Living with a Skoda Slavia 1.0 MT for a year: Real world observations

Despite being 3-cylinder engine, the cabin noise is minimal. The Honda City has more cabin noise at speeds above 60 kph.

BHPian neochanger recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi everyone!

I had brought home my first ever car last year on third of November so it's the first anniversary for my Slavia 1.0 MT Style and appropriate moment for me to write down the whole ownership experience from my perspective. Those who don't want to go through whole of the write-up, I am happy to summarize it in one line: It's a brilliant car overall, a value-for-money top end variant in 1.0 lineup, nothing to complain about, and extra points to Skoda/VW for keeping the sedan segment alive and refreshing.

Trilemma of choices:

Initially, I had Virtus in my mind as its overall design and interiors were more appealing to me. In fact, it was my first choice as soon as it was revealed and it remains my biggest regret till date that I bought Slavia instead of Virtus. The only reason was the tight budget and Skoda lured me with free SMP and extended warranty along with some discount. The Honda City, already brought by my brother an year ago, came in between while deliberating these options but couldn't manage to appeal design-wise to my wife who insisted to try something new. Since Virtus was out due to no discounts/offers, the final battle was between City and Slavia and sometimes I used to dream of having reliable i-vtec NA engine but only till this September as I drove my brother's Honda City from Mumbai to Goa and back (in not so good weather) and realized how easy, comfortable and fun it is to drive a Slavia with turbo engine than City's NA which too often refuses to move in just one gear up than required. I am more happy now to be with Slavia.

Overall performance, the good, the better and the best:

Slavia is almost a perfect car. On paper it might look that 1.0 is insufficient power-wise but on the road, it just needs your approval to show what it is capable of. It can beat all NA engines that are less than 2.0 litres in capacity. It can even beat some of the 1.5 diesels. And despite being 3-cylinder engine, the cabin noise is minimal. The Honda City has more cabin noise at speeds above 60.

Slavia's Style variant has all the needed features, and at the price point I got it, there's hardly any important feature that is missing. It has auto headlamps, rain-sensing wipers and ventilated seats.

And it looks stunning, a class above with timeless design and great attention to detail. No car except Virtus comes close to it in terms of design. In fact the only point which I found somewhat odd in design is the rear taillamps (and you must know that I observe and judge too minutely when it comes to design) where Virtus beats it without a doubt but Virtus too has one odd point at the front - the large black lower part of the front bumper which looks like a large hole when you see it from front) so overall Slavia's design is timeless, sharp and head-turner.

The not so good:

The AC, as is well known, reported and analysed by many, is just adequate. It's not just the amount of cooling or performance in intense summer but the whole touch-based design is difficult to adapt to. It gets accidental touchs while changing the gear and fan-noise is more than it should be. Even after all these issues, I won't say that AC is deal-breaker or way too annoying. It does the job. It simply doesn't do the job impressively and since Slavia's all other aspects are way too classy, it has garnered more attention than it would otherwise. Apart from AC, one thing that isn't timeless IMO is the dashboard design -- the whole copper stripe and round cheaply built ac vents may appeal to many initially but looks boring very soon. Virtus beats Slavia in this segment too as its design is likely is age gracefully. Again, it's not that Slavia's dashboard looks bad, it just does not meet my (high) expectations.

Final words:

Overall, the car is stunningly brilliant in the price segment and the engine is very flexible -- has power when you need it, is fuel-efficient when you want it to be. The exterior design is timeless and classy. It is well-built, has got 5-star GNCAP safety and NVH is well under control. With good enough features list and service packs on offer, there is no better car than this (and Virtus) at the price point of 16-17 lakhs. And those thinking about CSUVs, the high GC of 180mm is enough to deal with ordinary bad roads so another feather in cap here. All in all, I am happy to have it as my first car and my love for this one is growing day by day.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.