[vinitbarve]

What are the benefits of pre-booking? You just show your keeness and hence give away the option of negotiating some freebies. Any real benefits to locking in capital upfront?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Booked Variant: 1.0 TSI Manual Active
Colour: Carbon steel

Congrats.

Reminds me of the Rapid Rider. For a time I was wondering if purchasing it in that Carbon Steel shade makes sense, all thanks to the pricing. Skoda does make sensible entry level variants!

Hopefully they can pull a similar ace off the sleeve for the Kushaq too.

[TokyoDrifter]

Originally Posted by vinitbarve

What are the benefits of pre-booking? You just show your keeness and hence give away the option of negotiating some freebies. Any real benefits to locking in capital upfront?

Priority delivery. Nothing else. If the wait period runs into higher units, you are hedged against that. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Piyush19]

Originally Posted by vinitbarve

What are the benefits of pre-booking? You just show your keeness and hence give away the option of negotiating some freebies. Any real benefits to locking in capital upfront?

We are not usually offered any discounts/freebies on new launches anyhow. Apart from that, there's this assurity of getting the vehicle on the introductory price itself and getting your hands on the latest fad in the market real soon!

[abhishek_hch]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Booked it

Congratulations Latheesh. I have very keenly observed your love-hate-love-hate relationship with Kushaq here on this forum & thread. Finally, love has triumphed Would be happier to see it when you bring it home.

What final price expectation do you have for the booked variant?

[rahulraag]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Booked it

Finally booked Kushaq by paying 35000/- to the local dealer (small sales outlet).

Hi Latheesh, congratulations on your booking. I couldn't help notice that your location is Kannur (I am from there too). I thought the Skoda Sales outlet, if I remember correctly Pinnacle has been defunct for over a year now. Have they resumed business or is this a new outfit? I had driven by few months back and I believe they still had the shutters down.

[MADMAX111]

Size wise it looks like a competitor fir Kia Sonet, Not Creta or Seltos. They can say whatever in ads, but it us sized like a princeling.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Booked it

Finally booked Kushaq by paying 35000/- to the local dealer (small sales outlet).

Booked Variant: 1.0 TSI Manual Active
Colour: Carbon steel

Final decision on variant and colour will be taken on 28th after the official announcement ( Active/ Ambition, manual/auto). Mine is the 5th booking at this dealer.

Congrats, Keep the booking. Never bother about 1L here or there.

I always favor, buying the car which pull right strings in your heart. Never care about the noise or unwarranted criticisms. Just do it once you like it.

I was in same boat, 11 years back when I got the Polo. There was never a doubt in my mind. Never once I repented the decision.

No other cars excited me for all these years. Kushaq comes close to what I am looking for a car currently.
I always respect car makers who treat Indians with respect.

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by MADMAX111

Size wise it looks like a competitor fir Kia Sonet, Not Creta or Seltos. They can say whatever in ads, but it us sized like a princeling.

Just looks but it isn't, infact I think it has slightly longer wheelbase. Looks that way cause it probably isn't as tall. I had looked the dimensions up some days ago cause it look smaller in pictures.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by AnnaRocks

Congrats!
Waiting patiently for the price reveal. (or Honda City as you too suggested, if they over price it).

Thanks. All depends on the price reveal on 28th. If base variant is above 10L I will cancel and go for Honda City V manual.

Originally Posted by vinitbarve

What are the benefits of pre-booking? You just show your keeness and hence give away the option of negotiating some freebies. Any real benefits to locking in capital upfront?

No benefits other than early delivery. If there are any issue with the car, that will be a big loss for us early adopters (+financial loss+family issues), but it will help others.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Congrats.

Reminds me of the Rapid Rider. For a time I was wondering if purchasing it in that Carbon Steel shade makes sense, all thanks to the pricing. Skoda does make sensible entry level variants!

Hopefully they can pull a similar ace off the sleeve for the Kushaq too.

Thanks. Main reason for Carbon steel color is - None of the exterior design elements stands out in this color. Active variants have few missing design elements as well (black roof rail, door handle design, chrome parts etc.), this color gel well with the black parts and masks all missing features. If Skoda do not offer this color in the base variant my next pick is silver or white (with roof wrap in black)

Originally Posted by abhishek_hch

Congratulations Latheesh. I have very keenly observed your love-hate-love-hate relationship with Kushaq here on this forum & thread. Finally, love has triumphed Would be happier to see it when you bring it home.

What final price expectation do you have for the booked variant?

Thanks and you are correct! One of the reasons for booking Kushaq is the size of it. We have some parking constrains and Kushaq fits in the available covered space (My parking space design is so funny that I am thinking of starting a separate thread).

Active if it is under 10L
Ambition if it is ~ 11+few thousands.
Ambition Auto if it is priced well (+wife's approval required)

Originally Posted by poloman

Congrats, Keep the booking. Never bother about 1L here or there.

I always favor, buying the car which pull right strings in your heart. Never care about the noise or unwarranted criticisms. Just do it once you like it.

I was in same boat, 11 years back when I got the Polo. There was never a doubt in my mind. Never once I repented the decision.

No other cars excited me for all these years. Kushaq comes close to what I am looking for a car currently.
I always respect car makers who treat Indians with respect.

Thanks. My last car was Chevrolet spark, so I am somewhat prepared for the infamous "Skoda service experience". All depends on 1L TSI variants pricing. I like Kushaq (based on available information) and City. Couple of issues with the City I have are 1. parking space constraints 2. low GC.

Few points that drove me towards Kushaq:
1L TSI + 6 speed gear box - I had great fun during the Rapid test drive
Compact size
Clean design (except that front moustache + slightly odd rear design)
Rear space
GC (in between sedans and sub-4m crossovers)

I had booked Polo Turbo edition few months back and VW could not deliver the same. Skoda is a same group company, so the expectation is very low.

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by MADMAX111

Size wise it looks like a competitor fir Kia Sonet, Not Creta or Seltos. They can say whatever in ads, but it us sized like a princeling.

I was going to say Nexon. But yeah the front seats are lot closer than they are on my Creta. Seats look a bit narrow. Almost sub 4m width. Unless the photo angles are deceiving the eyes.

[Hayek]

A truly interesting thread which shows how anticipated this car is. Making predictions about the success of a car before even the first reviews come out is a bit of a mug’s game.

But I do think that if Skoda have produced a car that lives up to their potential, this could be a game changer for them - even if it sells far less than the Seltos or Creta.

I hark back to 2010 when I was a Honda loyalist who was sure I would buy an Accord to replace my City. One drive of the Superb and I was sold, and despite all the reliability challenges I faced, I do not regret the decision one bit. The fact is that in every segment they have played in so far (except luxury brands), VAG cars are far better to drive than the competition. I agree that the Seltos 1.4 DCT is by far the best Korean car I have ever driven (and I have not test driven the new Creta), but I would be very disappointed if the 1.5 TSI DSG Kushaq is not much better to drive than that. I also think people who claim the Kushaq is similar in size to Venue or Sonet are talking through their hats - it is much closer in size to the Seltos, even if marginally smaller. And Skoda and VW have far better brand value for the niche they target than Hyundai or Kia - and should be able to meet their targets of 5000 cars a month each quite easily at least in the initial days.

After that, it is a question of their ability to cope with scale in their plants and at dealerships - but done right, they can move towards the 5% market share as a group which is not bad at all. And that is what many of us a missing - VAG is NOT trying to be Maruti here - it is trying to get to a level where the Indian operations are sustainable. Which is more than can be said for any global player in India bar Suzuki, Hyundai and Toyota.

[400notout]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Thanks. My last car was Chevrolet spark, so I am somewhat prepared for the infamous "Skoda service experience". All depends on 1L TSI variants pricing. I like Kushaq (based on available information) and City. Couple of issues with the City I have are 1. parking space constraints 2. low GC.

All the best Lateesh! I wish the king in ambition variant in your awkward parking space. Being an ex owner of the Chevrolet Spark, I would know that feeling. We are beyond damage .

[RPM1706]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

Just looks but it isn't, infact I think it has slightly longer wheelbase. Looks that way cause it probably isn't as tall. I had looked the dimensions up some days ago cause it look smaller in pictures.

Absolutely! What exactly does someone do with an extra few centimetres is just beyond me. Maybe it's just me but I am not obsessing over a few extra and buy a vehicle just for the sake of a "larger" car.

Sure, there is the stance and the road presence and all of that. But as I would like to spend more time inside and enjoy the interiors and the drive rather than being outside to scope the dimensions, I am fine. If you love the way it looks and the way it drives, a few cms less isn't pulling me away from my dream car.

[Lambydude]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Booked it

Finally booked Kushaq by paying 35000/- to the local dealer (small sales outlet).

Congratulations!

Is there a Skoda dealer in Kannur? I was under the impression that the nearest one is in Kozhikode.