Skoda Octavia : Review

The Skoda Octavia is back in India in its third iteration. The D segment sedan holds a lot of promise with a complete overhaul to both the exteriors and interiors based on the Vision D concept. The new car from Czech carmaker has a seeming resemblance to the 2013 European Skoda Rapid, but is premium of the two and also a brand in itself.

Skoda Octavia Exterior
Skoda has moved towards softer lines and more rounded edges to give the new Octavia a classier, premium and more modern feel. It gets LED DRLs and front grille with vertical stats that make the front look aggressive. The all-new Octavia is also substantially longer and wider compared to the Laura, which also means that it has more cabin space for the passengers. The tailgate has the two diagonal lines that we first saw on the Rapid along with C-shaped tail lamps and reversing lamps and turn-blinkers in the middle.

Skoda Octavia Headlamps
The interiors have significantly improved with faux wood trim and beige theme, but the overall design is standard and like any other VW group car. The top-end variant gets touchscreen music system, front and rear parking sensors, six airbags, ABS-EBD, ESP, traction control, steering mounted audio controls, power seat for the driver with memory function, rear AC vents and rear sunblind. The rear row gets better leg room; however, like before the under thigh support is not optimum. There are ample cubby holes that double-up as bottle holders at the front, while the space in the rear armrest can be adjusted to fit any size of bottle or even cup. We are glad that Skoda has retained the feature that lets you access boot space from inside the car, hopefully few more cars in India get this feature.

Skoda Octavia Side View

The Skoda Octavia is available in three trims– Active Ambition and Elegance. The 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel TDI producing 141bhp and 320Nm of torque is available across all trim levels. The Elegance version with an oil burner gets a six-speed dual-clutch DSG automatic gearbox as a standard fitment, while it is an optional extra for the Ambition trim. The Active and Ambition petrol are powered by 1.4-litre TSI unit that has a power rating of 138bhp and 250Nm coupled with six-speed manual transmission. The Elegance petrol on the other hand gets a 1.8-litre TSI that is good to churn out 177bhp and 250Nm through seven-speed DSG transmission.

Skoda Octavia Interior Seats
The Elegance petrol is also the only variant to get the independent rear suspension, which drastically improve the ride and handling of the car. The rest of the lineup get two torsion beams at the rear that are actually sufficient in most situations. The decision to use independent suspension on the Elegance petrol hints that Skoda plans to bring the vRS Octavia to India soon, as it uses the same 1.8-litre four-cylinder mill.

Skoda Octavia interior Photo
Skoda has ditched the hydraulic steering from its predecessor for a new electrically assisted one – it is light and precise but the feedback is not that great. The ride is tuned for comfort, so there is a certain amount of body-roll at high speeds but the Octavia takes care of undulations and small potholes with ease. The ground clearance of the luxury sedan is also decent to manage mountainous speed-breakers and jumbo-sized potholes, but entry has to be slow to avoid the bumper hitting the ground.

Skoda Octavia Front view
The handling of the Octavia is positive; you can push this car through the corners really hard. It grips through the corners at high speed and there is minimal under steer, despite this being a heavy front-wheel-drive car. The only issue is that the body-roll will make rest of the occupants a little uncomfortable. Overall, the Skoda Octavia is a competent product which offers European quality and technology, but with a slightly premium price tag – especially for the top-end variants.

Skoda Octavia
Skoda has strategically launched the car before the start of the festive season with a competitive starting price. It competes with the Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla Altis, Chevrolet Cruze, Renault Fluence, Volkswagen Jetta and others in the D-Segment. Also the new car will have to face competition from SUVs and MUVs like the XUV500 and Toyota Innova that are slotted in same segment.

BMW 1 Series : Review

BMW has launched the 1 Series hatch back in India. The smallest of its offerings, the 1 Series is the German automaker’s entry into the premium hatchback segment where it competes with the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and B-Class. The car is 4.2 meters long with a wheelbase of 2.6 meters making it as long as the Honda City.

Design
The BMW is a five seater, five door hatchback. From the front it sports all the signature BMW lines but still has the design of the old grille as the car has not been updated with the new grille design. There is a pronounced hump on the hood that seems to flow into the front windscreen and the A-pillars. While globally the 1 Series is offered in three and five door options, in India we only get the latter.
At the back, the 1 Series looks like a scaled standard BMW design due to it being a hatchback. While the shape of the boot hatch is similar to that of the 3-Series, the tail lights are considerably smaller but still retain the familiar Bavarian manufacturers design language.
The India spec 1 Series is being offered with one petrol and one diesel engine. The former is a four cylinder turbocharged 1.6-litre engine that produces 138PS and 220Nm of torque while the diesel on the other hand is a 2.0-litre engine that produces 145PS and 320Nm of torque.
Both engines have been mated to the ZF eight-speed gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels, giving the 1 Series a proper amount hot hatchback credibility. This is taken even further when we consider the fact that the car has a longitudinally mounted engine and perfect weight distribution. BMW is offering the 1 Series in four variants; 116i (petrol), 118d, 118d Sport Line and 118d Sport Plus.
The car is being assembled for the Indian market via the CKD route at BMW’s Chennai plant. This makes the feature list almost identical to the European spec model. The extensive list includes the BMW’s iDrive system with a 16.55 cm HD LCD display, start-stop function, driver side power-seat with memory function and sunroof, apart from standard safety features like ABS-EBD, airbags and ESP. Rear parking sensors are standard across the range.

Competition
As we had earlier, the 1 Series will compete with the A-Class and the B-Class. Vis-à-vis, the 118d variant is almost Rs 40, 000 cheaper than the Mercedes-Benz A-Class A180 CDI variant but the latter has a few more goodies like GPS, audio controls in the rear arm rest, driver arm rest and leather seats. For the buyers who shop in that price bracket such features do matter and is likely to tip the scales in favour of the A-Class. However, the most noted feature that should put the 1 Series back in the game is that it is RWD as compared to the A-Class which is front wheel drive and this should make it livelier to drive.

Nissan Terrano : Review

Nissan Terrano is the latest entrant to the entry-level utility segment. The new model is based on its French sibling, the Renault Duster, but looks a lot different with Nissan’s SUV design philosophy. The Terrano enters one of the fastest growing segments with not only decent looks and features list, but also with one of the most dependable platforms.
Nissan has concentrated mainly on the looks of the Terrano to distinguish it from the Renault product. Almost every body-panel is different from the hood, to the doors and the tailgate. Unlike the Micra/Pulse this one looks a lot different and one from Nissan’s own SUV range. The grille consists of a lot of chrome with trapezoid chrome strips on either side of a bold logo and dual-barrel square headlamps with blacked-out insides flank the grille. The creases on the bonnet start from the front grille, which also has a silver bash-plate on the other side adding to the overall masculine look. The overall design of the Terrano is similar to that of the new X-Trail and Pathfinder.
The side profile also has bold lines but unlike the Duster’s these don’t curve but are angular. The flared wheel-arches make the Terrano look aggressive, distinguishing it from most of Nissan’s models in India. The doors have two horizontal creases in them that help with the butch look, but it isn’t enough to alleviate the organic lines of the rest of the car. The rear end bears no similarity to any of the Nissan SUVs and it is evident that Nissan has developed a new tail lamp cluster without fiddling too much with the Duster lamps. It gets a chrome garnish to add a premium feel, but the overall appearance is rugged with roof rails and silver skid plates.
The top-end version of the Terrano gets 10-spoke machine-finished petal shaped alloy-wheels, they feel premium but somehow look a little out-of-place on the muscular car. They will probably suit the Duster which is softer of the two cars.
The interiors of the Terrano also look familiar to that of the Duster, but there are a few subtle yet important changes when compared to its predecessor . Nissan has worked a bit on the interior quality and the cabin now feels premium. The music system is also different and this one is more ergonomic and user friendly. However the ORVM adjustment switch is still not easy to use; positioned under the handbrake lever. The rest of the equipment list is pretty much the same including the one-step driver height adjust and orange backlight for the instrument cluster. It also gets a rear AC vent that adds to the comfort of passengers, but it is a tad bit noisy increasing the NVH level. The base XE diesel variant gets all black interiors, while the rest of the line-up gets a beige-black combination that makes the cabin look roomier.
The Nissan Terrano is available in both petrol and diesel guise. The diesel version is powered by the same 1.5-litre dCi engine that powers the Duster and will be available in two different grades – the 85bhp base variant and 110bhp for the top spec version. Similarly, the petrol XL variant gets the 1.6-litre four-cylinder unit churning out 102bhp and 145Nm of torque. Nissan has not fiddled around with the engine tuning or the suspension setup and this means the riding and handling of the Terrano is exceptionally good.
Nissan is offering only one variant (the XL) of the Terrano petrol – it has ABS-EBD-Brake Assist, driver side airbag, music system and front fog lamps. On the other hand the diesel Terrano is available in six variants – the base XE variant has a driver side airbag and power windows. The diesel XL variants have exactly the same features as that of the petrol counterpart and are available in both 85PS and 110PS tune. The XL Plus diesel gets an extra airbag at the front and alloy wheels as well. The top-end XV variants are available only with 110PS output and six-speed manual transmission. The additional features include rear AC vents, rear parking sensors and leather wraps for steering and the gear-knob. The premium version gets leather seats and wood finish inserts on the doors.
The Franco-Japanese consortium has an agreement that the donor car will be positioned below the new model and hence the prices of the Terrano are higher as compared to the Duster. India being a price sensitive market, the difference between the Terrano and its French counterpart is not more than Rs 40,000 even for the top spec variant.
The few things that differentiate the Terrano from the Duster include looks, ergonomics and interior quality – all of which rank high on any buyer’s priority list. This compact crossover competes with the Renault Duster, Ford EcoSport, Mahindra XUV500, Tata Safari Storme, Force One and the Mahindra Scorpio in India.