Old-timers may remember a tragic teenager song from the sixties titled, Tell Laura I Love Her. Written by Jeff Barry and Ben Raleigh, and sung by Ray Peterson, it reached the Top Ten of the Billboard charts in 1960. It was also released in the UK, sung by Ricky Valance though, and it hit the number 1 spot in the UK Singles Chart. It’s a tragic song because it tells the story of how a young man driven by his state of poverty enters a car race to win some money for his girlfriend Laura. Instead, the car crashes and the man dies, but just as he breathes his last breath, his dying words are, “Tell Laura I love her.”

Well, this is certainly not as tragic a story, but when I was asked to drive Skoda’s new Laura, I was intrigued – would I too come to love the Laura only to be forced to release it after my drive was over? The recently refreshed Laura in India is essentially the second-generation Octavia in Europe. The car, in its current guise, debuted at the Paris Motor Show in September last year, and went on sale in the UK in January of 2009 – while we Indians got it in May 2009.



The new Laura has the following dimensions: its length is 4,569mm, width is 1,769mm, and height is 1,462mm. With a wheelbase of 2,578 mm, and a boot capacity of 560 liters with the rear seats up (which increases to 1,350 litres with the rear seats folded), the Laura is quite different from its predecessor. In fact, there are many changes in the car. Led by Josef Kaban, the Skoda design team at Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic has created a new and distinctive look. It’s not just a facelift – the changes extend to the body panels too, so much so that new pressing tools had to be created. The chrome framed front grille has 19 vertical ribs, and the front bumpers are single piece units.

Looking at it from the front, what’s obvious is the attempt at creating a smoothly flowing shape. Note the ‘V’ line running from the Skoda logo at the front of the car to the base of the windscreen – its intended to give the Laura a tauter appearance. What did the trick for me though are the slightly amorphous-looking headlights – these are equipped with xenon lights, and also feature an integrated Laura inscription, a feature first seen on the new Superb. Also new are the enlarged front fog lights. The new Laura also features redesigned door mirrors, which have integrated direction indicators. The mirrors are electrically adjustable and have a larger glass area than the previous.



The rear has been refreshed too, with new tail light clusters and a new bumper. Inside, the driver is greeted with an updated fascia, which, like in the Superb, is also centred on the Bolero entertainment system with its 6.5” touch screen display, integrated 6 CD changer and SD/MMC card reader. The car I had over a weekend was an L&K, the top of the line model in the range. Václav Laurin and Václav Klement joined forces to begin manufacturing bicycles in their home town of Mlada Boleslav way back in 1895. By 1905, they had made their first car, the Voiturette. Today, to honour the founders, every top-of the range Skoda sports the L&K suffix.



My initial plan was to try out the car in the city as well as on the highway. I had actually planned a long-distance drive out of town to Jaipur, and was looking forward (especially) to the climb up to the Nahargarh Fort. Disappointingly, it didn’t happen – though I tried twice, both on Saturday and Sunday. And both attempts were thwarted by the same ailment – sudden loss of coolant. The first time it happened, being in Gurgaon, I aborted the drive immediately and took it to the nearest Skoda service centre where the car was checked, coolant re-filled and then released. Incidentally, the car was kept for a couple of hours after I had been given an estimate of Rs 1,000, which immediately dropped to Rs 50 once I clarified that it was Skoda’s own press car.

The next day, I set out with confidence once again towards Jaipur, but midway, just outside Behror, the warning light started blinking again – we were out of coolant once more. So after stopping at a petrol pump to top up the reservoir with plain water, I aborted the drive and returned to Gurgaon where I had started from. The day after that, while getting back into Delhi, the coolant vanished once again – but this time I was prepared, and, in a (by now) well-practised drill, topped up with a bottle of water I had decided to carry with me. In the Laura’s defence, it has to be mentioned here that before the car came to me it had just returned from an arduous Golden Quadrilateral drive.

Engine : 1,968cc / in-line 4 cylinders / 16 valves / turbocharged / pumpe-duse injection Fuel : Diesel Transmission : 6-speed DSG / Front-Wheel Drive Power : 140bhp @ 4000rpm Torque : 235lb/ft @ 1750rpm Acceleration : 0-100km/h – 11 seconds Price : 17.5 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi)

I was fortunate, in that I had already checked out the dynamics and the engine characteristics of the Laura. The L&K comes with a 2.0-litre TDI PD engine that develops 140bhp and 235lb/ft of torque. Fitted with a variable blade geometry turbocharger, in conjunction with an intercooler, it provides the Laura with ample low-end torque. This is largely achieved by passing pressurised air through the intercooler, thus increasing the charge density, resulting in sufficient charging pressure available at low revs, which reduces the turbo-lag effect.



As observed in the Superb too, 235lb/ft of torque is quite a bit, and, being available low down in the rev range, gives the Laura’s driver a lot of confidence while overtaking. The engine winds up easily and rather quietly, though you know it’s there. Nevertheless, it is easy to imagine that you’re doing relatively slow speeds when you’re actually going much faster. Effortless is the word that comes to mind.

Not making it to Nahargarh Fort meant that I was unable to really check out the Laura’s handling, which is dependent on MacPherson struts with lower triangular links and a transverse stabilizer at front, and a multi-link set-up at the rear. I did try some high-speed lane-changing maneuvers though (on a desolate road, and after making sure I had excellent all round visibility – never try this at home, so to speak) and the Laura simply took it in its stride. Of course, the stability control was on, but it’s good to know that it’s difficult to lose control of the car in normal driving conditions.



While in Europe, the new Laura (Octavia) is mixing it with the Vauxhall Astra, Peugeot 308, Renault Megane and Ford Focus, India will see competition coming from the Honda Civic, Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Corolla Altis, and, its sibling, the VW Jetta. Skoda is banking on a ten-point plan to ward off the competition – ‘Design, Safety, Performance, Comfort, Convenience, Storage, Engine Technology, Transmission, Fuel Efficiency, and Trim options.’ While Design is subjective, I have no quibbles with the others, except ‘Convenience’ perhaps – no paddle-shift option in a Rs 17 lakh car, not to mention that the door mirrors have to be folded manually! What I did like was the inherent European build quality, which makes you feel safe, the torquey engine, high speed stability, and the seating comfort. So do I love the Laura? Hmm... let’s say maybe I ‘like-like’ it.

The new Skoda Laura is available in the following colours: Artic Breeze, Candy White, Diamond Silver, Black Magic and Cappuccino Beige. For a buyer, it could simply be a case of choosing the colour – since the Laura L&K comes loaded with practically all the other bells and whistles. And now with its more powerful 2.0 liter TDI heart, the Laura truly has the firepower to scare away most of its competition.