Skoda Octavia ownership: Upgrades made & Impressions after 1500 km

This is a huge head-turner and people easily mistake this for a premium vehicle.

BHPian vagster recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Quick update and initial impressions after 1500 km

2.0 TSI is one of a monster to drive, yeah, it is very smooth on normal driving and when you need the power, it is readily available and it revs in a way that the engine asks you "Do you still want more "

I will probably skip most of the topics discussed earlier (Drive quality, DSG performance etc) and focus on the main points that came up in my journey of Octavia vs Tiguan

1. Ground Clearance: It is not at all an issue. The irony is, it did not even scrape a bump with 5 onboard where my Polo scrapped. (Im not sure how a 168 mm GC performs poorly than a 138 mm GC!). The suspension is tuned in a way that the undulations are well covered whereas my polo has a bit of bounce after a bump that scrapes the belly. (I may be wrong, but trust me, I took it to the same route where I drive my Polo and Octavia did not scrap any)
2. Infotainment: It is not much intuitive to operate, very laggy and wireless / wired Android auto is worse in terms of audio quality. Bluetooth is better. I badly miss the canton system too!, planning for a retrofit from some reputed OEM installers and am open to suggestions.
3. Cornering: Since the suspension is soft, there seems to be a drag and you need to be cautious when taking hard corners. I come from polo and hence I had high expectations of cornering and navigating through highway traffic. Nevertheless, it is not too bad, unlike other models in this range.
4. Headlights: The AFS is cool, lits up adequately and had no issues in it. However, the user manual says it has Matrix functions and high beam assist for oncoming traffic (Auto dimming the respective LED). I am not able to activate this and still figuring out how it works.
5. Engine: Never crossed 30k rpm still and driving religiously by keeping the revs low until the 2000 km run-in period is done. Never tried Manual and Sport mode yet.
6. Road presence: Yeah, this is a huge head turner and people easily mistake this for a premium vehicle.

Added these below to the car:

• Added Viofo 2CH A139 dashcam for Rs 21,000 (Leveraged the USB C port near IRVM)
• 3M Nomads mats for Rs 8,000 (400/Sqft; 20sqft total)
• All weather Tunnel mat (OEM)
• Opted 4 years maintenance pack - Rs 44,999

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