There has not been a big launch event, but it has just come to light that Skoda has updated their website with the automatic transmission version of the Skoda Laura. The Laura’s TSI variant which is the petrol trim will now come with a 7 Speed DSG automatic gearbox and can be all yours for Rs.15.65 lakhs, ex-showroom, Delhi. The Laura TSI currently comes with a 6 speed manual transmission and now it gets an automatic sibling as well. The automatics surely make sense when you realize the start-stop traffic conditions are becoming a standard in almost all the cities of the country.
Laura in its petrol avatar has had a following which is more of a cult rather than just a following. The car has 160 horses on offer and coupled with drivability it has on offer, most of the cars present in the sub Rs.20 lakh bracket would have a hard time matching up to the fun factor the Laura offers in the petrol guise. And now with the fun factor, comes the convenience of an automatic. So those 160 horses have an automatic control on them now onwards as an option.
The petrol prices have somehow stabilized in the country and with the diesel prices getting de-regularized, some might think a petrol car might just make a lot more sense in the long run. The DSG gearbox comes with Tiptronic manual gear changes. The newer gearbox comes with a “dry clutch” rather than an oil bathed “wet clutch” in the earlier DSG gearboxes which improves the fuel efficiency immensely.
Such is the case that the manual transmission will return an efficiency of 13.4 KMPL as per Skoda website and the automatic gearbox would give you 14.6 kilometers to a litre as per the company which is quite the breakthrough. The automatic being more fuel efficient than the manual transmission is surely something new for the crowd and if you thought that you wanted a little more oomph in car, you now get bigger wheels and tyres which stand at 16 inches tall in the automatic variant which surely increase the car’s road presence and help improve the drivability.
Source: Skoda India
