Skoda Kylaq Long Term Report: End of Term - Goodbye, For Now

Whenever you get to keep a car for a couple of months, parting ways is always difficult. But as they say, all good things must come to an end – and so does my time with the Skoda Kylaq. I have come to appreciate the phenomenal ride quality and handling. It has been a great companion for city drives, negotiating tight spaces with ease, absorbing potholes, and keeping me engaged for many kilometres. Even at night, the LED lamps did an excellent job illuminating the road ahead.

As with most cars, the Kylaq has its share of niggles. The one that has irked me most is the sudden jolt when the turbo spools. Despite careful accelerator modulation in slow-moving traffic, it can catch you off guard and launch the car forward like a slingshot. Otherwise, the Kylaq is fairly linear and predictable across the rest of the rev range. The automatic start/stop feature is also not ideal. It tends to shut off the engine even during brief halts in stop-and-go traffic. The system could benefit from a slight delay before putting the engine to rest. I usually drive with the feature turned off.

Having driven the Kylaq more aggressively over the past month, and with other team members piloting it for short periods, the fuel efficiency figures were slightly lower than usual. I managed around 10.5km/l, which isn’t bad. Fortunately, a few early-morning highway runs helped improve that figure.

Skoda has truly built a car that performs well on Indian roads without being heavy on the wallet. As such, I have already recommended it to several buyers in their late 20s and early 30s.