We all know that Rome wasn't built in a day, or the fact that brown bread is healthier.
We all know that it takes a little over eight minutes for the sunlight to reach Earth and
we all know that the name of Skoda's new car means emperor, king.
But now that it is finally here, does the Skoda Kushaq work?
Alright, welcome everyone to PowerDrift, good greetings.
The first thing that works in its favour is the fact that it is an SUV.
People love these things, ask Hyundai, or ask Kia.
Think of the Kushaq as the baby brother to the Kodiaq, a car that can teach the Fortuner,
how to walk in a straight line.
In terms of looks, this is a handsome looking car, like I said premium again, very chiselled
nose, there are sharp lines, you know, it's much like an "öffnen menschen", which is
like a foreign exchange student in your classroom that everyone wants to be friends with, just
because of the way they look, which is very European, very different; well then the Kushaq
brings that same thing to the table where in this segment, nothing really looks as premium
and nothing really is as European as Skoda then, in this segment, it just plain works.
Looks would only be half the story, the Kushaq will also have to look good on the inside
and feel expensive, like an Italian dinner jacket and so I think, that it does.
On the inside, the dash is very pretty, there're premium materials used all around,
there's a golf ball like texture again on the dash, different textures on a multi-layered kind
of a dash is the look that they have gone in for.
What definitely feels from the other side of the wall are the scratchy plastics on
the top of the dash and the analog instruments.
There are also some items missing on the menu like a panoramic sunroof or an air purifier.
Something that your annoying brother-in-law in his top spec Creta is bound to notice.
So apart from a few missing features, the Kushaq's interior design looks and feels upmarket
enough to make your relatives jealous, so yeah, it works.
What about the comfort then, or space?
Let's find out.
The front two seats, they are big, they are comfortable, at the back, because the Kushaq
isn't the widest in its class,
well, you will be able to sit just two foreign exchange students, so the Skoda Kushaq can
really travel four people in comfort, especially if the foreign exchange students are from
Netherlands, which is where the average height is six feet plus, which is the highest average
height for human beings in the world.
The Kushaq also gets creature comforts like ventilated seats here in the front, the Octavia
did not get it and just a few weeks ago, we were found complaining as to why the Octavia
doesn't get it? Well, the Kushaq does get it and doesn't get it because well
Europeans can't tolerate tropical weather in India, it gets so because well the competition
in this segment also gets ventilated seats.
So in terms of space and comfort, the Kushaq works for the most part, unless you're the
driver who carries the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to the Armageddon,
and so how about the way it drives.
In terms of driving experience, I'm driving here the top end spec, very refined,
1.5-litre turbocharged, petrol engine, it's mated to seven-speed DCT gearbox.
But what is noteworthy here is of course, you know, to bring in the efficiencies that
we Indians love, you also have cylinder deactivation technology on this car, the Kushaq.
Now that's a segment first here, you would be able to switch off two cylinders of the
four cylinders, to well, save fuel.
Okay, so in that sense, you know, it's much like Sweden where 50% of your energy consumption
in Sweden is happening through renewable energy sources.
You will also appreciate the fact that this engine is mated with the seven-speed DCT dual-clutch
transmission and if someone does bring up their Korean dual-clutch transmission up to
you saying that, yes, the Seltos and the Cretas also get it, they do.
Those are also good gearboxes, but we all know that Volkswagens really pioneered dual-clutch
gearboxes, and that the shift quality here is far more superior, I think it shifts faster
and there's just better feel to the paddle shifters here in the Kushaq.
In terms of ride and handling, well, the suspension here by the way, does a fine job of everything
that is out here on our Indian Roads.
But the driving experience is something that I did experience during the camouflaged cover
drive of the Kushaq and it just went on to show back then when we couldn't see any aesthetic
part of the car, it just kind of was very reassuring to see that Skoda was inviting
journalists to purely experience the, you know, the drive train, the engine, the way the car feels
and what they say in German as "fahrdynamik" of the car.
So in that sense, this car when it comes to ride and handling and the way it behaves,
composed, dynamically accomplished, seems to be coming from Finland where most amount of fit people
in the world come from. Now, coming off a highway here in Mumbai, off the cement roads onto
very bad roads, potholes, of course, it's the advent of monsoon season,
I come to realize that the ride quality in the Kushaq is really good.
The damping is very well done, so you're not really feeling the hard edges
and overall, even at high speeds, the stability is nice, because you know, all the car oscillations,
the vertical movements, they are arrested quickly enough for you to feel stable and feel safe.
Now, of course, in terms of safety, it will suffice to say that this is a European car,
but, I think the ride quality was something that they had to get right to compete well,
and of course, had to get right because this is, after all, an SUV that will be used on
bad roads like these and I think that it's a job well done.
It does feel like a European car, the way it drives on the roads,
it feels like a European car when I shift,
it feels like a European car, the way it is pulling through the engine, and it feels like
European car, the way just the steering is in the hand.
By the way, two spoke steering wheel, kind of new,
I'm not quite sure whether I dig this kind of a look, something feels very naked down there,
especially because there is a plate at where the spoke should have been,
which says nothing
there where Kodiaq or Karoq would be written so,
I could put in my name there and then call this, the Skoda Rohan.
Overall, you know, driving the Kushaq, it's an experience like sitting in an Irish pub,
talking to an Irish person who's not really a friend, but just an acquaintance.
So you don't really have you bothered with anything, the friend never really makes you
uncomfortable with anything
and usually there's just a smile on your face or good amount of laughter going on,
in short, the Kushaq is a great car to drive, it's good fun.
When you want the power, it's there,
and overall, it's also going to manage to impress your friends, families, foes
a whole lot more.
The Kushaq really brings a distinct European flavour here to this segment,
and I think therein lies its biggest strength.
So to answer the question, does the Skoda Kushaq work?
Well, first, it works because it's an SUV, it works because there's space on the inside,
it works because it looks premium, which is what you were expecting Skoda to be
and it also works because well, there aren't any glaring,
build quality issues, now that it is made in India.
And you might think that it's being made in India, but it's not being made by a hammer and
tongs, it's still being made by big robots that are very, very capable.
So in this segment, that is, 9 lakh rupees to 17 lakh rupees, it certainly is bringing
in that distinct European flavour that was necessary that was missing,
and I think in that sense, the Skoda Kushaq totally works.
Thank you for watching, goodbye, take care.
Since this is the Kushaq, let us say,
Auf Wiedersehen.