A goal of choosing a fun to drive petrol MT and safe Sub-4m ‘raised hatchback’ close to 10L has been completed after half a year of going through various cars.
BHPian SussyBaka recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Took delivery of our Signature MT in Candy White on 2nd March from Krishna Skoda Jalandhar, Punjab, whole 3 months after a first day pre-booking on 2nd December. Delivery experience was good and the staff kept us updated throughout every step since the vehicle chassis number was allocated to dealership. They had no problem with us refusing the quoted ₹49k insurance and even agreed to match the ₹27k quote from one of our contacts, but we ended up getting it for even ₹6k less than that by doing the process ourselves online. Didn’t opt for the ‘Elite’ accessory pack costing ₹7k either as we were getting the 10″ screen + rear camera from dealer itself which they initially quoted ₹29.5 for, HUGE thanks to the accessories price list on TBHP forums we had them cross check and got it for ₹26.5 (more on this in pictures). Final cost was around ₹10.9L
Reasons for; variant: wanted to stick close to 10L as possible and the 2L jump to Signature+ did not seem worth it. Petrol + MT was a must. Other cars we had interest in include Brezza VXi 1.5 MT (interior felt same as our 10 year old Baleno, only the boot space and 1.5 petrol was a plus) and Sonet 1.2 MT (under-powered, features overs basics). Some features from our current 2015 Baleno Zeta MT I miss: auto headlamps, rear window washer, puddle lamps, electric folding mirrors and keyless entry (not a deal breaker though).. Some features I frankly don’t miss: push button start, climate control (Skoda knobs are sweeet compared to the touch controls);
colour personal opinion, it looks second best in Candy White (first is still Lava Blue, oh those Kodiaq and Slavia I see on road) but maintaining a dark metallic colour has been a pain and I wanted it to be easier this time. The sharp creases and features in the body are clearly visible in white and it provides a great contrast with the plastic cladding and gloss black grill!
I will refrain from sharing the pros and cons everyone has mentioned so far but a quick overview would be- Great looking, great to drive, Solid build, too many hard plastics inside but no creaks i.e proper fitment, some very obvious cost-cutting though the price justifies that.
Here are some pictures-
Delivery day
Accessories
Door edge guards from Kushaq hehe
DHC Infotainment + RVC:
The placement is same but the factory fitted unit has the camera and boot opening unit combined, but for the accessory they had to drill a hole next to the handle/button and fix it there. The lens is also more of a fish-eye than the Prestige or Signature+ one, comparable quality but is displayed larger.
Another funny thing and a red flag! As I was taking photos today to make this post I put the gear in reverse, then back to first but the screen froze at a photo of the rear view. I turned the car off/on but this time the screen stayed off. I turned the car off for another 10 minutes, then the screen started working again (major sigh of relief). I blame the specs of the unit, Android 13 running on 4GB RAM, Spotify and Google Maps was running in the background. Reminded me of my android jelly bean phone days! I have shared a video of it with the dealership contact, awaiting response. Oh and there’s also a minor screen bleed. So the answer… risk the warranty and get an aftermarket screen or upgrade to Signature+? That’s a decision future buyers have to make while we’re stuck with this one for now.
Photo of it not working:
Rest of the default screens:
Minor cost cutting 1) Boot carpet/board flimsy, the MDF piece is not all the way to edges:
2) Some visible wiring under drivers seat ( for airbags?)
And finally how the owners manual looks like
Overall happy with the car and delivery, I hope the screen doesn’t bother any more. A goal of choosing a fun to drive petrol MT and safe Sub-4m ‘raised hatchback’ close to 10L has been completed after half a year of going through various cars.
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