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Škoda Slavia Style 1.0L TSi MT: Ownership Review
The Ford Fiesta Classic 1.6 had been serving us impeccably for well-over a decade. It’s exactly 12-years ago I published its ownership review and today, I’m proud to admit that it was one of the best car purchase decisions that never let me down. Thanks to the 15-year old Petrol car ban in Delhi NCR and a growing itch for bigger and more feature-laden car, it was decided to respectfully retire the Fiesta three-years ahead of its shelf life. In the currently booming market for SUVs, I still have a soft-corner for sedans which explains why hardly any SUVs were considered. The requirements were straight and simple: A car that can fill the shoes of Fiesta and then some.
Requirements:
The launch of Škoda Slavia in Feb 2022 arrived as an immense ray of hope in the diminishing mid-size sedan segment. I had checked it back then and as mostly is the case with Škoda, I returned impressed with experience at dealership and the car itself. However, that’s still not when I was convinced with Slavia. My love affair for sedans reignited with the launch of Volkswagen Virtus, which I tested for our official review in Oct 2022 (Volkswagen Virtus GT: Review & Pictures). During the planning phase, I was nearly sold on the Virtus despite some of its shortcomings, considering the leftover stock in 2022 were sold at huge discounts and I anticipated the same this time. I always prefer to make car purchase during year-end to avail maximum bang for the buck even if it means getting a year-old car on paper. As luck would have it, Škoda announced Slavia MY24 in October 2023 with some feature upgrades including comeback of the 10” infotainment. While MY24 with a price hike was shooting way above the ballpark budget of ₹15 Lakh (I was only considering top-end variants), the launch of Slavia MY24 meant there was a substantial scope of negotiation for the MY23 model. Suddenly, Škoda Slavia made much more financial sense than Volkswagen Virtus which still didn’t have as many discounts.
Since both, Virtus and Slavia are essentially the same cars, I didn’t mind choosing either but price difference aside, a deeper analysis made Škoda Slavia a more suitable choice for me because:
Dealership Experience:
The new car purchase battle is half won once the car model is finalized. The next stage is to acquire the right deal. I had visited the dealers in both, Delhi and Noida. Unlike homegrown brands (Tata and Mahindra), dealerships of which have a sarkari vibe to them, stepping inside the Škoda and Volkswagen dealerships is normally a premium experience. Their sales team is well-dressed, professional and courteous. Since there were limited stocks left of MY23 model, getting the desired color was another concern. Personally speaking, light color shades suit well with the character of Slavia and Virtus. However, Lava Blue is exception and now also the newly launched Black. Upon inquiring with multiple dealerships, I realized there’s strictly no discount on Lava Blue, whether it be MY23 or MY24. My next choice was Silver. Fortunately, a couple of Silver units were available at Brite Škoda, Noida. It is an exclusive Škoda Experience Center along with a workshop. Despite being the main showroom, the experience here wasn’t upto the mark of typical Škoda standards as far as well-informed sales team or attention to detail is concerned, but it was alright nonetheless. However, I’d rate our sales executive full-marks for active involvement and follow-ups (unlike salesmen from other brands), considering that he was getting relocated and it was his last deal at this showroom. One cannot deny the fact that a salesman plays an important role in the success of a product, regardless of how good it is and how well it is marketed. Finally, after back-and-forth negotiations, we signed the deal offering a discount over one-lakh rupees. It included no additional items other than a Škoda branded USB cable. While I was exiting the dealership, our sales executive smiled and remarked: “You won’t regret this decision even 10-years down the lane.” I’m optimistic about it and I hope that after a decade, I can write the same words about the Slavia that I’ve written about the Fiesta in the first line of this review.
Requirements:
- 5-Star NCAP
- Driving Dynamics
- Practical Features
- Space and Comfort
- Sophisticated Design
- MG Astor: Favoured purely for its value-for-money factor as it was raining huge discounts at MG. Dealership was a spoilsport along with engine performance and unknown maintenance costs.
- Honda City: Good ol’ name tag inspires trust. Facelift looks better and interiors are lovely. ADAS is a bonus but not very usable. Build quality isn’t too reassuring and ground clearance is less.
- Hyundai Verna: Design is somewhat overdone. This is subjective but I didn’t find Verna’s interiors as appealing as Slavia. Further, low seating position, unstable bodyshell were reasons for rejection.
- Volkswagen Virtus: Pricier than Slavia but still misses simply-clever like touches. Dashboard design is unexciting. Personally, I feel VW seems less ambitious about Indian market than Škoda at present.
The launch of Škoda Slavia in Feb 2022 arrived as an immense ray of hope in the diminishing mid-size sedan segment. I had checked it back then and as mostly is the case with Škoda, I returned impressed with experience at dealership and the car itself. However, that’s still not when I was convinced with Slavia. My love affair for sedans reignited with the launch of Volkswagen Virtus, which I tested for our official review in Oct 2022 (Volkswagen Virtus GT: Review & Pictures). During the planning phase, I was nearly sold on the Virtus despite some of its shortcomings, considering the leftover stock in 2022 were sold at huge discounts and I anticipated the same this time. I always prefer to make car purchase during year-end to avail maximum bang for the buck even if it means getting a year-old car on paper. As luck would have it, Škoda announced Slavia MY24 in October 2023 with some feature upgrades including comeback of the 10” infotainment. While MY24 with a price hike was shooting way above the ballpark budget of ₹15 Lakh (I was only considering top-end variants), the launch of Slavia MY24 meant there was a substantial scope of negotiation for the MY23 model. Suddenly, Škoda Slavia made much more financial sense than Volkswagen Virtus which still didn’t have as many discounts.
Since both, Virtus and Slavia are essentially the same cars, I didn’t mind choosing either but price difference aside, a deeper analysis made Škoda Slavia a more suitable choice for me because:
- The dashboard design is much more pleasant compared to the Virtus.
- Škoda’s simply clever features, which I find extremely useful, are missing in Virtus.
- Škoda holds a greater snob-value in India and apparently, the brand looks more ambitious than VW.
- From what I’ve observed, Volkswagen charges a premium over Škoda in aftersales and spare part costs.
Dealership Experience:
The new car purchase battle is half won once the car model is finalized. The next stage is to acquire the right deal. I had visited the dealers in both, Delhi and Noida. Unlike homegrown brands (Tata and Mahindra), dealerships of which have a sarkari vibe to them, stepping inside the Škoda and Volkswagen dealerships is normally a premium experience. Their sales team is well-dressed, professional and courteous. Since there were limited stocks left of MY23 model, getting the desired color was another concern. Personally speaking, light color shades suit well with the character of Slavia and Virtus. However, Lava Blue is exception and now also the newly launched Black. Upon inquiring with multiple dealerships, I realized there’s strictly no discount on Lava Blue, whether it be MY23 or MY24. My next choice was Silver. Fortunately, a couple of Silver units were available at Brite Škoda, Noida. It is an exclusive Škoda Experience Center along with a workshop. Despite being the main showroom, the experience here wasn’t upto the mark of typical Škoda standards as far as well-informed sales team or attention to detail is concerned, but it was alright nonetheless. However, I’d rate our sales executive full-marks for active involvement and follow-ups (unlike salesmen from other brands), considering that he was getting relocated and it was his last deal at this showroom. One cannot deny the fact that a salesman plays an important role in the success of a product, regardless of how good it is and how well it is marketed. Finally, after back-and-forth negotiations, we signed the deal offering a discount over one-lakh rupees. It included no additional items other than a Škoda branded USB cable. While I was exiting the dealership, our sales executive smiled and remarked: “You won’t regret this decision even 10-years down the lane.” I’m optimistic about it and I hope that after a decade, I can write the same words about the Slavia that I’ve written about the Fiesta in the first line of this review.
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