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Skoda Slavia 1.0 TSI AT: Observations after a couple of road trips

6th May 2022, 10:31 by Dev Shah

The car was put to test on all kinds of terrains - highways, ghats (uphill & down), gravel roads, kacha roads, muddy roads - thanks to the rains on the Nilgiris.

BHPian ranjith86 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Hi BHPians,

I am here to share my driving experiences with our brand new Skoda Slavia. We booked the Style AT 1.0 TSI for my wife on Women's Day - 8th Mar'22, and the car was delivered to us on 25th Mar'22.

We had to compromise on the colour for a quick delivery, got white instead of red. The same day after a puja at the temple, we were off for a 10 day long road trip starting from Hyderabad. We were 5 adults with a kid for the trip.

Our travel route was Hyderabad-Bengaluru-Coimbatore-Ooty-Mysore-Bengaluru-Hyderabad. The car was put to test on all kinds of terrains - highways, ghats (uphill & down), gravel roads, kacha roads, muddy roads - thanks to the rains on the Nilgiris. They offered the much needed break for us from the raising mercury levels in Hyderabad.

A week after returning from the KA & KL trip, we took off on another long drive on the following Easter weekend. This time it was a religious trip to Maharastra. The travel route was Hyderabad-Aurangabad-Shiridi-Kolhapur-Solapur-Hyderabad. The roads on offer were nothing great, except for the new highway connecting Kolhapur & Solapur, all other roads were typical Indian roads.

Let me establish the fact that I have been an MSL cars user thus far. Had a Baleno diesel in 2016, bought an Alto K10 AMT for my wife in 2018, exchanged the Baleno for a Brezza AT diesel in 2019, exchanged the Alto for a Slavia and continue to use the Brezza for my daily office commute in Hyderabad. Most of you might have already guessed that I would have experienced a world of change, no denying that fact, yes I did. I was blown away by the sheer comfort and confidence the car offered while driving.

Now coming to my observations:

The inside of the Slavia felt a lot quieter - the engine noise and the outside traffic noises were barely audible when I jacked up the music volume to 15.
The infotainment system on offer in the Slavia felt a lot premium compared to the ones in MSL cars.
The cruise control option was game changing and provided that additional comfort while on the highways.
However the auto climate control and AC vents at the rear weren't great and the rear part of the cabin felt a tab bit hotter and thus uncomfortable sitting for long durations.
The braking response and the lane assist systems on the car work perfectly in tandem and ensure the passengers feel no major jerks even if the brakes are floored suddenly - slowing down effortlessly in the same lane.
The suspension and the feedback I used to get on the steering were quite confidence inducing and never made me feel worried even on gravel & kacha roads with sizeable pot holes.
My driving speeds varied from 80 kmph to 100 kmph, the car returned on an average 12-13 kmpl mileage for both the trips. With disciplined driving in the city with less traffic, it should return better number I believe.

All said and done, I am having a lot fun and enjoying driving the Slavia.

Now that we have two cars in the parking - Brezza & Slavia, My daughter says lets take the Soda (instead of Skoda) out today.