Despite my hatred for European cars, I went ahead and purchased a Skoda Kylaq
Background:
I have always had a passion for Japanese cars and have owned a Zen VX, Brio MT (my wife’s car), Amaze Diesel, S Cross 1.3 and a used Honda City Diesel. The Zen VX was my first car (pre-owned), which I purchased with my own money immediately after I graduated. Post-wedding, both my wife and I decided to sell off our Zen and Brio and purchased the Honda Amaze diesel right after its launch.
Qualified in Architecture. I have worked in sustainability and compliance ever since the start of my career. In this journey, after a 3-year stint in Saudi Arabia (I used a pre-owned Civic AT there) between 2014 and 2016. I was self employed from 2017 till now, and at the same time taught part-time in Tamil Nadu. In this period, I got an S-Cross 1.3 and used it for 3 years, travelling to do project work, in addition to the Amaze that my wife got. Then Covid came, and it was the transition to life; I had to close up my practice and made a decision to return to corporate. The cars had over 100,000 kms driven. But there was no sense in buying two cars then. My daughter was born in 2021, my wife is unlikely to drive for the next couple of years, and we got used to it by selling both cars.
Until I got a job in the corporate world, I had borrowed my father’s Swift diesel for some time, till I decided to buy a pre-owned Honda City Diesel. In 2025, I moved to Saudi Arabia (alone, while my family remained in Chennai), and then I bought a used Corolla AT in Saudi Arabia, which does the job perfectly. I had my wife who was operating the Honda City in Chennai, and she said that the clutch was tight, but when she started driving in heavy traffic, the clutch got tighter. I also accepted that when I reached Chennai and decided to buy a new car, it was automatic.
Not going to shell out an extra 10 lakhs on the ex-showroom value as the road tax slab is going up in Tamil Nadu, and it’s my pick not to spend more on a car at this stage of my life.
1. Taisor: Being a Toyota fan boy, knowing that none of the OG Toyotas I can afford in India, I still decided to visit the Toyota showroom to check out the Taisor AMT (my wife resists Maruti Suzuki, so did not visit the Fronx); it was a total letdown for my wife. The combination of darkness and poor-quality plastic was a big plunge from our used Honda City.
2. Amaze: The next month, we took the new Amaze AT – an overall price of 9.99 lakhs for the top-of-the-line variant –, and we liked the car, but the quirkiness of its design, being a sub-4m car, was noticeable, and my wife wanted the sunroof because she wanted to ensure that our daughter enjoyed a window on the sky.
3. Venue: The next month, I took my wife to test drive the newly launched Hyundai Venue, since the price difference between petrol and diesel AT was quite small and even though monthly usage is quite lower, I wanted to consider the Venue Diesel HX5 AT, which was around 11.78 lakh ex showroom at that point, but my wife felt the interior was too gimmicky for her liking and the drive was not that connected when compared to our Honda City. But, if I’d wanted, I could have convinced her.
4. Punch EV: Discussed at home; however, I was not confident about TATA due to their after-sales service being hit or miss, and my wife had doubts about owning an electric car in my absence. What will happen just in case some error pops up, and how to handle charging issues at the apartment (in case of any issues)? Some news had come her way that some electric cars have started fires too, so she decided to put an end to that.
5. Hyryder/Seltos: I considered upgrading to more of a 1.5 engine, and was interested to see the new Suzuki 1.5 in a Hyryder, but still wasn’t convinced enough to get my money’s worth.
6. Kylaq: Skoda Kylaq unveiled a new entry-level variant named ‘Classic Plus’ for Kylaq in the past week of January, which was also offered in MT and AT trim.
Although I hate European cars, as I feel they are not suitable for Indian conditions, Skoda Kylaq VW’s DQ200 is a nightmare, my father-in-law spent almost 4 lakhs on his Skoda Kylaq Laura just for the transmission issue, and I read about VW Skoda Kylaq car’s ABS sensors failing for no reason and popping random error codes, which I have never heard of in a Toyota, Honda, Nissan, or Suzuki.
I am also reading their India policy 2.0 (they have become less solid in some aspects). It appears that they solved some major problems and have been using Aisin’s gearbox in a few entry-level sedans such as Kylaq. So we thought we would experience the ride, and my wife was impressed with both the inside and outside of the vehicle, the door thud, and stuff.
I found white to be my favourite colour; however, my wife preferred green or blue. I felt like green wasn’t a colour that would last a long time and would look cartoonish, so I zeroed in on the Kylaq Classic Plus AT Lava Blue.
7. Decision: I knew that the small displacement turbo engine’s fuel efficiency might be pathetic, but our running is quite low as it’s predominantly school runs and my wife’s personal trips, so I did a comparison with the Hyundai Venue Diesel AT. And it made economic sense to get the Kylaq Classic Plus AT.
8. Booking: I made an advance and waited for 4 weeks, but the sales executive did not offer anything since this variant is in demand. So, I decided to skip out on insurance from the dealership and did not buy the accessories package (which did not make any sense to me).
9. PDI: I was told that as soon as the car arrived in the yard in Chennai. I printed the Team-BHP PDI checklist and did an inspection by myself. The car had 4km in the ODO; I scanned the VIN, transit, and checked paint on the entire car; all good.
10. Add-on: I was being very specific not to make any major changes to the car and keep it as stock as possible, which was a pleasant surprise as it had steering mounted audio controls, cruise control, 4 door speakers (no audio system) as well as remote central locking, 4 door power windows, power assisted ORVM, auto-dimming IRVM and wheel caps which looked decent.
What I added more:
i. Down to the Pioneer 6650 BT with CAN bus and a reverse camera which can display the side of the car (for reference) as well as the rear view camera. INR 28k
ii. Seat covers that are of good quality and have a perforated style pattern in certain areas. INR 16k
iii. Armrest (as we are used to that) OEM style. So even if my daughter climbs on it, it should be able to take the load. After searching on the web, I found a supplier from Pune that has the OEM armrest and ordered it. He said it’s possible to sell the parts so that the rear AC vent can be activated as well, but I opted not to do that at this time. INR 10.5K
iv. Parcel tray. INR 1.2K
v. Some chrome garnish at the weather strip and rain deflector, as the car looked monotonous without those. INR 2K
vi. I checked out the accessories catalog at Skoda and took a 3D floor mat, Chrome front grill garnish, mud flaps, and Skoda Kushaq dual-tone horn for Rs. 8k only (including fixing charges). I bought a socket-to-socket harness online for INR 1.5k, and it has not yet been installed by my very trustworthy mechanic, as the dealership claimed that they couldn’t do that.
The car was purchased from PolicyBazaar, and the insurance cover was bought by the customer, which was for 3 years with own damage with zero depreciation and third party insurance and personal insurance for the driver of INR 15 lakh; the car was registered by the dealership once the amount of loan was disbursed by the bank. I made a request to take delivery of the car without any ceremony so I could take it out to install the abovementioned add-on completely. The dealership accepted; hence, I took delivery on Friday by myself and handed the car back to them on Saturday evening to get the delivery with family on Sunday morning at an auspicious time.
Initial Impression
Likes: Drives smoothly; suspension is solid; power is more than required; turbo lag is not noticeable at all, except for a few moments.
Dislikes: AC is not as strong when compared to my 10-year-old Honda City; it’s not made for tropical weather. Perhaps the new compressor for the Kushaq will help. Mechanicals are okay, but if the volume is kept high, it is a bit jarring (not a problem, as we do not like the volume high); fuel efficiency is not great – around 8 km/L now in Chennai City – does not know how much it may improve – yet to see that.
Hating sun films, but opted to install them after 1 week, with Saint-Gobain nano-ceramic, 70% visibility for INR 10,000 for all the windows, windshield, and also the rear hatch glass. Now the AC is a lot better.