16,000 km with my Kushaq 1.5 TSI: 1st service & an annoying issue

The two options were fully loaded Kushaq 1.5L Style Variant and a Taigun without sunroof, key less entry and having just two airbags.

BHPian scala26 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I wanted to share my experience of owning the Kushaq for over an year now. I have driven the car around 16000 km in city traffic of Chandigarh, highways/ expressways of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan and highways/ MDR's of Himachal Pradesh, the experience has been very good throughout. I am more of a light footed driver and used to drive a Wagonr for close to an year before buying this car.

Choosing the correct car

Note: Based on interactions with other folks and reviews from renowned Youtube channels, I was more of a fanboy based of VW group so I didn't really checkout other brands at all.

I had a special liking for Polo GT TSI mated with 1.2L engine when I had first started looking for a car back in late 2019. I held myself back because the BS VI norms were about to be enforced and I was not a confident driver back then. Then Covid lockdown was enforced and all the plans took a backseat waiting for the things to normalize. Finally in the year 2022, I started to drive our family car (Wagonr 2011 model) frequently and drove enough for an year to become a confident and responsible driver in any terrain. Simultaneously, the VAG twins had started to offer Kushaq and Taigun with two engines in the Indian market. The fuel pump issues were still around in early 2022, so I kept following the news as I wanted to buy one of these cars mated with 1.5L engine.

Finally in October 2022, I had made up my mind to go for my own car as the other vehicle was being used by my father and I needed a vehicle for my day to day activities. My choice was very clear to go for 1.5 L variant as it was well within my budget and given that in my day to day routine, I don't have to counter city traffic I could save some money by going for a manual.

The two options were fully loaded Kushaq 1.5L Style Variant and a Taigun without sunroof, key less entry and having just two airbags. I was willing to go for Taigun as it's price tag was Rs 1 Lakh less than Kushaq. The VW showroom in Chandigarh somehow didn't entertain me very well and the price quote hardly had any discounts on the other hand, the Skoda showroom in Chandigarh reduced the price of Style variant to less than the VW quote and the deal was done. The Skoda advisor was very helpful and friendly throughout the process and is like a friend till date.

One Year Experience

I drove close to 14500 km before my first scheduled service and the experience was really good. I travelled to Gurgaon twice, once to Jaipur, 3-4 times to Shimla and Sunder Nagar in Himachal Pradesh and beyond Shimla where the roads are not very wide with varying gradients.

Right from cruising at around 120 km/h or driving at around 20 to 25 km/hr at extended stretch the car responded as I wanted it to. Only issue I feel is the long clutch, which is very tiring to operate in bumper to bumper traffic. I haven't faced any major issues related to clutch noise or clutch being stuck to the floor like the ones reported by few other users. My mind is generally trained to follow gear change recommendations of the car, so I do follow them religiously.

Talking about the fuel and fuel economy offered by the car. I have used XP95 right from the first day and given that the fuel tank is 50L, all the refuelling done in the car is from one outlet in Chandigarh. Here are the stats for fuel economy which I have got:

1. On highways in Haryana and Rajasthan, it has been around 18.5 to 21 km/l.
2. Particularly for my Jaipur trip, I got 20.3 km/l for the entire journey since refuel back till home. The journey was primarily through NH 152 D and permissible speed limit was 100 km/h. I avoid using the car in unfamiliar cities and prefer to keep it parked in the hotel and use a cab for commute.

3. For Himachal Pradesh trips I generally get the average fuel consumption of 12 - 15 km/l.

4. For my local travel around Chandigarh, the fuel economy is between 9 and 13 km/l based upon traffic.

First Service Experience

That's where things got very interesting. I went on a working day to the service center and I had the first appointment slot for the day. Given that it was a basic service, I dropped the vehicle and left for some work. In a few hours I got a call from the service advisor saying that there's an issue with the connector pipe and if possible, it would be great to talk in person. When I went back I was shown the below images:

As per the service advisor, when the air filter was being replaced and the pipe was being removed, they found it to be in the above condition. My reaction was that I generally don't allow anyone to open the bonnet except myself and it doesn't look like a rat bite but more of a pre existing defect. They acknowledged and ensured that they would help me but the major problem at hand was that this part is out of stock and they need to place an order for it which would take close to 10 days. Till that point, I cannot drive the car . This was 3-4 days prior to Diwali of 2023.

I didn't request for a loaner vehicle as I could manage without it and I called the service center back after Diwali. I was told by the service advisor that the part is not available even in the store where they order from and it needs to be ordered from the company from where Skoda sources these parts . But as a sigh of relief, he requested me to come over and collect the car as they have arranged it temporarily from some other vehicle. Kudos to Skoda Chandigarh for helping me out here as I had read Skoda part availability horror stories and I was feeling like being an author for another thread.

15 days after returning the vehicle to me, I got a call that the part has arrived and if I could come back and get it fitted into the car. I was denied the warranty claim for it as it would take time and the surety of getting it was subjective given the component comes under wear and tear part category. The cost of the pipe was around Rs 1000/- but as a courtesy I was offered a coupon for wheel alignment and balancing which I readily accepted.

Insurance claim experience

Recently in the month of December, my car was hit by truck on the rear door panel of the driver side. It created a dent and a minor paint crack in the panel at the seat side when the door opens. My bumper to bumper insurance was done from the showroom itself and the claim process was cashless. The car was returned to me on the eighth day after submitting for work.

Overall experience

Overall I am pretty satisfied till now with my experience of owning the car and apart from a few issues reported above, this car would still be my first choice if I had to buy one today. Issues have been there but they have been addressed well by the associated service advisors and I am happy with the experience.

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