Skoda Kushaq vs Honda City: The good and the bad

If I had to buy a CSUV today, I would go with the Kushaq as it is an overall good package. But if I could buy just any car, I would wait for the Skoda Slavia.

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I had recently helped someone in the family decide on buying a mid-size SUV and they went ahead with Kushaq 1.0 L MT Style (Top variant) and I had a chance to spend some time with it. As I also had bought my 5th Gen City Petrol ZX MT earlier this year, I just wanted to compare the two cars.

Current On-road Delhi prices are:

• Kushaq 1.0 L MT Style: 16.76 Lacs
• City Petrol ZX MT: 15.57 Lacs (I bought it in Jan @ Rs 14.7 lacs)

Things I found better in Kushaq

Dashboard Design and Quality

Although I like the minimalistic design of the City, I was really impressed by the type and quality of materials used in the Kushaq. Dark textured elements with matte finish and with minor chrome inserts give a very rich and classy feel to the cabin.

Infotainment System

You can actually compare Honda’s ICE system with any modern car and you will find it to be very dated with limited functionality. On the other hand, Skoda’s display and theme are crisp and have a lot of functions that can be controlled via the ICE. Add to that the Wireless CarPlay and AA and it makes life so much easier.

Things that are at par or can be subjective between the two

Exterior/Stance

I find Kushaq’s design to be somewhere in the middle of the quirkiness of Creta and Taigun (rear styling) and the conventional designs of Seltos and Astor and one which would be acceptable to a large number of consumers. However, it does look a little compact from the outside compared to its rivals.

City, on the other hand, is looong! The low stance does stand out in the crowd of CSUVs. The LED Headlights look sharp and brilliant but the large front chrome looks a bit overdone. There should have been a break between the bonnet and chrome, like there is in the Civic. The rear looks good with the LED taillights. Overall, I prefer City’s design over the Kushaq but this is very subjective.

I liked the alloys on both the cars and felt they were enhancing the looks of the respective cars.

Cabin space and Seat comfort

Kushaq’s stance does not give away the ample amount of interior space it offers. It has the longest wheelbase in the segment and that shows, especially at the rear. The front seats are pretty supportive and the sitting posture and seat incline angles are very comfortable at the rear. Not a big fan of the fabric texture/color combinations though, could have been a bit sportier with darker shades in sync with the rest of the cabin. Also, the dark theme does take away the feeling of roominess from the cabin.

City’s cabin with beige leather seats and large windows definitely feels much roomier. I rate City’s front seats higher than Kushaq’s although my wife felt the other way around. You get more thigh support in City’s rear bench with a lower seating position which would be the more comfortable one out of the two for long journeys.

Build Quality/Fit and Finish

Honestly, I didn’t feel much difference between the “Door thuds” of both the cars. I had spent a lot of time in a 2011 Polo and I can easily say that the Polo had a much, much better feel which closing the doors. The dashboard fit and finish are definitely better in Kushaq but panel gaps are easily evident at a few places in both cars. City’s rear wheel arches lack any sort of insulation and the Kushaq does not have any insulating material inside the front hood. Overall, I did not get a distinct feeling to confidently say that one car is better put together than the other.

Engine Performance

When I first drove the Kushaq, I felt as if the hand brake was on. Performance before the turbo kicks in is absolutely miserable. Yes, it does take some time to get used to a small Turbo engine coming from a larger NA engine but even after driving around for some time, I would take the NA i-Vtec any day. 90% of the time I like to keep a light foot on the accelerator and enjoy City’s linear power delivery. In the TSI you have to rev it up each time to get decent performance which can be very irritating during city traffic driving. The TSI would be much more enjoyable on the highways but I would spend at least 95% of my time in the car in city traffic only and hence the NA engine makes more sense. I know the TSI smashes the i-Vtec in drag races but the latter is a much better all-rounder and sounds much better also. I am no expert and hence have put this in this section although I know which one I like.

Things I find better in the City

Air Con Controls and Performance

Throughout my drive, I couldn’t get used to the touch panel controls, had to ask the co-passenger. Touch panels just do not work for me, thank God Honda made the change to physical controls for 5th gen. It is so much easier to adjust the temperature without even looking at the controls. Love the tactile feel of the knobs in the City. And it's not like you will get used to the touch controls in some time (as you do with the indicator and wiper paddles interchanged), it will always remain a little irritating experience.

The air-con performance was also not that impressive. Even with cooled seats, it took a lot of time to cool the cabin that too during the mild winter weather in Oct here in Delhi. Also, didn’t feel the actual cabin temperature and the one set in the controls were in sync, it wasn’t feeling like it was 22 degrees as indicated. It is almost the other way around in the City, it feels much colder than the 28 degrees it is indicating. The cooling performance is pretty solid, although it has the “Max Cool” feature, I have never had to use it even in peak summers. Set it at 25 and it will max take 4-5 min to chill the cabin. The air through is powerful and nicely spread due to the large AC vents.

Boot Space

Kushaq’s 385 Litres to City’s 506 Litres – there’s nothing much to say here, but I will. I have a Baleno with 340 L boot space on paper and I felt Kushaq’s boot was maybe just a few inches higher but that’s it. When I am buying a 17 lac car I would not want to ever think about lack of luggage storage space. It might be sufficient for weekend trips with a couple of bags but if you plan to travel with 4 travels for a week, it won't be able to take all the luggage. I went for a 10-day-long trip with 4 adults and City’s boot was easily able to take 4 mid-size luggage bags along with 2 smaller ones. City’s boot is properly wide and deep and designed well to make almost all the space usable.

Steering Wheel and Fog Lamps

The two-spoke Skoda steering wheel felt a little small and light on the hand. Lacks the chunk of City’s wheel. The music and cruise control buttons are also a bit small although you can control volume using the chrome knob (City’s knob can only be used to operate the digital instrument cluster). Also, Skoda has given halogen bulbs for fog lights which ruin the front lighting as it does not go well with the white projector headlights. Love the all-white front lighting set up in the City.

Conclusion

If I had to buy a CSUV today, I would still go with the Kushaq as it offers a good overall package (assuming all the niggles have been sorted out by now). The Korean twins have a big safety-related question mark on them and the Astor is a fresh product from MG, the brand I do not fully trust right now. I would rather make the gamble with Skoda.

If I could buy just any car, I would wait for Slavia and choose one between City and Slavia. I do not like the high seating position of CSUVs and the sedans are actually offering better value for money in today’s times. If the bulk of your driving is within city limits on decently built roads, a sedan makes more sense.

Here's what BHPian pratyaksh had to say about the matter:

Having bought the City ZX CVT after rejecting the Skoda Kushaq upon hearing about the EPC issues et. al. I was still wondering if it was the right decision to let go of that TSI+DSG combo for a NA. Your post definitely adds a +1 to my decision of buying the dynamic City. Thank you.

Here's what BHPian Kickdown had to say about the matter:

Wow. This is the USP of Team-BHP. An actual comparison from direct users which no other portal can give. Thanks for doing this, buddy.

BTW, did you get a chance to check the headlight visibility comparison at night between the two? If yes, which one would you say fared better?

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.