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    2025 Skoda Kylaq First Drive Review: Ticks all the boxes

    The Skoda Kylaq packs a punch with its Kushaq-derived platform, comfortable ride, and attractive pricing. Can it be the hot hatch on stilts India's been waiting for?

    Afzal Rawuther
    Afzal Rawuther
    An engineer, who found solace in designing and racing ATVs and go-karts, Afzal made the natural move to automotive journalism. His enthusiasm for tech saw him take up reviewing consumer gadgets and soon enough he became the founding editor of Unboxed Magazine. Afzal loves slow travel (something the fast-paced nature of his job tries hard to steer him away from) and is often seen trying to eke out some time for a leisurely stroll through some of the amazing places he visits. He likes to believe that even though he is a tech and automotive connoisseur, he can step back enough from the products he reviews to provide much-needed context. He has shied away from being on camera for most of his career, but is now slowly but certainly spending more time in front of one, nudged by his extremely photogenic cat, Bailey.

    It has been the same story for Skoda and Volkswagen in India. They introduce cars that are safe, have good ride and handling, and have very good performance for the categories they are in. Fans love them, reviewers praise them, but inexplicably, they don’t do well beyond the enthusiasts. The result, cars like the Skoda Kushaq and Slavia, end up doing consistent numbers around the fifteen hundred mark for each car, every month. It is the same story with the MQB-A0-IN cousins over at Volkswagen as well. Now these numbers are respectable, but they don’t really propel the growth of Skoda-Volkswagen group in India. It has to be said, that cars from the two brands don’t resonate with a large chunk of India’s population. And that’s a little sad, considering that they are pretty good cars engineered for India. And that’s where the Kylaq comes in.

    The Kushaq Slavia, Taigun and Virtus are all positioned around the highly lucrative Rs. 20 lakh price point. But that also happens to be a very competitive price point with offerings from a lot of manufacturers. So how do you scale up sales? Skoda has taken the challenge head-on with the Kylaq. And, to me, it is a bold, bold move. Essentially, the Kylaq is a shrunken-down Kushaq with all the fundamentals and features still in place. They did this to benefit from the lower taxation for sub-four metre cars in India. And most importantly, the Kylaq starts at Rs. 7.89 lakh for the base variant and goes up to Rs. 14.4 lakh for the top-spec version, undercutting the segment leader, the Tata Nexon. 

    Skoda Kylaq profile

    On paper then, it sounds like the Skoda Kylaq has everything going for it. Fundamentals borrowed from a car that sits a segment above, but compressed to a sub-four metre footprint.  It has pricing that we have never seen before from Skoda. 

    It makes for a very interesting proposition. Could this be the hot hatch on stilts that India has been waiting for? I headed for the driver’s seat to find out. 

    Ride, handling and performance of the Kylaq

    Skoda Kylaq in motion

    Right off the bat, I was surprised by the Kylaq. I expected it to be a smaller Kushaq in the way it drove and handled. But it felt very different. The Kylaq supposedly has a stiffer body, as a direct result of the shorter length, and Skoda has taken that as an opportunity to go ahead with a softer suspension setup. This makes the Kylaq a more comfortable city car than the Kushaq. It rounds out bumps and potholes really well, but as you start going faster, the softness in the suspension makes it  distinctly different to drive than the Kushaq. There is a good amount of body roll, and definitely lot more vertical movement as you take on the undulations that are very typical of Indian roads. You drive a little slower than how you’d otherwise go about in the Kushaq. The steering is still relatively accurate, and you can hold on to triple digit speeds pretty well, but it is not really the enthusiast car that at least I was hoping for. The relaxed character is also evident in the brakes. The first few centimetres of travel are met with very little bite, and as you press the brake pedal harder, there isn’t as much feedback either. Through the entirety of its travel, it does have enough bite, don’t get me wrong. But then again, it is not the sort of brakes that urge me to go faster. Not what you’d typically associate with a Skoda.

    Skoda Kylaq on the highway

    Over lunch, I spoke with the leadership and the product team. And they helped me put things in perspective. The Kylaq, as was evident during my drive around Goa in the morning, is meant to appeal to a lot more people than just the enthusiasts. The soft suspension, to me, makes it feel very distinct to everything else in the segment. Maybe, I was looking at it from a very narrow lens. It has a very comfortable ride and it is compact and easy to drive. The powertrain is pretty good, there is good performance from the 1-litre turbo petrol and the torque converter is smooth and effortless to use too.

    The 6-speed manual feels very familiar. And it is slightly notchy, just like I remember it being in the Kushaq and Slavai but the clutch is light and it is easy to settle into a good driving rhythm. The automatic, across variants, is priced at a premium of roughly Rs. 1 lakh, to me that’s good value. And that’s something that I would pick. But if you are looking at more of an enthusiast machine, the manual is the way to go. 

    Design of the Kylaq

    The Kylaq is based on the Kushaq, but there are some subtle but important changes, and I quite like them. Number one are the headlamps, the DRLs are integrated along the top of the front fascia, while the headlamps are lower down. The grille is flat as well, the chrome has been deleted, and even the bumper is a lot less fussy. This is the first Skoda car in India with a new design ideology that Skoda calls Modern Solid, and the result is a car that has cleaner lines, next to no Chrome and a chunkier, purposeful stance thanks to added width and thicker cladding around the sides. Mind you the Kylaq is actually a bit wider than the Kushaq.  The top-spec variant gets 17 inch wheels that look good and fill up the wheel arches well. Along, the side, the character lines are now not as prominent as on the Kushaq and they seamlessly flow into a very geometric-looking tail section with attractive LED taillamps, Skoda lettering on this grey section here and a large rear bumper with some contrast by way of some silver plastic trim.

    Interiors and features

    One worry that I had, when I first heard of the Kylaq was that there’d be significant cost cutting on the interior, considering that you’d expect Skoda to not cut corners when it comes to build quality and safety. And they definitely haven’t. The Skoda Kylaq is 5-star rated by Bharat NCAP. In fact it is the safest car in its class.

    The cabin is very similar to the Kushaq. There are some scratchy plastics, but the Kushaq didn’t exactly have the nicest materials to begin with. Some contrast breaks the monotony, and there are small changes to the  AC vents, and the section around the passenger side of the dash. 10.1 inch infotainment and 8 inch instrument cluster continue from the Kushaq, and the annoying touch-sensitive AC controls are still around. A cool addition are the powered and ventilated seats for the front two passengers. Then there’s wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, cruise control, ambient lighting and a sunroof. Put head to head with some of the competition, the Kylaq comes across as a little low on features, and the cabin doesn’t make you feel special. And that’s primarily down to the materials and build quality on the inside, which aren’t very premium at all. 

    Verdict

    The classic trim at Rs. 7.89 lakh, with practically no features, is a great bargain. It is easily the best dynamic package to be had in India for the money. So, if you want base for a good enthusiast project car, that doesn’t break the bank, that is the variant to get.

    The Skoda Kylaq is an interesting car, it is based on a car that, as I mentioned, sits a segment above, but doesn’t really lose out on much as it enters the sub four metre segment. It is practical, with a good amount of space both for the occupants as well as their belongings. The essential features in 2025 are all there, it is safe and it gets a tried and tested drivetrain. Plus it looks good. The fact that the suspension is tuned for comfort might actually serve to entice a lot of buyers who wouldn’t otherwise go for a Skoda.

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