Upgraded from a Maruti Ciaz to a Skoda Slavia Active 1.0 TSI MT

I thought there is no better option than the Ciaz for my aching back, but the Slavia has taken comfort well beyond it.

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Sharing a short review of my first month with my Carbon Steel Slavia Active 1.0 MT. I was a previous Skoda customer with a long history with the dealer and the purchase part was a breeze. The car the Slavia replaced was my almost 5 year old Ciaz which had provided exceptional service. I will be fairly unemotional in this review as I have a auto engineering background and the passion side of it has long gone. It was the second test drive that convinced me. What stood out was the exceptionally stiff chassis which translated into dynamics two segments above if not more. The combination of the large and supportive seats up front and the well sorted ride was impossible to ignore/resist. I thought there is no better option than the Ciaz for my aching back, but the Slavia has taken comfort well beyond it. Long story short, the Slavia came into my garage sometime mid last month.

What I like:

• Brilliant ride under almost all road conditions. It never gets rattled by either bad city roads or crater filled highways.
• Despite the soft ride, stability is exceptional on smooth surfaced highways at triple digit speeds. Better than an a6 according to friend who owns one.
• The front seats are a god send for a tall and wide creature like me. Even 750km in a single day was free from any aches,pains and tiredness.
• The refinement is a step above from the ciaz at most of the rev range. The tire noise is the only thing which comes through at highway speeds.
• The cornering is better than the ciaz in a few areas.
• The basic build is not less robust than what I found in my rapid all those years back. This despite reviews to the contrary.

What I don't like:

• Wobbling felt through the body at a narrow range of roads and speeds. This was there in the Ciaz too. I suspect the tires that are OEM supplied contribute mainly for this issue. It is not a balancing issue or a gremlin of any sort. The range it is felt is too narrow for that. The steering does not wobble when this occurs.
• Much like the rapid, this car hates short sharp potholes which result in a thud or worse a violent metallic sound as the suspension goes through its travel. My rapid broke wheels, tie rods and struts on more than one occasion thanks to this trait. Larger potholes surprisingly do not bother it. My advice is to crawl on sections which you suspect are iffy.
• There is a lot more understeer in medium speed corners than the ciaz. This goes away on higher speed stuff where the steering feel is exceptional and the car tracks an apex like its life depends on it.

I will try posting a full review at a later date. The odo reads 2400km as of today. Mileage is around 16 with some city driving included. I tend to call a spade a spade but I have no qualms in saying I have underpaid ! for what is an exceptional piece of engineering. This is a car whose dynamics are on par with something twice its price.

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