[sids1811]

Had the pleasure of driving a friends Slavia other day. I must say the interior quality is something to write about and the all the metal inserts and Skoda branding on cowl looks super cool.

The ventilated seats were brilliant in this scorching north Indian sun and is now on the list of must have's in next vehicle.

One big grouse I had was with the camera quality, the image quality was quite grainy as a cheap knockout copy phone from across the border and lack of adaptive steering guidelines was missed in an otherwise well endowed car.

[audioholic]

Completed One Year and 11k kms on my Slavia:
Last week my car turned one year old, and I have not missed one chance to take it out for a drive this whole year and even with a bit of stay abroad and travel with our Crysta the Slavia managed to clock 11000kms in the first year. As I updated previously I got the first year service completed along with some other works. The latest updates are as follows:

• After the service, FE has gone up. I dont keep track of the FE to decimals but after a tankful of fuel I can say that FE now reaches double digits in city traffic without me trying too hard So I am consistently getting 10.5-11.5 during my commute which was earlier in the range of 8.5 - 12. And I am not being FE conscious and tend to have fun where gaps open in traffic
• The engine has got noticeably smoother as the revvs climb up and compared to this, the oil had started to wear out and made the engine coarse and sounded strained when pushed. Hence I am going to stick to oil change intervals of less than 10k kms and not push it beyond 10k.
• Apart from this there are not much of changes. The driver door update hasnt really solved the issue and it happened once again. But in my case, if I calibrate it once, it doesnt reappear for many days of usage. So its no big deal. Some regulator settings havent been done right by the supplier.

Racechip arrived, fitted today - But realised that the app has trouble linking itself with the device. It seems to have improved the engine response by a bit across the revv range and I can see higher boost pressures on average. But need to connect to app to check what the status of the device is and in which setting the tuning box is in to really understand the difference it is making. After that will post a detailed review of the box.

Further updates to AC issue - I had already posted earlier about using VCDS to mod the AC performance and configurable AC performance in the head unit. I was expecting the official update from Skoda for my car but somehow it wasnt a part of the recall and hence no update was performed.

The earlier AC Tweaks were setting the AC tuning to Cold tuning in climate long coding and it had made the AC almost 90% perfect and would keep the cabin cool even when set to 20-22 and never had to switch to LO or manual control. However when I sat in the Crysta the AC would be having a strong chillness factor to it. Hence I went to long coding again and narrowed down on a setting for minimum evaporator temperature. This is basically the coldest temperature the evaporator reaches before the compressor is cut off. I believe the default setting was 3.5 degree C and I reduced it to 2.5 degree C. So now I believe the compressor would run slightly longer and this has resulted in ultra quick cooling of the cabin be it any temperature outside and inside. This also reduces the time the blower is unnecessarily blasting air to cool down the cabin. The real issue is in how cool the evaporator gets to throw chilled air into the cabin. Of course, there is a risk of water freezing on the evaporator core but thats in heavily humid areas.

Now the AC chills like my Crysta and I guess maybe a bit of FE is hit, but who cares, the AC is insane now.

[Game_of_Roads]

Originally Posted by Gotham

e car had MRF ECOTRED which I have never heard of before.

Ditto. I got the MRF Ecotred as OEMs on my Slavia Style and changed to UC6 with 50km on the odo right after delivery. Got ₹15k for the MRFs and oh boy, the UC6 is great ! Very good grip and much less road noise. I had Yoko Earth-1 on my previous car, those were strong hardy tires with decent grip, but the UC6 is in a different league . Very very silent on the highway.

[Gotham]

Originally Posted by Game_of_Roads

Ditto. I got the MRF Ecotred as OEMs on my Slavia Style and changed to UC6 with 50km on the odo right after delivery. Got ₹15k for the MRFs and oh boy, the UC6 is great ! Very good grip and much less road noise. I had Yoko Earth-1 on my previous car, those were strong hardy tires with decent grip, but the UC6 is in a different league . Very very silent on the highway.

Thank you , 15K for MRF's is not Bad I was expecting lower. I have been using UC6 on my vento since a year and boy are they silent like a mouse. I plan to schedule a swap with Madhu's on Saturday and hopefully will keep the tyres below 100 KMS

[Gotham]

I will be taking the Delivery of my 1.5 DSG today evening. I've made a mental note to check if all 4 windows are rolling down as I missed it during PDI. Anything else I should check before I get rolling from the showroom ?

[Gotham]

Got the delivery last evening and everything went as planned. Happy to report the AC is pretty good , the TD vehicle had me sweating even at LO setting. Looks like Skoda finally figured out the issue and fixed it. Hope the software update fixes the AC for people who are facing the cooling issue.

Will pen down a detailed note in few days.

[Gotham]

Took the delivery of our Skody ( Named by our daughter) on Friday from Tafe Access St Marks Road , everything went as planned. Took the car to Tyre Professionals & got the MRF swapped with UC6 immediately.



Little Background

My previous car was 1.3 S-Cross Zeta that served me well since 2016 and Odo had just crossed 70k. Throughout the journey not once did I face any issues & was the most reliable workhorse. Wife drove a Figo petrol since 2013 & last year felt it was time to let it go and buy a preowned automatic for ease. After hunting for months came across a preworhsipped Vento TSI with 40k odd kms driven and felt perfect, got the history checked and brought it home in a week. Compared to Figo & even S cross the Vento felt like a good upgrade , DSG doesn't need any mention here, We did multiple trips to HYD and Few close by hill stations , the car was impressive.

With Bangalore traffic getting back to its reputation driving a manual was getting a little stressful , wife suggested why not let it go & look for a preowned Polo TSI and let Vento do the duty for highways & weekends.

Didn't think much back then but decided will first sell the S-Cross only then look for a replacement , while I thought this will be painful process but it just went through like a breeze and in flat 4 days I had a buyer who was willing to match my expected price & she was gone on 5th Day. While she was leaving the thought did linger my mind if I made a grave mistake by letting go a perfectly good car.

We started seeing few Polo's and shortlisted 3 but either the price was unreasonable or car didn't feel well maintained. We decided to explore Rapid but the experience wasn't too different here.

We were driving past Skoda showroom & I randomly suggested we check them out as they had a board for Pre-owned cars. Once in we were told currently they had nothing in inventory , Wife & I both had admired the Slavia since launch and I suggested we might as well take a TD while we're here. She agreed but not happily , unfortunately they didn't have 1.5 for TD and hence was offered the 1 L AT. I still went for it just to experience and knew its gonna be 1.5 or nothing. Left the showroom with a promise they will send home the 1.5 during the weekday for TD. I was travelling on work & hence couldn't schedule the TD for a week. We also drove the Virtus which I loved it to the core but having a Vento & Virtus in garage didn't make sense to Mrs & I wasn't willing to spend the night on the sofa so decided to stick to Slavia.

Got the TD the following week & told Mrs to floor it and if you don't have a grin on your face I will blindly buy any car you suggest. after 10 minutes of driving she cursed me a wide grin but flatly refused buying a new car and stuck her gun on finding a preowned car.

We're about to hit a 10 year milestone of being married in few months & thought will book the car without her knowledge and give her a surprise. I know Risky move but I know her well enough to manage it if the situation escalated.

Negotiation with the dealer fell apart due to some lame trick they tried to pull so dropped it. Next day I happened to pass by St Marks for some work and decided to give them a shot. SA was assigned in minutes and I got down to discussion straight. SA was little taken back but he knew I meant business when I declined his offer for TD. I was specific that I wanted RED 1.5 DSG but with the 10" screen ( I was pushing my luck ) , if this meant I had to wait for few months I will wait. He made a few calls and after 20 minutes was ready to give me a written confirmation that he can get us the car within 8 weeks and showed me a white car that was allocated to another customer with TSI badging at the rear. 8 weeks wait was perfect as it would've got delivered just around our anniversary , Gave the booking amount and left. Didn't utter a word to anyone about it and kept trying different cars from Spinny etc as a smoke screen

Got a call after a week from SA stating vehicle is in transit and will be available for PDI the following week. This threw me off guard & honestly wasn't ready for such a quick delivery but I thought early anniversary gift even my wife wouldn't have expected in her wildest dreams to might as well go for it.

Told the SA to go ahead & schedule a PDI while I get my finances sorted.

Pic taken during PDI



Overall it was all done in 2 weeks & Skody was Home on Friday.

Needless to say I owe it to this forum and the owners who have detailed their car & experience that helped me decide which car I should be going for next

I'm yet to Take the car for a proper highway , want to get done with the first 1000 kms asap as keeping this car under 80km/h is painfully frustrating.

[anoopvk268]

Originally Posted by Gotham

Took the delivery of our Skody ( Named by our daughter) on Friday from Tafe Access St Marks Road , everything went as planned.

I'm yet to Take the car for a proper highway , want to get done with the first 1000 kms asap as keeping this car under 80km/h is painfully frustrating

Congratulations on your purchase. Red looks stunning.

Reading your process made me realise I am at the same stage you were at earlier.
Torn between used rapid/ ecosport or Slavia.

[Gotham]

Originally Posted by anoopvk268

Congratulations on your purchase. Red looks stunning.

Reading your process made me realise I am at the same stage you were at earlier.
Torn between used rapid/ ecosport or Slavia.

Thank you

Let me make the decision easier for you , I tried Polo TSI , Rapid TDI & Verna ( No offence but just couldn't connect to the car ) . One long Test Drive of Slavia in traffic & open stretched made me realise why compromise buying a preowned when you can enjoy the beautiful 1.5 Engine while you still have hair on your head

I would suggest go for Slavia if budget is not an issue , I had to stretch mine but don't regret it even for a minute. I had decided to go with Ambition but 6 airbags was more enough to go with Style variant.

[anoopvk268]

Originally Posted by Gotham

Thank you

Let me make the decision easier for you , I tried Polo TSI , Rapid TDI & Verna ( No offence but just couldn't connect to the car ) . One long Test Drive of Slavia in traffic & open stretched made me realise why compromise buying a preowned when you can enjoy the beautiful 1.5 Engine while you still have hair on your head

I would suggest go for Slavia if budget is not an issue , I had to stretch mine but don't regret it even for a minute. I had decided to go with Ambition but 6 airbags was more enough to go with Style variant.

Thank you for the response.
Yes i did an extensive test drive on Slavia. Little bit of highway and lots of patchy roads. It was a blast to drive. Though it was the 1.0 AT.

[Gotham]

Originally Posted by anoopvk268

Thank you for the response.
Yes i did an extensive test drive on Slavia. Little bit of highway and lots of patchy roads. It was a blast to drive. Though it was the 1.0 AT.

I've tried the 1.0 AT and it's pretty impressive , I do a lot of highway runs to HYD so wanted 1.5. My daily driver is now the Vento 1.2

if Budget & mileage are not an issue then I would strongly suggest go with 1.5

[anoopvk268]

Originally Posted by Gotham

I've tried the 1.0 AT and it's pretty impressive , I do a lot of highway runs to HYD so wanted 1.5. My daily driver is now the Vento 1.2

if Budget & mileage are not an issue then I would strongly suggest go with 1.5

Yes. My general use is office commute. And occasional highway trips.
I am worried about DSG gearbox in bumper to bumper traffic.

[Gotham]

Originally Posted by anoopvk268

Yes. My general use is office commute. And occasional highway trips.
I am worried about DSG gearbox in bumper to bumper traffic.

I would be lying if I said I'm not scared of the DSG gearbox but with 4 year warranty + 2 years of additional warranty does give me a peace of mind. I'm now using my Vento for office commute and during bumper to bumper traffic I keep the GB in neutral as much as possible. Also have changed my schedule by leaving 30 minutes early from home & from office in the evening , this has helped me avoid getting stuck in traffic most of the time. But unless your daily commute requires you to suffer km long bumper to bumper traffic I wouldn't be too worried about the DSG.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Now the AC chills like my Crysta and I guess maybe a bit of FE is hit, but who cares, the AC is insane now.

This is a crazy update and I'm loving it! Cooling equivalent to Crysta is wild. Praise doesn't get higher!

Any idea why the factory settings were configured accordingly? What is the additional wear you are expecting in the existing AC system after the changes?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

This is a crazy update and I'm loving it! Cooling equivalent to Crysta is wild. Praise doesn't get higher!

Any idea why the factory settings were configured accordingly? What is the additional wear you are expecting in the existing AC system after the changes?

I'm not sure why and I am unsure if there was some thought given to these settings. Since I work in the industry in a similar setup I am sure that these configurations come directly from headquarters and the people here don't change them much. On the other hand there could also be a FE related choice.

Regarding increased wear, imagine the compressor runs a bit longer every cycle, like a few more seconds before it shuts off. The blower runs at relatively higher speeds. The evaporator gets cooler by 1 degree. So theoretically the wear is higher but you can't really expect a major reduction in the part life. And this is a configuration which was already present in the coding so it's definitely used elsewhere, maybe in the south American markets or so where the climate is much harsh.

So I wouldn't really bother about the change in wear and tear of the AC compared to living with a sub par AC which takes quite a bit to cool. After the latest change, now the cabin cools within less than five mins even when car is parked under sun for a bit. Earlier with my previous changes, it would take less than ten minutes. Without the adaptations, the AC would hardly cool when cabin was under hot sun for a while and needed to be put in <19 degrees and manual mode.

So for those of you interested to try this and have VCDS, go to AC long coding and change these two parameters:
1. Change AC tuning flag from "moderate tuning" to "cold tuning, more air" or "cold tuning, overrides heater"
2. Change evaporator minimum temperature to 2/2.5deg C. If you live by the coast in very humid climate then you must prefer to use recirculation mode and use fresh air mode only when it's really hot outside. This will prevent excessive water condensation in the evaporator core and corrosion.