[MAS]

Excellent Samurai. The car was launched today and we already have the test drive report on T-BHP. Kudos for the quick, elaborate, in-depth and brilliant report. Rated the report a well deserved 5 stars.

Your level of attention to detail is amazing, especially

Originally Posted by Vid6639

This huge gear remained exposed on the AT. As soon as you start the car, this gear starts whirring. What about dust and water making their way through?!
...

One question: How do you find the handling & NVH when compared to the New Fiesta?

[_raVan_]

Excellent review Vid and Samurai! Except for the A.S.S. horror stories, Skoda has a lot going in here. Didnt quite like its face though I remember seeing a sportier face in the renderings.

5 *s to the thread.

[suman]

Great review guys! Do you feel that the top end variants are VFM, I would think not?

Originally Posted by Samurai

What you won't:

• Not as feature laden as the competition (No steering mounted controls, USB stereo, parking sensors etc.)
• Tall rear floor hump makes the Rapid more suited as a 4 seater, than 5

Awesome! Now that the vento comes with all this, Skoda leave it out on the Rapid. Till we see a "Limited Edition".

And I guess the rear floor hump was only to be expected.

[sachinj12]

A well written review. Deserves 2 5 star rating.


It's stupid on Skoda's part to leave the AT gear box exposed to natural elements. Hope they read the review and make necessary changes before the cars are made available to the public.

Somehow, the looks don't excite me as much as a Vento does. For me, the Vento still is a winner in looks department.

[SkyWalker]

Awesome review for a great car! Thanks Samurai & Vidyut. Rated 5 Stars.

This car is definitely going to get some good sales for Skoda. Hope they use the opportunity well, and do a good job on the A.S.S and ownership costs.

[kumarsiddhi]

Thanks for the great review guys. One question i have is how does the Rapid compare with Laura MT in terms of performance and power since Laura figures are about the same (110bhp, 250NM Torque) and throw in the excess weight of Laura.

[Bomi]

"Petrol manual
I finally decided to just let go of all the foot pedals in 1st gear. The car kept crawling on level roads and even in a slight incline. When we came across a big speed bump, I expected the car to start coughing. But no, it coolly climbed the speed bump and continued crawling."

I have experienced this "feature" in my RS too. Even when climbing up the ramp of a basement garage, the engine does not stall although there is no accelerator input, if I keep it in 1st gear. Its as if the ECU senses the higher load the moment the front wheels hit an incline and starts feeding more fuel into the engine (remember the feet are off all pedals).
Can owners of other petrol Skodas confirm if they have also experienced this?

[sahakar]

Nice addition to the competition -

Three observations / queries

1. Would we now get more discounts on the Vento especially the diesel. Won't Rapid totally cannibalize on the Vento?

2. Should any prospective buyer wait and book the 2012 manufactured model or just go and book now? Would it matter much for resale?

3. Which diesel model seems the most value for money?

Cheers

[prabhuferrari]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Surprising to see no stitching around the cuts of the upholstery cloth. Don't know if the Vento lacks the same too:

This is how the Vento stitching looks like. Its very firm and cant make out the cuts.

Excellent review. Few questions

1. What make are the stock tyres? Are they also Apollo?
2. What are the service intervals, warranty duration and if there are any AMC plans?

P.S. On a different note would like you to drive my Vento sometime and compare? Not sure if the recent Vento's clatter has reduced as bala80 mentioned? I also find the noise levels very minimal inside the Vento (Sep 2011 make).

[Simhi]

Excellent Review. It is nice to see manufacturers providing automatic on multiple variants. One more good thing to note is that ABS is provided across all variants.

Please through some light on how to use tiptronic mode? For normal and sporty mode, we put the lever into D and S. How to operate the tiptronic mode? I use i10 AT and really curious on this.

[volkman10]

Nice review. looks like the VW as a group has a winner here!

Cheers!

[diesel_power]

Perfect to the point review Samurai.

Now for the question.

If I wanted to buy base variant, petrol. Which one should I go for??

The well established VW Vento, or the low priced same product with a horrible service Skoda Rapid.?

Looking at the current A.S.S of Skoda (not sure if they will improve); Does it make sense to save a few bucks by purchasing a Rapid..?

[theMAG]

Nice review chaps. Skoda has done the right things with this launch. Unless they address their service ghosts, one can safely conclude that their product development and operations are operated with different intent.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

This is how the Vento stitching looks like. Its very firm and cant make out the cuts.

Have you tried it pulling it down with your finger like we did?

Originally Posted by prabhuferrari

1. What make are the stock tyres? Are they also Apollo?

They are Apollo Acelere.

Originally Posted by Simhi

Please through some light on how to use tiptronic mode? For normal and sporty mode, we put the lever into D and S. How to operate the tiptronic mode? I use i10 AT and really curious on this.

Just like how you would use the manual gears, except you don't have to worry about clutch. I had Tiptronic AT on my car 10 years back. It is a rarely used feature.

Originally Posted by diesel_power

If I wanted to buy base variant, petrol. Which one should I go for??

The well established VW Vento, or the low priced same product with a horrible service Skoda Rapid.?

Is the VW service known to be better than Skoda? I am not sure. It is like choosing between known devil and an unknown entity. I would pick the Rapid over Vento, if only the car is considered. Those who have driven both Vento petrol and Rapid petrol say Rapid is the clear winner.

[ambivalent_98]

Nice review with good attention to very minute things. Thanks for that.

However a question comes to mind. Skoda is owned by VW. VW Vento already has competitors against whom it is doing well especially in the diesel department. Why did the VW group launch this car in particular ? Was it to churn some revenue for the Skoda brand using the existing platform ?

In the diesel space I think Skoda offerings so far like the Octavia (when it was launched a long time ago) and now the Laura and Superb have hardly any competition and excel in all departments. Then why this offering ? Finally the VW group stands to gain be it a Rapid or Vento but then whats the advantage of one over the other ?