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Upgraded to a Skoda Slavia 1.0 AT after 10 years with a Honda Brio

14th February 2023, 13:02 by Dev Shah

I loved the Rapid, but by the time I got into the real "buy-the-car" mode, the Rapid was no longer in the market.

BHPian vigneash recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Bought the Skoda Slavia 1L AT (Carbon Steel) just about a month back and have completed 1.25K kms on the ODO.

Background:

Been driving a Honda Brio for almost 10 years with 1.25L kms on the ODO. Though the car has gracefully aged, still completes the job of being my daily driver and occasional highway drives without any niggles. The only major issues I had had with the car were some AC issues about 4 years back and clutch replacement 4 months back (at about 1.2L kms).

The only reason I had to look for a new car, was that it has been 10 years with the Brio. Been thinking about a new car for over a year now and had a couple of "favourites".

Favourites:

Skoda Rapid: The simple and elegant design gives a classic feel. Though short on features (as mentioned by a friend who owns a Rapid and a Verna) compared to the Verna, this was still No. 1 on my list.

Magnetic i20: The magnetic i20 was impressive right from the very first time I saw the car. Having driven my friend's Elite i20, price point and the new gen look, the car was on top of my shopping list.

Shopping:

By the time, I got into the real "buy-the-car" mode, the Rapid was no longer in the market. The replacement - Slavia was more expensive than the Rapid.

i20 also brought out the N-Line. Though, not a full blown performance car, liked the subtle changes over the more common i20.

So i20 N-Line was the first car in my list, followed by the Slavia. Over the next 6 months I began to like the Slavia more than the N-Line, owing to the higher segment. If I were to drive a BMW/Audi/Merc in about 10-15 years , moving there from a Slavia would be more organic than moving from an i20.

Took a test drive of the Slavia 1L AT late in the night as my office is in the city outskirts and I couldn't make time during the day owing to year-end. The dealer was open late night to meet their own Dec targets. The drive was flawless and had almost decided that it was this car. The salesperson also somehow coaxed me to book the vehicle the same night, minutes after my TD.

Had the Hyundai dealership send an i20 N-Line N8 DCT for test drive. The TD was lukewarm and the ergonomics standard that Slavia had set the previous night was too tall for the warm-hatch. And the floating infotainment was distracting too much (I'm 6 Ft tall). The suspension was too stiff and did not feel like a premium car in comparison with the Slavia.

Friends also suggested that I get a TD of Honda City Gen 5, being the sought after sedan. Though no complaints on the TD, the car did not feel a lot different than my existing car (Honda Brio) on several fronts.

They also had a Kia Showroom right next door and I took a TD of the Seltos. While the car felt good to me (my wife disliked it), the sales guys were more interested in getting their CRM filled than actually offering a TD. They allowed a TD of 0.5KM, saying they were low on fuel. They did not offer to take a TD at a later time voluntarily.

While at this, my Slavia sales guy (these showrooms are right next to each other) called me up to check why was I still shopping and offered another TD of the Slavia immediately. He had spotted me looking around Kia and Honda. It was a done deal there.

The paperwork took a week and the car was delivered by the first week of Jan.