I test drove the Kushaq 1.0L AT: Here's whats good, okay, bad & unknown

The NVH felt well controlled inside the cabin. Honda Elevate loses out here.

BHPian amalji recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Took a test drive of the Skoda Kushaq 1.0 Prestige AT. These are my impressions.

The good in decreasing order of our priorities

1. Excellent seats. In fact, easily the best seats in the segment with amazing thigh support. We loved the rear seat thigh support and also liked the front row thigh support. In the world of EVs, this has become a 'rare feature' these days. We were exploring Elevate and Hyryder as well. The Skoda beats both of them hands down.
2. Powered driver and passenger seats with height adjustment for even the passenger seats. The only other Japanese/Korean car that has this feature below 60 lakhs is the Toyota Camry. Correct me, if I am missing any cars here.
3. 5 star crash test rating and the prior safety record of VW/Skoda
4. Not having the panoramic sunroof and at the same time having a decently big sunroof. Reason: The thin clothes used to cover panoramic sunroof is inadequate in blocking light ( when required ). Some of these have given me headaches during drive. Whereas in the case of a normal sunroof, we have a thick blocker which completely blocks out sunlight when required. Both the Kushaq and Elevate scores here.
5. Mature ride comfort. The nearest comparison I can make for the ride on the Kushaq is with that of the Jeep Compass and the old Ford Figo. That's a compliment for the Kushaq. It absorbs the bad roads in Bangalore well and at the same time doesn't create a body roll. Regardless of what most reviews says, my wife hated the ride on the Toyota Hyryder. I took multiple test drives of it post that and figured out that inspite of its cushiness, it throws you around on the slightest of patches on the road whereas the Kushaq feels a lot more mature and planted. I am not sure if the weight imbalance created by the Hyryder's hybrid battery has anything to do with it. The Kushaq is easily the best ride quality that I have experienced in this segment. I liked the Elevate ride quality as well.
6. Excellent space management inside. Loads of legroom and headroom with amazing ergonomics inspite of being the car with the smallest footprint on the road and having the highest safety rating. Great engineering from VW/Skoda here.
7. Smallest footprint makes it very friendly for narrow roads.
8. The fact that Skoda gives a non-DSG transmission option, that too from the King of reliability - Toyota! ( Aisin being a subsidiary of Toyota ). It's the transmission, not the engine which is the most expensive part in a modern automobile. Having a reliable transmission gives tons of peace of mind especially if you plan to keep the vehicle for 10 - 15 years.
9. The fact that it had the auto start/stop function and the fact that the auto start/stop keeps the engine switched off even if I shift it to N and P. This helps take the foot off from brake pedal during long stops. Some cars don't have this feature. On the Crysta Touring sport's Auto start/stop, it restarts if I move it to N. So, I have to move it to P in one go without spending enough time on N or R. If I am slow to shift all the way to P, it will restart. I am used to this now. So I can make that movement fast. But not so with any new people who drive the Crysta. Elevate misses out on this feature completely. I miss this feature on the Toyota Yaris and I feel that's one of the reasons it gives pathetic fuel economy on the city roads.
10. Elegant, Subtle and Classy interiors. I used the same phrase for describing the interiors of the Honda Elevate as well. But, Skoda felt even better. The European finnesse is there for sure.
11. For a 1.0 tiny engine, I am impressed with the performance it gave. The gearbox seems to be pretty responsive as well inspite of being the old school torque converter.
12. The NVH ( road noise, wind noise and traffic noise ) felt well controlled inside the cabin. Honda Elevate loses out here. And even the growl of the 3 cylinder engine when you rev it to the mid range where all that torue is available felt sporty rather than noisy.

Just OK, but would have preferred to have been better

1. We tested the car when the outside temperature was 28 degree celsius on a sunny day in Bangalore around 12:30 pm. We set the AC at 21 degrees and Auto. The Air conditioner felt weak. I understand that there are limitations to get this right with just a 1.0 L engine. But, again when you look at the competition, they offer much better air conditioners. And the fact that we use the Toyota Innova Crysta and the Toyota Yaris both of which have chiller of an AC and cools the cabin in no time also added to our impressions here. But, even this did not feel like a red flag for me especially when the vehicle will primarily be used in Bengaluru. If we go for the Kushaq, we will get the 3m CR70 on all glasses and sunroof. This will cut the incoming heat by around 50 percent and will also protect the interiors.
2. Decent boot space. But, Honda Elevate is the benchmark here.
3. Not having the ADAS
4. The braking effectiveness felt good. But, they could have provided all 4 disc brakes as well.

The Bad in the decreasing order of priority

1. Not having the 360 degree cameras. They could have provided this atleast as an official accessory.
2. Not having the blind spot monitor. Even though, this is part of the ADAS which I have already listed in another section, this is one feature of the ADAS suite I love and I hate it that the Elevate missed this feature in their ADAS!
3. There is a "nothing zone" before 1800 rpms where there is no response from the engine. This is due to the small displacement of the engine. But, since you have a torque converter which can help the engine reach the higher rpms quickly due to its loosely coupled nature, this is livable. And I guess once the car understands that you are on a high adrenaline, the gearbox tries to keep the rpm above the turbo range and then it can give crazy clean acceleration. The low end rpm mostly affects you when you are mostly driving relaxed and want a bit more acceleration for a quick short time interval. Otherwise, if you have the patience to wait for the turbo to kick in, it's clean acceleration from then on.

The Unknowns in the decreasing order of priority

1. Does the 1.0 TSI engines sold by VW/Skoda come with the GPF ( Gas particulate filter ) ? If so, has anyone faced issues with it ? Context: I am a skeptic of the DPFs and that's the reason why I don't even consider Diesel engines as an option post BS6. if GPF is present on the 1.0 TSI, I will have to do my research on the GPF and whether it's a 'jugaad design' like the DPF.
2. The early Kushaq's if I remember it correctly had some bugs related to fuel pumps, EPCs, power windows, roof liners. I am told that these issues are all sorted out on the new Kushaqs. Is that accurate information ?
3. How good is the Skoda service in Bengaluru? I stay in South Bengaluru.
4. How is the city fuel economy of the 1.0 AT Kushaq especially in a city like Bengaluru?
5. I have seen some videos where people complain about a bad thud sound when you encounter a surprise pot hole at speeds. How bad is this ? And is it still an issue ?

Special thanks to Vikram of TAFE Skoda, JP Nagar for interacting with me professionally and arranging the test drive. He never bluffed when I asked questions about the Kushaq. He was honest enough to call spade a spade even if it was the car he was trying to sell.

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