[alpha1]

Originally Posted by v.anand

Here you go. It includes the spare prices of all cars across segments sold in India. It was mailed to me by the enthusiastic Skoda sales personnel. AC evaporator coil is the most expensive in Skoda but Jetta has the highest prices. Also surprising is Cedia is an expensive one to maintain too and the wear and tear items of Laura is generally well priced in its segment.

Finally, took the plunge and booked Laura petrol in Arctic Breeze colour. Somebody, please tell me is the update from 15inch to 16inch wheels worth Rs.42,000 as quoted by the dealer? Otherwise, what is the differential I may reasonably bargain?

thanks for the spare list.
so it looks like laura petrol doesn't carry the past issues of octavia pertol.

congrats on your decision.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by v.anand

Also surprising is Cedia is an expensive one to maintain too and the wear and tear items of Laura is generally well priced in its segment.

Wrong prices in the list.

Front bumper costs ~8500 rupees while the list mentions 20 odd.
The front brake pads cost 3900 rupees while the list mentions 6500.
Head light costs 6000 rupees while the list mentions 18000 odd.
The tail light costs 5400 rupees while the list mentions 11000 odd.

The only thing expensive in the Cedia is the fuel filter which is replaced at 100000km since its an assembly with the fuel pump.

[sabynag]

This spare parts list is a good start point to estimate ownership cost, but please don't go by any metric (especially the % of car cost) drawn directly out of these tables. That would be completely misleading.
One important factor that is missing in these comparison data is the MTTF (Mean Time To Failure) for the parts listed.
Consider this :
A part costs Rs.100 but requires replacement every year, while a similar part in another model costs Rs. 150 but lasts 5 years. Which one is more costly ? The table will tell that the part costing Rs. 150 is 50% more expensive but that is grossly mileading.

To get a more realistic picture, one must factor in MTTF and normalize the data in these tables. Also, the following needs to be factored in

1. In cases, where insurance covers the cost, a proper factoring needs to be done. If you purchase a 0-depreciation insurance, these covered spares are dont-care for you
2. In cases, where warranty covers the cost, a proper factoring needs to be done (say a scaling factor of MAX(MTTF, Warranty))


BTW, why the clutch price in Skoda so high ? What is so special about Skoda clutches ?

[sgiitk]

@sabynag; I agree. For example the change interval for Plugs as well as Coolant on the Civic is 100,000km / 10 years. Try and beat that. Once amortized over the life it looks cheap. Also, while the fuel filter in a Maruti needs to be changed every 10,000km the same thing lasts for 30,000 (or is it 40,000)km in a Hyundai.

[v.anand]

Thanks a lot everyone for all the good wishes. Will make it a point to start an ownership thread after I take the car.

@hassanks, thanks a lot for the contact at Stanley. Had seen your seats while searching in the forum, they really look amazing. It seems to have transformed the whole interiors and has taken it up a notch, to a higher segment. I personally liked Scandinavian leather more than Nappa because it has a higher thickness and the grains are more prominent. Is it better to get these from the dealership or directly from Stanley? Would there be a difference in cost?

@reignofchaos, it was a big surprise for me when I looked at Cedia prices. Like you mentioned, it must be inaccurate or else it won't make any financial sense for anyone to buy a Mitsubishi. Autocarindia have made a blunder there, hope it doesn't shoo away any potential buyers away from these brands. Also, I don't think Optra belongs to that same segment, I hardly see any new Optras being sold and its at the end of its life cycle. It may have been classified with Honda City segment.

I totally agree with sabynag and sgiitk, further classification needs to be made with respect to insurance parts and reliability of spares. Corolla Altis spare prices are a on a higher side for consumable items like wiper blades, brake pads etc.,(considering the values are true) and thus the best car maintenance wise with respect to cost as well as perceived reliability has to be Honda Civic. The risk for buying a Laura over Civic is mainly due to its ballistic engine, pray it proves lucky and stays reliable.

[sgiitk]

@v.anand; Our prayers are with you. You are covering the visual point - lack of leather seats, and that is good.

We all know that D-segment costs many times what an A-segment car costs to maintain. I think cost wise the Toyota is/was the cheapest with the Civic a notch above (I hear that Honda have done some reductions), with Skoda bringing up the rear. I expect Jetta spares to be even costlier (almost all imports) .

[hassanks]

Originally Posted by v.anand

@hassanks, thanks a lot for the contact at Stanley. Had seen your seats while searching in the forum, they really look amazing. It seems to have transformed the whole interiors and has taken it up a notch, to a higher segment. I personally liked Scandinavian leather more than Nappa because it has a higher thickness and the grains are more prominent. Is it better to get these from the dealership or directly from Stanley? Would there be a difference in cost?

Should not be major difference. Contact Stanley and find the quote (Mahesh is the one who deals with all the dealership as well including Skoda), it should be in the range of 40K+. I have done my civic as well from Stanley and got a competitive price of 36K.

You can check the civic interiors at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ivic-1-8s.html

The price difference is because civic has lot less to be covered, especially on the door trim as well as back of the from seats.

From which dealer in Bangalore you are purchasing the Laura?

[v.anand]

^^ I had been to Stanley today to casually find out the prices from the showroom, was quoted Rs.51,000 for Scandinavian and Rs.45,000 for Satin. Booked the car from Vinayak, they have said it takes 10 to 12 days and after 4 days can confirm the date along with VIN number after the stock is loaded at the factory.

Civic seats looks great too, is this Scandinavian leather again? Comfort wise they feel better than factory fitted elegance trim in Laura even. Choosing the colours is again another big exercise, confused whether to go for matching shade or contrasting one. The car colour of our Laura is same as yours.

[MaxX]

Took delivery of my Laura TSI (Artic Breeze today).. is going to very hard to properly "run-in" this car.. very tempting to floor it whenever I see a gap

Took butterscotch colour stanley leather, 3m tints, xenon lights from the dealer itself.

[v.anand]

Congratulations MaxX, wish you the best of motoring with your new set of wheels. Do post pics and start a ownership thread. Also, please do share the prices of the car and accessories.

[abhishek3030]

Originally Posted by MaxX

Took delivery of my Laura TSI (Artic Breeze today).. is going to very hard to properly "run-in" this car.. very tempting to floor it whenever I see a gap

Took butterscotch colour stanley leather, 3m tints, xenon lights from the dealer itself.

Congrats, MaxX - happy driving !

[MaxX]

Thanks Anand & Abhishek!

Originally Posted by v.anand

Congratulations MaxX, wish you the best of motoring with your new set of wheels. Do post pics and start a ownership thread. Also, please do share the prices of the car and accessories.

The stanley leather cost about 36k (after discount), overall paid 64k for all the accessories. Took the Leather, xenons, 3m tints (re50 for side/back and cr70 for front) & bluetooth with usb. They don't exchange so the old fabric seats and halogens have been given back.

Got 1 lakh discount and free high quality pvc matting and front mudguards. Car comes with rear mudguards standard. The insurance NCB topic here saved us another 21k as had 50% NCB

[abhishek3030]

Folks,

I just test drove the Laura 1.8 TSi for a good 20 kilometres. There is but one word for the experience - mindblowing !

Initial few seconds
Getting into the seat and starting the ignition, it took the sales guy to tell me that the engine was switched on. No sound inside the car. The entire console gave me a feeling of comfort, solidity and top-class quality. Quite liked the grey console and jet black steering wheel (personal preference)

Put the car into first, and the moment I stepped on the gas it moved like a rocket.

On the clear road
Once I was past the relatively narrow lanes around my house, and reached an empty stretch of road I decided to test the beast for all it had, within limits. And astonished I was. The acceleration was simply amazing, I felt like I was sitting in a sports car. There was a bit of a lag (is it the turbo lag?) but after that the car was on steroids. Reached 90 kmph so effortlessly I was tempted to think there was a gross speedo error ! Took the car till 110 kpmh, and in the 5th gear. I wonder what it would be like in the 6th !

Gearshift was fine, though not as smooth as the Civic I admit.


Braking and handling
Though I didnt take too many corners, the handling was top-notch and so was the braking efficiency. Ground grip is another part which I liked about this car - much better than the Civic and my loyal Corolla.

Other minor observations
* The windscreen centre starts misting (I saw this happening in an Audi too the other day)
* The A/C was pretty effective (perhaps not top-class, but effective)
* Audio system was among the best stock ones I have seen in India
* The gear change indicator looked like a good gimmick !


Overall, I must say that I am impressed with the pure performance of this car.

Am I ready to take the plunge? - Perhaps 95%, need to be assured some more on the overall quality, and perhaps speaking with some recent buyers !

Will keep you posted.

Cheers !

[hassanks]

Originally Posted by v.anand

^^ I had been to Stanley today to casually find out the prices from the showroom, was quoted Rs.51,000 for Scandinavian and Rs.45,000 for Satin. Booked the car from Vinayak, they have said it takes 10 to 12 days and after 4 days can confirm the date along with VIN number after the stock is loaded at the factory.

Civic seats looks great too, is this Scandinavian leather again? Comfort wise they feel better than factory fitted elegance trim in Laura even. Choosing the colours is again another big exercise, confused whether to go for matching shade or contrasting one. The car colour of our Laura is same as yours.

Yes the civic also has Scandinavian leather in black color. Black on the Laura might be too good, remember seeing someone else have black leather on his Laura, search you might be able to find. 51K looks too high 46K should be good price, talk to Mahesh, let me know if you want to find out from him what would be the best price as well.

Originally Posted by abhishek3030

Gearshift was fine, though not as smooth as the Civic I admit.

I find Laura gear shift very good compared to civic. Civic I have a problem in shifting from 3rd to 2nd or 1st, happens sometime (only slots in the second or third attempt). Once used to the gearshift of Laura the turbo lag is minimal and it will be too smooth.

Started driving civic more often and the engine is simply amazing, especially slow driving.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please avoid quoting an entire large post. It inconveniences our small screen & mobile readers.
Thanks.

[Chetanya Sharma]

Even I am going through the same thing. Though I have never driven a Laura, I find the Civic too plush and smooth. If I buy one of these beauties I am surely gonna keep it for more than 5 years seeing my current car being 8 years old

If a Civic, what do the experts say? AT or Manual? I am fascinated by the paddle shift

Does the Laura have the paddle shift coupled with AT?

A friend owns a brand new Superb which is just out of the world. But as others say, have heard a lot of bad things about Skoda's services!