Team-BHP - A new 1.8TSI in my stable :-)

Hi all,

I know there are a few initial reports on the Laura petrol, but I just couldn't resist adding my opinion into the mix. I will attempt to cover all aspects of thought and experience that went into my pre-sales experience and my subsequent ownership experience of the car.

When I first started looking at the Laura, my entire gut feeling was for the engine, but against the company, based on all the negative publicity I had heard. The common problems that were associated with the cars were :

1) Clutch wears out very easily
2) AC does not work
3) A$$ is very bad
4) Turbo Blowouts

This is what my research indicated:

1) Clutch issue:

The clutch wears out very quickly if the person(s) driving, tends to half clutch. This is true of any car but what makes it very predominant in Skodas is that the car needs to be in first gear at speeds less than 10 kph ( a fact I discovered while test driving both the Petrol and Diesel versions), also the car stalls very easily from standstill, one just needs to get used to the clutch.

2) AC issue:

AC compressor used to be much weaker on previous models. It just was not
designed for Indian environment. The current models have a new compressor which is better suited for our environment, but it still isn't as powerful as one would like

3) A$$:

In Bangalore Vinayak Cars have a good reputation so this is not much of an issue for me.

4) Turbo Blowouts:

This mostly happens if the turbos are throttled when the car is cold, or is excessively throttled between non turbo and turbo rpms.

5) There are DSG issues but they weren't applicable to me.

So with everything squared away and knowing I could work around many of the issues, I decided to start shopping for the car.

I live in South Bangalore and so, it was only logical for me to contact Tafe access, despite all the bad things I'd heard about them. Vinayak was just too far away.

I went to both their locations, on St Marks road and Hosur road. I was very well received and the sales executive I dealt with on Hosur road was excellent, even though he wasn't very knowledgeable about the car. I set up test drives for both the Petrol and Diesel variants.

This is when things started going South. The Petrol car was supposed to come to my home at 2:00 pm on a Sunday afternoon, at 2:30 pm the car had not reached and nobody had contacted me. So I called the sales executive, he was very apologetic, said the car had gone for a test drive but he was bringing another car immediately. This car had not completed the PDL and we really could not have a proper test drive in it.

The next thing on agenda was test driving the diesel. The only way we could get this set up was for 6:00 pm on Thursday the coming week. I left work early to make it home in time for the test drive, but the car hadn't reached even at 6:45 pm. Again I called the sales executive and he was again apologetic saying the car had just come back from a test drive and he was on his way with it.

Earlier, we had agreed on an extended test drive to get a true feel for the car. The route we had charted out would take us 45 minutes to an hour to drive. When the sales person reached home, his first words were "this wont take much time will it? I have a customer waiting" this really angered me, I mean what wasn't I a customer who may just end up spending 16 lakhs on a car? But I realized that these guys may just not be aware of common etiquette. After speaking to him, we agreed to take the original route we had planned.

We were still confused as to which version to buy, but we requested Tafe to send some one to our house to appraise our NHC which was being traded in. We were told that the used car person would come home the next day at 8:30 am. I generally leave for work earlier but I stayed back to go over the car with this gentleman. At around 9:00 no one had showed up and no one was answering my calls. Finally I managed to speak to the sales person I was dealing with and he told me that the used car dealer would find it easier to come to my work place to appraise the car. I was really angry at the way I was being treated at this point, but decided to give them another chance.

I asked the sales person to work out what deal he could give me for the Petrol variant. I told him that I was expecting more than the free insurance that Skoda was offering. I gave him a package I thought was fair. He told me that he would get back to me about it.

When I next spoke to him, he said sure he could provide me with all the accessories I wanted, I would have to pay him so much for them!!! A little surprised I told him that this wasn't what we had spoken about. His attitude was very straightforward; take it if you want, leave it if you don't.

A little disgusted with Tafe's attitude so far, I decided to stop dealing with them and go straight to Vinayak Cars Pvt. Ltd.

Thoroughly dissatisfied with Tafe Access in Bangalore, I called Vinayak Cars, who are maybe 35 Km from where I live.

I asked the sales executive at Vinayak Cars to schedule a petrol test drive. We did this for a Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm. At 6:30 pm, I got a call from the executive telling me that he was stuck in traffic and was running half an hour late. At 7:15 he called me again and told me that he would be at my house 7:40 at the latest. He reached home by 7:30.

The person I had spoken to while setting up the appointment was unable to come as he was out of town, but he had sent some one else in his place. This person didn't know too much about the car. The gear knob displayed 5 gears when infact, it has 6. He told me some thing about two variants being available or some such that I just filtered out. I did have a good time TDing the car, I tested out the 0-100 figures and thoroughly scared the sales rep :-)

We decided to TD the diesel once more as there was still some doubt in my Fathers mind about the Petrol car. We called Vinayak cars and set up a test drive on NICE road on the diesel laura. Even though Vinayak had sponsored a fashion show for that evening ( we were invited but didn't want to go) to unveil the 4x4 Superb V6, they had arranged for an executive and car to be with us for as long as we wanted. We test drove the car for 90 minutes in traffic and on the highway, touching speeds of 190 kph !! This was a very vital test drive for us as the noise and vibrations of the diesel just put us off.

Having decided on the petrol, we spoke to the Assistant Sales Manager about the deal being offered. The upfront deal they offered us was better than Tafe access, we did a little negotiating, he was very helpful and got us a very fair deal on the car.

I should mention that I picked the Assistant Sales Managers brain at Vinayak, he very frankly admitted to all the issues and told me the same answers I had arrived at independently.

We all wanted Black, but eventually decided on Silver (aircon is not too powerful in the car and black is really difficult to maintain)

After some scheduling issues, we ended up picking up the car on December 31st 2009.

Negative Points about the Dealership:

1) We had decided to upgrade alloys to 16" Crateris allyos. These weren't available so we had to settle for another kind (forget the name but will post pics)

2) The ASM again had to go out of town and the delivery staff took too much time to deliver and had no idea about the car features.

All in all except for the alloys the experience was very good.

I thank you all for keeping up with really long decision making and pre-sales posts. Here is the last bit of my review before I jump into any discussions:

I picked up the car on the 31st of December and drove out of the Showroom with 30 kilometers on the odometer.

Volkswagen are legendary for their adherence to ergonomics, anyone from a 3 foot tall to a 7 footer can find perfect driving position in their cars. The Laura is no different. Between its height adjusters, steering wheel and seat adjust, you can and will find a perfect driving position.

The thing that looks best about the car is that one can partially view the hood of the car. This gives it a really nice feel !

The music system is really nice, in-fact its the best stock system I've heard, even beating my cousins 1.8 optra system !

The dashboard is really well built and everything about the car gives it a solid upmarket field, except for the roof fabric and plastic panels on the B pillar of the car.

We decided to get leather seats done at Stanley. We decided to go with Scandinavian leather and the comfort level of the seats jumped up to superb territory ! The car now looks and feels just as nice as the elegance, barring the wooden trims and climatronic AC.

I have driven the car in traffic and on highways. There is a slight turbo lag that feels annoying but it can be quickly overcome. It has excellent visibility and is a pleasure to drive in the city.

On the highways, this car just becomes a beast. It is insanely fast and very well planted. I have driven the car at 165 kph, it feels like I am doing 80 in a Japanese car !

I had a problem with two things, the AC is not powerful enough (I knew this before I bought, so I am not complaining, just informing people); and as you would expect in any car, if there are 5 adults in the car, the pick up drops significantly !

I have driven a shade under 600 kms and have gotten an average of 8.5 kpl on my first tank. This was done under 75% city and 25% highway driving conditions. Based on computer outputs of instantaneous and average mileages, on should be able to get between 12-15kpl on the highways. If I can get 9 kpl in the city with conservative driving, I'll be happy indeed !

Hope this review was informative. Please let me know if I have missed out on anything.

warm regards
imp!

Quote:

Originally Posted by imp! (Post 1689986)

We all wanted Black, but eventually decided on Silver (aircon is not too powerful in the car and black is really difficult to maintain)

No doubt a darker color would have only made the aircon slog all thru the drive negatively impacting pick up+ FE, made your life easier with silver there i guess.

Mine is a dark grey (more like a black) and when i got the car, i used to maintain 18 - 21 deg on the ACC depending on the time of the day. When the sun film expert at Mitsubishi explained that Ceramic coated sun films (Huper Optik) for the entire car could greatly increase the solar energy rejection rate, i took it with a pinch of salt but conceeded though it was working out close to 20k. Now, having had the ceramic sun film done up, I must tell you, the result is awesome and totally worth every penny ! I beleive most of the sun films you get in the market are metallic coated and not ceramic coated.. may be you can do a little research on this if you like, but my experience says Huper Optik is totally worth it especially if you are getting the windshield too covered !

I have got all the sides, rear and the windshield as well done up with sun film that is well with in the RTO limits (have been given a RTO stamped certificate too) and still the cooling is unbeleivable, these days i set the ACC somewhere around 24 - 25 and at around 21-22 on really hot days, still the car feels a lot cooler than before and cools real fast. This has resulted in higher FE and loads more torque as the compressor is on the least possible load most of the times.

If you have already gotten your wind shield done up, i am sorry for wasting your time stupid:

Quote:

Originally Posted by kartho (Post 1690159)

Mine is a dark grey (more like a black) and when i got the car, i used to maintain 18 - 21 deg on the ACC depending on the time of the day. When the sun film expert at Mitsubishi explained that Ceramic coated sun films (Huper Optik) for the entire car could greatly increase the solar energy rejection rate, i took it with a pinch of salt but conceeded though it was working out close to 20k. Now, having had the ceramic sun film done up, I must tell you, the result is awesome and totally worth every penny ! I beleive most of the sun films you get in the market are metallic coated and not ceramic coated.. may be you can do a little research on this if you like, but my experience says Huper Optik is totally worth it especially if you are getting the windshield too covered !

I have got all the sides, rear and the windshield as well done up with sun film that is well with in the RTO limits (have been given a RTO stamped certificate too) and still the cooling is unbeleivable, these days i set the ACC somewhere around 24 - 25 and at around 21-22 on really hot days, still the car feels a lot cooler than before and cools real fast. This has resulted in higher FE and loads more torque as the compressor is on the least possible load most of the times.

If you have already gotten your wind shield done up, i am sorry for wasting your time stupid:

Wow that sun film is really incredible !!! unfortunately, I just got Lumar put on the sides and vkool on the windshield :Frustrati maybe I will keep this in mind for my next car