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Bought a 2023 Skoda Octavia after it was discontinued: Likes & dislikes

6th June 2023, 17:03 by Rahul Nagaraj

I also have a 2019 Ford EcoSport with just 25,000 km on the odometer.

BHPian abaliga recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Got the 2023 Octavia 2.0 TSI L&K home about 2 months back from Tafe Access Mangalore just about when the supply was stopped, In fact, we had no intentions of buying a new vehicle as our 2019 Ecosport TDCI Titanium Plus was in perfect condition and running only 25K

Purchase:

I had reached out to the dealership for a Test drive in early 2022 just to get a feel of the Octavia, the first flex of the right foot was enough to convince me that this was the car for enthusiasts on a budget even though I hated the touch screen controls for HVAC (more on this later)

I was also looking at a used 3rd Gen Octavia with less than 20k on the Odo, this was very hard to find in Karnataka, the ones listed were priced at a premium, Also the DQ200 DSG gearbox was on the back of my mind

With the news of Octavia and Superb getting discontinued being circulated on the forum, I reached out to the local dealership, the SA who had given me the test drive earlier helped me find a vehicle with the colour and variant of my choice in the stock and a deal was struck, there was not much offered in terms of discounts even though everyone knew the vehicle was being pulled off the showroom floor, I was told the car was in demand and the vehicle allotted to me had a 2023 MY VIN that did not help the case to negotiate further. I had reached out to other dealers in the state and I was given the same answer, some were offering higher discounts with not being committal on the stock or colour options, I did not want to miss the opportunity to buy the Octavia so went with the local dealer who got the car in their yard after I paid the 50k booking amount. Thereafter I got the delivery on the date of my choice with all my requests on PDI and my being present during the transport of the vehicle from the yard to the service station agreed upon.

Following are my initial impressions

Likes:

Fantastic 2.0 TSI DSG powertrain, no real competition in the price range
An extremely refined drive that is achieved by a refined engine, superb insulation all around and a well-balanced suspension
Huge boot space that can pack the luggage of an entire family and some more
Has most bells and whistles except ADAS and in-built navigation
Nice fastback profile and a well designed 3 box sedan with the practicality of a hatch
Love the automated Boot opening
Amazing AC that is as effective as our Eco sport's, a rarity in European cars!
Rear window blinds on the doors and on the parcel tray, a boon in our weather. A Feature that is removed from the latest 3 series

Dislikes:

Touchscreen-based HVAC controls, Hated this the first time I saw the pictures before the launch, changing fan speed was thought to be a 2 step process, however, I found a workaround 2 weeks into the ownership where a widget can be added to the home screen to change Blower speed
Ventilated seats are missed sorely
No Sunroof, though I am not a big fan of this feature, never used it much in the cars I owned in the US
Some cost-cutting in terms of not offering the ambient lighting on rear doors, missing soft-touch plastics on top of the rear doors, thankfully the armrest is padded, Shouldn't have been the case with the kind of money being asked for
Removal of the famed Canton Music system, this was a big one for me as I am an audiophile, it took me a lot of effort to convince myself that I should go ahead with the vehicle despite this, the audio quality was a big disappointment initially with Android auto automatically connected every time the vehicle was started, realized the improvement with Bluetooth connectivity is significant, I still miss the Canton system though, the bass from the woofer would have been nice to have, I would have gladly given up on the park assist feature to have a better sound system
DSG is confused at low city speeds, It can get Jerky at times and is a little scary
Manoeuvre braking is a little too scary even though it helps a great deal with parking
All round parking censors are a boon, however, a 360-degree camera would not be out of place for the asking price
I don't mind not having ADAS, but emergency braking would have been a good safety feature to have

Some pictures: