Skoda has peeled the camouflage and unveiled the Octavia’s younger sibling and Rapid’s successor- The Slavia. Skoda fans were awaiting an upgrade for the Rapid & by the looks of the Slavia, the wait was worth it.
Let us go through all the things that you need to know about Slavia and what’s good & what’s not so good about it.
Slavia’s Design & Dimension
The Slavia looks and feels like a step-up and not just a mere replacement, as it fills the void between the Rapid and the Octavia. The Slavia is bigger in dimensions than the Rapid, In fact, It’s even bigger than the First Generation of Octavia.
With respect to the rivals, it has the longest wheelbase in the segment of 2651mm beating the OG of sedans, the Honda City.
With respect to the design language, it is indeed a baby Octavia with contours on the bonnet, crisp lines all around the exterior & a coupe like roofline. The Slavia with its design cues, now fits perfectly in the family picture of the Skoda Sedans. The Slavia houses a wide grille in the front with chrome and piano black finishing, The Projector LED headlamp & Skoda’s C shaped LED tail lamp have a crystalline design element to it.
The dual tone 16” alloy wheels are very sharp and good looking, but with the increased dimension of the body, the 16” feels under-sized with a huge wheel gap and thick tyre profile. However, considering the petrol engines it is understandable that Skoda chose 16” wheels to extract the best fuel efficiency possible.
Power
Skoda continues with a Petrol Engine Only Policy with the Slavia, like it’s brother the Kushaq. The Slavia gets two turbocharged engine options, a 3 cylinder 1.0 L engine producing 115 HP & 175 Nm of torque with a 6 speed manual or a 6 speed automatic gearbox . Being considerate of the driving enthusiast, Skoda will also offer a 4 cylinder, 1.5 L engine producing 150 HP and 250 Nm of torque. This engine comes with cylinder deactivation technology, meaning you can now save up on fuel bills while having a bigger engine. This engine is complemented with a 7 Speed DSG Automatic and a 6 speed manual gearbox.
Interiors
The interior of Slavia, is what designers would call modern and minimalist. The increase in dimensions has helped Slavia to offer a wider and more spacious cabin than before. The wide sunroof compliments this spaciousness with brighter interior space. The dashboard is neatly laid out and what strikes the eye is the wooden-like element on the dash, beautifully integrated with the circular AC vents.
The two spoke steering wheel looks quite premium for its segment, as you’d find such Steering on something like the Mercedes S-Class. The steering wheel also comes with paddle shifters to remind its driver of the sporty credentials of the Slavia. The vitals of the Slavia is displayed via a digital instrument cluster, which gets three different display modes,
The cabin follows a dual tone theme with leather upholstery, the top end trim also gets front ventilated seats. Speaking of ventilation, the Slavia gets a touch operated automatic climate control, so keep a tissue handy to clean the greasy fingerprints off the surface.
The dashboard houses a 10” touchscreen infotainment system with few connected car tech apps & wireless mobile connectivity.
Overall, it’s a spacious interior with quite a lot of premium touches and features.
Safety
To keep you and the occupants safe, the Slavia comes with a long list of safety features, with few important features like ABS, EBD being offered right from the base trim. However as you move towards the higher variants, you get Six airbags, Traction Control,Vehicle Stability Management, Multi collision braking, disc brake wiping, isofix mounts for child seat, hill hold control and electronic differential lock.
With manufacturers downsizing the cars, Skoda has really excited us enthusiasts with the Slavia and what all it has to offer.
What’s Good About Slavia?
- The 1.5L Turbocharged engine, with 150 HP makes the Slavia most powerful sedan in the segment and the only sedan to be offered with a DSG gearbox as compared to the rivals CVT.
- Cylinder Deactivation Technology, will help you extract the maximum fuel efficiency, as the engine will automatically deactivate cylinders when under less load. Hats off to Skoda to offer this feature in the segment, as until a few years ago, these features were only in the premium German limousines like the Audi A8.
- Skoda’s SImply clever features – Skoda has really used the user experience perspective to offer such thoughtful features like- the smartphone pocket, ticket holder, and elastic on the door pockets, all these will help in keeping your Slavia look organised and not cluttered with toll receipts and mobile phones swaying all over the car.
- Segment best Boot space of 521 litres.
- Front Ventilated Seats
- Ambient Lighting
What’s Not So Good?
- Slavia does not get powered seats
- Absence of full LED headlamps, Slavia would have looked much better with LED indicators.
- No diesel engine
So evidently, there’s more to like about Slavia than to dislike and we hope that in future Skoda will definitely address these concerns.
