5 months with my first DSG car: 26 observations about Skoda Slavia 1.5

One can’t drive this like a manual transmission car. It needs some time, effort & change in driving style to extract the best & maximum from the vehicle.

BHPian Torque123 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It has been 5 months since I got home the Skoda Slavia 1.5 DSG & the Blue Tiger has been an absolute bliss to own & drive. Below are a few observations & updates on the steed after clocking 5,100 KMS.

Key observations

1. In-gear acceleration combined with the mind-blowing 7-speed DQ200 DSG is crazy. One can feel the rush of the 250 NM torque or insane pulling power (on expressways or tolled roads) when cruise control is re-engaged (speed is set to anywhere between 85 – 120 KMS/HR). One will fall short of roads to experience what the top-end power (140+ KM/HR) of this beast of an engine is capable of delivering. I am talking about all this in D mode. Shift to the S mode & the car turns into an even bigger beast.
2. The power is spread across the band (low, mid & top) & driving around in the medium to high city traffic in D mode is not a hassle at all. The DSG shifts from 1st to 2nd once the vehicle crosses 5 km/hr speed in crawling traffic too. Plugging in the gaps is easy during medium city traffic with a gentle dab on the gas pedal. Paddle shifters make city & highway driving even more pleasurable.

Six things that I religiously follow:

• Wait for the RPM to settle down below 1K during cold start
• “Switch Off” the auto start/off functionality at the start of my every drive
• Shift the gear lever to “N” mode after engaging the hand brake at every traffic signal or situation where the car will be stationary for more than max 5 seconds
• Switch off the AC & infotainment & idle the engine for more than a minute before switching it off (for the turbo’s longevity)
• Always fuel up on or before the DTE reaches 100 (this will prevent the debris if any in the tank from damaging the fuel pump or other parts to a certain extent. Read this somewhere & made sense to me. Not sure how authentic this info is but I follow it).
• Always fill in XP95

Moving on to more observations

1. Realized the comfort, no fatigue & incredible performance the DSG & paddle shifters provide. I don’t think I will ever switch back to any other form of transmission.
2. Ride quality is top-notch. Small to medium undulations/bad patches on the roads are not felt as confirmed by the family who occupies the rear bench frequently.
3. Passengers in the car don’t get a feel of the speed while cruising (90 – 120 kms/hr) unless they glance at the speedometer. The speed is so well masked by the build, ride quality & NVH levels. My family used to instantly know without even looking at the speedometer whenever I crossed 80-90 KMS/HR in my Ford Fiesta 1.6.
4. Brakes are awesome. Had a couple of hard braking situations & the car came to a halt without any fuss. For a person like me upgrading from a Fiesta 1.6, it took a couple of drives to get used to the bite of the brakes as they are very sharp.
5. The seats are neither very soft nor hard & are a boon on long drives. I don’t feel uncomfortable even after driving continuously for a few hours or for a few hundred of KMS nonstop.
6. I find the position/placement of the engine start/stop button to be ideal because it is intuitive & also apt from a safety perspective. A couple of office colleagues did not find it as a hassle & said it was intuitive as cars with conventional keys have the keyhole in the same spot.
7. Bluetooth, wired AA & voice commands work like bliss. No issues faced so far. Wireless charging works well but heats up the phone only during longer charging times.
8. I have the habit of pressing the lock button on the remote multiple times to double/triple-check that the car is locked. I am sure many of us do it. The auto-folding of ORVM’s on locking the car has now ensured I press the lock button on the remote only once. If the mirrors are folded after pressing the lock button means I am good to go.
9. Excellent support & service from Tafe Access & transparency from PPS motors service centers. Met with a minor accident last month which resulted in a small dent on the rear bumper & scratches on LHS doors. No impact on LHS doors & paint as PPF took the impact but had to replace the rear bumper. If not for the small dent, rear bumper replacement was not required as PPF took the majority of the impact there as well. Will put up a detailed post on this shortly.
10. ACT (Active Cylinder Technology) is real & actually works very well. One will gradually get familiar to the kind of driving style required that triggers the ACT after driving the Slavia for 1 to 1.5K KMS or so in various driving conditions. The best part is that ACT gets activated even when the car is in lower gears (3rd & 4th) too provided a constant lower speed is maintained (very helpful in city driving conditions with medium traffic).

Fuel efficiency

For the initial 2k kms or so had been getting an average of ~9.5 to 10.5 kmpl in medium to heavy city traffic conditions (100% AC ON) based on tankful to tankful auto cut off method. MID is almost accurate with a difference of +/- 0.25 – 0.5 kmpl. Post 2k kms, I have been getting an average of ~11 to 11.5 kmpl in medium to heavy city traffic conditions (100% AC ON) based on the tankful to tankful auto cut-off method. I am happy as this is what I expected/needed which I have mentioned in my first post too.

Highway FE has been between 15 – 16.5 kmpl during the 4 to 5 long drives I have had till date. Did a one-nighter trip (456 kms overall) over the weekend. As per MID, FE is 15.6 kmpl (100% AC ON) with DTE showing another 200 kms. This is after setting up cruise control @ 115 KM/HR & covering a distance of ~290 kms on expressway/tolled roads & the remaining ~166 kms in sports mode (no cruise control) on single lane roads. Will update the actual FE (tankful to tankful) once DTE shows 100 – 120 kms or so & fill up the tank again.

I have read & heard about the 1.5 TSI giving an FE of 18-19 kmpl which even the company claims. I think this is surely possible only if the car is driven on expressways or tolled roads for long distances with cruise control set between 75 – 85 km/hr where the RPM hovers a tad below ~2k & ACT performs its duties for longer durations. For me, it is too boring & difficult to drive this monster at those speeds & I for one surely did not buy this car for FE.

Neutral Views

1. I am of the opinion that for a first-time DSG/DCT automatic transmission car owner like me (doesn’t matter which brand you own), it needs some time, effort & change in driving style to extract the best & maximum from the car. One cannot drive it like an MT car. Once you get a hang of it there is no turning back to MT/AMT/IMT/CVT. A well-calibrated OEM TC being an exception. At the same time, there is the question of the DSG reliability (touchwood) which I am mentally & financially ready for. Have opted for the extended warranty too & keeping the car absolutely stock with no upgrades or mods which will void the warranty.
2. I always use the AC in manual mode. It’s a habit hard to let go off as I have owned cars with only manual AC for the past 17 years. I have set the temp & blower speeds to 21 degrees & 3 respectively from the time I got the car. Under all kinds of weather conditions (hot, pleasant & cold) I have found the cooling to be good & adequate. The blower sound is what I found to be louder than usual. However, If someone asks me if the cooling can be better at the settings that I have mentioned then the answer would be a ‘Yes’ but it doesn’t mean am not happy with its current performance. I have not got any notification from Skoda or the dealer regarding the update on AC either. Maybe it was done during the delivery of the car, but I am not sure about this.
3. I have not faced the auto up/down driver-side power window issue till date as reported by a few owners. Will update this thread if I come across this issue even once in future.
4. Have used the sunroof only twice or thrice till date during long drives. After the initial excitement, even the family wants it to be closed all the time (which I had told them during the car purchase & it happened eventually & that too in just 5 months of ownership). Over a period of time features will become monotonous in a car but not its drive & performance.
5. Though the stock 16″ alloys look good, the car should have come with stock 17″ alloys. Would have looked even better. I sometimes get the itch to upgrade the car with 17″ wheels but ultimately refrain from doing so. The reason to upgrade is because there are a lot more options (very good- & better-looking alloys) in 17″ compared to 16″.

Things that could have been better

1. I would have preferred the default setting of the auto start/off functionality to be set as “Off” rather than “On”. This would have avoided switching it off every time I start the car as I find this feature very irritating. I am not sure of the pros & cons of this feature if it’s always turned on but I feel it would reduce the turbo & battery life in the long run. Again, this is just my opinion & I may be wrong.
2. I would have preferred the suspension to be tuned a little stiffer. This will reduce the otherwise superb ride quality a bit but would have enhanced the handling even more. No doubt, the Slavia along with Virtus has the best handling in the segment but every time I approach a corner I don’t get the same exact thrill I was getting from the Fiesta 1.6.
3. Had a couple of hard braking situations & the car came to a halt as expected. However, the stock Ceat Securadrive Tyres are not up to the mark as I heard the squealing sound of the rubber once or twice. I would recommend upgrading to a better set of rubber right at the time of car purchase (if one’s budget permits). I will be upgrading to Vredestein Ultrac Vorti’s (as it is available in stock size) once I cross the 15 to 20K mark on the ODO.
4. I have observed a lot of brake dust (blackish powder) getting accumulated in the front alloys/wheels, especially after a long drive where some spirited driving is involved. It is surely not impacting the braking efficiency or causing any kind of weird sounds but I am not sure if it will reduce the life of brake pads or discs. This used to not happen in the Fiesta 1.6. Are other Slavia owners facing the same issue?
5. The rear camera display does not come up on the infotainment screen sometimes. It throws up an error “This function is not available” or something like that. I have observed that this happens when you engage the reverse gear more than 2 times in very short intervals (tight parking spaces). Again, this does not happen every time & is a rare occurrence.
6. A luggage net in the boot could have been provided by Skoda. Would have been really useful for storing things like the Jopasu duster which keeps moving around & making irritating sounds when the car is being driven spiritedly. I don’t mind paying for it even now if it is provided as an accessory.
7. The design & quality of the switches of the roof-mounted LED reading lamps is pathetic. They are very hard to press/operate. Skoda could have given the push button kind of switches which are easy to operate.
8. For every damn upgrade using OEM parts or feature activation (like horn, enabling RPM meter via coding etc), hearing the “This will Void your warranty” statement from service centers is disgusting. When Skoda can provide the RPM meter & Speedometer in the same view with the MY 2023 Slavia’s, why can’t they do that for the 2022 ones? Heck, I am even ready to get it done from the service center & pay for it too if needed but cannot digest that “It will void your warranty” statement. Horn upgrade is not rejected by all service centers. Some do it (without voiding warranty) & some don’t (PPS rejected but Tafe Access obliged). Got my Slavia’s horn upgraded using an OEM part (wind tone or dual tone whatever they call it) from Tafe Access.

Keyword: 5 months with my first DSG car: 26 observations about Skoda Slavia 1.5