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Highway drive & review of my Skoda Kushaq

1st December 2021, 11:02 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

The Kushaq can cruise at 100 km/h in 6th gear at 1,900 rpm without a fuss. For the entire road trip of around 1,500 km, I got a fuel efficiency of 18.9 km/l.

BHPian raghav1936 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello everyone. This is going to be my first post on team-bhp.

I had to travel from Pune to Bareilly on 19-20 Nov due to some emergency and I chose to travel via road in my new Skoda Kushaq 1 L MT. I did some research on which route to take and finally decided to take Pune-Nashik-Agra-Bareilly (never travelled through this route though) route as it was shorter by 300 km than the Pune-Vadodara-Udaipur-Jaipur-Delhi-Bareilly route. I was travelling with my wife and kid (3.5 years old).

BTW, I did have some apprehension about the EPC issue occurring midway, but I had to try it someday.

I am writing this blog as I am aware that a lot of people are looking for good long-distance drive reviews of Skoda Kushaq (especially the 1l engine) and how it behaves on highways considering it's a small 3-cylinder engine.

Unfortunately, we were not in the best mood to take pictures along the way, so I will just give a quick written review of the road and more importantly Kushaq and its performance.

Current Road Conditions

Day 1: 620 km, Trip Start: 6:30 am, Trip End: 7:30 pm

Road between Pune (Wagholi) to Nashik via Pune-Chakan-Nashik highway is good. Do not take a shortcut between Sinnar-Chandwad as suggested by Google Maps, rather take the bypass just before Nashik.
Road between Nashik-Indore is good. You can easily cruise at ~90-100 and beyond. I don't drive too fast and always keep it under 100. You just need to watch out for rumblers. At one point there are a lot of them at very short distances.

Day2: 850 km, Trip Start: 5:30 am , Trip End: 11:00 pm

Road between Indore - Guna-Gwalior is excellent. You will find some rough patches at Guna (maybe 10-15 kms ), but overall the road is very good and you can easily cruise at high 3-digit speeds. On this route, you would find more trucks than passenger vehicles.
You will find it challenging to cross Gwalior. I bypassed it via "Mom Ke Hanumanji - Reshampura" road. The initial 2 kms or so is a bad patch and the rest is a new road (from the wrong side though, no traffic here). I initially went via the Google Maps option which takes you from within the city which was very crowded, so I took U-turn and took the above bypass.
From Gwalior to Agra, the road is ok, you might not be able to go over 70 kmph due to chaotic driving/rush all around. You will also notice a sudden dip in road discipline on this patch and beyond.
Agra (bypass)-Tundla-Etah-Kasganj-Badaun (bypass)-Bareilly stretch is very good. The road between Tundla and Etah is two way so driving at night can be a challenge.

Overall the road condition is good. I would say 7/10.

How did the Kushaq perform?

Since it's a new vehicle (registered on 30th Oct 2021) and was just driven 500 kms before going on this trip, I did not want to rev it harder for an initial 1500 or so kms. So, kept it mostly under 3000 rpm and speed within 100. When cruising at 100kmph on 6th gear, it's at 1900 rpm and feels relaxed.
First and foremost, I thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Its ride quality, performance and handling are great. It's planted well on the road and gives you the confidence to switch lanes or go at faster speeds. On one patch I did go to higher 3-digit speeds for a short span and never felt that the engine is exhausted.
I have seen many reviews about its steering being light at higher speeds. Let me tell you that it does weigh up sufficiently to give you confidence and I found it very balanced. Steering feedback is also very good.
Body roll is minimum while cornering at high speeds.
During overtakes, you will sometimes have to shift down and rev harder. I sometimes felt, wish it had a little more power/torque. It could possibly be due to me not revving harder enough. Will update on this on my return trip.
At speed on very bad roads or high bumps, you will find noise entering the cabin, but suspension tuning is good and you will still be planted and not thrown here and there.
Brakes are awesome. Does not nose dive due to small engine.
For the entire trip of ~1500 kms, the mileage was 18.9 kmpl. I did get ~ 23kmpl on some stretches where I was cruising at 100/6th gear for a longer period. In the city traffic, mileage will drop down to 10-13 kmpl depending on the traffic density. From Pune to Indore stretch I used Shell normal petrol and between Indore - Bareilly I used HP power.

Issues

I too faced the cabin noise due to door rattle on bad patches from the very next day of getting the vehicle. I had applied fellow BHPian d_himan's fix and the rattle did reduce drastically (I would say >95 %). Thanks to him for this amazing solution. I did try silicone lube spray from 3M, but it did not work.
Android Auto was also disconnecting very frequently. My phone is not compatible with the wireless Android Auto connection, so I used cables. I am not sure if it disconnects due to phone, wire, car or AA itself. Any help on this would be appreciated.

Attaching the only pic I took on the trip... Enjoy!