The Skoda Slavia has been given a facelift in India with visual updates on the outside and inside along with mechanical changes too. The Skoda Slavia continues to take on the likes of its sister car, the Volkswagen Virtus (which will get an update soon) along with the recently updated Honda City and Hyundai Verna.
The Skoda Slavia will continue to get two engine options, a 1.0-litre TSI, 3-cylinder engine and a 1.5-litre TSI 4-cylinder engine. The 1.0-litre motor gets the option of a 6-speed manual or a new 8-speed automatic, similar to the one we saw on the updated Skoda Kushaq and Volkswagen Taigun. The 1.5-litre TSI engine continues to get the DQ200 Dual Clutch Automatic gearbox, which has been tweaked for Indian use cases a few years ago to ensure better life and easier maintenance schedules.
Updates on the outside include a new front bumper and lower grille - which has a brunch of weird triangles and trapezoidal shapes, while the main radiator grille has undergone an update too. Sadly though, despite originally planned, the Skoda Slavia has not received the updated styling and light signature that the Skoda Kushaq facelift received. The smaller lit up LED elements, which we can assure you were present in the originally clay concept have been dropped in favour of chrome elements that mimic the look of a DRL.
Similarly, at the rear, a connected tail light design element, like on the Kushaq was expected, but instead Skoda has changed the centre boot garnish to one with vertical elements. Tail lights too have been given an update and get a similar lighting structure like the front.
Move to the interior and you get slightly updated cloth and leatherette interiors along with an updated screen and instrument cluster. The instrument cluster is now the same as some of the other VW group products available in international markets and offers a lot more info as compared to the older models. The top spec variants also get massaging seats but only at the rear. Just like on the Kushaq, the front seats continue to get a ventilated feature, the rears do not.
While the updates are pretty in line with what most facelifts get, an update to 17-inch wheels, making rear discs standard across the board (as opposed to only on the 1.5-litre models), cooled seats at the rear, and of course, a little more power to match the likes of the Verna, would have added to the Slavia’s package. Also, as we have always said, and will continue to say, A Slavia RS, made specially for India, would be just the absolute cherry on the cake!
