Highway Report

As far as I can tell the Skoda Slavia is now a common sight on our roads, but how does one spot a 1.5 owner? It’s not that difficult, really. In all likelihood they will be the one doing the driving, perhaps with a resounding grin every now and then. That is what life really is like with a zesty performance sedan. Despite its humble MQB-IN roots, our Slavia 1.5 MT has rekindled my love for attainable, fast-ish sedans.

If you have been following my journey with the Slavia then you would know that it’s fairly competent at tackling the hustle and bustle of a big city like Mumbai. And rightly so, because it has been a lovely companion to my daily commutes and leisure trips. Speaking of which, it’s time to talk about all the things that I like and some that I don’t about our Slavia’s highway manners.

Cruises effortlessly

The Slavia 1.5 with the DSG dual-clutch automatic is deceptively quick. There is no two ways about it. However, our car comes with a 6-speed manual and things are quite different. First of all, the gear ratios are not as closely spaced as the DSG which in itself delivers lightning fast gearshifts and secondly, the shift action on the 6-speed manual isn’t the slickest so I have always made those quick shifts with caution. Anyway, the point here is that the DSG does a brilliant job of masking the 1.5 engine’s turbo lag which happens to be quite obvious in our car when doing city speeds.

But on the highways I really like how the Slavia goes. It always has more than enough pulling power when you want to make an overtake. For instance, if you are stuck behind a big vehicle ambling at 70kmph on an expressway, getting past it is a breeze – shift down to third and this car just takes off. In fact, long distance trips are dealt with ease once you get into a rhythm – At 100kmph or so in sixth gear, the engine is doing less than 2,500 revs and the noise from it, the tires and the road is never intrusive.

Rides well for the most part

My first long excursion with the Slavia included a 1,400km trip from Mumbai to Goa and back. I was pleased that it rode well on the multilane highways with wide-ranging quality of tarmac. The hushed cabin and the effortless performance helped me stay relaxed behind the wheel. The comfortable seats helped, too, but it was the poorly paved section between Nipani and North Goa that turned out to be this car’s Achilles’ heel with regards to its ride quality. It’s not like it was unbearable or anything of that sort but I could feel the road shocks from the poorly constructed road. To put it simply, the ride on the Slavia when going over corrugated surfaces is not as pleasant as I would have liked.

Is surprisingly fuel-efficient at highway speeds

I have been averaging between 10 to 13kmpl in the city, depending on the traffic and driving style although things are much better on the highways. So the 1.5-litre engine comes with cylinder deactivation technology which automatically shuts down two of the four cylinders when the system senses that the car is not under load. Basically the point here is to save fuel under relaxed driving conditions which is mostly highway driving and this cylinder deactivation tech does seem to work because I have consistently seen over 15kmpl when cruising at steady speeds on highways/expressways.

Loaded to the boot

The boot space is well over 500-litres and by all means it is massive. So piling on luggage inside the Slavia has never been an issue for me. And to show you how much stuff you can comfortably put in it, here I have got three suitcases in different sizes, one duffle bag, one camera bag, a backpack, a crate of 12 one-litre water bottles and a 20-litre jerry can. In the second picture you can see that there is room left even after loading all the stuff inside the boot. And if that’s not enough, the rear seat has a 60:40 split folding function in case you have tall and slim items to carry.

Has thoughtful touches

Space and seating comfort in the back are amongst the Slavia’s strong suits but it’s the little touches that add to the comfort once settled in. So far I have had friends and colleagues tell me about how convenient the separate phone pouch on the seatback is, or how the rear armrest is set at a perfect height.

Our Slavia has crossed the 10,000km mark. A couple of odd squeaks aside (from the dome light panel and the driver’s side door pad), it has done well so far. Anyone who has been in it on a long trip has raved about how comfortable and hushed the cabin is. All things considered, I would deem our Slavia as a solid highway car. Just that I might take the longer route to avoid some of the terribly built inner roads.

Details

Make: Skoda

Model: Slavia Version: Style 1.5 MT

Kilometres on the odo: 10,435km

Price: Rs 19.96 lakh (on-road Mumbai, when tested)

Photography: Kaustubh Gandhi