[Venkatesh]

It's just a matter of time for Monte Carlo badge on the 1.5 TSI Skoda Kushaq.

[JishD]

Originally Posted by colin84

Have you tried driving it on winding roads (hilly areas) with full load? If yes have you experienced any additional lag?
Also how is the AC performance? Seen many posts where people complaining that it is not up to the mark

I have not taken it to the hills yet , but I don't foresee any challenges - the baby TSI has enough power to deal with this.

The 1.0 however has completely different behavior compared to the 1.2 tsi. There is noticeable low end lag between 10-20 kph if you drive with a heavy foot , whereas the 1.2 is super smooth. However the midrange (60-100) is strangely stronger in the 1.0 - where the 1.2 (in D mode) shifts into a D7 around 80, and becomes sluggish as it drops revs out of the powerband , the 1.0 holds gears longer (D5) and delivers better power. Somehow the 1.0 power delivery reminds me of the 1st gen Swift/dzire 1.3 diesel I had once.

Regards AC performance, it is perfectly adequate , but not bone chilling cold in the front seats. Rear occupants however were quite happy .I believe the Auto AC logic is flawed, as it frequently cuts off or brings in outside hot air. If you switch Auto off and keep the temp around 19-20 in Recirculation mode, it should work much better.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by sanchari

I don't know what people hope to achieve with list of breakdown.

It works as a caution for new buyers. My business partner booked the 1.5 DSG and is awaiting delivery. I just sent this post to him so that he will be fully informed.

Originally Posted by sanchari

So thinking that the issue is related to only 15-20 people complaining on FB will be pretty naive.

The cumulative sales of Kushaq so far is around 4000 odd. 20+ known cases with issues is fairly a good number in my opinion.

[colin84]

Originally Posted by JishD

The 1.0 however has completely different behavior compared to the 1.2 tsi. There is noticeable low end lag between 10-20 kph if you drive with a heavy foot , whereas the 1.2 is super smooth. However the midrange (60-100) is strangely stronger in the 1.0 -
Regards AC performance, it is perfectly adequate , but not bone chilling cold in the front seats. Rear occupants however were quite happy .I believe the Auto AC logic is flawed, as it frequently cuts off or brings in outside hot air. If you switch Auto off and keep the temp around 19-20 in Recirculation mode, it should work much better.

Yes I agree with your observation ... initially there is some lag .. but was not aware of the midrange (60-100) as I had taken a very short TD that also in traffic
Good to know that it does not struggle in the (60-100) range.
Also thanks for confirming about the AC performance.

[vasi_raju]

Hello BHPians,

Here is a short purchase, delivery, and initial ownership experience (I am writing my experience during the purchase of my close friend, We know each other more than 20 years and are like family staying in the same apartment complex.) in which I was an integral part of Budgeting, Analysis, TD, Pre Delivery Inspection, and delivery of Skoda Kushaq 1.0 TSI Ambition AT.

It always feels so good to keep reading and looking into articles about a potential candidate you want to zero down on. Since this was made as a suggestion to my friend, I was extra cautious about what would be the final product.

So it all begins with a Requirement Specification Document :-) and here is the list which we had

Usage

• The vehicle is mostly going to be a highway-driven one which should accommodate a family of 4+ 1.
• Inter-City usage is restricted to weekend usage.

Category of vehicle

This is the tricky one which I was trying hard to convince my friend. I will come to the reasons in a little while.As the initial process, we kept the list open which consisted of CSUV, Crossovers, Hatchbacks, Sedans.

Transmission type
This was decided to be an Automatic one well ahead. In a city like Bangalore, it makes more sense to keep life simple.

Budget
The initial thought was to keep it below 12L.

Part-1
The list of candidates we started looking into are the ones below. I will detail the reasons for not choosing which we thought is applicable as per our requirements. I am also classifying this into 2 parts.

Tata Nexon

• Nexon was the first car we tried.
• The showroom was filled with people and we were happy for TATA.

Likes

• Good exterior build quality
• Better safety rating

Dislikes

• Poor interior quality
• Head Nods due to AMT

Honda Jazz
Likes

• Well trusted and highly proven engine
• Wonderful real estate inside the car

Dislikes

• Interior looks
• Buggy/Not so friendly touch buttons for AC, infotainment
• A decade-old design
• Possibility of the model moving away from India to make way for the City Hatchback

Hyundai i20 IVT

Likes

• Feature-rich car
• The turbo engine

Dislikes

• Interior space
• Not a VFM vehicle
• No car with IVT was available for a TD

KIA Sonet
Likes

• Feature-rich car
• The turbo engine

Dislikes

• Interior space
• Not a VFM vehicle

Maruthi Suzuki S-Cross
Likes

• Was better than any MSIL product
• Had a rich experience in the NEXA showroom

Dislikes

• 4 speed AT (Old, outdated)
• An old facelifted design which will get a new version soon

Nissan Magnite
Then came the News and ADs about Nissan Magnite. With the killer pricing, we went with it and checked the vehicle. It was a true VFM vehicle. The TDs went smooth and my friend (who is a first-time buyer) was happy with it as it was fitting his bill and had all the bells and whistles for a car at this price. We went ahead and booked the Vehicle on Jan 2, 2021, with*XV Premium Turbo CVT Dual Tone in Flare Garnet Red & Onyx Black color.*

Then started the waiting game.

The delivery as per the time when we booked was the end of April. By March the 2nd way kicked in and the dealer did not communicate any delay to us. By end of April, the delivery was pushed to the end of June. We waited till June, and then came another delay info due to global chip shortage which pushed the delivery to end July. When we checked in July the dealer said the delivery can happen only by October due to employee Strike, high demand, etc. We lost our patience and started the process from scratch again.*

By this time, my friend had a Job change and was ok to increase the budget by a few lakhs.

Part-2

This time we kept the budget to 16-18 Lakhs On-Road Bangalore.*

Within those 7 months (Jan to July), I sold my car (Swift Dzire, VDI) and got an All New Honda City V (CVT) which came to 15.3 Lakhs On-Road Bangalore.*

With prior research already done by me for cars between 13 to 17 Lakhs range, I recommended him to go with the All-New Honda City V (CVT). I am 5' 8" and the Low Body, seating worked well for me. My friend who is 6' 2" tried it and was hitting his head in the roof and the knees in the dashboard which made us rule out the Sedans.*

The only options we had were

• KIA Seltos
• Hyundai Creta
• Skoda Kushaq

Unfortunately, we do not have too many options between 15 to 20 Lakhs budget.
KIA Seltos was ruled out simply because of the build quality. We had a first-hand experience shared by one of my close friends who had to spend 50k to fix an AC issue due to a dog hitting the fog lamp on a highway.

Hyundai though was a little better than KIA, we did not want to spend that much money for a car that is soon going to have a facelift version released.

Mahindra XUV 700 was not in the picture when we were deciding, so we had no problems :-)

The only contender was Skoda Kushaq.

Test Drive and Booking Experience
On understanding our requirements well now and after doing enough background research, we went to the showroom and checked the car. It was TAFE Access in ORR, HSR Layout and we checked out the car in detail.

We also had another guy whom we met in the showroom who was interested in booking Kushaq after seeing the social media post about Seltos. He had booked a Manual one and was planning to cancel the Seltos booking due to the same “safety and quality” reason.

We stuck a deal in the showroom in TD so that we can understand the ride quality better. We were in the back seat for his TD and he was in the back seat for our TD. The idea was to get each other’s opinions on the ride, comfort, and build quality.

The vehicle had a good build quality, features, comfort. I have driven my friend KIA Seltos for close to 2 months and I felt the drive quality, seat back support is better in Kushaq. I fell in love with the steering, the volume controls, and the display quality of the infotainment system.

We decided that the Mid variant will suit the requirements as the ventilated seat, Sunroof, etc are not something we wanted. The thing which I missed from the top variant is the Black Alloys. Since the showroom did not contain an Orange vehicle (Ambition) in place, I was worried how the alloys of Ambition will look like in the color we opted for. We went ahead and discussed the booking formalities, offers, etc. we were told that the delivery for the color we opted will take a month and no offers are applicable due to demand.

After heading home, we checked with other dealers. PPS Skoda had a vehicle available and was also offering discounts on insurance, basic accessory kits. We asked if a TD can be arranged at home and we got one to show to the family. Did a TD again with family and they liked it. This time I wanted to check if there were any rubber band effect and took it for a spin in ORR stretch. Was able to feel the turbo kicking in on sudden acceleration and that was something which anyway was not a deal-breaker for us. We decided to go with the booking and paid a token. The vehicle was allocated for us and we started the loan formalities. In a week's time, we got a call that the vehicle is available for pre-delivery inspection post which they can go ahead with the registration process.


Pre Delivery Inspection
Thanks to our team of enthusiasts for sharing all the required things to check for. With the list in place we went and checked the vehicle. Skoda has done a neat job of keeping the Engine Chassis Number easily readable from the front. I am not sure how much of it will be useful as I have hardly used the engine number for any events but still appreciate the job. The ODO was 50KMs. We were informed that the dealer does a test, inspect the car before the registration process.

Below are few clicks of the beauty on the day of PDI. We went to a yard that had VW, Skoda, and Mahindra Cars, and I was feeling like a kid taken to a Toy Store that day :-)





Delivery Day

Post-registration, the dealer took 5 working days to get the secure number plate fitted (which is way too long, as I could get my car delivered the next day after registration with number plates). We went to the showroom by 3 PM, took an hour to get all the details about the car to make sure we don't miss anything.

Below are few clicks of the beauty on the day of Delivery



Ready for Delivery



Myself, My Friends Dad and My Friend getting the delivery :-)

Initial Ownership Experience

Since I own a Honda City, and had been driving the KIA Seltos for 3+ months when I did not have a car, I will keep this section more of a comparison between the 3 cars (wherever applicable) as I feel it might help any potential buyer.

Right from the showroom, I got to drive it 30+ KMs straight with a mix of highway/city experience. The car is very peppy, loved the soft pedals which zip when we press it a little hard. The turbo kicks in well and asks us to revv more. From a point of view of fun to drive, I will rank Kushaq first, followed by City, and then will be the Seltos.

I loved the design of the steering in Kushaq. Compared to Rapid, while driving it feels very light. The turning radius is pretty awesome. The floating design makes it an inch closer to the premium offerings.




Once you get inside the car, mainly as a driver, you feel the space inside the Kushaq. The positioning of them is a little irritating and requires some time to get used to. For eg., the indicators, wipers are the opposite. The central lock-in is in the middle below the infotainment system. You will need some intelligence to know how to unlock the car as there is no unlock all door's button. For this price, I would have expected a wireless charger in place. Since all the ports are type-c, make sure you are prepared to get a set to use in the car.

The infotainment system is top-notch, the quality of the display is excellent when compared to a Honda City (or) KIA Seltos. On the audio front, I will rate it wonderful but Seltos scores here.



I really like the LED units, the throw of them is excellent. Definitely better than the Seltos and City.



The stock tires look good to hold for the next 35+k km. The wheels are also rightly sized. The color of the alloy for the mid variant could have also been black.





Ingress and exit in Kushaq felt better for me compared to Seltos. Not comparing the City here as it is a different class/structure. The seating back support for a driver in Kushaq is wonderful compared to the Seltos and City.

In Kushaq the rear is for strictly 2 Adults + 1 Kid. The Seltos scored better here outperforming the City. In terms of rear legroom, City leads followed by both kushaq and Seltos.

The boot is manageable for weekend travel. With the option to remove the tray, you can pile a couple of extra luggage in Kushaq.

Minor things like Child Lock of rear doors require us to have the keys handy without which you cannot set or reset the door from the child lock. In City, it is a physical button which had been very useful for me till now. If I am doubtful on the move while taking my son alone with me, I can stop the car without turning the engine off, check if the child lock is set and then start driving back.



The Tyre Pressure Sticker is stuck on the passenger side door in the front (Meehh, Why Zac?) We also get a holder to place a parking timer card (common in Europe) which I don't know why we are having in India.

The rear cameras are good, the rear looks are also good. They have given a nice notch for the boot button. The rear of Skoda definitely looks a segment up mainly because of the metal prints of SKODA placed (Gives some feel as if it's a Volvo).





For the price paid, there is not Push to START/STOP button. Call it cost-cutting? It makes one feel as if the car is not so premium whenever they start it. Also, there is no Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). Not so happy with this decision Zac.

Overall, the car is definitely a good buy among the current lot with very few to pick from for someone looking for an SUV in a 15-20 Lakh budget.



Welcome Home you Beauty :-) Along with my Honda City V (CVT), looking for more miles with this new buddy

Regards,
Vasi

[vishegde]

https://www.carblogindia.com/skoda-k...ty-tested/amp/

Not sure if this has been posted here.

Mods: Please delete if already posted or is not relevant

[VEA]

I have been told during booking that wait times for steel grey colour is much higher than the other colours, currently more than 2 months for 1.5 Style AT. All other colours are available in less than a month’s time. Is this the case in other cities as well?

[Oomph11]

Originally Posted by VEA

I have been told during booking that wait times for steel grey colour is much higher than the other colours, currently more than 2 months for 1.5 Style AT. All other colours are available in less than a month’s time. Is this the case in other cities as well?

Yes the carbon steel colour commands the highest waiting period, it’s around two months and every other colour and model is available much earlier. It’s a case PAN India as it’s a colour in high demand.

[DragonHawk]

I feel sorry for the folks whoever has reported EPC issues, hope Skoda addresses it urgently and wins back the buyer's confidence. It has been over 2 weeks now since I got my Kushaq 1.5MT and I have covered almost 1000kms now and thought of sharing some updates before my ownership review is ready.

What I liked:
* Punchy TSI motor, no doubt I had bought this car only for this engine, and boy o boy it just pulls like a locomotive. I just feel addicted to driving this motor and genuinely it is one of the best fun to drive machine I have ever driven.
* Suspension is neutral which is neither soft nor too hard. This dynamic nature offers a much more plush ride and is more evident from the feedback I had received from my wife who often complains of motion sickness while traveling in Ecosport but here she feels much more comfortable.
* LED headlights are super bright but it is shame that Skoda offers normal halogen for fog lamps.
* Skoda Sound system is the next best I have seen from OEM stable.

What I didn`t like:
* Infotainment system has a mind of its own. So far I have witnessed a couple of niggles, during one instance I found that speakers stopped working altogether. System reset didn`t work at first instance and after the second try, it started working as if nothing has happened. Apart from that, I have seen the rear camera display was not coming in the infotainment system and had to resort to a system reset. Both these issues were seen only once and being a new launch, these kinds of minor niggles are expected, and hope Skoda will address them during the next update.
* For the past few days I am hearing squeaking noise coming from the Sunroof. It is so irritating that I feel like driving by keeping the sunroof open. Temporarily I could fix this by using velcro straps and so far no noise, hope it stays like that till I get it checked at Skoda ASC.
* One thing which I am totally unhappy with Skoda is the cheap quality AC vents. AC vent slider is so fragile that one of it already gave up.
* MySkoda Connect is still not working, ideally, the dealer should have configured it during delivery and due to some internal issues, it is still pending. However, I am happy with the way Skoda CC has been following up and has kept me updated. I hope this gets resolved soon.

Overall I would say Kushaq has all the essence of a blockbuster product. With all the hoopla around localization, Skoda successfully managed to spoil their fortune by offering the product with missing features, cost cutting by means of using cheap plastics, and pricing blunder. With all the negative publicity it got due to EPC issues, I hope Skoda fixes it and comes out clean.

[drivingmelody]

Found this beautiful video posted by Kushaq owner driving from Delhi to Kolkata.

https://youtu.be/2jvQ3KkqSi0

Distance of 1600 km in two days.

[Abhishek.ckt]

I got my Kushaq Ambition 1.0 MT on 5th Aug '21 and done 1170 kms run till 03rd Sept '21 including 2 long trips of 235 kms and 522 kms on an extremely rainy day. Mileage in city is between 11.5 to 13 and on highways around 17.

I have been driving a VW Vento 1.6 TDI since 2012 and feel that there not much of let down in build quality or interiors in Kushaq except the power windows which are not all one touch operation. Sound quality in old Vento feels better even with 4 speaker setup (maybe personal choice, nothing to complain here). Kushaq's light is very good considering that Vento's stock light fixtures can be classified as poor.

Wanted to take the Kushaq on a 1300 kms journey next week from Noida to Ranchi but these horror stories of EPC error stop me to take my family alongwith, so will be driving my good old Vento in this trip to Ranchi as it has done several runs between the two cities in past. Though I find Kushaq more planted than Vento TDI for city drive, it is no match to the Vento on open expressways, Vento 1.6 TDI has mind blowing in gear acceleration.

As of now, I am happy with the car and the ride quality it offers, trust is something which will be built as I run the mill more. I have plans for 3500 kms highway run in Oct-Nov '21 on Kushaq. One problem (don't know if it really is but I find it weird) that I have observed in Kushaq (3 times in 30 days) is that the ORVM closed themselves and opened again in midst of driving without any command from my side. I haven't yet informed Skoda service team of this issue because I believe this may be very difficult to debug.

[JishD]

Originally Posted by Abhishek.ckt

Wanted to take the Kushaq on a 1300 kms journey next week from Noida to Ranchi but these horror stories of EPC error stop me to take my family alongwith, so will be driving my good old Vento in this trip to Ranchi as it has done several runs between the two cities in past.

Check YouTube - someone has done a 1600 km trip from NCR to Kolkata with zilch issues. I personally have done a 450 km odd round trip with family without encountering any challenges.

Of course family is priority - if you consider eliminating all probability , then your decision to take the Vento is right. But if you take the plunge, we will have yet another reference in the forum that the fears are unfounded.

[Abhishek.ckt]

Originally Posted by JishD

Of course family is priority - if you consider eliminating all probability , then your decision to take the Vento is right. But if you take the plunge , we will have yet another reference in the forum that the fears are unfounded.

You said it right, I am just eliminating all probability of getting stuck on a highway with two toddlers in the car. I don't have any fear taking the Kushaq on a very long drive and in fact it will go for at least 3.5k to 4k run in the 1st week of October, but without family. Any new machine can have issues, test scenario can never be the same as real ground where thoudands of machines are running in different environment and using different blend of fuel, this has nothing to do with Kushaq and the EPC error, such things happen and they are eventually fixed, I don't see this as a challenge.

[ron178]

Can anyone find any form of official communication from Škoda that explicitly states that the front seatbelts get pyrotechnic pretensioners? I can't seem to find it anywhere, not even in the official brochure or in the safety slide in the market launch. I wouldn't normally bother too much but the Polo that was crash-tested by Global NCAP in 2014 didn't have them either and it missed out on scoring the minimum 5-star points for frontal impact (I'm not sure if the lack of pretensioners was related to that but a chest score going from acceptable to good would bump it up to at least 13.00).

Originally Posted by Oomph11

The real build quality of Skoda Kushaq ?
Watch the video from 3:20.

I believe that's more of an MQB trait than something to do with localisation. I wouldn't read too much into it since our third-gen Octavia does it too. May have something to do with the new adult headform tests that came with AIS-100 pedestrian protection regulation, but don't take my word for it. The misfit fuel tank lid is not what you'd expect from VAG though - it certainly doesn't seem as well-built as older VWs (which as far as I know were put together very well with tight tolerances).

I'm finding the EPC errors quite concerning. I can understand niggles, we've come to expect them from VW-Škoda (ours make many trips to the garage for minor issues), they're usually not that big a deal. But new cars breaking down unexpectedly and being rendered undrivable is unusual. Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of defaming Škoda, but I think we can all agree that multiple new cars breaking down over the same issue is never a good thing, whatever brand they may come from. I hope Škoda issues a recall and replacement of the defective part soon.

Originally Posted by vinitbarve

rattling sound from the Power Window

Interesting. Both of our Octavia's front windows have started rattling and squeaking and the problem keeps reappearing despite the service station fixing it temporarily. I wonder if the Kushaq has the same module since it seems to share many parts with the older MQB cars.

[Kosfactor]

This thread was on fire even before the car was launched, so there is a lot riding on it. Expectations were high and the CEO seemed to be having a following on twitter as you would expect of celebrities.

So one can safely say this is not a vegetable purchase transaction, emotions are high and the demographic appears to be well versed with social media.




Here is one, praises for the CEO - deservedly so - If there wasn't all these breakdowns, this product is a brave move to counter the very strong Korean Twins.

One can expect what would happen if the experience turns otherwise. This is an experience for car makers wherein they use the CEO himself to do the marketing, your face is familiar, your name is familiar, when you attach a negative experience with a face on it - it's going to get personal for the customer involved.