[shuvc]

Originally Posted by v.anand

at an approximately equal price as the S variant of Civic

Strange. IIRC, the Laura TSi costs around 50K more on road than the Civic V in Calcutta.

What are Bangalore prices?

[iTNerd]

@abhishek -I can understand the utter dilemma in choosing between the two. If you go by the tech specs, the Laura is what you should get. But there is an extra baggage that comes with it - reliability. And that ripples itself to generate another baggage - After sales and service. And that ripples itself to generate another baggage - peace of mind.

Unfortunately, with any Skoda product here, these three aspects are big question mark. So for me, its no brainier what I would opt. Hope you take time to decide wisely! (nice talking to you on the phone!)

[stanjohn123]

If your a true car Enthusiast you'd be choosing Skoda 95 %. But just make sure of one thing.

Unfortunately if your car is a Lemon. Do you think you have it in you to face the consequences, financial burden , mental burden and the might to go against Corporate Skoda Legally.

If you can, close your eyes and go for the Skoda. Its just a beautiful car to drive. Nothing like it.

[hassanks]

Originally Posted by alto99

Was in the same dilemma 4 months earlier - so much so that on the day I decided to book a Civic went for a final look at Laura and spent 4 hours in Skoda showrrom where I also dicussed issues mentioned here (1.8 TSI drinking lot of oil/ AC issues). The SP was either ignorant or was trying to hide the issues and that killed the deal. Finally booked the Civic AT.
Another major factor for me was AT, but frankly I felt Civic Manual more fun than Laura TSI.

Well, I own both Laura TSI and Civic Manual and completely disgree with you. Laura is a drivers car, the acceleration, steering feedback, handling, etc is just amazing. Also Laura TSI had almost done ~10K (not yet serviced, due to 1st service soon) and so far no issues with drinking oil, so far not topped up any engine oil. Checked twice with the service center and found adequate oil.

Originally Posted by abhishek3030

Hi friends,

Am completely aware that this topic has been discussed at length, but as the reviews waver from one side to the other, I thought I would seek your help on this to help me decide on my next car.

My requirements:
I currently drive a 2004 Corolla 1.8E, which is giving me great service. We now need another car, and I have a budget of upto 13-13.5 L. I am only interested in petrol variants because

(a) have a daily drive of only 20-odd kms and
(b) never really driven a diesel !

The Cruze is a contender in diesel, but somehow even the shape doesnt appeal to me !

Preference till now:
Though both Civic and Laura are great cars, I am biased towards the Laura as it has a more regal look, great engine power and an overall touch of class. One look at the interiors and overall package was enough to make a fan out of me !


My basic confusion:
I have read too many war stories / horror tales of Skoda's after sales service and spare part issues. I am aware that most of them relate to the 2006-2008 era, with the AC's and suspension giving way. Really cannot afford to spend >50,000 INR on replacements and waiting for weeks to get a replacement part. I would like to believe that the company has taken things seriously over the past few months and improved the quality of the car, as well as availability of parts.

What is the current view on these reputational issues with Skoda? Have things improved in 2010, or are the problems still as rampant as ever? Their cars do appear to be selling very well !

I would love to close out the deal on the Skoda, but I am scared to bits about the possibility of this being a great risk. Like I mentioned, am an enthusiast, but 85,000 for A/C repairs will be extremely painful for me.

Any advice / personal experience will be much appreciated.

Thanks !

Abhishek

Civic is more suitable for sedate driving, we can drive fast (~130 Kmph) but at corners it is really scary. Other than that the engine is really smooth and overall a good car to drive as well as driven around. But Laura TSI is just an amazing car do drive, so far no issues with the car as well as with the dealer / service (eventhough 1st service is still due, had taken car for monsoon checkup).

[ajmat]

I get the feeling with the revised Laura, a lot of the early issues - dicky electronics, weak compressors have been sorted

[sabynag]

Is the A/C problem sorted out in Laura TSI ? A weak A/C with windscreen misting ...

[anandpadhye]

My Laura Tsi has done @5500KM (bought in Feb 2010).
Highlights of my experience so far:
+ Terrifc drive (awesome accelration, stability, steering feedback and handling)
+ MAGINIFICENT BRAKES. This car stops fasters than it picks up speed.
+ Terrific gearbox (If you are in "Civic" mood, you can engage 6'th even at 70kmph and cruze smoothly at very low engine rpm...@1500 - in fact you may rest the turbo if you want and still pick up speed anytime by flexing the right foot when required. And when you are in good mood, you can cross 150kmph in 3rd itself). On expressways, I use 6'th to keep all the Accord V6 etc, interested in keeping up with me and when they come real close and flash at me, I switch to fifth...and they start disaapearing in my rear view mirror.
+ Ample power even with full load - 5 persons and full luggage
+ No speedbreaker scrapping - even with full load
+ Decent FE: The "si" part of the "Tsi" seems to realy make a difference - compared to the older 1.8Tpi/RS. I get 7kmpl in extreme bumper to bumper traffic, 8 to 10 kmpl in moderate/heavy traffic, and upto 13kmpl if cruzing at @120kmph on the highways. All figures seem to be higher by 1 basis point (at least) compared to the 1.8Tpi.
+ Rain sensing wipers really work (their decision on how much it's raining may not exactly match with what your brain thinks but they are not off the mark by far)
+ Rear parking aid integrated with audio system display is very accurate
+ The Trip Computers 1 and 2 - AWESOME. This is a tech savvy car.
+ Fully/partially folding rear seats, access to boot through the rear hadrest, huge boot, convinient hooks in the boot to hand plastic bags et al.
+ Lots of storage places here and there. Regular size water bottles fit easily in the front door pockets!
+ Soft Rubber dashboard. Please touch it and feel it.
+ Soft rubber/welvet fabric lined storage everywhere - no rattle/noise caused by all that coins/kets etc that you keep - this is an issue with my NHC and Tucson :-)

- Skoda dealers can be a worry - need extra care while dealing with them
- Fifth wheel is not an alloy
- Build solidity a shade lower than the Octavia - the door closure THUD is reduced as Laura has rubber beedings on the doors, there are some minor rattles from the window glasses etc sometimes, the ticket holder on the windshield A pillar is loose from day 1
- Driving dynamics a shade short of the Octavia 1.8Tpi/RS - the Laura GC is 160 compared to 130 of the Octy. Takes some edge out of the handling but helps handle speed breakers better.
- The left front speaker develops random static hiss
- The horn sometimes exibits static and I sometimes feel only 1 frequency works at times!
- The A/C is weaker than the that of my NHC and Tucson
- The windshield mists at a couple of spots in the lower half
- Oil consumption (mine drank 1 liter in first 3500KM which is @285ml per 1000KM) and I am told this reduces as the mileage increases and eventually vanishes - BUT OIL IS SYNTHETIC and it's DAMN EXPENSIVE.


what else?
If you make the decision in favour of Laura, whenever you are feeling low or not happy with something, just grab the driver's seat, hold the nice steering and drive off. Real mediation!

Cheers!

[v.anand]

Originally Posted by shuvc

Strange. IIRC, the Laura TSi costs around 50K more on road than the Civic V in Calcutta.

What are Bangalore prices?

Hi shuvc, read your comprehensive Civic thread and its really well written, was of great help to understand the car better than I had known. The Civic prices currently in Bangalore are close to 15 lakh for S and close to 15.9lakh for V. Honda is offering free insurance but no discounts. Laura price is approx 16.5 lakhs with a promised discount of 1.1 lakh. So its bang in the middle of these two variants on-road. The biggest irritant in Civic is its tendency to bottom out at humps, which in Bangalore is an all-time nightmare. This issue alone hampers long-term peace of mind.

[ashish22]

If you are purely looking for outright acceleration, driving dynamics, handling and solid build quality then close your eyes and buy the Laura TSI. However if you want to put some sense and reliability into the entire equation and willing to sacrifice a little on the performance and dynamics then civic is a better choice.
But consider this, you already have a car with bullet proof reliability i.e. corolla and I believe you are looking for another addition to the garage. So why not laura since it will be quite different in all the aspects of car ownership. Corolla and civic offer almost identical performance (civic might be marginally better). Laura TSI's experience will be quite substantial and i guess there are at times when you should let heart win over the head. This seems to be that kind of stage/time!
Go ahead mate take your call...!

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by abhishek3030

Any clues on the 4-year extended warranty they are offering? The biggest flaw I see with this is that - "who decides whether the defect was a manufacturing one or something related to bad running of the car?"
Cheers

I think the extended warranty is juck unless you are a heay mileage driver. It is more of a gimmick to make sure that the customer keeps on enriching the company or rateher its dealers by following their diktats on service.

Originally Posted by hiren959

Low ground clearance I meant

Let me add the the new Civic (post 2009 September) has the problem fixed. some of the roads around my house will serve well to test out the Lunar Rover but I have never had a bottoming problem. In fact thanks to the Ganges Clean up and the JNNURM most roads in Kanpur are moonscapes at best!

[v.anand]

^^@sgiitk, the test drive car which came was a pre-facelift model and the sales person mentioned there was no change in the rear suspension settings. During the drive, it did manage to hit a couple of breakers, which in our mind is the biggest deal-breaker, keeping aside all the better things Laura offers for equivalent price. Also, considering the ignorance of sales person about change in settings, wonder why Honda doesn't advertise this much and doesn't offer post-facelift versions for official test-drives.

[abhishek3030]

Many thanks everyone for the inputs - in the end I guess its a matter of deciding between heart versus brain

I will speak to the dealers here and get a feel, as to what their possible approach could be post the sale, though that too is just a guess.

Thanks again. Cheers

[ACM]

Abhishek - go for the Laura - with the 4 year warranty, issues like, gearbox ac, turbo etc would not affect you for a while, and in case you do land up in a situation where a major component needs to be replaced - these can be done outside the authorized ones for about 60% of the cost with all parts being original. If you needs assitance from an ourside guy do pm me any time.

The Laura drive can't be beaten but by the superb or cars the other side of 30L OTR.

[acidkill]

The civic also has a fairly low seating position. So it might be necessary for you to consider that before reaching a decision.

I would buy the new Altis if i were you tho... its quick and it has a blend of reliability, good seating position and its kinda understated as well

[abhishek3030]

Originally Posted by ACM

Abhishek - go for the Laura - with the 4 year warranty, issues like, gearbox ac, turbo etc would not affect you for a while, and in case you do land up in a situation where a major component needs to be replaced - these can be done outside the authorized ones for about 60% of the cost with all parts being original. If you needs assitance from an ourside guy do pm me any time.

The Laura drive can't be beaten but by the superb or cars the other side of 30L OTR.

Many thanks, ACM. I agree - the drive and build quality of the Laura is just unbeaten ! I will PM you for details on possible outside folks in the Delhi area where the car can be repaired if needed. Cheers !