Volkswagen Lavida

The clean and taut stance of the Volkswagen Lavida is well retained in the interior cabin as well. The cabin exudes top-notch quality levels, with the Lavida giving you an experience of a car from one segment above.

The cabin feels very wide and spacious, thanks to the almost flat and broad design for the dashboard. The flat-bottom steering wheel with piano black inserts and multifunctional controls as well as a simply laid out instrument console look plain, but sober. The all-black dashboard has a nice and rich looking silver ornamental line flowing in the middle of it, with the wide trapezoidal centre console encasing a touchscreen infotainment system, with controls for automatic AC below it. 

While the Lavida lacks many futuristic gizmos of new generation cars, it is still fairly kitted with a push-button start, leather upholstery, sunroof, cruise control, and cooled glove box. And the long stance clearly makes the cabin feel very spacious on the inside too. 

The Volkswagen Lavida looks purposeful with its big dimensions and taut design, which makes it look premium and has a smart road presence. However, the overall looks of the Lavida feel a bit pale, with a very simple and conventional design making it look a bit dated.

The front of the Volkswagen Lavida looks clean with a large and flat trapezoidal grille flanked with large-sized full LED headlamps. With a long horizontal housing for fog lamps in the bumper below, the Lavida looks broad when viewed head-on.

The long wheelbase and large 16-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels do give it a premium stance. But then, the side profile looks a bit bland due to lack of prominent and individualistic looking character lines, apart from a single sharp line flowing across the doors. 

The rear profile of the Volkswagen Lavida too lacks the in-your-face persona, however, the kinked tail lamps on the outer edges of the boot look nice.

The sharp and slightly stiff suspension of the Volkswagen Lavida – independent Macpherson struts at the front and a semi-independent composite torsion beam at the rear – makes it fun to drive vehicle and sharp and agile in instant steering directional changes. The steering too possesses oodles of feedback to match the capabilities of suspension and powertrain.

The Volkswagen Lavida has been blessed with the same powertrain combination which powers the Jetta as well as other midsize sedans from the Volkswagen family worldwide. Under the hood, the 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine is the real jewel, which is coupled to a fantastic 7-speed DSG automatic gearbox and produces 130 PS of maximum power and 225 Nm of peak torque, thus offering thrilling levels of performance on the go.

Matching the great prowess of tough build quality, the Volkswagen Lavida is equipped with major safety features like front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD, tire pressure monitoring system, electronic stability program, hill hold control, and ISOFIX child seat mounts.

The Volkswagen Lavida tries to justify its premium positioning with its impeccable build quality and a big car feel on the inside. However, its design lacks the modernity and novelty expected from a car of this price. It will be good if Volkswagen derives modern design cues and features from new generation Volkswagens like Polo and Atlas. The real essence, however, lies in the brilliant engine and gearbox combination as well as great driving dynamics with sharp steering and stiffer suspension, making it a great driver’s car.