Škoda Laura - A Class of its Own!

rangaraj · 2nd May 2006, 11:14

Now that a few of you BHP'ians have a Laura for a few months, anyone cares to share a "short term report" on your experience with the Laura - must have a few '000 kms run up..

Thanks in advance,

Ranga Raj

Insane Devil · 6th May 2006, 00:45

well well guys, nice to be back after a long break!

to all u guys still wondering if Laura actually is worth the money compared to the Octavia.... the order book is 250% more than the expected! and still going like hot cakes! in city i get a mileage of around 9.5 to 10kmpl!

we got 2 lauras in my circle, my cousin has also bought one, the maharaja gold color, and well, we are both total flattered by the Laura... with this kinda pickup with the DSG, who needs the manual!

and voila!!! i have already started hitting it around
well both happened by my dad thou

first time, hit a stupid motorcyclist, a slight scratch on the bumper, then second time, a sumowala coming at high speed from the opposite direction hit my Laura's right side rear view mirror..luckily the main upper casing was intact, so had to replace the Mirror and the Clear indicator lens, costed together around 5,000.

now a few days back, a drunkard came in front of us and we hit him and he flew in the air and fell on the bonet with a loud thud!!! the bonet, got a slight dent towards the driver side, and the side fender got a dent towards the headlight side, and behind a motorcyclist banged in at the same time due to the sudden braking, and he smashed the rear left break light and scratched my rear bumber bad!

i know an excellent mechanic, who is a master in body/paint work, so got the job done thru him...and voila! the job came out so well that there is no trace of any repaintings done on it... the bonet had to be painted all throughout, but the fender dent he removed it without any painting needed! rear and front bumpers got painted as lots of silly scratches, and the rear left fender got painted partially.

the total cost of repair..well, the entire body/paint work costed only Rs.5,000/-, (painting whole bonet, full fornt and back bumpers, half of the rear left fender! imagine getting it done at this cost in the showroom!) and the rear breaklight, (thanx heaven!) costed only Rs.4,050/-!

mind u guys, the headlights of the Laura are too damn expensive! they cost around 42,000/- per piece, without the bulbs. and the xenon bulbs cost around 10-12,000/-! worst thing, the insurance co. will give only half of the cost!!!

now my laura is back in its excellent condition!

and i have clocked around 7,000km since jan ending.

Mpower · 6th May 2006, 05:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Insane Devil

now a few days back, a drunkard came in front of us and we hit him and he flew in the air and fell on the bonet with a loud thud!!! the bonet, got a slight dent towards the driver side, and the side fender got a dent towards the headlight side

Holy Cow! What happened to the poor homo-sapien

maxbhp · 6th May 2006, 08:22

Laura's DSG Shift is a variation of double clutch used in Bugatti Veyron . And since its pull starts from as earlt as 900 rpm its even better than petrol cars. Quality of interiors are a clssy apart be in seat quality or Dashboard design both exuding in class and finesse . Truly a masterpiece I wish VW dont bring in their Passat coz Laura with a 2.0litre Turbo Petrol to be launcehd soon at around 18 lakhs will make passats price of 28 lakhs seems exhorbitant.

jkdas · 6th May 2006, 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Insane Devil

the total cost of repair..well, the entire body/paint work costed only Rs.5,000/-, (painting whole bonet, full fornt and back bumpers, half of the rear left fender! imagine getting it done at this cost in the showroom!) and the rear breaklight, (thanx heaven!) costed only Rs.4,050/-!

mind u guys, the headlights of the Laura are too damn expensive! they cost around 42,000/- per piece, without the bulbs. and the xenon bulbs cost around 10-12,000/-! worst thing, the insurance co. will give only half of the cost!!!

lucky you taht you know a guy who does work at a reasonable rate.

And insurance guys always pay less for plastic stuffs. Its their policy

Insane Devil · 6th May 2006, 13:05

well wel, MPOWER, nice question!

, unfortunately for him, fortunately for me, he lived. he flew up in the sky and then down to the mother earth he came... started bleeding in a few placed, but immediately a person came along saying that this fellow is his brother and that he will take care of him, asked me to give him some money and he will take him to hospital...bugger,, they were both labourers kinda... this other person who came along, good thing he took the guilt and agreed to take the other to the hospital... but m sure he is jus gonna dump him somewhere and get drunk with him

JKDAS..yea mite, insurance co. policies are bad! plastics and electronics only 50% payouts...

if anyone in hyd wants to get their cars done, they can get in touch with me.

jeetu4444 · 31st May 2006, 04:23

hey guys any more news on laura .any new colours coming?

mxx · 30th June 2006, 10:45

I heard many comments that skoda laura is over-priced compared to other offerings like honda accord. I dont know where these guys got the information. Maybe they think the old skoda was cheaper so this one also should be priced cheap.

Check out the uk price of the New Octavia with 1.9 Tdi PD L&K version(the variant available here). Compare it with Honda accord UK price. It is almost the same.
Back when the new octavia was launched, and it was in sale along with the old octavia in uk(i think the only other market outside India this was done), I compared the price of octavia rs and the new octavia(1.9 Tdi PD L&K). the difference was around IRs 2.5lakhs. So, I dont think that it is not deliberately priced high by Skoda India to push it to another bracket. It is just the real price of the car worldwide.

BTW, is the old octavia not on sale any more in uk? I could not find it in their website.

kbk_75 · 30th June 2006, 17:08

Err, I hate to break it to you, but the UK Honda Accord is not the same car that's sold here, so there's no comparing the price of the two Accords. The 2.0 Litre petrol Ford Mondeo sells for roughly the same price as the vRS Octavia does in the UK. This is the NEW vRS Octavia I'm referring to, with the 200bhp motor. The 2.0 L petrol Ford Mondeo sells here for approx. 16.5 Lakhs on-road. Does this make it a little clearer just how much Skoda India is ripping its buyers off?

In any case, just because Skoda charge too much for a car elsewhere does not mean that they are not charging too much for it in the first place. The point everyone was making was that they are charging too much for a car that is trying to compete one segment above its true class.

And to answer your question, obviously the old car is not being sold alongside the new one any more, it was probably only being sold until their local stock ran out, and was probably being well discounted. This Octavia-Laura kind of nonsense only works in developing markets like ours.

rangaraj · 5th July 2006, 12:18

With the advent of new cars being launced - the civic & in the near future the diesel version of the corolla, sonata, verna etc., there still is a worthy diesel competitor to the Laura.

Does anyone have any idea when a laura rider version will come out? If they change the Xenon's to normal bulbs, reduce to two airbags, some of the frills - and you could have a onroad price cut by atleast 2-3L. To this add a Pete's tuning box and leather seats (after market) and one could have a good car for less than 15L.. When will this become reality will be dictated by competition forcing Skoda to not milk the market with their premium product..

vrspower · 26th April 2007, 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by turboindia

The body kit is that of the SKODA OCTAVIA II RS just out in Europe.

Have fun guys

Hi,

I would like to know where can i get the RS body kit ?????

jack33 · 2nd February 2008, 18:15

It's really a good car.I'm just back from a 1000kms trip and i feel it has got a wonderful engine with lots of torque and power.It actually can move fast than a petrol car with similar power in practical conditions.It will pull u from 50 to 150 in 4th gear ...and we covered kochi-calicut in 2 hrs....and the drive through the hills in ooty was too good...

2nd May 2006, 11:14	#121
rangaraj BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 570 Thanked: 10 Times	Mid Term report on Laura? Now that a few of you BHP'ians have a Laura for a few months, anyone cares to share a "short term report" on your experience with the Laura - must have a few '000 kms run up.. Thanks in advance, Ranga Raj
	() Thanks

6th May 2006, 00:45	#122
Insane Devil BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 987 Thanked: 173 Times View My Garage	well well guys, nice to be back after a long break! to all u guys still wondering if Laura actually is worth the money compared to the Octavia.... the order book is 250% more than the expected! and still going like hot cakes! in city i get a mileage of around 9.5 to 10kmpl! we got 2 lauras in my circle, my cousin has also bought one, the maharaja gold color, and well, we are both total flattered by the Laura... with this kinda pickup with the DSG, who needs the manual! and voila!!! i have already started hitting it around well both happened by my dad thou first time, hit a stupid motorcyclist, a slight scratch on the bumper, then second time, a sumowala coming at high speed from the opposite direction hit my Laura's right side rear view mirror..luckily the main upper casing was intact, so had to replace the Mirror and the Clear indicator lens, costed together around 5,000. now a few days back, a drunkard came in front of us and we hit him and he flew in the air and fell on the bonet with a loud thud!!! the bonet, got a slight dent towards the driver side, and the side fender got a dent towards the headlight side, and behind a motorcyclist banged in at the same time due to the sudden braking, and he smashed the rear left break light and scratched my rear bumber bad! i know an excellent mechanic, who is a master in body/paint work, so got the job done thru him...and voila! the job came out so well that there is no trace of any repaintings done on it... the bonet had to be painted all throughout, but the fender dent he removed it without any painting needed! rear and front bumpers got painted as lots of silly scratches, and the rear left fender got painted partially. the total cost of repair..well, the entire body/paint work costed only Rs.5,000/-, (painting whole bonet, full fornt and back bumpers, half of the rear left fender! imagine getting it done at this cost in the showroom!) and the rear breaklight, (thanx heaven!) costed only Rs.4,050/-! mind u guys, the headlights of the Laura are too damn expensive! they cost around 42,000/- per piece, without the bulbs. and the xenon bulbs cost around 10-12,000/-! worst thing, the insurance co. will give only half of the cost!!! now my laura is back in its excellent condition! and i have clocked around 7,000km since jan ending. Last edited by Rudra Sen : 6th May 2006 at 07:19.
	() Thanks

6th May 2006, 08:22	#124
maxbhp Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: C C K Posts: 1,382 Thanked: 89 Times View My Garage	Laura's DSG Shift is a variation of double clutch used in Bugatti Veyron . And since its pull starts from as earlt as 900 rpm its even better than petrol cars. Quality of interiors are a clssy apart be in seat quality or Dashboard design both exuding in class and finesse . Truly a masterpiece I wish VW dont bring in their Passat coz Laura with a 2.0litre Turbo Petrol to be launcehd soon at around 18 lakhs will make passats price of 28 lakhs seems exhorbitant.
	() Thanks

6th May 2006, 13:05	#126
Insane Devil BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 987 Thanked: 173 Times View My Garage	well wel, MPOWER, nice question! , unfortunately for him, fortunately for me, he lived. he flew up in the sky and then down to the mother earth he came... started bleeding in a few placed, but immediately a person came along saying that this fellow is his brother and that he will take care of him, asked me to give him some money and he will take him to hospital...bugger,, they were both labourers kinda... this other person who came along, good thing he took the guilt and agreed to take the other to the hospital... but m sure he is jus gonna dump him somewhere and get drunk with him JKDAS..yea mite, insurance co. policies are bad! plastics and electronics only 50% payouts... if anyone in hyd wants to get their cars done, they can get in touch with me.
	() Thanks

31st May 2006, 04:23	#127
jeetu4444 BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: mumbai Posts: 305 Thanked: 0 Times View My Garage	hey guys any more news on laura .any new colours coming?
	() Thanks

30th June 2006, 10:45	#128
mxx BHPian Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 761 Thanked: 271 Times	I heard many comments that skoda laura is over-priced compared to other offerings like honda accord. I dont know where these guys got the information. Maybe they think the old skoda was cheaper so this one also should be priced cheap. Check out the uk price of the New Octavia with 1.9 Tdi PD L&K version(the variant available here). Compare it with Honda accord UK price. It is almost the same. Back when the new octavia was launched, and it was in sale along with the old octavia in uk(i think the only other market outside India this was done), I compared the price of octavia rs and the new octavia(1.9 Tdi PD L&K). the difference was around IRs 2.5lakhs. So, I dont think that it is not deliberately priced high by Skoda India to push it to another bracket. It is just the real price of the car worldwide. BTW, is the old octavia not on sale any more in uk? I could not find it in their website. Last edited by mxx : 30th June 2006 at 10:46.
	() Thanks

30th June 2006, 17:08	#129
kbk_75 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,233 Thanked: 388 Times	Err, I hate to break it to you, but the UK Honda Accord is not the same car that's sold here, so there's no comparing the price of the two Accords. The 2.0 Litre petrol Ford Mondeo sells for roughly the same price as the vRS Octavia does in the UK. This is the NEW vRS Octavia I'm referring to, with the 200bhp motor. The 2.0 L petrol Ford Mondeo sells here for approx. 16.5 Lakhs on-road. Does this make it a little clearer just how much Skoda India is ripping its buyers off? In any case, just because Skoda charge too much for a car elsewhere does not mean that they are not charging too much for it in the first place. The point everyone was making was that they are charging too much for a car that is trying to compete one segment above its true class. And to answer your question, obviously the old car is not being sold alongside the new one any more, it was probably only being sold until their local stock ran out, and was probably being well discounted. This Octavia-Laura kind of nonsense only works in developing markets like ours. Last edited by kbk_75 : 30th June 2006 at 17:23.
	() Thanks

5th July 2006, 12:18	#130
rangaraj BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 570 Thanked: 10 Times	Laura Rider?? With the advent of new cars being launced - the civic & in the near future the diesel version of the corolla, sonata, verna etc., there still is a worthy diesel competitor to the Laura. Does anyone have any idea when a laura rider version will come out? If they change the Xenon's to normal bulbs, reduce to two airbags, some of the frills - and you could have a onroad price cut by atleast 2-3L. To this add a Pete's tuning box and leather seats (after market) and one could have a good car for less than 15L.. When will this become reality will be dictated by competition forcing Skoda to not milk the market with their premium product..
	() Thanks

2nd February 2008, 18:15	#132
jack33 BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: kochi Posts: 128 Thanked: 8 Times	skoda laura It's really a good car.I'm just back from a 1000kms trip and i feel it has got a wonderful engine with lots of torque and power.It actually can move fast than a petrol car with similar power in practical conditions.It will pull u from 50 to 150 in 4th gear ...and we covered kochi-calicut in 2 hrs....and the drive through the hills in ooty was too good...
	() Thanks