[Vinith7979]

BEGINNING

Hello everyone,

This is my first thread on Team-BHP and it's a long term review of my Skoda Rapid.

How It Began?
It was June 2015 and my college started up. I was using a Yamaha R15 at that time for my daily commute. The search for a car began when my dad became concerned about safety and the family needed another car too.

Cars Shortlisted By Me
1. Used Honda Civic.
2. Used Skoda superb.
3. New Honda City diesel (launched at that time).

Options Given By Dad
1. Skoda Rapid / VW Vento
2. Maruti Suzuki Baleno

The Selection War
My mind was fixed on the Honda Civic initially, but couldn't find a well maintained one. So dad and I came to the conclusion that we should buy a new car. My mind immediately started thinking about the Honda city diesel VX MT and dad also agreed for a test drive. After the trial, dad immediately rejected it considering head room at rear and he didn't like the suspension setup either.

I was upset at that moment and didn't bother to look at other cars. After a week, dad asked to me take the Rapid or the Vento. As a Skoda fanboy, I said let us take the Rapid itself.

The Test Drive
We reached Millennium Motors Coimbatore (now SGA Cars) and I drove the car. It was smooth and sturdy, but I dint get that tank like feel which I loved in the Octavia 1.9 TDi. I was not interested in the Rapid at that time, but agreed to take it anyways. I opted for the manual one even though the sales person and dad suggested that I go for the DSG .

Booking
Dad booked the car in December 2015 - Candy White 1.5 TDI manual Style variant.

Delivery
After 15 days, I got a call that the car is ready for registration and I was happy all of a sudden. After all, I'm a car guy. Then we registered it and took delivery on January 5, 2016.

Initial Experience
1.At first I didn't like the car much. I always compared it to the Honda City and missed some features.

2.After 1,000 km, we went on a family trip to Mysore and I slowly started loving the car for its handling and everything.

Daily Driver
I started using the car regularly and had N number of road trips and finally, my college days came to an end in 2019. By that time, the car had completed 75,000 km.

Then I reduced the usage of the Rapid and started using other cars in our garage for while, but I felt most comfortable in the Rapid all the time. So, both dad and I are using it as a daily commuter to our office.

90,000 km Service.
1. The front suspension was worn out and we changed it.
2. Rear suspension bushes were changed.
3. Coolant expansion tank was leaking; changed it.
4. Brake pads were changed.
5. Regular oil service done.

1,05,000 km service.
Considering it was a major service, I thought of rejuvenating the car. By that time the headlamps and fog lamps had become yellowish, so replaced them.

1. The headlamp was cleaned and the outer lens was replaced:


2. Notice the clean headlamp with new outer lens:


3. Fog lamps cannot be cleaned, so replaced them with new ones. Got them from Boodmo:


4. The coolant fluid was dirty. I flushed the radiator, cleaned it and filled it with new coolant (7 litres approximately). This was done at a FNG. Flushing and cleaning costed about Rs. 3,000 and coolant Rs. 2.000. I could immediately feel that the a/c was cooling very efficiently and the car would reach 90 degrees temperature after 4 to 5 km. Earlier, it was reaching 90 degrees at less than 2 km.

5. After finishing all this work, I left the car at the ASC. Considering it as a major service, the ASC requested me to change the following parts:
A. Timing belt along with water pump
B. Brake fluid
C. Engine bed
D. A/C belt
E. Regular oil service
F. Steering rack

After this service, the car felt like it felt on the day of delivery and it was very joyful to drive - so smooth and no noise. The engine mounting or the engine bed is a major part which I advise everyone to change after every 1 lakh km to maintain that new car feel. All the vibrations will be cut down. I experienced this in our Laura too.

Images of the replaced parts

1.Timing belt


2.A/C belt


3.Water pump




4.Engine mounts






Summary
The Skoda Rapid is an excellent car and one could opt for it as a daily driver in my opinion. I appreciate my dad's decision now. The car has not shown one single error till date and it has been a fuss-free product. Now I'm strongly connected to the car and never think about selling it.

I'm attaching some pictures of my car as on date. Fellow BHPians, please pour in your thoughts about my thread.

Tinted with 3M RE50 and BK50


The always neat and tidy engine bay


The front seats


The rear seat


The dashboard
Notice all the A/C vents are working and are not replaced


The rear A/C vents (which broke in no time)


Instrument panel


The alloy wheel
Simple and elegant. Upgraded tyres to 195/60 Michelin Primacy 3 ST
.

CONCLUSION
1. If well maintained, Skoda cars will never create any issue. I'm telling this from my own experience. The car has now completed 1,13,670 km and still shines like new. All of my cars are always foam washed at home with a Bosch AGT series washer.

2. Provides excellent fuel efficiency. I get an average of 20 kmpl on city and highway drives. My daily average running is 100 km. The mileage was calculated on full to full basis only. The MID however displays 22.5 kmpl.

3.
(i) A drawback, I feel, is that the front seats could have been a little wider.
(ii) The battery life is less compared to other cars. Only lasts for 2 to 2.5 years.
(iii) Should have provided a 6th gear.
(iv) The prices of the spares are on the higher side.

Overall it's an amazing car.

Thank You.

[AKSarkar1]

Congratulations on passing a milestone moment with your car!

As a Vento owner, it makes me super happy to see long term threads of these cars. Sure it is always a pleasure to read new ownership reviews but really few cars can stand out on the 'long term ownership review' section on TeamBHP.

Kudos to you for maintaining the car so well, wouldn't have been able to guess that it was a 2016 from the exteriors! I am 100% confident that this car will serve you well even beyond the 2-2.5L mark. My car is slightly older than yours being a 2015 but I have no intentions of letting it go any time soon for all the right reasons already mentioned by you.

A couple of questions for you:

1) You mentioned that you upgraded the tyre size, any specific reason behind this?
2) What percentage of tints are you running? From the '50' in the product name, I am assuming they are 50% tints? Any reason why you chose that specific tint %?

Looking forward to more long term reviews from your garage!

[rajathv8]

Your Rapid looks elegant!
I recently changed 1 engine mount in my 65K A-Star and it made a noticeable difference to the vibrations.

Did you try WD40 on the scratches on the rear bumper? I recon it will clean out.

How much did the headlamp lens and fog light cost you?

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Vinith7979

1.If well maintained skoda cars will never create any issue,im telling this in my own experience.The car has now completed 113670 Kms and still shines like new.

Very true!

We had a 1,78,000 km run Rapid. Another acquaintance of mine still drives a 3,40,000 km run Rapid. No issues whatsoever.

Your Rapid is still good to go for another lakh or two km.

Let me sum up what Skoda Rapid tdi is, from my experience

1. Fast
2. Classy & elegant - inside out
3. Comfortable
4. Fun to drive
5. Economical to run
6. safe
7. Reliable


To lay more emphasis on point 6, here is my brother's Rapid after a head-on collision with a lorry at 80 kmph. He escaped without a single scratch. The lovely car though, was total loss. Will be ever grateful for that car.



They don't make such cars anymore. The Rapid 1.0 TSI, though fast, isn't as punchy as the 1.6/1.5 TDI. Let's also not forget the abysmal fuel efficiency the turbo petrol would return if driven hard.

Don't sell it!

[JoshMachine]

Super amazing review, glad to see a really well-maintained diesel Rapid

I drive the Rapid's sibling diesel Vento (albeit a DSG) and am encouraged to know that the car can go on with excellent mile munching, like forever!
Please keep posting regular updates.

Have a Q regarding the engine mounts replacement at 100k km mark, was that triggered by some event/issue or a standard servicing matter for that milestone?

[ash22]

What a coincidence,
I recently took a pre worshipped 2014 Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance (70k kms done)

Upgrade story :

We have 2007 Alto completed 1.2 Lakhs kms which have been reliable and city-friendly. With occasional highway trips popping up, we were in need of a safe/spacious diesel car.

Options considered :


Keeping budget till 10 Lakhs, Only Altroz XM+ Diesel was coming in our budget and we need to stretch our budget a couple of more lakhs for venue/Sonet/Nexon.

Post multiple test drives and rounds of family discussions, We settled for Altroz XZ diesel and booked the car om December 2021.

We were planning for 5 Lakhs downpayment and another 6 Lakhs of Loan.

Inspiration for a used car :


My friend bought a 2011 Jetta 2.0 Diesel DSG (1.1 Lakh kms done during the purchase) for 3 Lakhs and spent around 1 Lakh INR in running repairs/complete restoration and all mechanical works in German Motor works Chennai. Post which was the Jetta was taken out for all their highway runs. To a surprise, Jetta completed 25k km in a year which includes multiple Chennai-Goa / Chennai-Mumbai / Chennai-Banglore runs.
Just surprised to see a decade-old german car running like a workhorse.


Wildcard entry :


Was casually browsing OLX/Cars24 etc on a Sunday afternoon, Came across a 2014 End Rapid 1.6 for 4.6 Lakhs (With a dealer). Just shared the ad with my friend who owns the Jetta. He immediately asked me to take a look, With so many Skoda horror stories and expensive repairs running in my mind, Just went for a casual test drive. Since it was a 7-year-old german car, Was expecting rattles/oil leaks etc.

Just one test drive that changed the perspective :

Rapid was washed and was standing in the parking bay. This was the first look of the car.




The paint quality was excellent with all factory finish. No dents/repaint was done.The outlook was neat which gave a good impression.

Driving impression :


As soon as I slot the key and with half crank, the diesel mill powered up. The engine noise was minimal in idling and not much rough/misfires. No Christmas lights in the dashboard console. This is a positive sign and took the car from the parking and went directly to the nearest bunk and filled 5 liters of diesel.
As soon as I started the car, I was ready for a long test drive.

The car felt like home within a few minutes and the seating posture etc was comfortable. Had a drive from MRC Nagar to ECR Akkarai a total of 35 km. The MID was showing an average of 19kmpl. The power on tap was enormous. Didn't feel like a 70k kms completed car.

Rapid felt solid/safe and was confident enough to overtake with ease. The 1.6 diesel engine is such a gem. Handling and braking were sharp and as expected. Didn't express any of these to that dealer, Left the car to the dealer, and came back home informing the dealer that will get back later.

Final call :

A round of discussions happened the next day within our family with so much of opposition for a used car and that too a used Skoda. Being our family cars were from the Maruti stable (Zen to Alto).

Somehow this Rapid was in my mind and was not able to sleep properly that night. With the known Injector issues/hard clutch/water pump failures at 70k kms, I was not mentally prepared to take a used Skoda.

Did some finance allocation and a quick comparison between the booked Altroz and this Rapid.

1. No Car loan since this rapid comes within our cash budget of 5 lakh.
2. Diesel BS6 DPF issues etc,
3. If Reliability is a major line, Even some new TATA Altroz had oil leaks reported in our forums too.

The next day morning, Went to the dealer again and took another test drive. This time, my wife was with me in the drive. She liked the car, Rear seating was comfortable with rear AC Vents and it was a green signal from her. Dropped her back in the home and came back the day evening.

Delivery day

No much drama, Post negotiations with the dealer, We settled for a price. Did a quick PDI, checked papers, transferred the amount to the dealer, and took the Rapid.





Rapid Service

From the dealer, Went directly to German Motor Works for the checkup. Did a complete round of checks and below works was suggested.

All fluids flushed and replaced, Filters replaced,
Timing kit, Water pump, Belts replaced
Ac serviced and AC blower motor replaced.
Tyres and Battery was a year old and didn't need a replacement.


Total cost from pocket

2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance (70,000 kms) - 3,90,000
Insurance - 14,000
Paper works (Name transfer) - 2,000
New Key case - 1,000
Service (Parts + Labour) - 47,000
Jopatsu & other basic cleaning kits - 1,000

Total of 4,55,000


Take away

-We completed 600 km to date post service and the drive has been cheerful and blissful.
-With the 4.55 Lakhs on the road for Rapid, I can't even get a new Alto 800 in 2022.
-German cars when maintained well, Will serve well.
-Nowadays, Even Maruti & Hyundai spares are not cheap and it costs in a similar range as VW/Skoda spares.
-Find a competent FNG and you can never say a german car is unreliable.

Signing off with a few pictures,

[Vinith7979]

Originally Posted by AKSarkar1

Congratulations on passing a milestone moment with your car!

As a Vento owner, it makes me super happy to see long term threads of these cars. Sure it is always a pleasure to read new ownership reviews but really few cars can stand out on the 'long term ownership review' section on TeamBHP.

Kudos to you for maintaining the car so well, wouldn't have been able to guess that it was a 2016 from the exteriors! I am 100% confident that this car will serve you well even beyond the 2-2.5L mark. My car is slightly older than yours being a 2015 but I have no intentions of letting it go any time soon for all the right reasons already mentioned by you.

A couple of questions for you:

1) You mentioned that you upgraded the tyre size, any specific reason behind this?
2) What percentage of tints are you running? From the '50' in the product name, I am assuming they are 50% tints? Any reason why you chose that specific tint %?

Looking forward to more long term reviews from your garage!

Thank You for your appreciation Sir.

Answers for your questions
1. Upgraded tyre size for better handling and also looks good.
2.Yes sir they are 50% tints first one i used was 3m re series and above that I installed a sunfilm branded BK which is also 50% combined it became Dark.
3.3m I installed at first then to achieve the black finish I added BK.

Originally Posted by rajathv8

Your Rapid looks elegant!
I recently changed 1 engine mount in my 65K A-Star and it made a noticeable difference to the vibrations.

Did you try WD40 on the scratches on the rear bumper? I recon it will clean out.

How much did the headlamp lens and fog light cost you?

Thank You Sir for reading my Thread.

I did not try WD40 will use and see.
Headlamp cleaning costs 3000 for cleaning both the dome and existing lens,if you want to replace the lens it cost's 8000 sir. I did this in a FNG

If you replace the lens the life is little more than cleaning the old lens.

Originally Posted by rajathv8

Your Rapid looks elegant!
I recently changed 1 engine mount in my 65K A-Star and it made a noticeable difference to the vibrations.

Did you try WD40 on the scratches on the rear bumper? I recon it will clean out.

How much did the headlamp lens and fog light cost you?

Fog lamp cost is 2000 you can get it from boodmo.

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

.......To lay more emphasis on point 6, here is my brother's Rapid after a head-on collision with a lorry at 80 kmph. He escaped without a single scratch. The lovely car though, was total loss. Will be ever grateful for that car.

Attachment 2254390

They don't make such cars anymore. The Rapid 1.0 TSI, though fast, isn't as punchy as the 1.6/1.5 TDI. Let's also not forget the abysmal fuel efficiency the turbo petrol would return if driven hard.

Don't sell it!

1.Sorry to hear about what happened to your brother's car sir,but at the same time happy that he is safe.
2.What you said is true sir they dont make such cars anymore,I drove the New 1.0 tsi rapid but can see significant difference in drive and the quality of materials is a bit down.
3.Wont sell it

[vasanthn21]

Good write-up. Thanks for sharing.

I always liked the Rapid, and the reason for not going for the Rapid was the high transmission tunnel in the rear. My use was considering three adults in the back bench. The other concern with Skoda has always been the service reliability. Have read a lot of horror stories.

This comes as a refreshing change, glad to know that you have a fuss free ownership. Wish you many more miles of happy and safe driving.

[Vinith7979]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Super amazing review, glad to see a really well-maintained diesel Rapid

I drive the Rapid's sibling diesel Vento (albeit a DSG) and am encouraged to know that the car can go on with excellent mile munching, like forever!
Please keep posting regular updates.

Have a Q regarding the engine mounts replacement at 100k km mark, was that triggered by some event/issue or a standard servicing matter for that milestone?

Thank you for your appreciation.

The Vento is also an amazing car,proper maintenance will give you trouble free miles.

Sure will post regularly.

Engine Mount
There was some vibrations in the car, at first I thought it was because the car crossed 1 lakh kms,then during the 1 lakh km service the service advisor asked me to change the engine mount. At first I neglected it but the service advisor insisted that It would make the car very smooth and make it feel new for another 1 lakh kms so I changed it and felt it was worthy.

Originally Posted by ash22

What a coincidence,
I recently took a pre worshipped 2014 Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance (70k kms done)
................

Signing off with a few pictures,


Attachment 2254460

Attachment 2254461

Attachment 2254463

Congratulations Sir, your rapid looks good and shiny as well. Wishing you a happy Motoring.

A small suggestion sir change your wipers to bosch frameless wipers. It gives a classy look to the rapid.

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Good write-up. Thanks for sharing.

I always liked the Rapid, and the reason for not going for the Rapid was the high transmission tunnel in the rear. My use was considering three adults in the back bench. The other concern with Skoda has always been the service reliability. Have read a lot of horror stories.

This comes as a refreshing change, glad to know that you have a fuss free ownership. Wish you many more miles of happy and safe driving.

Thank You Sir.
Even I have heard many of my relatives complaining about the reliability but I did a check about how they maintain their cars and found out that the reason was their poor maintenance.

Some Useful Advice on increasing longevity of Skoda Cars.

1.Every morning start the car and let it idle for about 30 seconds atleast before slotting in 1st gear.
2. Don't shut the engine immediately after a long drive,atleast let the car idle for 30 seconds to 1 minute before turning of the engine, this increases the engine and turbo life.
3.Turn if the aircon prior to parking the car and turning it off, this increases the life of compressor also don't turn on the A/C immediately in the morning. Do it after the engine reaches atleast 50 degrees.
4.Dont drive the car with fuel less than 2 bars, this increases the fuel pump life.
4.Check the tyre pressures 2 weeks once, driving with low air adds strain to suspension and steering rack and pump.
5.During night time when in traffic turn off the dipped beam and high beam,just leave it with parking light this saves the headlamp from turning yellow soon and increase life of light. Turn it back on once the vehicle moves.
6.Dont allow the outside water wash persons to spray water inside the engine bay as it damages the sensors,instead request them to clean it with air.
7.Dont always keep the clutch engaged when waiting in signals instead slot it in Neutral and handbrake on. If it's DSG slot it into N if the waiting time is more than 3p seconds. This increases the life if clutch, my cars clutch is still perfect.
8. Clean the car regularly.Which makes the car look good even after years, best avoid salt water.
9. Fill fuel in reputed fuel stations to avoid adulterated fuel.
10.Avoid parking in hot sun regularly, this is mainly for octavia,laura and superb owners which causes the roof the hang down soon.

Wishing all the Skoda owners a happy ownership.
Thank You.

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

[sachin_cs]

It's always a pleasure seeing fellow Rapid owners doing fuss free numbers on the odometer and it kind of instills confidence that I can keep mine forever. I really love my Rapid DSG and I have done 46k kms and it still drives the way it did on the day one. Wishing you many happy miles brother. Wonderful update it was.

Here's a recent click of my ride

Originally Posted by Vinith7979

small suggestion sir change your wipers to bosch frameless wipers. It gives a classy look to the rapid.

Can you suggest the model name because the ones I was using used to shudder a lot in heavy rains and I shifted back to stock ones now.

[Vinith7979]

Originally Posted by sachin_cs

It's always a pleasure seeing fellow Rapid owners doing fuss free numbers on the odometer and it kind of instills confidence that I can keep mine forever. I really love my Rapid DSG and I have done 46k kms and it still drives the way it did on the day one. Wishing you many happy miles brother. Wonderful update it was.

Thank you brother. Your car looks cool in this shade, happy motoring. Not sure about the model but mine too shudders sometimes.

[DheerajNK]

Originally Posted by Vinith7979

At first I neglected it but the service advisor insisted that It would make the car very smooth and make it feel new for another 1 lakh kms so I changed it and felt it was worthy.

Would you mind sharing the cost of steering rack & engine mount replacement?

My 2013 Vento TDI is at 99k as we speak & front suspension work, timing kit replacement, brake disc replacement (X2) are done already. I have some noise from the steering rack which I plan to replace after a few months due to the limited use these days. ASC never mentioned anything about the engine mount so far. So curious to know the cost of replacement. The car has been running smooth so far without any breakdowns or issues apart from the replacements mentioned above.

I am extremely happy with the car & plan to keep it for few more years. The crazy 1.6 TDI gives me a kick every time I drive it

[Vinith7979]

Originally Posted by DheerajNK

Would you mind sharing the cost of steering rack & engine mount replacement?

Engine Mounting 2650 Rupees.
Steering Rack 10372 Rupees.

[Clayton Crasto]

Originally Posted by Vinith7979

The Skoda Rapid is an excellent car one could opt for as a daily driver in my opinion. I appreciate my dad's decison now. The car has not shown one single error till date and it has been a fuss-free product,now im strongly connected to the car and never think about selling it.

Not even ABS sensor failures? Wow, that's something I've never heard of. Usually most Skoda, VW and Audi cars have atleast 1 sensor failure during it's lifetime. You really are lucky indeed! My 4 year old Polo has had ABS sensor failures 5 times, after being driven just for about 13,000 kms!
Wish you many more happy miles!

[svmvale]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Have a Q regarding the engine mounts replacement at 100k km mark, was that triggered by some event/issue or a standard servicing matter for that milestone?

Hi,
As you saw my job card of my Vento overhaul at 90000kms, i had also not changed engine mounts. Not suggested by FNG. Probably, it is because of the slick DSG, which ensures gear changes at optimum rpm - thereby causing least vibrations. The same cannot be attributed to Manuals.

Had to change engine mounts on my Linea at 120000kms.

My Vento should cross 100k mark this month, waiting for it.

As already said, a well maintained VAG car will serve you long and well. Well written thread.