The driving experience is spot on. It’s so easy to drive. Steering is ultra-light yet responsive and weighs up fairly well at higher speeds
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Introduction:
I have owned a couple of Skoda Superbs in the past and experienced several VAGs from their glory days such as the Octy, Laura, Jetta and Passat. One thing I always loved about VW and Skoda is that they never compromised on quality, uncompromising engineering and premium feel even in their more affordable cars such as Polo and Rapid.
I however, went from a hardcore VAG enthusiast to not recommending any of them when the MQB A0 IN cars came about. These cars felt evidently built to a cost with extremely cheap-feeling cabins for the price, and my friends with Virtus, Taigun, Kushaq and Slavia complained about excessive squeaks and rattles in a short span of time.
Although these cars were still structurally well engineered and drove pretty well, that sophisticated European edge from my older Skodas was missing which left me very disheartened.
This is when the Kylaq came in and I wanted to just give it a chance. I’m happy to say I’ve come out very impressed!
Test Drive Impressions:
Design-wise, this car was very attractive inside and out. It was small without feeling cheap and had no risky or excessive design elements. It was a very handsome and simple design that everyone will tend to appreciate.
The way it drives, the ride quality, the NVH and the overall sense of sophistication feels very mature. It doesn’t feel like a cheap sub-4m car. It feels properly European in a way I haven’t felt from any European brand in the past few years.
The build and material quality feels very solid and is a massive step up from other A0 INs. There are no soft touch elements but everything feels solid and well put together. There’s none of the rattling, creaking and flexing from its cousins that is apparent here.
The ride quality is brilliant. It has that firm European edge and doesn’t feel too soft or floaty, unlike pretty much every other Sub-4m car on sale. It filters out just enough to feel connected yet sophisticated. Very refreshing from super soft characterless suspensions from most mainstream cars.
The driving experience is spot on. It’s so easy to drive. Steering is ultra-light yet responsive and weighs up fairly well at higher speeds. The tiny footprint makes it a breeze to drive in the city. The electric seats go all the way down to make the driving position sporty enough without compromising on visibility. It feels like a hatchback. The performance is just adequate but can be increased as per ones liking, thanks to the massive support the 1.0 TSI enjoys in the tuning community. The manual transmission is very snappy and satisfactory, but the clutch is a tad too springy, and you need to get used to it. I had a hard time rev-match downshifting throughout my test drive. Handling is well above average but there’s more body roll than I’d like. It can be fixed with a set of coilovers as well, but that would ruin the brilliant ride quality. Overall, I’d say that this is the best driving experience in the segment by quite a margin.
I drove both the Signature Plus and Prestige variants and would recommend going for the Prestige variant despite the high price tag compared to the extremely value for money lower variants just because of the feel-good factor. There’s just enough equipment, colours and designs thrown in to make it feel special in a way that lower variants don’t. Properly powered seats are a big plus, and although it misses out on some tech compared to the competition, most can be OEM+ retrofitted. People have already retrofitted 12K OPS with PLA 3.0 (360-degree sensors with auto park), highline reverse camera with dynamic guidelines, OEM Amplifier with Subwoofer, European Full Virtual Cockpit, Direct TPMS, and much more in other A0 INs and the same is possible here.
Conclusion:
The Skoda Kylaq was a pleasant surprise and I’m happy to say that for the price tag, I simply couldn’t fault it and I can finally start recommending an affordable VAG product to my friends and family yet again with confidence.
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