Skoda Kushaq

Here is my complete ownership review of my Skoda Kushaq Active Peace. I am indexing all sections below for your convenience.

Engine

It’s a turbocharged gasoline direct injection engine (GDI) and that too from the masters themselves – the Volkswagen group. Although just a tiny 1.0 Liter 3 Cylinder, it can easily smoke the bigger naturally aspirated engines offered by the competition.

Another thing to brag about this engine is that the same engine does duty in plethora of bigger cars in Europe including Audi Q2, A3 and even a Skoda Octavia!

NVH

No one can guess it’s a 3-cylinder motor. Sounds very refined at idle and lower revs. Even at speeds upwards of 100Kmph, the only noise that creeps into the cabin is Wind Noise which too is only noticeable if one pays attention to it.

Gearbox and the Clutch

Very smooth gear shifts and incredibly light clutch.

Mileage

It is phenomenal! When driven sedately, I always get above 19 Kmpl with AC on inter-city route (Nabha to Patiala) with speeds kept to mostly 75 Kmph for 21Kms out of a total journey of 25Kms.

Once I even managed to get 25 Kmpl without AC when my full focus was on extracting the maximum fuel efficiency out of the engine. (For transparency I will be attaching the pics of the Stats on MID for these journeys along with this review 🙂

Nabha-Amritsar i.e 220 Kms in 3.5 Hours at 19.6 Kmpl driven 60% Sedately and 40% Enthusiastically and the 75% of the journey was a Highway.

But on the flip side, I must state that this turbo-engine is extremely sensitive to throttle inputs. The moment you try to have fun and rev the engine a little, you can see the mileage going down very quickly.

Suspension

The perfect balance of comfort and handling. Stiff but not bone-jarring. Glides over small potholes and speed breakers with ease. Bigger ones too are tackled without causing much thud or discomfort inside.

Space

For a car that looks a bit smaller than the competition, it is a big surprise on the inside. Loads of legroom is available both at the front as well as the rear. 5th passenger of an average Indian height will not be a very tight squeeze but just about enough to be comfortable.

Seat Comfort

The car is very comfortable to sit in, seats are large and supportive with very good side bolstering that hugs you well.

But I find that the headrests at the rear seats are protruding outwards a bit too much which causes a bit of discomfort to the neck when sitting for longer duration. My mom and grandmother complained of this and when I checked it, I found it too.

Ergonomics

Absolutely spot on, nothing that can be pointed out as odd. Even the turn indicators on the left side, I have gotten used to them and find them easier than the conventional right-sided blinker controls. Steering is adjustable both for "Reach" as well as "Rake".

The Front Armrest is supremely comfortable and is placed at very optimum height and is extendable as well.

Safety Features

Even in the base variant, all the important safety features are present, which are :-

Apart from these, there are some quirks in this car like:-

Build Quality

Definitely far better than the competition. Each panel has a nice heft to it and doesn’t feel light. The car cocoons you and gives a sense of sitting in a solid cabin.
(This has been superbly explained in the Volkswagen Taigun Review video on YouTube by @Sunderdeep Singh ji. All the points covered stands true for Kushaq as well)

Peace of Mind & Dealership Experience

Peace of Mind with 6 years extended warranty and 4 years maintenance package. Dealership experience is explained in the latter part of the review.

Road Presence & Snob Value

The car does attract good attention, especially in Punjab, where a Kushaq is not a common sight. Rather than calling the car by its name Kushaq, people call it Skoda. Feels nice!

Reliability Concern

Reliability is a concern for me. Although I am covered for 6 years, IMHO, too much power from a small engine is going to definitely have a negative effect in the long term. I suspect engine oil burning will become a common phenomenon for most cars in the future as gasoline direct injection (GDI) is becoming mainstream.

No under-body engine protection

No under-body engine protection. This is gross omission by VW-Skoda and has no justification whatsoever except being a cost cutting measure. It should be offered as dealer level accessory at least.

Mileage

What??!! But I mentioned it in the Pros as well, then why in the Cons too? Because as it is very sensitive to throttle inputs. The moment you start driving a bit enthusiastically, it will start dropping.

AC

I am not facing issue like others are facing because I don't encounter bumper to bumper traffic much. Yes there is an issue that the compressor trips at slow speeds so may become an issue for people in Delhi-NCR etc. In my use case scenario, the AC is satisfactory.

Roof Liner

I have got the car with old type roof liner which screams cheap. Although new Kushaq owners might not complain because there has been a new roof liner introduced in the cars manufactured post July 2022 which is of acceptable quality.

Headlamps

Like most OEM headlights, the ones found on Kushaq's Base Model i.e Reflector based and Halogens, they are just sufficient if driving on a well lit road. The moment you get on to the single lane roads where morons come shooting Hi-Beams right into the eyes, it just feels like car's lights are not turned on!

Horn

It is a joke, period! It is like an auto rickshaw horn with a bit more bass. Grossly dissatisfied with it!

Regarding Engine

The engine has a special tuning such that it is difficult to stall the car, just like a diesel engine. This is a good thing but on releasing the clutch the car accelerates too much such that it becomes difficult for a new person to adjust to it easily. This results in having to ride the clutch sometimes in stop-go traffic for a smoother motion.

Tires

The tires that I got stock with the car are Ceat Secura Drive‘s and the size offered on this variant is 205/60/R16. I find these tires to be above average and don’t intend to change them. They are satisfactory in terms of grip and noise levels so far and I have no complaints with them.

One thing that I find strange is that the spare tire offered in the car is an Apollo Alnac 4g instead of a Ceat Secura Drive. Wheel wells get full cladding both at the front as well as back. I like that Skoda hasn’t cut costs on the basic fundamentals of the car.

Cruise Control

I really miss a cruise control on the beautiful highways they are building nowadays. Yes, for what I paid, it’s OK to not have it. But in my opinion, companies must provide an option to install it through the dealer, because it’s just a simple coupler fitment of the part on the steering.

Accessories Unavailability

Aftermarket accessories in tier 2 cities like Patiala, and Ludhiana are not available for this model. I couldn’t even manage to get floor mats specific for the car here and have got a generic noodle mat for the car as a result.

Petrol Type

The car is requires 95 RON petrol to run optimally. Although it also states that it can run on 91 RON, but I believe it will have an impact on the injectors and overall engine health in the long run.
Thus I always use XP95 Petrol by Indian Oil in the car and the difference in performance as well as the mileage justifies the initial extra cost you pay over normal petrol (About Rs. 5.5 per litre).

On 17th May 2022, i.e the next day after the delivery, I noticed that the right side steering mounted controls which are for controlling the Multi-Instrument Display (MID) was not working and the MID was stuck on the Range only. Initially, I thought maybe this would be activated only after installing a head unit but after checking various videos of the base variant of Kushaq on Youtube, I came to know that there is an issue with my car.

Coincidentally Dad and I had to travel somewhere that day and Ludhiana was en route. So, we decided to get it checked at the service center i.e., Krishna Auto Ludhiana.

We reached there at 11 A.M, my father sat inside the customer lounge and I took the car to the workshop. I explained to the service advisor what the problem was and he asked me to wait in the customer lounge.

But me being me, I didn’t leave the workshop area as I wanted to see whatever diagnostic they were to do on the car. After waiting for almost 10 minutes there, I heard back from no one there. So, I went to a mechanic working on some other car and requested him to call the service advisor as I was on a trip and had to leave early. He understood my situation and advised me to go to the cabin of the Service Manager and request him to intervene. I went to the cabin of Mr. D.S. Maan, Service Manager at Krishna Skoda Ludhiana and narrated the whole problem that I was facing just 1 day after the delivery and requested him to get it solved as early as possible so that I could leave for my work.

It was so nice of Mr. Maan that he left the work he was doing and asked me to accompany him. We went to the service area and immediately the Service Advisor as well as 2 mechanics came. He asked them to treat my matter as urgent and look into my issue. I was very impressed because I was just a teenager who walked into the cabin of the Service Manager and he happily obliged.

So, the mechanics first removed the negative terminal of the battery for 10 Minutes.

After this, the terminal was again connected but the issue was still there.

Now, they connected their laptop via the OBD port to check for any errors, but nothing was found.

They then started searching on their Skoda Mechanic Portal as to in what way they should proceed.

They then checked the fuse box to see if there is any issue there, but it was not the case.

Meanwhile, I and Mr. Maan were standing there and discussing Skoda and cars in general. He was constantly updating me on what was now done to the car and what would be their next course of action.

After researching on their portal, the next thing they did was to disconnect both the positive as well as the negative terminal of the battery for 15 minutes.

Mr. Maan told me that this would act as a factory reset like in the case of mobile phones and the issue should resolve now.

They also contacted Skoda Service Team for backup, if this final solution didn’t work.

But thankfully this solution worked and the steering controls were fully functional now. The reason for the controls getting stuck was that because the car was standing for quite some time in the stockyard, the system might have hanged, thus doing this solved the problem.

This whole thing took about 1 hour and Mr. Maan was with me the whole time. He had no obligation as such to stand in the heat there with me but he did which tells about him as a person and not only that, Skoda India’s sincere efforts to improve their service experience and the brand image.

Meanwhile, my dad was in the customer lounge doing his stock market and was happy with 2 cups of tea which according to him were great (He is a big tea lover). I thanked Mr. Maan and his team again and we left the service center happily and completed the rest of our trip.

Here I want to put forward my point that issues can come up in any car be it a Tata or even a Toyota, what matters is how that issue is rectified and how do they treat customers coming up with problems. Contrary to the mainstream opinion my experience with Skoda (Both sales as well as the service at Patiala and Ludhiana dealership) was very good.

The whole experience right from booking to the delivery was very smooth and flawless.

I would like to especially give a shout-out to Mr. Manpreet Singh, Sales Manager at Krishna Auto Patiala. He literally made us feel at home and the whole buying process was very professional as well as cordial throughout. He even went out of the way to arrange a pickup facility for us on the delivery day and is still as approachable as he was before the deal. If you are in Punjab and looking to buy a Skoda, he is the guy to call!

PS – I am in no way associated with him and have just shared my honest experience here.

After driving the car for 2300 Kms in 2.5 Months, I can say it with full confidence that this car is a perfect family car which is solidly built, safe, comfortable and drives well. May I add that it is very fuel efficient too, given that it is driven sedately.

All the basics of the car - Engine, Gearbox, Suspension, Seat Comfort and Electronics are sorted.

The build quality along with fit and finish and the paint quality is supreme! Again I would like to recommend the "Youtube video by @Sunderdeep Singh ji" of the VW Taigun in which it is so well highlighted that it is almost an eye opener.

The level of insulation and good materials provided in this car are by far the best one can find under Rs. 20 Lacs. The dimensions of the car makes driving inside the city very easy and effortless. The wheelbase, wide track and dynamics of the car makes driving on the highways very enjoyable, safe and stress-free.

I would like to extend my gratitude towards @Sunderdeep Singh ji for providing this great platform which is proving to be of immense help to new car buyers in the Indian Car Market as well as car enthusiasts like me.
Also, even he doesn't know that the variant I am driving (Active Peace) was bought only after getting to know about it from his YouTube video. Information about this variant was given first time on YouTube on his channel, even there is no mention of this variant even on the official Skoda website!