My Skoda Octavia DSG: Personal observations after 6 months & 5000 km

In city traffic, I get a fuel efficiency of around 8 km/l, which increases to 13 km/l on the highway.

BHPian rsk recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Here is a 5000 km update. Driving the car has been fun for the most part. While a significant part of the run was on highways, I have also driven through an assortment of state highways, and village in-roads and cars felt very comfortable. The car as a whole package is great, here are some personal observations/experiences from the last 6 months.

Exterior:

• Ground clearance was a significant point of discussion during the purchase. Having driven on battered highways, patches that had huge craters for potholes, the car got through them with ease for the most part (of course I slowed it down and was careful in navigating, while cars like Innova were covering the same stretch at a relatively higher speed). If at all any, once there was a very minor brush-up in a huge speed breaker. So, this is not a concern anymore.
• A stone had chipped the paint off in the bonnet. Nothing visible or prominent, you have to really search to find it, but I know it is there. I have not done a PPF or ceramic treatment on the car. If you are someone who will get continuously bothered by something like this, please get PPF/Ceramic coating done right when you take delivery of the car
• I felt the low beam on the headlights is average. The high beam however is fantastic. I had to drive a few 100 km on unknown pitch-dark village roads and the way the car lit the entire road, gave a big confidence
• I have lost a few of those lug nut covers not sure why. The covers appear to be tight where they are still in place and yet I seem to have lost a few.
• A couple of weeks ago, while driving within the city limits, I kept getting a warning a few times– manoeuvre braking is unavailable (or something similar). Have driven 50 more kms since then and have not noticed it again. Not sure if it is a blocked sensor or something else. If I get this warning again, I plan to visit the service centre
• The exterior mirrors tilt down when you put the car in Reverse gear. This worked initially and after that, I don’t see it working. The settings seem to be enabled in the console. Fellow owners, any insights into this?

Interior:

• The first thing that bothered me during the test drive of the car which was almost a deal-breaker still proves to be the biggest irritant - The lack of physical AC controls. You either need a passenger to adjust or you have to park the car to the side specifically on the highway if you have to do any significant setting changes. Even for the smallest changes, you have to take the eye off the road and I get jittery every time I have to do this. I'm still getting used to it - don't know if I ever will get over it.
• Apple Carplay has been seamless so far. Android also works equally well. While I have not been to totally isolated areas in the last 6 months, the network coverage has been pretty good so far. I tried using a USB-C pen drive for media but noticed that the pen drive was heating up (more than the normal level is what I felt)
• Maintaining the interior, the seats have been fine so far. Got a car vacuum and that seems to be helping in removing any loose dust. I also got a suede brush proactively but did have a need to use them yet.
• I may have to get one of those 5D/7D mats as the lining in the floor is like a carpet and it is catching dust and needs more cleaning effort.

Fuel:

• From Day 1 have been fuelling only power/speed/XP95/vPower. The availability and choice are fine within the city limits, but when you are on the highway, it is not that commonly available yet. Among these, XP95 seems to be more commonly available than the rest.
• After one refuelling at a petrol pump near Bidadi, I noticed a significant drop in the performance. So even the added premium for higher octane is not immune to bad fuel. The next refuelling quickly brought the performance back to normal levels.
• As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I have stopped looking at the mileage and enjoy the car for what it is. But the last mileage that I recollect after a highway run was around 12.5-13 km/l. In cities depending on traffic, it was around 7 to 9 km/l.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.