स्कोडा लौरा यूज़र रिव्यूज़

I recently exchanged my one year old Honda Accord (new model) for the Skoda 1.9 Ambiente AT - (just could not manage to drive and park the very large Accord on the narrow Mumbai streets, and mileage was really bad - less than 7 kmpl!)
Have been extremely happy with the Laura since then - getting a FANTASTIC highway mileage of 16+ kmpl, and about 11+ kmpl in the crowded city crawl (all with the AC on, and on diesel). My fuel costs have been slashed to HALF.
It's also a pleasure to drive - the DSG auto gear box shifts up and down REAL fast, even better than I would do manually. Acceleration is excellent when you want it - and the DSG actually is increasing the effective mileage from the car.
The sound system is excellent. I wish they had given leather seats at this price -- and sometimes the engine sounds a bit loud at idle. I now hesitate from giving this lovely car to my drivers! Its reasonably comfortable, but compact enough to park and drive around in Mumbai!
Great fuel economy, DSG Auto gear box is a delight, fit and finishEngine a bit noisy at idle, should have given leather seats at this cost!

Hi There,

Just took a test drive of the new laura 1.8 TSI.

The car is very refined / solid and pulls just like an aircraft (the thrust is almost similar when an aircraft suddenly speeds up before take off). I have been trying to finalize b/ween the corolla/civic and this one. On the refinement/seating/power available/quality - I would say that the Laura is way ahead. Apart from some features which are not available in it as compared to the civic/corolla. But there are some available in Laura as well which are not in civic/corolla.

The only negative aspect which is up my mind is the upleep costs / A.S.S. / spare parts cost after reading through a lot of horror stories connecting to skoda dealerships.

Would request all who can put in advice here. Thanks    

Great Engine, Build QualityEngine Noise in City

Laura elegence 1.9 TDI , is really a head turner and its performance and interiors are really rich and user friendly with a teriffic sound system. The inside cabin noise is minimalistic and back seat is a home away from home. Boot is massive and can swalow a mini elephant. The pick up, controls, brakes are all very good and i really love my laura as a prized possession.

at last, owning one with the help of sumit at sidak, karnal was really good.

go get one

i purchased this car after a lot of thought and research. It has a front styling which is niceI don't find anything amiss really and i am delighted by its pickup and a/c

 

Exterior Good.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Less on space, i hit my head and disturbs my hairdo when ever I get in and out, all the features are great if they work properly, I never could make the side rear view mirrors defogging work, the rear defogger is not satisfactory, the dynamic headlights during turns do not work, i complained during service and later, but it could not be rectified, the fog settles at the bottom portion of the front windshield after a drizzle and you need to use the wipers and driving becomes very iritating, I have complained but the service do not have a permanent solution for the same.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine performance and response is excellent, on an average i drive around 100kms per day and enjoy the drive, fuel economy for the performance is excellent, with regard to gearbox i need to park my car in an inclined position and as per practice I shift to park mode and then pull my handbrake. When I need to start again I disengage the handbrake and need to shift to reverse, at this point the GEARBOX makes a THUD NOISE FROM  P to R. I have tried the other way round first pulling the hanbrake  and then shifting to P, that too did'nt help.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality is good and handling is fantastic, been to couple of long rides and enjoyed the ride.

Final Words The features are to be maintained, else a SKODA LAURA L&K is not worth the buy.

Areas of improvement The service centres are not equiped with quality personel to maintain all the features, as the seniors are themselves doubtful whether the features mentioned are really available. Service centre personel are very secretive and do not share the points with the owners, simply the trust is not there, not informative experience.

Styling is good, enjoy riding, good fuel economyi being 6ft 2inches and weighing almost 130kgs, it feels less spacious

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Excellent interiors with fit and finish of any super luxury car.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Brilliant engine with brilliant gearbox, however fuel economy is city is lot to be desired. Havent driven it still on a highway so cannot comment

Ride Quality & Handling Excellent especially for Delhi roads. The suspension is very taut so ensures you do not feel any bumps even in this weather

Final Words The car is excellent, out and out a drivers car. No other car in this range comes close to it. However the dealers need to be far more professional. Even though i have had the car for nearly a month I still dont have the registration number or the  final invoice. I am still driving the car on Temp registration. If they make such basic mistakes, It makes me wonder what will happen when the car goes for service.

Areas of improvement Fogging of the windscreen, dealers need to be more professional.

Power, Looks, Excellent EngineFuel Economy, Fogging of the Windscreen, Dideview mirrors should fold automatically not manually

 

Exterior  The new laura looks better than its predecessors. From thefront looks like the superb. There should be more colours available in the petrol cersion.

 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) can seat 4 comfortably. Good quality finishes. However, beige carpets are not suitable to our driving conditions. Comfortable at the front and back. The petrol should have more choices in colour and upholstery colour.

 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine is brilliant. Many times you cannot make out if its in or not. Gear box -- like a knife through butter. fuel economy 10 in city and 11.5 on highway.

 

Ride Quality & Handling Havedriven to Goa and mumbai several times. drives very well. No problem in handling so far.

 

Final Words For the price of 14.4 lacs on road. worth it. drives better than the vw jetta which was my other choice.

 

Areas of improvement Need to work on the negative reviews of the company online and offline. dealers need to be better informed. i dealt with europa auto in pune. Still not recd my orignal rto registration and insurance policy after 3 months. more colours in petrol version.

 

looks, style, finishing, boot space, pick upautomatic version not available, other interior frills, logos need tobefixed properly

"Please ignore typos if any"

Exterior - Solid Build, Elegant but Killer looks.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) - Extremely luxurious. Infact the best in the segment. I'd considered Toyota Corolla Altis, VW Jetta, Chevy Cruze & also Fluence from Renault. The closest among them in interiors to Laura was probably Jetta. The plastics used in Laura is far superior and it doesn't feel plasticky but classy.

Driver's view is excellent. Superb visibility in both front & rear windshields. No blindspot near A-pillar. Very plush & luxurious leather seats with seat heating for the front two seats. Considering I'm a 6' 2" person, the car can seat me comfortably in both front & rear seats. The middle sear in the rear has a little too high floor making it a bit uncomfortable for long journeys. In reality all sedans can seat only 4 adults comfortably so that is not really an issue.

The things it lack are USB & DVD for the music system, steering mounted controls for the audio system & GPS Navigation. Though steering controls & GPS are available in the next higher variant, it is not available in a manual transmission version (since the next variant would be L&K and it is only available in Auto Transmission).

The acoustics of the vehicle is very good. The system can play MP3 & has an aux. in which is a bit of solace. It has one hell of an air conditioning system which is semi-automatic.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox It has a very responsive engine, powerful with a good torque distribution. The gearbox is also very good. It pulls like crazy in the 2nd & 3rd gears. You feel like you're in a jet taking off!!

The thing that impressed me the most was the fuel economy. I never expected it to be that good when i bought the car. Even city driving gives a mileage of min. 17 kmpl!! On the highway, careful driving can give you 20kmpl!! All these figures have been with AC since i never drive without AC (coz the interiors are beige & i'm not taking any risks in getting it dirty). In the 6000km i've driven, i've got an average mileage of 18.2kmpl.

Ride Quality & Handling Its purely a driver's car. If you like to drive, then Laura is the car for you (unless you can afford the super costly sports cars that is). The handling is something you've to experience coz i cant describe how good it is.

Final Words If you're considering a car in this segment, you like to drive, This is the car for you. I bought this car with some expectations in mind. Believe me when i tell this, it exceeded all of them and beyond. Its truly a marvellous piece of engineering. The thing with Skoda is, they go all out and take care of so many little details which you wont even have imagined necessary.

Areas of improvement Music System, music system & music system. Come on Skoda you've taken care of all the really important stuff. Considering what you've done with the car, this is a very small improvement you have to do considering we're in the era where USB rules.

Very good fuel economy, power, Excellent driving & sitting comfort, Huge boot space, Very LuxuriousNo USB or DVD support for audio system

We had brought a Skoda Laura in 2008 paying about 19 Lakhs...and from the time we got it.... the A/C has been continued to give us a hell lot a problem....After running for Just about 20,000 Kms the A/C completely went off .When the car was on warranty the company did not tell us what the actual problem with the A/C was...  they went on saying we will rectify it, its a minor problem and other rubbish answers !! Every time it went for service the A/C had a problem and after the service for some days the A/c would be fine but after that we used to face the same problems again ! n then again goes for service n same repeats!!! ... Now when the A/C just does not work anymore and we started acting tough on them and the warranty is over they are telling us that the Compressor is long gone!! "Hello the BOSSES of SKODA" WE ARE NOT HERE TO PAY FOR THE DEFECTS YOUR COMPANY PRODUCT HAS !! " It is such a problem that after this compressor issue came up our Car is lying in the workshop for more than 2 weeks now and still  they are not ready to rectify the problem without paying them Rs. 80,000 /- .

We also spoken to some of our relatives and friends who are having the same issues with the company and we will go to the Consumers court if the problem still prolongs.

FYI  - SKODA BOSSES - We did not expect a BRAND like SKODA to cheat its customers like this.

BRANDA/C is too bad