytime I try pronouncing Laura

[normally_crazy]

Hi Ravi,

Congrats on the new purchase. I can see you are enjoying your time with the car.

JMD is the best in Mumbai and yes they do have a glass partition for us to check out the work done. I have been invited inside the workshop to see what was happening when I expressed interest, so no worries there.

As for the fuel, I have always filled up regular unleaded in the vRS and it has been more responsive than when I have filled premium fuels. So I stick to regular unleaded only.

Enjoy the car and take proper care of it and it will treat you well.

Cheers

[vivprasad]

Excellent car Ravi, congratulations. My neighbour too has a Laura, and I always look at it, well, with some greed..................

High tyre pressure is an issue with new cars. When I bought my new SX4 ZXi it had 47 and 42 in thr front tyres. Several others on the Forum have reported the same.

Congratulations again, and have fun.

[hiren959]

@ravich, congrats for your new buy. Let us know the deciding factor for your Laura TSI over the Civic or Corolla, because if I were you I certainly pick this car up. But I am interested to know the reason from you.

[GTO]

In summary - felt absolutely delighted as of now that I bought this car - haven't enjoyed a drive as much in recent times. Early times , but the feeling that the essence of the machine is exactly as one wanted it to be, gives a great sense of relief. This is a drivers car !

Congrats on buying a true performance sedan, Ravich. I've had a couple of gos in the TSI and can safely say that it's quicker than the RS. Excellent road manners too.

The only criticism that I had is that the car doesn't have the "on the edge" feeling or driver involvement of the RS. But hey, that's customer feedback at play. Plus, the Laura is an entirely new generation of car and thus, safer.

Originally Posted by Ravich

The ride was worse than my Optra Royale.

The Laura rides stiff, can get a little uncomfy over uneven / broken roads at low speed. But its the Euro-spec suspension that gives it the excellent high speed manners.

JMD seems good (notwithstanding my suspicion around the stockyard incident). They waited till 830 PM to deliver the car to me. The workshop staff seemed very courteous. Had the accessories they promised fitted on time.

JMD is one of the better Skoda dealers. And a rare breed at that. Good choice of dealership.

Originally Posted by Ravich

95K discount in Mumbai

Nice discount Sweet deal I must say.

Congrats again. Thanks for sharing this review and do keep updating it (with our long-term ownership + service experiences).

[Akki_5]

Originally Posted by Ravich

7. Tyres seem bad ( Good year) compared to my older car. Intend to change tomorrow to Bridgestone Potenza or Yoko. The ride was worse than my Optra Royale.
8. Side mirrors seem too small after the Optra. Miss the ability to fold them ( in the frightening multi lane chaotic traffic. Visibility through front windshield is great; I expect the downward sloping dashboard will minimize annoying reflections on the windshield during the day.
10. Brakes bite - very sharp.
11. With the center storage lid closed, not easy to grab the handbrake lever
Kept it open.
12. Stereo is good. Surprised theres no manual override lever to unlock front/rear doors when locked.
13. Surprised that the odometer (not trip) memory can be reset and resets automatically after 99 hrs or 9999Kms . Is there some other way to determine how many kms a vehicle has run?
16. Stanley leather seats will be done early next week.

Congratulations on the Laura. That's the second black TSI in Mumbai (on the forum), i believe.
7. Tyres are pathetic on the new Laura. I couldn't get them changed when i bought it, so i am just waiting for them to run out of life.
8. Visibility is pretty decent. The ORVMs are electrically retractable (either with a switch or automatically on locking) on my car.
10. Brakes are probably the best in class.
11. It really isn't a problem to grab the handbrake lever if the centre storage box lid is pushed back / not brought forward.
12. Pull the door handle twice. The one thing i did not like about this car (or Superb) is that you cannot make out whether the door is locked / unlocked without looking at the lock switch light (amber/green). This can be quite annoying at the rear bench.
13. You cannot reset the odometer and it doesn't reset automatically either. I don't know what you're talking about.
16. Given FOC by the dealer? Cool. If not, how much did you get those for? Full or partial leather fixing?

Lastly, some nice pictures please!
And, if you don't mind, where are you put up in Mumbai?

[Ravich]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Laura rides stiff, can get a little uncomfy over uneven / broken roads at low speed. But its the Euro-spec suspension that gives it the excellent high speed manners. ......

Nice discount Sweet deal I must say.

Ride quality :Yes, but I could have sworn the test drive TSI ride over similar patches was better. Compounded by my poor opinion of Goodyear - my Optra's ride improved significantly after switching to Bridgestone Potenzas.
The tyre pressure did make a difference.

Deal may have been sweet but not special !-- every one booking in December gets the same. Skoda dealers advertised in Mumbai papers the price.

I spent 3 months dithering and agonizing over Civic/Cruze and TSI given the unsavoury reports but my heart was set on TSI after the first test drive. The relief that I have a really good drivers car in hand ( and not a lemon at least as of 3rd day !) made me share the experience as there does not seem to be anything devoted to the TSI.

Originally Posted by hassanks

I also own Laura 1.8 TSI in Bangalore (2 Months old). I have changed the tires to Michellin Primacy LC 205/65/R15 and the drive is smooth and minimal road noise, very comfortable drive. Changed the tires due to high road noise of stock tires.

Yesterday drove the car from Bangalore to Palakkad (Kerala) which is ~400Kms and drive as pleasant. Power at will hence no issues with overtaking.

Engine stalling at low speed is a problem until you used to the clutch.

Attaching couple of photos for reference of tire as well as for leather seats if you are interested.

Looks great Hassanks. I am going for Stanley Satin - Oyster .

205/65/R15 - I was hesitant about this as this is 2% off (the standard rolling dia.) Does Skoda officially " bless " this ? Any adverse impact at all. If you have found this good, I might go for this too. Is this a V Rated tyre?

[hassanks]

Originally Posted by Ravich

Looks great Hassanks. I am going for Stanley Satin - Oyster .

205/65/R15 - I was hesitant about this as this is 2% off (the standard rolling dia.) Does Skoda officially " bless " this ? Any adverse impact at all. If you have found this good, I might go for this too. Is this a V Rated tyre?

I had the go ahead from Skoda dealer at Bangalore before changing the tires and checked with couple of other owners. It is typical upsize and is normal for all cars to have a 2% odo error. The drive is smooth and very comfortable with the Michellin.

Yes it is V rated.

[Caramelo]

congratulations! on your laura 1.8 tsi, this is a true drivers car! and btw i hate the diesel clatter too. no matter what. i cant take it!! feels cheap gidi di gi di gidi di hehehe. i am sorry sticky fuel fans,but its funny admit that! a sweet petrol pure nirvana!!

some questions,

how many trims does the 1.8 TSI comes in? ambiente, elegance ?

do they have the elegance trim with climate control for the petrol 1.8 TSI?

what trim is yours and does your car have ACC too? do you really need it or what?

the audio system on this has 8 speakers and high spec trim cars have 10 speakers does it matter? or it works just fine!

sorry for bombarding u with such questions but i am curious.

[Akki_5]

AFAIK, TSI is available only in Ambiente trim. It does not have Auto CC.

[Akki_5]

Can someone help me out with this http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...up-needed.html

[Ravich]

Originally Posted by hassanks

I had the go ahead from Skoda dealer at Bangalore before changing the tires and checked with couple of other owners. It is typical upsize and is normal for all cars to have a 2% odo error. The drive is smooth and very comfortable with the Michellin.

Yes it is V rated.

More than the odo error , I was concerned if ASR/ABS algorithms can get false triggers or delayed triggers ! Paranoid I guess, but have been in real time software too long. If all tyres have a higher rolling dia of +2% consistently, I guess we should not have any problems. I will go for Michelin 205/65/15. I considered Turanza ER30 too.

[Ravich]

Originally Posted by Caramelo

congratulations! on your laura 1.8 tsi, this is a true drivers car! and btw i hate the diesel clatter too. no matter what. i cant take it!! feels cheap gidi di gi di gidi di hehehe. i am sorry sticky fuel fans,but its funny admit that! a sweet petrol pure nirvana!!

some questions,

how many trims does the 1.8 TSI comes in? ambiente, elegance ?

do they have the elegance trim with climate control for the petrol 1.8 TSI?

what trim is yours and does your car have ACC too? do you really need it or what?

the audio system on this has 8 speakers and high spec trim cars have 10 speakers does it matter? or it works just fine!

sorry for bombarding u with such questions but i am curious.

For now TSI is available only in Ambiente trim -bare minimum. Fabric seats, manual AC with rear seats vents , Non retractable (electrically) ORVMs, auto dimming rear view mirror, rain sensing wipers, ASR/TC, ABS ( driver and front passenger), 15 " alloys (195/65), rear parking sensors . Rear and right side defogger with timer. Front fog lamps. Rear fog lamps ( in mine the left bulb is not working -so much for my thorough predelivery check) .

If you need it can send you the spreadsheet with detailed specs /equipment comparison.

Its quite likely (my personal opinion) they may bring in Elegance trim in 2010 apart from the RS. The discounts on TSI Ambient may be an indicator. But it does not look like TSI is selling much.

ACC would be a convenience in monsoon or Winter fogs- but I have never used a car with ACC for long to comment on if they are more effective.

Stereo - 8 speakers , sounds quite adequate (good infact), Aux input, no steering mounted controls. iPod and iTouch works fine.

I am getting leather seats done -thats the only thing I needed (or wanted to be accurate). I would have liked retractable mirrors as I tend to use them a lot in Mumbai traffic.

I would have liked the boot lip spoiler - thought it makes the TSI look much better. Laura is not really a good looking car - photos have to be shot at flattering angles to make it look good. ! But sit in the drivers seat - you will forget all you are unhappy about; So much so , after 3 days of driving, I did not show any annoyance that my leather seat material is yet to arrive from Stanley. I was silly enough to say instead " great car" to the dealer.

[Ravich]

Originally Posted by hiren959

@ravich, congrats for your new buy. Let us know the deciding factor for your Laura TSI over the Civic or Corolla, because if I were you I certainly pick this car up. But I am interested to know the reason from you.

Hiren, Thanks. The only reason I agonized for 3 months before deciding on the TSI was the concern around the reliability and the after sales service. I loved Civics steering feel but it felt under powered after the TSI. Altis was a never a contender for me ( ironic as I am an avid reader/fan of the legendary Toyata Production System and their lean product development ). I don't like cars that roll badly at "moderate" speeds. Altis and Cruze fell in this category. Altis steering felt as connected as a video games. Cruze was stunning -but I made that mistake of going for looks when I bought the Optra ( great handsome and reliable car - but almost sleepy on the road).

On the converse side, TSI rear seats are cramped, looks almost a little dowdy.

In short - I ignored looks, gizmos , snob/resale value , FE and possible reliability problems and went for what mattered to me the most :fantastic driving pleasure under 15 lacs.

I must say, far from feeling any buyers remorse , I am absolutely delighted with this. Thats said with all the sincerity I can muster.