[fabia_firstcar]

Originally Posted by MotorDev

The next day, we headed early to Vijayawada. The first 2 hours of the road were horrible – broken patches everywhere. Lost a lot of time there, but as soon as we hit the highway, we covered the lost time. Quick lunch at Padmavathi Vilaas near Nellore – an amazing lunch indeed

Nice write up! Always a pleasure to read about how good VAG cars on long drives. Quick question - how are the road conditions between Tirupati and Nellore. I need to do a Bangalore-Nellore-Bangalore trip in Feb. I know the roads are great till Tirupati but not sure after that. I need to do it in one weekend - one day onward and one day return

[MotorDev]

Originally Posted by fabia_firstcar

Quick question - how are the road conditions between Tirupati and Nellore?

Hello, the initial 100 kilometres from Tirupati might be challenging. Although you'll encounter some well-maintained roads in between, most of the other roads are in poor condition. Once you transition to NH16, the road conditions will improve, allowing for faster travel.

[Kickdown]

Originally Posted by MotorDev

VW cars have fewer rattling noise issues due to their straightforward interiors, while Skodas may experience such problems due to the presence of less sturdy materials, such as the ambient light strip, to name a few.

Possible. Sad that such an elite brand cuts corners for whatever reasons and then losses its USP which used to be 'Sturdy build quality' inside out. Only saving grace is the 5 star safety rating which I believe is more important.

Originally Posted by Game_of_Roads

I've had multiple conversations with Skoda Bangalore ASS's "Master Technicians"and as per their experience almost all of the squeaking/rattling in the Slavia comes from 2 sets of plastic trims of sub par quality and thickness - the broad glossy black insert that runs just above the glovebox and the golden/copperish colour trim that houses the ambient light. I've checked this multiple times and find this claim to be accurate. I also did some DIY foam tape fixes underneath and between the glossy black strip and the glovebox and the squeaking from the side has reduced a lot. Only on really hot days and when parked a lot under the sun does the squeaking/rattling from these parts come back.

I feel the VW counterparts actually seem to use better plastic trims and their design for these glossy trim elements seems more integrated with the dash from all sides than being layered one on top of the other like in the Skoda design and consequently squeak and rattle lesser.

Yeah, that makes sense. Also I guess there are less number of pieces glued together on the dashboard in the VW cars than that of Skoda. Skoda should look to redesigning their dashboard in the facelift. The fact that you were able to reduce the noise by a mere foam tapes shows how simple the solution should be. Surely, Skoda is better that this.

[MotorDev]

No new info, just found a pic of our old 4th gen Honda City. Compared it with the Slavia. Gotta say, even after 10 years, the City still looks pretty good. It aged well:

Front -

Rear -