[motorlover]

Had cancelled my booking of xuv300 because of numerous delays on their side and was waiting for kushaq. Disappointed with the pricing definitely. I really don't understand why they do this. Xuv300 too such a lovely car overpriced and then they did price correction and suddenly the demand increased inspite of the cramped boot. Come on Skoda , you would actually have been the King of the segment had you got the pricing right. The car will be in the showroom on 3rd or 4th July. I will still go and check out personally to understand their pricing.

[jeetumg27]

Really shocked about the 2 airbags on AT’s! AT models are generally considered the most premium models in any manufacturer’s range, and shortchanging a premium customer in India is the last thing VAG needs! More common sense needs to permeate through the corporate layers at VAG. It’s like doing a great trailer for a movie, but having a flop climax! They have spent enough time in India and if they are still unable to understand the Indian customer preference, their “King” will never be accepted.

[Turbohead]

The rants in this thread goes on to show how much people were waiting for the Kushaq.

Personally, the prices were as expected- with a depreciating ruppee, insane taxes and high material costs, this was bound to happen.

I'm not bothered about the features as such but the space at the rear is a deal breaker for me and I wouldn't even bother test driving if it can't seat 3 at the back. Can't imagine why existing Polo/ Vento/ Rapid drivers would upgrade to this.

Eitherway, I feel people should stop sweating it out here. People will vote with their wallets and Skoda will be the loser- they misread the hype in all the forums/ car related pages thanks to some crazy fans(trust me, they'll be school/college kids especially in Instagram) who went gaga over something they most likely wouldn't be able to afford.

I'm expecting some discounts in 6 months in true Skoda 'Style'!

Stop sweating it out guys! It's after all a company who works like a govt office when it comes to customer service and warranty repairs- especially with the sure to fail DSG gearboxes. They can't handle high volumes and they know it.

[Vik0728]

I thought Skoda will keep a fair premium, considering there is some cost-cutting in the car (e.g. plastics lower down in the cabin, standard sunroof instead of panoramic, misaligned stitching, basic reversing cam and no 360 view etc.).

In addition to these, what really scores extremely low and outright disgusting in my books is the removal of:

- One touch up/down all four power windows
- Desirable and Iconic wind-tone horn that most call 'The Skoda Horn'
- All round disc brakes on 1.5 TSI at least (if not standard)

Personally, I just love the old school analogue speedo console and after paying north of 2 million INR, still ok to live with No 360 degree camera. Hell I can surely source a better reversing camera as well, but the above three functional features are huge omissions.

Many a people might have a misconception that if it is localized, it is bound to miss out on the true German finesse...Skoda has given all the more reasons to cement this belief.

[superguy282]

Man, at these prices it's difficult to justify, although I do see a very niche appeal for the 1.5 Manual. This is similar to the Rapid vs. City/Verna dilema where it's a heart vs. brain choice. Maybe Skoda intended it to be as such.

OT: This is one of the rare occasions where a TeamBHP thread is similar to a regular forum/reddit thread with Opinions flying everywhere. I need popcorn

[imp!]

I genuinely do not understand why people are up in arms about the pricing of the Kushaq. It is on par in terms of acquisition cost with the Seltos, but it does miss out on features and airbags.

Skoda's have always been well equipped with a focus on driving. Generally speaking, the Koreans usually give the most features for the same amount of money. If it doesn't work for someone, just don't buy it. To me, these tiny 1.0L and 1.5L Engines are best suited for city and beater duty. While it would be nice to have 6 airbags, I don't worry about it too much for a car that goes to work or dinner.

Having said that, I understand that a car like this needs to serve all purposes for most customers. If I absolutely had to get a small engine as a Go Anywhere Do Anything type of vehicle, I likely would pick the Seltos or Creta over this provided they drive decently, and, I don't say that lightly, there are few Korean cars I have ever liked. Ofcourse, in all likelihood, I would buy a pre-owned car with a decent midrange to allow for good highway cruising and enough power to get out of hairy situations. 20 Lakhs can get you a fairly good condition Octavia/Superb/3 Series.

[sam264_2000]

DOA. I'm expecting "Buy in 2021, Pay in 2022" coming up in Oct/Nov timeframe.

[Gosha]

It was a "Simply Clever" move by Skoda, most likely the extra four airbags price would be insurance for the most likely future DQ200 failure goodwill repairs in the 1.5tsi.

[karanddd]

Originally Posted by Lowflyer23

EDIT: VAG group cars are premium, safer and better to drive than most of their rivals and that's the reason they command a premium. In fact, their 40 lac rupee cars (Superb and Allspace) are bargains as they give cars 2 segments above a run for their money.

I hope you're joking. Nobody seriously thinks a Superb gives an E Class a run for its money. Both Volkswagen and Skoda are mass-market budget car brands, and Skoda in Europe is associated with cut-rate cars. Skoda cars in India have been historically more expensive than the budget hatchbacks churned out by Maruti and Hyundai, which has somehow distorted its image for Indian customers. Skoda is keen to cash in on that, except hasn't really been able to because ultimately any customer first and foremost wants a good car for their money, not just good brand value.

This is outside the Indian context, but consider the segment of, say, performance sedans, which has traditionally been the mainstay of BMW M cars and Cadillac CTS type American marquees. Kia now has a genuine competitor to those cars in the Stinger (and which has been described by Car and Driver and others as being genuinely better than an M car). So in a sense it's Kia that has more brand value and cache in the world as a whole. You do not see Skoda coming up with an M rivalling performance sedan, and the Octavia competes with the Golfs, Civics and Ford Focuses of the world.

We Indians have a reputation for having heads buried in the sand, and this is especially true in the automobile context. That Skoda by virtue of being Czech and owned by Volkswagen is somehow just more "premium" than Hyundai or Kia or Tata is simply laughable. These are all mass market cars, they all exist to sell in numbers, and to be practical run arounds for their owners. What may or may not be premium is how they feel to drive or sit in (not what badge they carry), and that's also what the customer is looking for, and it's obvious what the customers are voting for with their wallets.

[androdev]

Was hoping for a blockbuster launch given all the hype but I guess they offer neither a killer-price to attract the value conscious nor a killer-spec to attract the premium seekers. They should have pleased at least one of these two segments. Hopefully they will offer more variants in the future to cater to these two segments. For now this turned out to be a standard fare VW launch with excessive marketing blitz leading to excessive social media backlash. It's a decent launch overall, just that it made no attempt to disrupt the status quo.

Don't have to fear DQ200 DSG so much. It has a very high failure rate for sure but I guess it will become very much a repairable transmission like manual gearbox in a couple years. You will see more and more threads about DSG being repaired in pvt garages for cheap. It's a phenomenal gear box if fun-to-drive is your thing and totally worth the risk. If taking calculated risks is your thing, definitely go for DSG. It's the very best thing about owning a VW (also the worst).

Ford Ecosport: Very good choice definitely. Safe and well built. I have done many back to back test drives with Ford Ecosport for friends and driving a VW always felt better.

Kia Seltos: Strong contender. Looks sharp and good drivetrain options. Some don't just trust it on highways.

Hyundai Creta: Diametrically opposite design language compared to a VW. Never moved past this hurdle to evaluate other aspects.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Isn't it a common feature at the price point? Even Kushaq gets the feature only on the top-end Style variant, which is similar to other cars in it's class. The Koreans just call it electrochromic mirror (ECM) instead.

But yes - I wish someone had taken the initiative to offer this feature across the range.

If I read the brochure correctly, Kushaq offers an auto dimming ORVMs in addition to the auto dimming IRVM. I believe, it is a very important feature. No other manufacturer offers it in any other car other than the Skoda on this side of 35 lakhs.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by 07CR

If I read the brochure correctly, Kushaq offers an auto dimming ORVMs in addition to the auto dimming IRVM. I believe, it is a very important feature. No other manufacturer offers it in any other car other than the Skoda on this side of 35 lakhs.

I think the ORVM is anti glare not auto dimming. Auto dimming will be way too expensive for this segment. Anti glare is a green tinge on the mirror.

Many members on the forum replaced the ORVM on their Polo and Rapid's with the anti glare version.

[steadfast]

Well curious to know and if someone can help in this :

Do we have some forum members who have connects with Skoda management and if they could let us know

1.) if the management is shocked or taken aback by universal backlash post price and variant reveal or is the business as usual for management ? Did they expect such backlash ?

2.) Any uber insights on % cancellations?

3.) If VW is planning to be proactive by monitoring Kushaq's feedback and learning from it to have a better feature distribution for top AT models?

Thanks.

[speedfreak01]

Here is the video of Skoda Kushaq Ambition. Looks pretty well put together atleast from the video but has pretty sad looking rims. Will go and check it out on this sunday probably. I am confused between Kia Sonet GTX+ and Kushaq Ambition 1.0 MT. Althought Kia is winning hands down.

https://youtu.be/H5bIZ3JO6ns

[07CR]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I think the ORVM is anti glare not auto dimming. Auto dimming will be way too expensive for this segment. Anti glare is a green tinge on the mirror.

Many members on the forum replaced the ORVM on their Polo and Rapid's with the anti glare version.

But doesn't it serve the same purpose. Please correct me if I am wrong.
I would love to have it on the Ecosport.