[S15]

Originally Posted by Gizmokid

Same boat. Upgrading from EcoSport. How would a top end kushaq compare against the jeep compass longitude? Maybe 2+L delta in price, but a reasonable comparison?

1.0 TSi or the 1.5 TSi?
Manual or Automatic?

The 1.4 Auto on the compass is considered a rather dim-witted gearbox.

[Gizmokid]

Originally Posted by S15

1.0 TSi or the 1.5 TSi?
Manual or Automatic?

The 1.4 Auto on the compass is considered a rather dim-witted gearbox.

Manuals. The automatics in the jeep throws the price into the stratosphere. Bit odd, but the 1.5TSI vs 2.0D diesel. At least that's what I am comparing

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by sam264_2000

I think Hyundai/Kia removed the parcel shelf too when they calculated the boot space and measured right till the top. I am seeing several videos on YouTube highlighting how great boot space is in Seltos & Creta by removing the parcel tray and trying to fit taller bags and also putting smaller ones on top of each other. But this is not the right way to stack luggage - it severely hampers rear visibility of the driver and also is unsafe if the bags fall on the rear seats upon hard braking.

That is completely illegal as it blocks the rear windshield visibility and by law it is forbidden to block the visibility.. be it by a sunshade, film or piled luggage! Also in the event of a frontal collision accident those piled bags are just missiles waiting to be launched and can cause tremendous injury to occupants.
High time that government / Arai should also standardize this aspect too.
It is in consumer interest and had this been US, the companies who have made false claims of boot space, would have been hit with a class action suit.. but this is India!

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Spec comparison in ACI.

Quote "From the table above, it is quite clear that the Skoda Kushaq is the smallest offering in the segment, at least in terms of its length, width, height and even boot space. ”

I think we are getting obsessed with the fact that the Kushaq is 80 mm shorter than the Creta / Seltos. Don’t think the 3 inches of less space is going to make a difference to the interior - depending on how Skoda has used space, the interior could be as or more spacious than the Creta, or materially less spacious as well. Similarly, the height is adequate. Width is probably what I would worry about the most - but have tested the Seltos, it is not a real 5 seater either.

People happily bought the Seltos at 2.5x the rate of the much larger Hector even though prices are almost identical - and all Skoda is aiming for is Hectorish sales. Think the success of the Kushaq will depend on:

1) How it drives - if it drives like any other Skoda product, that will make it far better than either the Creta or the Seltos
2) Service packages upfront
3) Reliability as far as sales beyond the first couple of years are concerned.

The size is the least of the problems here.

[rahulcmoulee]

Originally Posted by Gizmokid

Same boat. Upgrading from EcoSport. How would a top end kushaq compare against the jeep compass longitude? Maybe 2+L delta in price, but a reasonable comparison?

Same dilemma. Only problem is Compass Longitude has only 2 airbags, which at that price is unacceptable and the Limited is way too expensive.

Hopefully Kushaq and Taigun are priced competetively and offer a typical skoda/vw driving experience.

[Lalitha Venkat]

Originally Posted by S15

1.0 TSi or the 1.5 TSi?
Manual or Automatic?

The 1.4 Auto on the compass is considered a rather dim-witted gearbox.

I test drove the Jeep Compass Petrol Automatic today. I have booked a diesel but wanted to check the Petrol automatic to get a first hand view. I got a good 30 minute test drive. When compare to Vento TSI DSG, the only place this DCT is different is when you are trying to launch the car say from a signal and you have open road ahead of you. If it was the Vento, I would have had the satisfaction of seeing the cars behind by a mile on my rear view mirror. Thats the only area, where there is a noticeable difference. Once the car picks up speed there is no issue and its driving well at higher speeds. The real issue is lack of S mode which is a boon when overtaking on the high ways on the Vento. Since there are no paddle shifters on my Vento really did not miss the same. The engine was refined as compared to Vento.

[headbanger]

Originally Posted by Hayek

People happily bought the Seltos at 2.5x the rate of the much larger Hector even though prices are almost identical - and all Skoda is aiming for is Hectorish sales.

If all the hype around Skoda 2.0 is about getting a Hectorish sales in a segment which is churning 5 digit sales for Seltos and Creta, then I wonder what all the buzz around new strategy is.
All Skoda needs is one more "me too" model from the likes of other mass manufacturers to dilute the Hectorish sales of Kushaq to Rapid like sales. Every new model in the segment first dents the ones with marginal sales before trying to take the fight to the bigger giants in the segment.

[John316_WRC]

Originally Posted by Hayek

The size is the least of the problems here.

You've given some great insights. But I feel the common man would still want the "biggest/largest" car available for the money. Yes it's a weird phenomena unique to us Indians. "I have a bigger car, larger car" is what everyone is aspiring towards. People completely ignore key factors like ease of usage in city traffic, ease of parking, ease of driving through narrow streets or narrow country roads etc.

Case in point - the rather capable S-Cross. Remember all the past station wagon launches that our market simply refused to accept? Also another reason why the sub-compact & compact SUV market is eating into every other bodystyle marketshare in India.

Size over practicality I guess. Sad but true.
I hope the Kushaq can hold its ground.

[Annibaddh]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Thanks for following my thread

Also, for a change Skoda has mentioned "Usable boot space" as 384L for the Kushaq, so I hope that will be fully usable unlike earlier boot space quotes!

I'm going to follow your thread too. To quote GT, that's useful consumer advice!
I'd noticed this weird phenomenon when I was comparing Rapid and Vento all those years back. Vento quoted the boot space at ~ 490 ltrs and Rapid @ ~ 420 ltrs, Vento's included the wheel well space. A close friend has a Compass and there's no way it has anywhere near as much space either in cabin or in the boot to compare with my Vento. Not a chance. He was shocked (he's tall at 6') with the leg room on a recent long road trip too. So this boot space factor really needs to be checked in flesh. I moved a veritable house when I moved bases to Jaipur this past year to get through covid and the Vento just swallowed everything whole. I couldn't believe the amount of stuff we managed to bring all the way from Mumbai.

Unrelated note: The Kushaq seems to be getting more attention than I thought. Frankly i was worried about the "Indianization" of the platform. Will keep an eye out on the first few purchases and experience on this forum. And of course insights on the Taigun. Things look exciting!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Hayek

The size is the least of the problems here.

In few of the compact SUV review threads (biggest example being the XUV 3OO) - many members have requested for a longer/uncropped version which wasn't designed for sub-4m restrictions. Many claimed they would pay the tax premium happily too.

Well, now that wish has come true. This is probably what a compact SUV designed without length restrictions would have become!

Now time to see how many will open their wallets.

PS: Even more convinced Mahindra did the right thing with the boot chop. At 4195mm, it would have been butchered in this segment otherwise!

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

In few of the compact SUV review threads (biggest example being the XUV 3OO) - many members have requested for a longer/uncropped version which wasn't designed for sub-4m restrictions. Many claimed they would pay the tax premium happily too.

PS: Even more convinced Mahindra did the right thing with the boot chop. At 4195mm, it would have been butchered in this segment otherwise!

Well, I think the only issues that hold back the XUV 3oo from being a segment beater in the CSUV space are the boot size and the lack of conventional AT. That taken care of ,it is ahead of its rivals in performance, passenger space/comfort and and of course ,safety. I also think that somewhere within the organization, they may want to protect the long term interest in the XUV5oo which might have been cannibalized had the 3oo been designed full-size.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Hayek

I think we are getting obsessed with the fact that the Kushaq is 80 mm shorter than the Creta / Seltos.

Agreed with the premise of your post . But:

How it drives - if it drives like any other Skoda product, that will make it far better than either the Creta or the Seltos

Now this is where I disagree. No longer are the Koreans selling cars with sloppy handling, boring engines or slow gearboxes. The Creta / Seltos drive extremely well with sorted road manners, superb engines & fast gearboxes. In fact, there is a distinct Euro-feeling to their highway manners. Take the 1.4L turbo-petrol DCT on the highway and you'll be grinning. Further, the two also offer an awesome Diesel AT when few others make the effort to.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by GTO

Now this is where I disagree. No longer are the Koreans selling cars with sloppy handling, boring engines or slow gearboxes. The Creta / Seltos drive extremely well with sorted road manners, superb engines & fast gearboxes. In fact, there is a distinct Euro-feeling to their highway manners. Take the 1.4L turbo-petrol DCT on the highway and you'll be grinning. Further, the two also offer an awesome Diesel AT when few others make the effort to.

Yes, the Korean SUVs are fine but nothing great to drive. There is that sense of euro solid feeling still lacking in them. And especially the 1.4 T and DCT combo is very mediocre IMO, and does not do justice to the power figures promised and DCT is just not quick enough. They might as well just offer a torque converter instead as that will at least have better reliability.
And this is with me coming from a TSI DSG combo in the polo, trust me the polo felt quicker. Now waiting to try out the 1.5 TSI DSG.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by GTO

In fact, there is a distinct Euro-feeling to their highway manners. Take the 1.4L turbo-petrol DCT on the highway and you'll be grinning.

True, as they say racing improves the breed and Hyundai is busy winning world rally championships.

Not only is Hyundai getting better on the handling front but they are getting very good at engine development too.

The 1.4 Kia Seltos manual with a 140 bhp is as fast as the earlier Laura 1.8 TSI. Not only is it good in the higher reaches of the power band it also has almost nil turbo lag with peak torque coming at a lowish 1500 rpm. That indicates a very good engine.

The 1.4 turbo petrol Seltos will be faster than the 1.5 TSI Kushaq even though it has 10 bhp less.

VW’s half hearted development of the 1.5 TSI is the reason for this situation.

[Axe77]

Personally, all these cars come with some setback.

Lack of a capable performance oriented Diesel engine is the biggest setback for the VAG range today. However low my running, I simply cannot digest the FE of 6-8 kmpl (Mumbai city) that most automatic petrols throw up. Whether I am buying a 20 lakh crossover or a 50L+ sedan.

My other big grouse with the Kushaq is the very mediocre size as well as designed boot. Boot space is a big factor to me and while they seem to have managed comparable interior space (understandably - most people will judge that more and be ok with sub par boot space), it simply doesn’t work for me. In stock mode it becomes a Venue / Sonet competing car for me and even with seats folded it appears clumsy not creating a flat base etc.

Historically VAG has spoilt us with the best boot space and comfort in their segment. The Kushaq (actually even T ROC) represent a different kind of VAG product that is smaller than their immediate (price) competition.

Its a matter of VAG positioning and perception (which auto journos are lapping up in compliance) that everyone has said the Kushaq is a Creta and Seltos competitor. I query in fact as to why it should not be considered a Sonet / Venue competitor. The latter have the same engines as the Creta and Seltos and if you spec out the Kushaq on other aspects, it is as close / apart from the larger Korean twins as it is to the smaller Korean twins.