Bought the Skoda Kushaq Prestige 1.5 TSI facelift. Saved up for two years. No loans.
My budget was 25L, I test drove:
1.Slavia (my absolute favourite but parents are old and dad had difficulty getting into a car that low)
2.Honda City and Elevate (too noisy and engine didn’t feel as smooth).
3.Seltos (new one, great features but the ride wasn’t smooth. Suspension was a bummer. I could have compromised but I also don’t like the new look)
4.Duster (I pre-booked this one on the day of the launch. I knew I wanted this car. I went for a test drive, the interiors felt a bit cheap, parents didn’t have a lot of leg space in the back seat though we are a fam of shorties. But I was just set on this one, it felt like it had all the main features Seltos offers with better suspension)
5.Kushaq:
The showroom was right next to the Renault showroom. I thought I’ll just test drive, though I was set on Duster. The moment I started driving the car, I was blown away. It is receptive, smooth, interiors are better than Duster for sure. It just felt right.
I am an old school driver. I drove my parents’ old cars - Santro without a power steering for 5 years, then i10, which didn’t have a mirror on the left because back then it wasn’t a thing, now I had been driving i20, it doesn’t have anything, no screens, no reverse camera or Bluetooth, just a beep for reverse.
I love driving so it is more instinctive for me, never needed 360 camera or even reverse camera. Kushaq driving experience to me was worth giving up feature loaded cars. It would have been great if the car had at least some basic stuff like Duster, but I know I don’t use all that anyway.