Well, to be honest, I bought this car because there was nothing else available at the time. I had just let go of my TATA SAFARI and wanted a replacement. And because of the little finance restructuring exrecise that I myself had initiated at my company, my price band was between 10 to 15 big Ls. The options that I had were a Corolla, Lancer, Skoda elegance and maybe go overbudget and get a HONDA CRV or a Camry.
The Skoda elegance was the only vehicle that delivered the right kinda feel, of something big and substantial. Kinda like an executive car. Sure I felt that it was a bit too executive for a 28 yr old but hey, its not like theres a Porsche dealership right around the corner. Hence, the Octavia elegance was chosen.
So, I took delivery of this car at 9pm in the evening, took it for an initial joyride with some friends. About 5 mins into the trip, someone explained from the back seat ’’Tera handle kahan hai?’’ Apparantly the good people at Skoda had forgotten to attach the inside handle of the rear door before they delivered the car. Naturally, I promised myself that this car is gonna get the handle first thing in the morning. No biggie.
The next day, my Dad wanted to have a feel of the new car and got into the drivers seat for a test spin. He revs the engine and . . .guess what. . . its like a wheezy windbag with no pop!!! Well, we gave a call to the Skoda guys and they came over all smiles and offering their world class services - ’’Dont worry saabji, we’ll have it going for you in 5 minutes. Rainy season hai, koi connection dheela ho gaya hoga’’. This little soothe was delivered at approx 11 am. Come 3 pm the guys are all sweaty and half the engines out of the car but it still refuses to start.
After some threatening faces and clicking a few photographs, the dealership agrred to exchange the faulty car for a new one, and a week later, I was the Not-so-proud owner of a Skoda Elegance.
Frankly, its an execuives car and does not suit well if you are below 30.
Cant say that I have had much complaints since the little incident initially. The ride is smooth. Theres a lot of power, . . .which I got to cherish at the new Noida expressway. Generally quite good if you want to go to your office and back and for the evening outings.
Looks-wise I think that the front of the car gives a very ROYAL impression. The boot space is pretty big, probably the biggest in a car. There are luxury features like lumbar supoprt and auto adjust for air conditioning. This I really liked. . .the airconditioning I mean. Its effective without giving you a full blast of air as if youve just been punched by Mr Freeze.
I liked the interiors although the tacky beige color was a bit of a poo poo. Call me a fusspot but I really got impressed by the controls. It is quite refreshing to see and use the sleek squarish side controls for lights and wipers instead of the round twigs in the JAP cars.
The control panel gives a hell of a lot of information about the vehicle. The most importatnt one being the ’’Number of Kilometers’’ that the car an run on the gas thats left in the fuel tank. In addition, the car gives a beep every time this travel distance drops below 40. Cool na? Then there are other things like average speed in the last 100 kms, fuel consumed in the last 100 kms etc.
At night, if yer driving on Low beam (and more people should), you have an option to adjust the level of your low beam. Now hows THAT for freedom of choice. Oh, and ya gotta love the bright lights INSIDE the car. You switch the all the lights on and its like yer in a middle of a press conference.
This car actually asks for service and the servicing is pretty well spaced out with a lot more miles within services. When the cars due, the word ’’service’’ actually FLASHES on your dash panel. Thats really cool.
On the whole, its a smooth ride with a lot of power and good performance and handling. Mileage. . .for those who are interested is around 11 to 12 city driving.
NOW lets move on to the bad parts, and PLEASE TAKE NOTE if you decide to buy a Skoda. I’ll start with minor inconveniences first and move on to big blunders. Yes, they have committed blunders.
First, if you are a smoker, you’ll be really pissed with the location of the cigarette lighter. Its located way back near your hip. Not a good location to place something thats gonna be used for producing smoke and fire.
And if you like to have a can of coke while yer driving, you better be doing a bit of Yoga as it is also located a not so handy place. Also, the car doors are quite heavy and tight.
The high tech features of the car might be a deterrent if your not that tech savvy. Silly inconveniences like the rear wiper comes on and yer lost in a sea of buttons trying to shut it down.
I dont know what kind of plastic these guys have used for the trims but the car starts making creaking noises very very soon. At times the royal feel that you get is that of a village sarpanch travelling on a ’’BAILGADI’’ heh heh.
Now comes the suspension. Lord knows why but the sus[pension bushes of my vehicle gave out after about 6 months. And NO, I am not a rash driver who drives like crazy on bad roads. I do own a Skoda and take care of it just as you would. I had to get the suspension bushes changed . . .in warranty of course, but 6 months?! Cmon yaar even my esteem never had this problem.
Remember when you had a flat in a good old Maruti. What did u do? Jack the car, remove the flat, pick up the new tyre and . . . PUSH THE HOLES IN THE BOLT ENDS that are sticking out of the car chasiss, and screw on the nuts.
Well, good luck with a Skoda cuz here, there are no nuts, there are BOLTS. So, if you have a flat, yer gonna havta pick up the tyre with one hand, hold it in the right symmetry with the holes in the chassiss and insert the bolts with your other hand. All this is provided that you get the hang of installing the Jack properly.
When purchasing a high end model of the Skoda, insist to the dealership that they show you how to change the wheel. They have 5 bolts to fasten the wheel. First these bolts are covered with plastic caps. Second, one of the bolts is an anti-theft bolt that can be opened only by using the special adapter provided by the good people at Skoda. If you do not have this adapter, there is no way in HELL that you can change the flat. And NO, its like the laser keys deal, the adpater of another Skoda WILL NOT WORK WITH YOURS.
The best thing is that you ask for all the anti theft bolts to be replaced with regular ones.
Also, never ever ever leave your keys in the car. After 45 seconds, the car locks up automatically and if you have all the windows up . . . well, then better have a brick handy.
Lastly, there was a problem that just came in me vehicle after about 9 months of purchase. Kinda reminded me of the initial problem when I got the car replaced. One day my car just refused to start after it was parked for about an hour. Skoda guy came and fixed it saying ’’Connection dheela tha saabji, theek kar diya’’.
Have been a bit busy so havent taken up this issue with the Skoda guys. But plan to do so sometime next week.
This is the whole deal. Go for the Skoda, honest to God it is the best vehicle in the market today. But go wisely. Its a high end vehicle so it wont hurt to arm twist the dealership into giving some kind of road assistance service FREE for a year or something.
So be careful, have fun and drive good. Remember, courtsey for others on the roads is our small contribution for making it a pleasure to drive a car.
Cheers