[abhijitnallani]

Hello people, I took delivery of my Rapid TDI DSG elegance plus a few days back.I have covered just about 250kms as of now.The car seems smooth getting thru gear changes, though now as smooth as my 3rd gen honda city V AT torque convertor. My rapid has been thru the thick of Bombay's bumper to bumper traffic in the last few days. Every time the car crawls/creeps forward, it feels like the gearbox jitters a little bit.

It also upshifts from D1 to D2 almost immediately with absolutely no increase in speed.(d1 shifts to d2 at about 2 to 3kmph). In both D1 and D2 the car creeps at about 5kmph.

i am wondering if its good for the gearbox to keep crawling/creeping in d1 d2 for very long extended periods in bad bumper to bumper traffic. Also has any one also experienced juddering while climbing over speed breakers and climbing slopes.

PS:- Strangely the Rapids Owners Manual has absolutely no information regarding the DSG other than regular info on the gear lever operation which could also be for the regular torque converter gearbox (1.6MPi AT), no driving instructions etc for the DSG. Even more strange is that there is not even a mention of the DSG in the end glossary, let alone any other specific information.

[Msc07]

Originally Posted by deehunk

The stock head unit is RCD 320 in Elegance variant, the performance is very good when compared to some expensive popular brands. The default speakers are of Blaupunkt make, 4” size with spacers or mounting brackets. The stock head unit does not have pre-amp out or sub-woofer out.

Thank you. Are you sure the stock speakers are of 4"? I have read in a few places its 6.5". And in one other thread as well, a person changed the speakers in his Vento and the stock were the 6.5". Is it the same for the rapid? I think it should be.

[deehunk]

The stock spacers on the door panels supports only 4" speakers, you have to use wooden spacers for mounting bigger speakers. I have shared the image of stock speakers for your reference.

[bosporus]

Originally Posted by abhijitnallani

Hello people, I took delivery of my Rapid TDI DSG elegance plus a few days back.I have covered just about 250kms as of now.The car seems smooth getting thru gear changes, though now as smooth as my 3rd gen honda city V AT torque convertor. My rapid has been thru the thick of Bombay's bumper to bumper traffic in the last few days. Every time the car crawls/creeps forward, it feels like the gearbox jitters a little bit.

It also upshifts from D1 to D2 almost immediately with absolutely no increase in speed.(d1 shifts to d2 at about 2 to 3kmph). In both D1 and D2 the car creeps at about 5kmph.

i am wondering if its good for the gearbox to keep crawling/creeping in d1 d2 for very long extended periods in bad bumper to bumper traffic. Also has any one also experienced juddering while climbing over speed breakers and climbing slopes.

I have a Vento TSI, and can confirm that your experience is normal. Guess the gearbox has been tuned for economy, so it is slow to downshift, especially at very low speeds, when it's just crawling around, which is why you get that juddering, similar to what you'd get in a manual car with a gear too high at very low speeds.

There's a simple fix, tap the gearbox left, so it moves into manual. Even when it's in D2, it will move to 1, because that is a more precise gear for that speed. This fixes the speed-breaker problem. In traffic, at crawling speeds, I'll sometimes do the same thing, and the moment speed picks up, just tap it right so that it moves into auto mode (D) again.

It's such a responsive & quick gearbox, that manual interventions such as these are seamless, and perfect that driving experience.

Incidentally, I also do manual intervention when I need to accelerate after dropping the speed, or if I just want to pick up speed after a sedate bit of driving - move to manual, and drop two gears, so it's in the perfect power zone, on the gearbox. You need to see what works better with the diesel, but the good thing is, this is a learning gearbox, so it'll learn your behaviour, and then serve up shifts accordingly.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Thanks for the suggestion. Since my car was covered under warranty, I felt that it was best that the Skoda guys handle it.
What's been very frustrating is that the issue is still not resolved. The service executive said that they replaced the EGR but still the issue of power remains. He has advised that they are calling for another new EGR to try and see if that works. If not I could be in for a much bigger problem! Have already been dependent on the Uber taxis for a week now and I'm not sure how long this is going to take. It's a shame that such a fantastic car has to have such issues. Just hope this is gets resolved soon.

The frustration gets worse! I'm told that the Turbo needs to be replaced along with the EGR. That's a massive change! Has anyone experienced anything like this? I have no clue how to deal with this! I'm lucky my car is under warranty, but my extended warranty expires in another 8 months and if something goes wrong with the turbo or the EGR after that then I will have to shell out from my pocket! The turbo is likely to cost something in the north of a lakh rupees!
Can anyone advise on some precautions that I need to take or is there something that i need to be aware of in light of such a major change in the car?

Thanks!

[nma83]

Originally Posted by motorworks

The frustration gets worse! I'm told that the Turbo needs to be replaced along with the EGR. That's a massive change! Has anyone experienced anything like this? I have no clue how to deal with this! I'm lucky my car is under warranty, but my extended warranty expires in another 8 months and if something goes wrong with the turbo or the EGR after that then I will have to shell out from my pocket! The turbo is likely to cost something in the north of a lakh rupees!
Can anyone advise on some precautions that I need to take or is there something that i need to be aware of in light of such a major change in the car?

Thanks!

Sad to hear about your ordeal @motorworks. Coincidentally my Rapid TDI just crossed 25K on the odo. A while back I had uneven idle on a cold start and was told that fuel was adulterated. Switched to only Shell bunks from then on and issue did not reappear.

I hope you have read up the advice thread here (forgot the link) about the need to babysit european cars. I follow every letter of it and looks to have helped.
Hope you get your car back unscathed.

NMA

[bosporus]

Originally Posted by motorworks

The frustration gets worse! I'm told that the Turbo needs to be replaced along with the EGR.
Can anyone advise on some precautions that I need to take or is there something that i need to be aware of in light of such a major change in the car?

The basic precaution that must always be followed with a turbocharged car (in fact, with any car, but crucial for turbo cars) is to idle them after a drive, before turning them off - the manuals of all popular cars say as much.

In fact there's a t-bhp guide to turbo idling that you must absolutely go through.

[torque18]

Anybody having any idea if ESC can be had in first version of Rapids like the one available in the DSG variant? Vagtune seems to have the module available but doesn't specify if it is suitable for Rapid.

[abhijitnallani]

How many of you have driven your TDI in not too deep flood water?

I was with a friend in his vento tdi dsg during the last big rain spell that happened a couple of weeks back here in bombay.
We were driving in linking road which was flooded but not deep. A lot of cars were wading through it without any problems.

When my friend drove thru it, the car was initially fine but later started making some very loud noise like a machine gun sound from under the hood. It was intermittent, would come and go only when in water.
We both got very scared at that point. Though touch wood his car drives fine when I checked with him yesterday.
I was searching for something like this online but could not find one.
The sound was very much like the one in this video.

[tpsantu]

Gave my car for 2nd service.Estimated Cost -~11000 INR - since i have to pay labor charges this time.

Service center - TAFE Access, Hosur Road, Bangalore.

One of the things which impressed me, upon entering the center, the boys first cover seat, steering, gear knob with plastic covers in order to avoid any oil greases - also they have some small stickers which they placed on the sill and seat - didnt understand what they were for. When asked the SA, he replied those are the markings to owner's seat adjustment. While delivery they would set the seating position at same position for the comfort of the owner - impressive for me at least.

Intricate details like these help in improving the image of the Skoda ASS - 2 years of owning the vehicle with several visits and I have till date had a pleasant experience with the service center.

[sabros]

Originally Posted by tpsantu

Intricate details like these help in improving the image of the Skoda ASS - 2 years of owning the vehicle with several visits and I have till date had a pleasant experience with the service center.

I was under same impression till 2 months back when Skoda sent us a repair estimate for 7.9 Lakhs for Engine seizure due to Oil leak for my rapid TDI

[shyamomfs]

Hi sabros,

Could you show us that estimate if you have it? Did it show no warning signs about low oil? How many kms has it run? So did you get it done?

[kiran_cr]

Originally Posted by sabros

I was under same impression till 2 months back when Skoda sent us a repair estimate for 7.9 Lakhs for Engine seizure due to Oil leak for my rapid TDI

Werent there any signs that there was a problem with your car's engine like heightened NVH levels or engine warning lamp indication in the MID?

[bosporus]

Originally Posted by sabros

I was under same impression till 2 months back when Skoda sent us a repair estimate for 7.9 Lakhs for Engine seizure due to Oil leak for my rapid TDI

Sabros, while that's a horrible thing to face, and it is just cause to be pissed, a high quote for engine replacement is about high prices and NOT a reflection on bad ASS.

Your issue will be ridiculously expensive at any manufacturer (though, the quantum of the ridiculousness may vary), and while I'm not saying it looks like a fair price, this is also not something that is connected with quality of ASS.

Just saying, Skoda / VW have become a favorite whipping boy, but let's not cry wolf without just cause.

Also, if you could share more about how your engine seized or details of the estimate, the community could help you with specific answers. Depending on your situation, you should look at a fix from your insurance company or getting a goodwill discount from Skoda. But again, more details will help the community help you.

[sabros]

Originally Posted by bosporus

Sabros, while that's a horrible thing to face, and it is just cause to be pissed, a high quote for engine replacement is about high prices and NOT a reflection on bad ASS.

Your issue will be ridiculously expensive at any manufacturer (though, the quantum of the ridiculousness may vary), and while I'm not saying it looks like a fair price, this is also not something that is connected with quality of ASS.

Just saying, Skoda / VW have become a favorite whipping boy, but let's not cry wolf without just cause.

Also, if you could share more about how your engine seized or details of the estimate, the community could help you with specific answers. Depending on your situation, you should look at a fix from your insurance company or getting a goodwill discount from Skoda. But again, more details will help the community help you.

While I was not directly involved in any of this being in the US. I am a car buff and used to take daily updates on the status.Here are some details of the episode..

My dad was driving back home from a family function in our native village somewhere in Haryana around 6 in the morning, there was a rock in the midde of the road which he noticed at last minute and could not avoid because narrow road and rear end traffic, it hit the bottom of car and the car stopped automatically after 200 meters or so without any warninig lights and before he could reduce speed and park it safely on side to see the damage. My dad did not try to recrank the engine(good that he did not do that) and called Skoda Helpline. Call center arranged for a tow-truck which reached after 4 hrs being a remote area and car was towed to Gurgaon service station Giriraj Motors. We went to the service station next day and service advisor said looks like oil slump cracked and its a small repair for around 20k and no need to involve insurance citing NCB reasons. My dad called me in evening and I insisted that it is Skoda and you never know when costs go up through the roof and he better call insurance company Bajaj Alliance.

Fast forward 3 weeks, there was still no news from the service station of insurance survey and we had to shoot some emails higher up at Bajaj Allianz to get the process going, according to insurance company, it was the service center which was delaying opening the engine for surveyor the assess, around a week later Service center started diagnosing the failure and said engine had ceased and my heart sank listening to this.

Surveyor asked Skoda to prepare estimate and that took 2 more weeks. Skoda finally came up with a repair estimate of 7.95 Lakhs which was astonishing since we got the car for around 9.5 Lakhs in 2012.Basically it included each and every part of the egine.

I would like to praise Bajaj Allianz for standing by the customer here and getting ready to accept and settle the Claim without much ruckus.

Since this was a claim for more than the IDV of the vehicle they wanted us to settle the vehicle as a total loss, to which we agreed.

The process took a whole 1 month including they selling car to scrap dealer and getting rest of the money from the insurance company.

At the end of the 2 month streak, Bajaj Allianz paid IDV-2000 INR(procesing fees)- Skoda service charge for opening the engine and keeping it for over 30 days in their garage (30K which they later reduced to 7K after my dad refused to collect the car and asked them to keep it).

Though the whole story ended ok for us(thanks to the insurance company) minus loosing my Rapid TDI and love I shared with it.I still was not able to digest the high repair cost that Skoda sent to us.