Skoda India started it's journey in India with the first generation Octavia and that was a
much loved car and now there is a new sedan in Skoda's lineup, it's called the Slavia,
we've driven a prototype version of it, which of course, you should have seen by now,
if not backtrack a little bit and see that video on our YouTube channel, but as I said, it's a new
sedan in the Skoda India lineup, it's called the Slavia, it's had its global premiere right
here in India and here are the top five things you need to know about the brand new Slavia.
First things first, let's talk about the thing that everybody obviously seems to want to know
immediately, the design language on the Slavia, it is a baby Octavia, that's the
easiest way of putting it. It's got that typical big Skoda grill, it's got the angle headlamps,
LED units up there, it's got this nice lovely stance to it, it sits well,
it looks good, inherently, it's a nice looking sedan,
something that Skoda has always done in the past even with the Rapid, even with the new Octavia
and of course with the Superb as well. As I mentioned LED headlamps up front, LED elements
in the tail lamps in the back, you've got 16-inch alloy wheels, it's a nice looking car, isn't it?
Straight following the design language, let's talk about the size of the car because
the Slavia is actually bigger than the first generation Octavia. Now in most people's mind,
the Octavia, the first-gen, is a large car, and that should tell you how much larger a
car or how large in general a car the Slavia is, it is the best wheelbase in the segment,
it's not as long overall as the Honda City is but it is still a big car. So everybody who's
looking at the rear seat comfort, chauffeur driven car, this might be one of the perfect things that
you can go and buy if you don't want an SUV or want to stand a little bit apart from the crowd,
again, biggest wheelbase in class, so, back seat comfort is going to be great in the Skoda Slavia.
And jumping from that backseat into the interior,
let's talk about the way it is designed, it is as typically Skoda understated, well made,
well designed, just simple plain stuff that's supposed to be there in the place it is,
nice big screen, nice elements on the dashboard, great comfortable seats, you have cool seats up
front, that's a good thing that's Skoda has put in because of course competitors like the Verna
have had that for a while now and that's something that a lot of people are really
looking forward to in cars in India, you've also got that big, nice digital instrument cluster,
strangely, the Kushaq doesn't have that yet, but the Slavia will, on the top-of-the-line version,
and in general, it's a nice place to be, spacious at the rear, spacious in the front, well designed,
everything looks and feels really nice apart from maybe a little bit of a touch here or there.
so we've talked about how the car looks, how the car is sized overall and of course we've talked
about what's there on the inside and now let's talk about what you get under the hood, now,
Skoda and the VW Group have become a petrol only automaker in the last couple of years,
that's a good thing but those petrol engines are absolutely fantastic. You get the 1.0-litre
TSI which is a three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, makes 115hp or you get the petrol head
engine of choice, one I would maybe want to buy in the near future, if I'm in the market for a sedan,
the 1.5 TSI EVO which makes 150hp, now both these engines get a manual gearbox,
incidentally they're both six-speed but both are different gearboxes and they both get an
automatic transmission as well. The 1.0-litre gets a torque converter and the 1.5 gets a DQ200 DSG.
Now, if you're wondering about DSG reliability, don't be worried because
Skoda India and the Volkswagen Group in general have really put in a lot of effort
and have improved the way that the DQ200 actually functions, there are some hardware changes as well
and it is now a much much much more reliable gearbox is what they assure and promise us.
So dual-clutch or manual 1.5, when's the last time we had a 150hp, nice looking sedan in India,
it's been a while isn't it? I think this might have a fair few takers.
Okay, so let's wrap this up, the fifth thing to know about the Skoda Slavia,
what is going to be the short term future plan for this? Now obviously there will be
a Monte Carlo edition, not to be confused with the clothes maker, obviously, or the beautiful
country in the south of France or e-Formula One race, there will be a Monte Carlo edition
of the Slavia which is an homage to the Monte Carlo Rally that Skoda won many, many years ago.
It'll be basically a visual packet, it will look much cooler, it'll have maybe black wheels, stuff like
that, but, what I'm excited about is there might be either two directions that Skoda might go with,
a fully loaded L&K version or Laurin & Klement, which is like a completely luxury packed version
for somebody who just wants a very, very luxurious package to be seated and driven around in, or and
I am really praying and hoping this happens, there might be an RS version of this Slavia
sometime in the near future. Now, we don't know if this is confirmed just yet, but from what we know,
people are actually thinking about it at Skoda and that's something that's more important.
A little seed that you need just to plonk that in, a little idea,
maybe have a real hot sedan in that 20-lakh rupee range now, wouldn't that be a treat?
So, there you go quick video from us. Now stay tuned because there is a very,
very detailed first look or a walkaround of the Slavia coming up in just a few days. But this one,
just a quick video just to tell you about what the Slavia is all about. Remember, go check out that
prototype car that we showcased a couple of weeks ago and of course as we would expect you to do,
hit the bell icon, hit the subscribe button, stay tuned for all our stuff right here on
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