So, it's been nearly 14 months since we got our kylaq (signature plus AT in lava blue), we booked it around dec 2024 on the exact date the bookings were opened, so this is one of the first 1000 units that got sold and at that time we paid around 15L on road in Chennai... I have done around 7500kms till now.. mostly in the city, few highways trips and a little bit of hill drive.

I have done almost no changes or additions to the car except for the seat cover. So far I've faced zero issues and everything just works in my unit.

Coming to my user experience as in how did it make me feel? It puts a big smile in my face every time I drive it. There's just something about the way it drives, especially the way the steering is smooth and precise, it puts a really big smile on my face. I love the whole driver centric approach the cabin takes.. the rear seats are nice, but the recline and the leg room makes it seem a little claustrophobic. I have heard my friends complain of rear seats even compared to a i20 rear seat.. The one thing I don't like is the creaks it has.. every time I drive it over a ramp, the whole body seem to creak (it's a weird ramp where one of the wheels will be floating, so I suppose it's a little too much, but still my ikon did not used to creek).

The highway driving is effortless. I noticed that it sits at a nice 2000 - 2250 rpm on 6th gear while cruising at 120kmph.. which is absolutely brilliant gearing from skoda, that means at 120km/h engine is relaxed and absolutely no strain at all, I feel this is the perfect cruising speed for kylaq. Since I've lived with mine for over a year,  i understand how it behaves in certain conditions. For example, in city traffic, if you're in a AT, you need to use driving mode, and make sure to try and keep your rpm over 1750 if possible, if not, if you're in the dead zone of 1000 to 1750 rpm, do not throttle hard, just feather it, give it time till the engines revs back to power zone.. this will prevent the sudden uncontrolled pull from the turbo..in highways i almost always use the sports mode which make it to hold to a gear much longer, which means you'll be in turbo zone for longer. Sports mode is almost a must while driving in hills, especially when fully loaded. Recently I went on a trip to a hill station along with my friends, and was fully loaded 5 pax, with luggage... tyre pressure I increased to 41 in front and 45 at the rear for this trip.. I did notice the weights it's obviously no torque monster, but it pulls cleanly even at a 30 degree gradient in a hairpin bend fully loaded.. the automatic mostly used 1st and 2nd gears, and the engine rpm never went beyond 3000... if can't even imagine a real life situation where your engine would have to go above 3500 rpm... from the specs sheet, I know that the AT shifts up automatically at 5500rpm even in manual mode and the MT has rev limiter at 6500rpm...

It's not even the 1.0TSI that impressed me, this engine in any other car like a kia or tata would be completely different…what makes kylaq special is the compounded effect of having this chassis, the handing and the 1.0TSI in the same car…also from what I can feel, the chassis is doing the most here, because at 120 on the highways this thing is planted, no floaty steering stuff that i notices in i20 sports.. the max I pushed was around 145km/h on a expressway, but the body still felt really good and the handing was also great, only thing that made me slow down was the brakes... they're only adequate, and not over engineered like rest of the car.

I know you want to know about mileage, but i dont want to talk about it, i have given up on that stat. I just fill it up, and it just drinks, and gives me a little happiness, its a fair trade i feel.

  
Overall, I feel this is a driver centric car. The driver will be smiling and grinning but the passengers would not get what the fuss is about.

Thoughts on the kylaq after 14 months of ownership