[swiftnfurious]

Off-Topic:

Originally Posted by krishnakarthik1

... And this handling business is a bit over rated in my view. Which roads in India really offer you a chance to go all out and test a car's handling...

No one needs a BIC or MMRT and drive at 200 kmph to test / enjoy the handling prowess of a car. A simple, well paved rural road with a sharp turn and a mere 40 kmph is all you need to have 'fun in the corners'!

A very naive POV unfortunately!

[Vid6639]

Vs the City and Ciaz this is now just desperation from VW and Skoda. The City and Ciaz are lapping up sales in the segment.

VW and Skoda are trying every single thing to add whatever features they can to teh ageing Rapid and Vento to get sales.

Looks like both Vento and Rapid are now approaching the end of their lifecycle and this is just VW/Skoda trying to delay the inevitable till they can get suitable replacement.

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Vs the City and Ciaz this is now just desperation from VW and Skoda. The City and Ciaz are lapping up sales in the segment.
Looks like both Vento and Rapid are now approaching the end of their lifecycle and this is just VW/Skoda trying to delay the inevitable till they can get suitable replacement.

But the VW and Skodas are not looking anywhere near replacement models to Vento/Rapid. Even a next generation Rapid is not heard of, so far, if I am correct.

I think it looks to be at the end of their life-cycle only when we compare these cars with City and Ciaz.

Vip.

[aravind.anand]

The alloys really make the car look upmarket. A slightly darker shade of grey would have upped the premium looks even more. But I still think 35 grand for these additions is a little on the higher side. Hike in the range of 15-20K would have made the Rapid a really sweet deal.

[octane_100]

Rear view camera should have been offered from day one of the facelifted car! Nevertheless, better late than never. Only thing missing from Rapid is the wonderful TSi engine. I don't understand why VAG is not giving Rapid the TSi since it's been there in Vento for quite some time now. Rapid, after the facelift looks fresher than the ageing Vento and the TSi may get few more numbers.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Off-Topic:
A simple, well paved rural road with a sharp turn and a mere 40 km is all you need to have 'fun in the corners'!

Exactly, just check how close you can stick to the edge on a corner with minimum steering effort. Rapid and Vento are special because you can handle the corners even at high speeds and on a straight road they are the just the best. A very simple drive test on a ghat road is enough to prove the class of a Skoda or VW vehicle.

[adi_petrolhead]

Indian made foreign brands (IMFB) have just started to wake up to the scenario where in India is at par with global demands and even more so, in terms of their automobile choices. Nowadays we know that foreign markets get better kit, better design, etc. for almost same or a little less amount of money. Rapid and Vento are two such models which were barebones from the beginning and only USP was the build quality and the hard wearing plastics. I own a 5 year old Vento, and the car is rock solid, although I have done only about 40K kms, where as I have done about 80K kms on the Octavia. I have had problems with the Octavia, but its sorted out now and is strong as ever. The service effort and specially the service manager, etc. have been really impressive with respect to the level of issues I have faced. Only thing lacking now in these IMFB vehicles is the people behind the brand. The central, regional sales teams, service heads at zonal levels, they need a lesson or two from the real life users who actually put their cars on the road and drive them how they were intended to be driven. These incremental updates on the vehicles are keeping prospective buyers interested.

The leading company who took the initiative in terms of global similarity in equipment has always been Hyundai, and they are an example of how things should have been from the beginning for all such brands. Well, even TAMO is learning from all these companies and just waking up to the demands of the new age Indian car-buyer. My two cents.

[zebanaff]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Skoda India has launched the upgraded Style variants of the Rapid, at a premium of Rs 35,000/- over the older Style variants.

For the premium asked, the additions include a reversing camera and 16-inch "Clubber"-design alloys to the top Style variant, offered in both petrol and diesel fuel options.

Urgh! So irritating! I bought my Rapid in Jan 2017 from Autobahn Skoda. It came without the reverse camera (why they launched the car without this I have no idea. How does this even fit into cost cutting?). They tried repeatedly, before sale, to get me to install some pointless reverse camera with an additional screen stuck to the dash, which I refused. I insisted that I only wanted a camera that will plug in to the existing HU screen. The Ameo has the same HU at the new Rapid, and that has a reverse camera. They said "it's not possible". Super frustrating.

Then they called me 2 weeks after delivery to tell me that an "official reverse camera" accessory has now arrived which fits into the screen. It appeared they had opened a magical Narnia closet and a few of these had just fallen out. Lucky me! I paid 8.5k for it, which I'm pretty sure is way too much but I had very little patience to bargain further with the accessory guy at Autobahn Andheri. He's a nightmare to deal with. A few grand extra was worth not having to spend another 15 minutes on the phone with him

Then I asked both service center and dealership about upgrading alloys as well. Wanted to upgrade to 16" alloys because honestly the 15" variant just looks too puny for a car of this size and stance. Both said that 16" alloys are "not supported on the car and will void warranty" so I can only buy 15" alloys. So grudgingly, I dropped 26k on 15" MOMO Next alloys, which look nice, but having them on a 16" frame would have made things beautiful.

A month later and it appears some magical 16" alloys have fallen out of aforementioned Narnia closet and are now "supported" by the car. Woop tee doo.

If there's one thing I've learnt over the past 6 months of researching, buying, and owning my car, it's that all sales reps from Skoda (and VW for that matter) are ill-informed at best, or just stone-faced liars.

The car itself is pretty sweet. Would have loved to have 16" alloys on it. Want to post a buying and ownership review. Many many learnings to share. Hope to have thread-starting privileges soon

[devarshi84]

Skoda Dealer in Ahmedabad has managed to surprise me with their courtesy and prompt response. I cannot comment on aftersales without ownership but pre sales experience has been awesome.

Had sent request for TD on the website. Received call the same day. Even Ford and Honda were not prompt enough. Infact the Ford Dealer seemed least bothered on a sale.

THe Test drive was arranged as per my Schedule and place. I had to go to the Honda Dealer for TD.

The sales person was well informed and gave me detailed information and what has gone wrong with Skoda in the past and how the company has acknowledged and changed their approach.

I had a call from him as soon as the updated Skoda rapid with new features was launched.

Again, received a call from the Skoda Customer support (not dealer) today, whether I have been taken care of by the Skoda dealer and that a test drive has been provided.

I may not buy the car, but never have I received such service and feedback from any car dealers in Ahmedabad to date. Here's my experience with various brands to date.

Originally Posted by zebanaff

Urgh! So irritating! I bought my Rapid in Jan 2017 from Autobahn Skoda. It came without the reverse camera (why they launched the car without this I have no idea. How does this even fit into cost cutting?). They tried repeatedly, before sale, to get me to install some pointless reverse camera with an additional screen stuck to the dash, which I refused. I insisted that I only wanted a camera that will plug in to the existing HU screen. The Ameo has the same HU at the new Rapid, and that has a reverse camera. They said "it's not possible". Super frustrating.

Have you felt that Skoda has cut costs when it comes to interior quality compared to previous Skoda cars with this new Rapid? Or can it be that the Test drive car had been abused? It already had 15000 kms on the odo.

[sweetvar26]

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...nt-404719.aspx

Skoda has added features to the refreshed Rapid sedan that hit Indian showrooms late last year. The carmaker now offers larger 16-inch alloy wheels instead of 15-inch units, a soft-touch boot release button and a reverse camera on the top-spec Rapid Style variant.

The facelifted Rapid comes with features such as dual airbags, ABS, electric folding wing mirrors, power windows and a remote boot release. Higher variants get the inclusion of cruise control, projector headlamps with LED daytime running lights, rain sensing wipers, a 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system (now with a reverse camera), footwell lighting, ESC and reverse parking sensors.

The Rapid is powered by the 1.5-litre unit that made its debut on the Ameo and is good for 110hp. It also gets the 1.6-litre petrol motor. Both engines are paired with a five-speed manual gearbox as standard with the option of an automatic gearbox as well. Interestingly, the new car carries forward the same arrangement as its predecessor, with the petrol getting an old-school six-speed torque converter automatic and the diesel getting the more high-tech seven-speed DSG unit. Prices for the Skoda Rapid Style trim with added equipment is likely to be higher by around Rs 35,000 than the outgoing car.

[racerdabba]

Just went through the whole thread. Informative to say the least.
While going through Rapid Reviews online and stumbled upon this review of 2017 Rapid style AT. Thought of sharing with my fellow BHPians

2017 Rapid Style AT

[RohanDheman]

Originally Posted by racerdabba

Just went through the whole thread. Informative to say the least.

While going through Rapid Reviews online

Thanks for sharing this

the review is actually done by a 21 year old college going (now) ex-Bhpian as a hobby who was incidentally and unfortunately banned for 'promoting' his channel.

Glad to know that people are appreciate the good work that he is doing as a hobby and purely as an enthusiast.

Rohan

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Vs the City and Ciaz this is now just desperation from VW and Skoda. The City and Ciaz are lapping up sales in the segment.

VW and Skoda are trying every single thing to add whatever features they can to teh ageing Rapid and Vento to get sales.

Looks like both Vento and Rapid are now approaching the end of their lifecycle and this is just VW/Skoda trying to delay the inevitable till they can get suitable replacement.

No offence, but even if you compare the city and ciaz to the Rapid / Vento twins, I don't see a huge leap in the quality and performance of the city and ciaz just because they are all new cars launched an year or so ago. We harp so much on new platforms and all new cars and new gen etc, but have the city and the ciaz taken such significant leaps over their predecessors? For sure they are decent cars, but if you see bare fundamentals, build quality, engine options, paint quality and many such other things I still feel the Vento and Rapid are more than par with the japs here. May be the city has far more appealing interiors ( although I still feel the interiors of the Rapid and Vento are quite classic although not very new) but apart from that there is nothing to say that just because 2 cars are based on new generation platforms they are better off, at least not in this case.

A friend of mine owns a new city and has been using it for nearly a year, he recently bought a polo for his wife and he keeps stating that the Polo is so much better built and very strong at fundamentals. And he isn't even an auto enthusiast!

Point is, if VW wants to stretch the Rapid and Vento because they don't have anything new lined up, I think it's ok, they know they aren't volume players, they keep introducing some new features now and then and keep the customer interest alive. Just look at the sales of Verna today, from whatever I know the Rapid and the Vento combined together are doing twice the numbers of the Verna in spite of all of them being launched during a very similar time frame! (2011-2012).

[klassics45]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Off-Topic:


No one needs a BIC or MMRT and drive at 200 kmph to test / enjoy the handling prowess of a car. A simple, well paved rural road with a sharp turn and a mere 40 kmph is all you need to have 'fun in the corners'!

A very naive POV unfortunately!

Our kathipara flyover is good enough. I grin end to end whenever i take my fiesta on the turn. Just so much fun that i tried it in i10 and you would have guessed what would have happened.

You can easily feel the handling if you drive in a mild traffic and switch lanes in 60kmph

[devarshi84]

Has any of the owners of Skoda Facelift faced problems with ground clearance? The ground clearance is now down by 5mm (is it still the same with 16" wheels)