Best Diesel Sedan in Indian Automobile market

@Anand Chakraborty - For the features & quality that Skoda offers in its cars is way above for the segment it falls in, Skoda cars are loaded with full of features. I bought one after thorough market research ;-) When you compare Octavia and Laura, engines and technology of Skoda Laura and Skoda octavia are the key distinguising features...infact I have noticed that other brands like Hyundai with i10/i20 are following the same

Skoda quality is great, but their cars are not VFM(as in features). Also the after sales and service leaves a lot to be desired.

@ T4Tigers

Heavens knows I agree with you. I don't mind admiting how I wished I could afford to purchase a Skoda Fabia TDI, but it was grossly over my budget.

Skoda makes superb cars if you ask me. The quality, the features, the technology - I am aware of it all. Alas, I only wish they were cheaper, but you can't have them all, can you? Afterall good things in life come at a price, but in my case that price was too steep! My next car will definitely be of German make - Skoda or better yet, a Volkswagen!

In my opinion Hyundai can never match a Skoda so I don't even bother considering a Hyundai car when I am aware of what a Skoda can give me.

@ Anand , No doubt Skoda has upper hand as far as quality is concerned but by no means Hyundai is poor in terms of quality . They are one of the fastest growing automobile company in the world . There must be some reasons behind it. Personally i prefer Fabia over i20 but the fact is i20 is the best selling premium hatch in India right now.

@ Binoy , i differ here when you say that Skoda cars not VFM . In my group there are three skodas namely Fabia & Octovias. Their experience say that cost of ownership is not that high compare to Maruti & Hyundai. Yes one fact , still non of them have got major replacement or accidents which would lead to costly spares . I think VFM is again very subjective terms & varies from person to person. How one can calculate snob value while considering VFM ?

@ Ashish

Yes I agree with you, Hyundai is certainly doing well worldwide and that is because it makes VFM cars - which are high on features, safety, space and not so bad on quality either, when you compare them to their German counterparts. But a German car has something special which the Koreans and the Japanese are finding hard to copy.

does this statement mean that the Skodas are cheaper to maintain than a comparable Hyundai or Maruti? Really?

@ Binoy , what i mentioned is real experience of my friends who are using it.  Also i mentioned NOT THAT HIGH COMPARE TO MARUTI & HYUNDAI . All were using Maruti before that & their experience says that service cost is not that high what is made out to be . One of my friend has just completed 15000 kms first service & bill was Rs 6100/- . Previously he was using Wagon R & according to him , even it would have cost around Rs 4500-5000 in 15000Kms.

I also mentioned about replacement / accidents which are definitely on higher side.

It is fact that Skoda does have snob value in India & Maruti & Hyundai are no where near it.

Ashish please dont take this at a personal level but,

'NOT THAT HIGH COMPARE TO MARUTI & HYUNDAI' -the literal meaning of this statement is that the skoda maintenance is cheaper than that of Maruti and Hyundai and hence i made the earlier post.

Also "their experience says that service cost is not that high what is made out to be . " - means totally different from the above statement.

Skoda and its service and maintenance has draw flak from all corners. Have a look at these threads.

one

two

three

Even regular auto mags have added a line of caution(about the service back up) to most of their skoda car reviews(Autocar india in particular).

Am in no way against Skoda or their cars(infact consider the VRs still one of the most desirable cars in India!) but their positioning in India as a premium brand(which is not the case elsewhere) as you rightly point out has somehow led them to take Indian customers for granted.

To consider the service cost as such the difference between a Fabia and a Wagon R is over 25%(taking your quoted amounts). That i guess is an significant difference considering just the routine servicing let alone spares and repairs.

@ Binoy , no way i am going to take it personally when Skoda itself is not taking anything personally !!.

Cool Ashish! 

To take the discussion on the thread, have we reached a consensus?