Skoda Slavia

The Slavia looks gorgeous from the front where it is recognizably a Skoda with its trademark grille. The winged headlights, dramatically cut bumper, and two main indentations coming down the hood to give a sort of power dome effect look quite expressive and might be a considerable advantage over its soon-to-arrive cousin, the Volkswagen Virtus, which has a comparatively simple styled front bumper and hood. Although the Slavia has the largest boot in its class thanks to a huge rear overhang, one can still tell from the sides that it is well proportioned and balanced. The exterior of the Slavia is quite clean, but some distinguishing features, such as the chrome strip that crosses the window line and curls towards the back and quarter windows, stick out and make for a beautiful-looking vehicle.

The Slavia can hold 521 litres of luggage as well as grows to 1,050 litres when the seats are folded down. It also has strong power under the hood, although the elevated ride height provides a very helpful 179 mm of ground clearance, it somewhat detracts from the appearance. Although the Slavia is significantly heavier than typical sedans, the performance is more than adequate, and the 1.0-litre version hardly seems underpowered. It is available with a variety of 1.5- or 1.0-liter TSI engines, but for this review, we have only looked at the 1.0 TSI engine. This modest 110hp three-cylinder engine outperforms its size and, most importantly, doesn't feel sluggish. Additionally, available with a 6-speed manual torque converter makes city commutes comfortable.

Diesel versions are not available for this model but are greatly powered by the 1498 cc petrol engine and come in both transmission types of manual and automatic, in a total of 8 Variants.

When you apply more stress, the 1.0-litre motor responds well to keep up with the flow of fast-moving traffic n Slavia, although turbo lag causes a little bit of sluggishness. This can be inconvenient when you need to pass someone rapidly and often shift gears to keep the engine running. This engine comes fully alive above 1,800 rpm and is at its most powerful at 6,600 rpm. The Slavia is an easy manual sedan to live with, and for the aficionado is more enjoyable than other sedans in the range. At maximum revs, the motor becomes louder but not in an unpleasant way. For a Sedan motor with a three-cylinder, it is also surprisingly smooth. The short throw, matte finish shifting gearbox combined with a light and progressive gearbox make the Slavia an easy manual sedan to live with.