[nitkel]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Sorry, those are armchair comments and must be taken with a pinch of salt. In continuation to my reply to the OP, the idea of having a center seatbelt within the seat itself is not unique to the Slavia or Kushaq. The same is present on practically any German car be it Kodiaq, Tiguan, and a lot of other brands sold in EU which also means it would be Euro NCAP compliant. The seatbelt would be routed from the top of the seatback and then bolted to the floor itself and not to the seatback. So considering all this, I am sure that the sort of arrangement of these seat belts at the rear do not pose a risk, and are definitely not afterthoughts in any way. So please do not speculate on these matters. Hope this clarifies.

Thanks for the informative post! It's good if it is actually anchored to the floor and is standard industry practice. Still, while they must have certain specifications (UNECE and others) to meet to be considered safe, does Euro NCAP actually test the middle seat and restraints? The videos I saw were all with 4 dummies, not 5. Again, not all Bhpians work in this field, so a certain level of armchair speculation is fair IMO. Wouldn't be as engaging otherwise!

[Shebin14]

Went to checkout the Slavia at Raja Skoda, Bangalore yesterday and did a short test drive of the 1L AT. There was a good crowd for a week day and all the focus was on Slavia! As a sedan lover it felt good to see the attention Slavia was basking in amongst the SUVs. The blue and grey colors were on display and the other colors were available as test drive cars.

Here is my take:

• Looks: I love the design! Typical Skoda look with clean and proportionate lines. Only in the rear three quarter view I felt that it looks raised. But overall it's a good looking sedan.
• Interior: The interior honestly didn't feel special enough for a car costing up to 19L on road. Thankfully the roof liner quality has improved from that of Kushaq. But the door sill plastics are scratchy and overall plastic quality is a let down. I could already see a few scratches in the door plastic on the display car. The rubber grips in the cubby holes are a nice touch and there's good amount of storage space available.
• Space: The rear seat is spacious but didn't feel as spacious as Honda City. The front seats are comfortable and feels the same as in Kushaq. I felt that the dead pedal could have been slightly wider.
• Driving experience: This is where the car really shines. The steering feels really nice to hold on to and is light at low speeds. Slightly more feedback would have been welcome from the steering though.
  
  The 3 cylinder NVH is very well contained and I only felt the grunt from the engine when I pushed it in manual mode. The engine is lively and with the paddle shifters it's fun to squeeze through traffic. I couldn't test the high speed dynamics and performance due to traffic.
  
  Overall I feel it's a good package and the ambition variant seems to be decently loaded. I am planning to wait and see the feedback from the initial batches to take a decision.
  
  Adding the pictures of all the color options:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And there goes my very first post in Team BHP!

[Piyush Kanthak]

Seems like a nice car, this Skoda SX4.

I am sorry sir, but what do you mean?

[Omkar]

Driving the Slavia 1.5L DSG Automatic

1.5L, 4 cylinder turbo-petrol engine makes 148 BHP @ 5,000 - 6,000 rpm and 250 Nm @ 1,600 - 3,500 rpm:


The 1.5L engine is shared with the Kushaq and we were mighty impressed when we drove it the last time around. This engine gets 4-stroke positive ignition direct injection with active cylinder technology. It's offered only in the top-end Style variant with a either a 6-speed MT or a 7-speed DSG AT. During our media test drive in Goa, we got to sample the DSG AT variant. On paper, the engine produces 148 BHP & 250 Nm which is much more than Honda City 1.5's 119 BHP and Hyundai Verna 1.0's 118 BHP. These figures put it in a different league altogether.

Fast and effortless at any legal speed, this powertrain compliments the ride and handling characteristics of the car beautifully. The combo makes the Slavia an effortless mile-muncher if fuel prices aren’t a concern .

Slot into D mode, take your foot off the brake pedal and the Slavia DSG slowly creeps forward. This will be highly appreciated in heavy traffic conditions where you can drive with just the brake pedal. With a light foot, the gearbox moves up the ratios pretty quickly. Impressively, you won't feel these shifts as the transition is butter smooth. While the automatic transmission makes the Slavia very easy to drive in the city, when crawling in slow traffic (1st - 3rd gears), you will experience a little jerkiness, which is a typical DSG trait. In the city, the 1.5 motor's healthy bottom end helps you get around effortlessly. The throttle response is good and the Slavia rolls smoothly. Add to that, the direct-injection and turbocharger ensure that the engine isn't lethargic at any speed. There's always enough power on tap to accelerate or overtake quickly.

Out on the highway is when things go from good to great! This is easily among the most fun-to-drive sedans for 2 million bucks. You'll find yourself addicted to flooring the throttle whenever there's an empty stretch of road. Outright performance is excellent and the strong mid-range takes care of all the overtaking you need to do. Downshifts are quick (not as fast as upshifts though) and the gearbox responds well to throttle inputs. The 7th ratio gives the Slavia DSG long legs on the highway. And touring you must do - this car is built for long road-trips. In terms of cruisability, the 1.5 TSI can run at triple-digit speeds all day long without breaking into a sweat. The engine spins at a relaxed ~1,900 rpm at 100 km/h. In summary, the 1.5 TSI DSG is a jewel of a combination that will keep you happy at low revs & high, and in the city as well as on the highway. Other than its reliability woes, this is one of the best AT gearboxes sold in India.

IMO the 1.5L TSI sounds great even at high revs. It has a very sporty tone to it which is addictive too. If you are continuously driving hard and / or in ‘S” mode, your passengers might complain about the sound though.

Tap the left paddle for a downshift and manual mode is engaged. The ECU blips the throttle to match the revs, and holds the gear till near the redline. This gets addictive, especially during overtakes! However, even in manual mode, the DSG will upshift above ~6,250 rpm and also downshift below ~1,000 rpm. We feel this is on the conservative side. Manual mode will also ignore wrong gear selections which put the engine out of the above rpm ranges. Long hold the paddles to revert back to auto mode.

Cruising around in D mode, one won't even notice the gears being shifted. They are damn smooth. The kickdown response time is quick enough and you will never feel that the gearbox is hunting for gears either. It's in the right ratio almost all the time. When you are in the mood to drive the car aggressively, engage Sport mode by pushing the gear lever down once. In S, the gearbox downshifts to keep the car in the power band, holds the ratios longer and lets the punchy midrange do all the heavy lifting required. Out on the open road, you will find it hard to resist the urge to go hard on the throttle. The Slavia is simply brilliant to drive!

On the flip side, we have scarily serious concerns over the DSG's long-term reliability. Just search on Team-BHP and you will see story after story of DQ200 failures & breakdowns. Skoda insists they have fixed the problem, but we aren't convinced at all. This gearbox has inherent design defects IMHO. Some BHPians who can't resist the DSG have mentally relegated themselves to 2 breakdowns over 8 - 10 years of ownership. If reliability is your topmost criteria, you should pick the 1.0 with a torque-converter AT, or consider another car model altogether.

Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH)

The 1.5L TSI is overall refined. It's a lot smoother than the 1.0 TSI which has some 3-cylinder vibrations. All the vibrations are well controlled and so is the engine noise inside the cabin. At high revs, the engine note sounds sporty.

Mileage & Fuel Economy

Skoda has given the 1.5L Slavia Active Cylinder Technology. When cruising calmly on the open road, the ECU shuts off cylinders 2 and 3 to reduce fuel consumption. This 2-cylinder mode will lead to good long distance FE, that is if you drive calmly (which is tough in the TSI). While we never felt the cylinder activation / deactivation happening, we did see an "ECO" sign on the MID which might be signaling its action.

ARAI numbers:

1.5 TSI MT - 18.47 km/l
1.5 TSI AT - 18.41 km/l

'ECO' indicator comes up on the MID when you are cruising at easy revs. The Slavia 1.5L has Active Cylinder Technology, which shuts down cylinders 2 and 3 in the interest of fuel efficiency:

[Turbohead]

No 1.5 MT review?

Also, Omkar, how would you compare the handling of the Slavia with the erstwhile Rapid? I haven't seen anyone directly comparing this.

[krsna777]

1.5 TSI Review from AutoCar India is here.

Source

Performance figures

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by krsna777

1.5 TSI Review from AutoCar India is here.

So the Slavia is the car which is priced between 10.70 lakh to 22 lakh ex showroom, wow!

Anyone who prefers practicality and functionality over anything else, the lowest end variant looks most VFM choice which does not have that impractical sunroof but got that classic and more enthusiastic twin dial speedo setup. Just upgrade the wheels and tyre straight out of the showroom and you are all set for mile munching. The base variant will also turn out light on the pocket and easier to maintain in long term with the least number of electronic gizmos.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Omkar

[center]
In the city, the 1.5 motor's healthy bottom end helps you get around effortlessly. The throttle response is good and the Slavia rolls smoothly. Add to that, the direct-injection and turbocharger ensure that the engine isn't lethargic at any speed. There's always enough power on tap to accelerate or overtake quickly.

Out on the highway is when things go from good to great! This is easily among the most fun-to-drive sedans for 2 million bucks. You'll find yourself addicted to flooring the throttle whenever there's an empty stretch of road. Outright performance is excellent and the strong mid-range takes care of all the overtaking you need to do. Downshifts are quick (not as fast as upshifts though) and the gearbox responds well to throttle inputs. The 7th ratio gives the Slavia DSG long legs on the highway. And touring you must do - this car is built for long road-trips. In terms of cruisability, the 1.5 TSI can run at triple-digit speeds all day long without breaking into a sweat. The engine spins at a relaxed ~1,900 rpm at 100 km/h.

I am interested to know how much of a difference is there between the earlier 1.2TSI+DSG and the new 1.5TSI+ DSG. All the key points called out above are almost exactly the same as how the 1.2TSI+DSG behaves(apart from the slightly more bottom line grunt-which anyways I have not seen as a major issue in the 1.2TSI+DSG also). The DSG behavior being the same unit will obviously remain the same and the 1.2TSI also runs at 100kmph at a relaxed 1900 rpm.

Am curious to drive the Slavia and compare the differences with the 1.2TSI+DSG on the drivability with the Vento 1.2TSI+DSG. Obviously from a feature perspective the Slavia will be miles ahead, but ultimately what matters is the drive.

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I am interested to know how much of a difference is there between the earlier 1.2TSI+DSG and the new 1.5TSI+ DSG.

One major difference is that 1.5 TSI got the piston deactivation feature which contributes in enhancing the fuel efficiency and another big difference is 1.5 TSI has got 148 BHP compared to 105 BHP of 1.2 TSI.

Yesterday's 1.2 TSI now falls in the category of today's 1.0L TSI with the similar power specs. Although 1.2 TSI had advantage of 4 cylinders compared to the 3 cylinders of 1.0L and was also matted with DSG.

[JJay]

Originally Posted by krsna777

1.5 TSI Review from AutoCar India is here.

Source

Performance figures

Attachment 2279846

One interesting observation from the table,

Slavia- 80 to 100 kph- 3.38s
100 to 120 kph- 2.61s

City- 80 to 100 kph- 2.98s
100 to 120 kph- 4.78s

Ciaz- 80 to 100 kph- 3.66s
100 to 120 kph- 4.28s

How can Slavia take longer for 80-100 kph than 100-120? If it is due to gear change than why it is not apparent anywhere in 0-80 timing and not at all apparent in timings of rivals?

For reference, Slavia takes 2.23s for 90-100 kph while City and Ciaz take 1.55s and 1.89s respectively.

[arunramaswamy]

Originally Posted by JJay

How can Slavia take longer for 80-100 kph than 100-120? If it is due to gear change than why it is not apparant in 0-80 timing and not at all apparent in timings of rivals?

It's probably because Slavia turbo spools at around 1700 rpm and the engine spins at 1500 rpm at 80kmph. So Slavia is quicker to 120kmph from 100 kmph.

[Venkatesh]

Skoda India has revealed the prices for the Slavia 1.5 L TSI, starting at Rs 16.19 lakh for Style MT and Rs 17.79 lakh for Style DSG.

The Slavia 1.5 TSI is only offered in top-spec Style trim.

The Slavia 1.5 TSI commands a premium of Rs 2.20 lakh over the manual 1.0 TSI variant, and Rs 2.40 lakh over the automatic version.

https://youtu.be/20k2BbwJLLs

Source

[JJay]

Originally Posted by arunramaswamy

It's probably because Slavia turbo spools at around 1700 rpm and the engine spins at 1500 rpm at 80kmph. So Slavia is quicker to 120kmph from 100 kmph.

I don't think they test 0-100 timing with engine running at such low revs. They just redline in every gear for quickest time possible. In fact I wonder if they have even engaged 4th in this test. [I have not seen the video]

[SidR]

Slavia 1.5 TSI is priced at ₹16.19 lakh for the 6-speed MT and ₹17.79 lakh for the DSG AT (ex-showroom).

[Juggernaught]

Originally Posted by Omkar

If reliability is your topmost criteria, you should pick the 1.0 with a torque-converter AT, or consider another car model altogether.

What about the 1.5 MT?