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Exchanged my Skoda Rapid for a Slavia : Quick review after 1000 km

31st January 2025, 17:18 by Kanad Kalasur

Slavia is a head-turner. People couldn't help but notice its presence, especially in Lava Blue, which is something my office colleagues told me.

BHPian itsbaman recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

It all started with the launch of Kylaq. I was checking the internet for details of the newly launched Kylaq, which many reputed auto websites considered a game changer and volume generator for Skoda.

Before this, I wasn't even considering getting a new car. However, due to the possibility of a new job assignment for my better half in NCR, my trips to NCR were going to increase. It was already on my mind that Ecosport Diesel (BS IV) might not get entry into Delhi due to frequent GRAP implementation. That along with the fact that Rapid was causing more electronics problems nearing 10 years of its life, led to the idea in my mind, while checking Kylaq, that I should replace Rapid with a similar car, which was going to be a Skoda or VW.

The Rapid has served us faithfully, except for some higher maintenance costs. But this was the car that awakened the car enthusiast in me and introduced me to the fundamentals of cars.

Although Slavia has been around for more than two years, I never got into minor details. The first thing I checked was the ground clearance of Slavia and compared it with Kushaq. Salvia's ground clearance was just 10 mm less than Kushaq which was termed as an SUV and 21 mm less than Ecosport. Kushaq was never in my mind due to the reason that it was almost the same size as Ecosport, which I realized when both were parked together one day. I was only interested in Sedans due to their superior driving dynamics.

I registered my interest with Skoda on their official website and got a call back within 30 minutes. I enquired about the Slavia Base Model and told them I needed to exchange my Rapid as well, which was bought from the same showroom, 10 years ago. The salesperson asked for a few photos of Rapid along with RC, which I sent him immediately. He took two days to get back to me. In the meantime, I also contacted VW for Virtus, and the exchange price was just 2.0 lacs with an exchange bonus. Although I was never interested in Virtus, I was just checking the price. VW also gave their quotation, and I was disappointed to see Handling/Logistic Charges of around 8000 in their quotation which many Transport departments have termed illegal.

It was disheartening to get that much low offer. Then Skoda salesperson called and told me the offer was 2.5 lacs. When I showed disappointment, he assured me they would offer more with on-table discussion during booking. With a little bit of help from fellow TBHP members, I was satisfied that around 3 lacs with an exchange bonus is a good offer. At this point, I was moved up from Slavia Classic to Sportline.

Finally, the booking day came. I went for Skoda Slavia Sportline 1.0 MT, the exchange offer was 3.0 with exchange and corporate discount.

I was getting the Sportline for around 12.45 lacs on-road with the exchange.
Then the salesperson made another offer. Salvia Prestige 1.0 MT for an on-road price of INR 13.6 lacs, which essentially raised the overall discounts including exchange to 3.9 lacs.

It was tempting but I initially refused as the features of Prestige were of little value to me. But my better half wanted prestige now. So I had to give in. So finally booked Slavia Prestige 1.0 MT.

After that, I was out of town on a personal trip for 10 days. Talked to the sales guy in between for more discounts. Finally decided to take delivery on 28.11.2024.

I took the delivery and paid 13.49 lacs in total ( including insurance (1+3), registration, Fastag, 02 years EW, complimentary 02 years SMP).

Two things arose during delivery,

Car manufacturing month was May-24. The sales guys explained that he got the car around 30 days before, he even offered to show the factory billing but I did not insist. I inspected the car as well as I could and found no issues.
The car variant was mentioned as Style on the delivery card. The salesperson told me that on documents, the car variant is still being used as Style. He showed me the delivery card of Kushaq Prestige with the manufacturing month as 10/2024. It was also written as Style. Also in the My Skoda Car app, the variant is mentioned as “Slavia Style 1.0 TSI MT-Prestige”.

Now I have driven the car for almost 1000 km. Driving is mostly on hilly roads. These are the observations:

Slavia is a head-turner. People couldn't help but notice its presence, especially in Lava Blue, which is something my office colleagues told me.
One big difference I have noticed is how different turbocharged engines behave as compared to NA. While I did not have any issue as I was already driving Ecosport diesel, a lag before 1600-1700 rpm is certainly there in Slavia which was non-existent in Rapid.
The virtual cockpit doesn't offer much except the graphics and using it is a little complicated as compared to Analog IC.
Touch controls for AC are the real pain, you need to get your eyes off the road every time you need to change the temperature and there is no dedicated control for switching AC off. You have to do it through fan control.
Electrically adjustable seats are convenient but too slow.
I haven't experienced the ventilated seats yet as I live mostly in places with sub-zero temperatures during the ongoing season.
The engine makes little noise at idle, which I think is due to its 3-cylinder configuration.
I have yet to notice the fact that there is a sunroof above my head.
I miss all Windows one-touch up-down and remote Windows up-down features of Rapid.

I have installed only 3 accesories namely mud flaps, floor mats and a dashcam and planning to install a Skoda Logo and TSI emblem on the rear, as I think something is missing without the Skoda Logo on the rear.