I did a long road-trip to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh from Chennai over the past few weeks
BHPian Shanksta recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
It has been exactly 2 months as of today since I took delivery of my Škoda Slavia 1.5 TSI DSG.
I thought I would pen down an update here since I have driven my car for 8762kms in 60 days.
I did a long road trip to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh from Chennai over the past few weeks, which actually contributed to 6577kms of the total running till now.
Observations:
1. Let me begin with what is definitely a major talking point for Slavia owners – The AC. To summarise I have no complaints, it kept us comfortable during our afternoon drives in hot Rajasthan. What I did observe is that the compressor seems to cut a lot while driving the car at high speeds continuously. But when cruising sedately at 80-100kmph the AC is nice and cold. A tip I learned is that in the Slavia when you use the front vents plus footwell vents together the AC feels adequate and comfortable.
2. The placement of the Skoda-connected dongle seems like an extreme afterthought. Halfway through my road trip, when we were on a bumpy state highway between Jaisalmer and Jaipur, the dongle just fell out of its place in the driver’s footwell. Basically, the double-sided tape the dealer used to stick the dongle gave up. How hard would it have been for Skoda/VW to design proper housing where the dongle sits firmly?
3. The Ceat Secura drive tyres my Ambition variant came with are brilliant. I am thoroughly impressed with their high-speed manners (be it sudden lane change, hard braking or even handling the gnarly pothole), they took on everything beautifully. Also setting the pressure to 30psi makes these tyres super comfortable.
4. Brake dust galore! God knows what material Skoda’s engineers finalised to be used in the front brake pads, these generate brake dust like no other car I have owned previously. After my road trip, I had black alloys in the front and silver alloys in the rear.
5. The brilliant 1.5 TSI and DSG combo! One word to sum up would be *Explosive*. The way the engine delivers power when you put your foot down is mind-boggling, at least it is to me wherein this is the most powerful car I have owned. You close gaps ridiculously fast and the DSG unit just doesn’t hesitate to drop even 2 gears with the engine suddenly singing at 4.5k rpm. I am extremely happy with my choice.
6. There is no tow hook in the rear. At least as far as I saw and searched I could not spot it. Can fellow owners confirm this? Long story short my car got beached in sand while driving from Munabao to Jaisalmer via NH70 aka Bharat Mala Road outside the village of Sundra. (This experience was crazy though, saved up to be elaborated on in my travelogue). Finally had to pop off the tow hook cap in the front bumper and used that end to pull the car out with the help of the kindest human being I have come across. I must be the only person in India to get a Slavia stuck on the highway from Munabao to Jaisalmer.
7. Point no. 6 brings with it two more observations I made, namely the “ESC” and the “tow hook”. In my previous cars, there was a physical button to deactivate ESC which was helpful. But in Slavia, you have to go into the menu in the infotainment unit to deactivate the same. This is what made me forget to deactivate the ESC which in turn detected slip, brakes the wheel, and ensured my car got stuck. Regarding the tow hook, it works like a charm and you need to rotate it anti-clockwise to tighten.
8. Many would be wondering by now regarding the mileage. Let me tell you that the 1.5 TSI + DSG combo is pretty frugal if you are a good boy and not so bad even when you get a bit too enthusiastic behind the wheel. I covered 6577.6 kms total and filled in 430.06 liters of petrol(91 octanes). I got an overall average mileage of 15.29 kmpl, which I felt was respectable for a 150bhp turbocharged petrol engine lugging a 1.2-tonne car. The highest was 17.69 kmpl and the lowest was 12.52kmpl, all calculated tankful to tankful.
9. The 180mm of ground clearance really helped and the car did not scrape anywhere except for a really high and monstrous speed breaker in Palanpur, GJ. Luckily no damage and even the scrape as such was really mild.
10. The halogen headlights in the Ambition trim felt really good to me. The spread is good at both low and high beam and I found them very comfortable during my early morning highway drives.
11. The 12v socket in the center console that does not stop supplying power after locking the car is a pain. I had to be very conscious to ensure I disconnected my dash cam every single time after turning off the engine, lest I be left with a dead battery.
12. The sunglass holder, water bottles kept in the door pockets, and coin left in the glovebox rattle a lot while driving on bad roads and even on good roads that have a bit of a rough texture. This drove me pretty crazy initially but now I have learned to ignore them. The piano’s black bits on the interior are a scratch magnet.
13. The DSG has a tendency to downshift to D1 at the slightest hint of a rough, muddy, or grave road. It sometimes refuses to upshift to D2 on such patches till it hits 2700rpm. Apart from this, the DSG is such a joy to use. It even ensures the correct gear is chosen while driving downhill/down steep slopes to ensure you have engine braking and control.
Overall, this is a mean highway mile muncher. It can keep you super comfortable during long stints behind the wheel. The ride was supple, the NVH was really good and the DSG was smooth. Will post more updates, maybe an ownership thread once I complete the first service or 15,000kms whichever is early.
Keyword: My Skoda Slavia 1.5L DSG clocks 8700+ km in 2 months