I had almost decided to buy a cruze and had even paid the booking amount. I always had been afraid of skoda, reading the after sale service and high owning costs, failure of component, etc stories on the web. I decided to overlook all that and go for a test drive. I went to the dealership in my friends cruze to get a better comparison. As soon as I got in the car, the first thing which struck me was the space!! plush feeling. When I drove the car, I got blown away with the gear box and clutch. Did not feel like a diesel car at all! That was reason enough to go for the car. Primarily because it was to be driven by me. I could do without sun roof and button start etc.
To be on the safe side, I purchased skoda shield along with the car. It has been more than 18 months and the car has been hassle free. simple features like reverse parktronic, remote window pull down, dead clutch pedal etc. Sound system is superior than any car in the class. All this was the prime driver for me to decide on the car.
The servicing cost has been 9k for the 15k service. Currently the car has clocked 25k. The only thing that could have been better is the AC. My swift has a far superior cooling as compared to Laura.