Skoda Kylaq Pros & Cons

Check out pros and cons about the Skoda Kylaq that are worth highlighting for a potential buyer. Here are some of the highlights of the benefits of buying the Skoda Kylaq. We'll also list out the Kylaq drawbacks to help you make an informed buying decision.

Kylaq Advantanges

• Marginal premium for automatic transmission

  The automatic variants of the Skoda Kylaq only cost Rs. 1.0 lakh more than the manual transmission variants. This is a very reasonable pricing for a torque converter-type automatic transmission. Carmakers like Maruti Suzuki charge Rs. 1.50 lakh for their 6-speed torque converter automatic over a comparable manual transmission variant.

• Turbo petrol engine is standard

  Skoda offers the Kylaq with the 1.0L turbo petrol engine as standard. This favours the Kylaq as other cars in the segment such as the Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet and Maruti Brezza get a normal petrol engine. Turbo petrol engines offer superior drivability because of a fatter torque band available at lower RPMs. Thus, you don’t need to rev a turbo engine hard to extract decent performance out of them. They are also more efficient compared to a non-turbo petrol engine if they are driven with the intention to extract similar performance as a turbo engine with a soft ceiling of low-to-moderate RPMs.

• Attractive starting price of under Rs. 8.0 lakh

  The Skoda Kylaq starts from Rs. 7.80 lakh (ex-showroom), which is lower than the starting price of most of the turbo petrol cars in the segment. The Kylaq is also very similar to the bigger Kushaq, which makes it look like a more affordable and smaller Kushaq. Most of this price saving comes from the weird tax structure in India, which favours smaller cars with smaller displacement engines regardless of the performance they deliver.

• Simple and easy-to-understand variant lineup

  The variant lineup of the Skoda Kylaq is very simple and easy-to-understand. It gets 4 manual and 3 automatic transmission variants. This makes it easy for the customer to make a choice of the variant they want to buy. Other cars in the segment such as the Nexon have a very large number of variants and a confusing variant lineup. No wonder the variants explained in articles and video we publish on Tata cars accumulate so many views.

• Engine and gearbox reliability

  The Skoda Kylaq gets the 1.0L turbo petrol engine, which is now on sale in India for a long time. It was introduced first with the Skoda Rapid and the Volkswagen Polo in 2020. So, it has been around long enough for Skoda to have sorted out all the bugs and kinks out of it. The Kylaq also gets the tried and trusted torque converter type automatic transmission. This is not only the most reliable type of automatic but this too has been doing duty with the 1.0L turbo engine in India for a good while. So, you can expect solid long-term reliability with the Kylaq whether you’re buying it with the manual or the automatic.

Kylaq Disadvantanges

• Absurdly high price gap between variants

  The price gap between the variants of the Skoda Kylaq is almost Rs. 2.0 lakh. This makes it very difficult for a person in budget to jump to the next variant. The premium for a higher variant is also very high for a car that starts from under Rs. 10.0 lakh.

• Missing essential features

  The Skoda Kylaq misses out on some features even in the top variant which a car of such price should get. Some of these features include:

  • Front parking sensors
  • Rear window sunshades
  • Panoramic sunroof
  • ADAS
  • 360-degree camera etc.

  These features are offered in either mid or top variants of its rival such as the Mahindra 3XO and the Kia Sonet.

  Also Read: Features Missing In Skoda Kylaq But Available In Rival SUV(s)

• Looks like a smaller SUV from rear

  Even though the Skoda Kylaq overall looks like a mini Kushaq from the front, the rear profile looks similar to the Hyundai Exter. With its tiny tail lamp clusters and a black bar connecting the two ends, it looks awfully similar to a much cheaper car like the Exter. Customers would likely not want their car to resemble a smaller car on the road.

• Inefficient automatic transmission for city traffic

  The Skoda Kylaq gets the torque converter automatic transmission which is great to drive on highways. However, the transmission is not suitable for city traffic at all. The gearbox is very inefficient in stop-and-go traffic situations due to the fluid-coupling mechanism of the torque converter.

• Poor feature distribution among variants

  While the variant lineup of the Skoda Kylaq is very simple, the feature distribution among the variants is poor. Due to the poor distribution, none of the variants comes up as great value-for-money. It becomes very difficult to recommend a variant considering none of them offer a well-rounded feature package.

  For example, the steering-mounted controls, front armrest and TPMS are only available in the top model, which also gets large 17-inch alloy wheels. So, you can’t get a reasonably loaded lower or mid variant. The Kylaq’s lower two variants also don't get hill start assist even though they have the hardware already in place. ESC is standard across the range and the same hardware also works to offer HSA. but they chose to offer it only in the top 2 variants.

  The Mahindra 3XO base model comes across as a much more well-rounded package and much easier to recommend over the Kylaq. Similarly, on the higher end, the 3XO’s top model with ADAS kit and a larger sunroof appears to offer superior value for a reasonably higher asking price.