My email to Skoda India: Slavia issues & improvements

I do enjoy driving this car a lot due to the powerful engine and the responsive yet light steering, but there are a few things that this model needs improvement upon

BHPian dr.avinash recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Sent this email to Škoda India:

Their response was rather pathetic. They engaged the dealer who serviced my car, whose Service Advisor called up only to request not to put up on TeamBHP. Only after realising this is just baloney and also mailing Škoda India to not fire the SA, I'm putting my complaints which are as follows:

Hello.

I, Dr Aviansh Chanana, purchased a Skoda Slavia 1.0 Ambition AT last month and have successfully completed 2k kms.

I do enjoy driving this car a lot due to the powerful engine and the responsive yet light steering but there are a few things that this model needs improvement upon:

The seats lack any kind of lumbar support. The lumbar area isn't as supportive as in Honda City which has the best seats in this segment. Some additional foaming if can be installed may provide the support which is currently lacking. Otherwise This leads to back pain on long journeys and hence needs improvement. A comparison with the current Honda City shall throw more light to what I'm saying. Even Maruti Ciaz has better front seats.

Constant electrical niggles due to poor R&D (these words are as per a Skoda mechanic).

My observations regarding the same:

• Rear Camera fails to load at times.
• Instrument Cluster does not light up at times (especially when the headlights are off) even at night, but sometimes lights up during the day when it's not required.
• Wiper speed is surprisingly slow even on maximum setting. The sweeps are nowhere as fast as on any indian car. Its a major safety and visibility concern.
• Power Window doesn't work at times, despite the software update.
• AC cooling isn't adequate despite the software update and it's only March right now. Even when you press the Temperature or Fan speed adjustment for more than a second, it reaches the topmost or bottom-most setting. I think that action should take an input of atleast 2 seconds before getting executed.
• 1.0 AT is unnecessarily eager to downshift even on non-sport mode. Aggressive downshifts are appreciated only on 'S' mode not 'D' mode. A minor coding shall help you tune this.
• The creep mode is also very aggressive in both D and R gears. The car just takes off like an aircraft even you're in traffic jam or while parking. Very difficult for a semi skilled driver.
• Auto Start stop always gets activated by Default. No memory to what it was set previously.
• Headlights in the Active/Ambition variant must have be brighter. You may offer a set of similar powered, whiter set of bulbs as paid accessory.

I have owned a Honda City and a Verna as well and as per my knowledge if Skoda works on these shortcomings it will easily be the benchmark in the segment. Being a well wisher of Skoda, I'd suggest you to work upon them and address these issues. You guys have worked on the customer care and dealership experience by leaps and bounds in the 2.0 plan.

But people have already become paranoid while buying a Slavia because of the infamous EPC issues in Kushaq, so only constant improvements and minor recalls will make people believe in Skoda's durability that once the Octavia portrayed.

Though by profession I happen to be a doctor but I also blog on cars on TeamBHP under the username dr.aviansh. So I believe my observations have some weightage.

So if any further feedback is required, I'd be happy to provide.

Dr. Aviansh Chanana.

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