The Skoda Slavia is a big tease. Drive it in the maddening city traffic and the turbo lag and lazy initial throttle response will lead you to think it’s a sedate driver
Give in to that lure and you’ll be rewarded with a meaty mid-range and a strong top end, and coupled with the manual gearbox, it’s wicked fun.
So yes, it’s always a tease in the city, egging you on to wind it up and drive faster and further.
In traffic, it’s no bother, apart from the traffic itself because the clutch is easy to use and the gear lever is smooth too.
Over Mumbai’s unevenly surfaced Western Express Highway, the ride is superb and it soaks up everything the road throws up.
While the body has held up very well so far, the dashboard and AC vents, however, have begun to vibrate, and that’s really a very un-Skoda-like problem.
The AC cooling issue that we had earlier is back – the AC works fine, but you have to set the temperature about 2-3deg lower than you otherwise would to get your desired comfort.