[Mika fan]

Does your car fulfill most of your needs from that particular vehicle? If the answer is yes, I suggest you think about repairs from an FNG. You may be able to get a better feedback about injector failure from them (most likely cause of failure and maybe it will help you devise a prevention plan)

Does your car help you meet your maintenance budget for that vehicle? Is the cost of running repairs per year justifiable? If the answer is no, better look for a new vehicle.

If your asset is fully depreciated in your books, I will suggest replace it without any further thought.

Owning a Skoda Fabia myself, that car (and also the Rapid) has a solid build quality and feels safe and its difficult to put a price tag on safety of cars occupants!

Is the time spent by the car at service station proving to be a hindrance for you / your family in your day to day life? If yes, I suggest its about time to move on.

From the pics, the car seems its maintained with tender loving care. Its difficult to decide about such a gorgeous looking vehicle without data, be data driven rather than looks driven in your assessment I suggest. All the best.

[careind]

I have the rapid 2015 1.5 AT . Fed up with ASS, I moved the servicing to FNG from the 3rd year though I had taken extended warranty.
I had a LOT of issues and bad ASS experiences in 2015-6.
In the past year (7th year of ownership), I have faced a lot of issues.
1) A/c suddenly stopped working in the middle of a trip. It was diagnosed as radiator fan module failure
2) was going to a doctors appointment and experienced sudden jerkiness in ride and the check engine coil light lit up. Had to replace one injector as there was electrical failure and could not be repaired.
3) all the 4 ABS sensors failed at different point in time within the year and had to be replaced.
4) in the middle of a trip horn suddenly stopped working. Diagnosed as a clock spring failure.

Set me back by a good 80k in all.

I was in a good mind to change cars and go 2 segments above, but somehow I don’t want to give up the car and so going along with it in 2 minds.
It didn’t help that I did an ECU remap in March 2021 and fell in love with it all over again

[roadrunner_nv]

Originally Posted by techmotor

May I know which brand and model you went for. Was it a Toyota?

I can very well relate to your current state of the mind. I too started avoiding my Rapid on long runs as I was left stranded on two occassions with my entire family in the car.

I wanted to shift to a Toyota but with them charging through the nose for vintage tech (sorry Toyota mates, no offence meant), I abandoned that thought.

So, in the budget that I had, roughly 50 L, give or take a few, I booked the XUV700 AX7L Diesel Auto, a Thar Hardtop Diesel Auto and a pre-owned Nano. The XUV comes home this week, Thar is expected in a few months while the Nano is currently getting refreshed. All these will join my loyal i20 Elite Asta (O) Diesel and an old beater, the 2011 Punto a.k.a Old Monk (because she guzzles fuel like the spirit).

All in all, I hope these new members will serve me better than a fancy gearbox, touted German tech and solid build which I had to stand next to on the highway. While I loved my Rapid, I certainly have a problem with the step motherly treatment given to me by Škoda.

[Brigadier]

Originally Posted by careind

I have the rapid 2015 1.5 AT . Fed up with ASS, I moved the servicing to FNG from the 3rd year though I had taken extended warranty.
I had a LOT of issues and bad ASS experiences in 2015-6.
In the past year (7th year of ownership), I have faced a lot of issues.
1) A/c suddenly stopped working in the middle of a trip. It was diagnosed as radiator fan module failure
2) was going to a doctors appointment and experienced sudden jerkiness in ride and the check engine coil light lit up. Had to replace one injector as there was electrical failure and could not be repaired.
3) all the 4 ABS sensors failed at different point in time within the year and had to be replaced.
4) in the middle of a trip horn suddenly stopped working. Diagnosed as a clock spring failure.

Set me back by a good 80k in all.

I was in a good mind to change cars and go 2 segments above, but somehow I don’t want to give up the car and so going along with it in 2 minds.
It didn’t help that I did an ECU remap in March 2021 and fell in love with it all over again

Hi, How many Kms done till now, and from where did you do remap?

[Knighted06]

Originally Posted by roadrunner_nv

So, in the budget that I had, roughly 50 L, give or take a few, I booked the XUV700 AX7L Diesel Auto, a Thar Hardtop Diesel Auto and a pre-owned Nano. The XUV comes home this week, Thar is expected in a few months while the Nano is currently getting refreshed. All these will join my loyal i20 Elite Asta (O) Diesel and an old beater, the 2011 Punto a.k.a Old Monk (because she guzzles fuel like the spirit.

Lol!! I like your style roadrunner. Owning three legendary cars. Normally one would buy a luxury car for that budget, but you choose differently.

As for the issue we have, I think one needs to sell his car the day he chooses to go on a drive, but has that nervousness if the car might breakdown. It just means that its time to let go of your steed unless its a vintage car. What's the point of owning a car if you don't have peace of mind and trust that you can reach point A ro point B without a breakdown? I would suggest you to get the car repaired, sell it and use that cash for down payment to buy a new vehicle. I think a XUV 700 diesel would be a nice upgrade. If you plan to keep the car for longer period, you'll only have ro sell the car for scrap price as its crossed 10yrs, and in excess there is a high probability judging by your car's past that it'll put a heavy dent on your wallet.

I would have recommended you to stick to the car if it was reliable. I myself drive a 2011 Micra dci which has done 1.6 lac km without any issues so far. Have no plans to upgrade any time soon. Peace of mind is more important than driving pleasure.

[Altocumulus]

Originally Posted by Doge

I meant fuel pump* for the Kushaq.
The Terrano and Duster failures came to my mind too, interesting that this is a design defect, as per your post.

Its not a design defect. Its the price of advanced technology. Like DSG is a far far superior gearbox than any other out there. But you use it regularly in traffic, not shift to neutral when stagnant or constantly creep, it will heat up and eventually fail. Does it make it a design defect, not really.

Similarly, for piezoelectric injectors you need to be really careful with the fuel. Change diesel filters every 8-10k kms. Ensure you fill from a pump which has high traffic, so diesel churn is more, etc.

Another example are these DPF failures. Design flaw not really. Usage patterns and our environment make them fail.

If you compare the in-gear acceleration between a Seltos diesel and a Duster AWD there is a difference of around 1.5 secs in favor of the latter in 20-80 and 40-100 times. Nearly as good as 138 BHP petrol Seltos even though it has a decade old engine. Similar with the Rapid diesels compared to the Verna diesels even though they churn out way lower power, 20 bhp less. The piezo injectors are more performance oriented than normal solenoid ones.

The more sophistication in your vehicle, the less forgiving they are.

[careind]

Originally Posted by Brigadier

Hi, How many Kms done till now, and from where did you do remap?

I have done a measly 70k kms in 7 years as I have had other cars as well for city runs. The pandemic also restricted usage in 2020 and 2021.

I did the remap from code6, Chennai.

[techmotor]

Originally Posted by Mika fan

Does your car fulfill most of your needs from that particular vehicle?

Does your car help you meet your maintenance budget for that vehicle? Is the cost of running repairs per year justifiable?

Is the time spent by the car at service station proving to be a hindrance for you / your family in your day to day life?

The answers for the above are unfortunately a big NO. I've closed the loan amount a long time back but I haven't been able to realize my investment as it didn't serve the basic purpose for most of the time. Also the frequent issues and couple of incidents stranding me at the middle of a journey left me no choice but to use this car only for commutes under 60 Kms.

Originally Posted by roadrunner_nv

I wanted to shift to a Toyota but with them charging through the nose for vintage tech (sorry Toyota mates, no offence meant), I abandoned that thought.

So, in the budget that I had, roughly 50 L, give or take a few, I booked the XUV700 AX7L Diesel Auto, a Thar Hardtop Diesel Auto and a pre-owned Nano.

True that Toyota is utilizing the reliability image to their advantage by pricing their models exorbitantly. I really like the new Camry(saw it only via reviews and their site). But I really don't think it's worth to spend 55L OTR (ex show room 43.5L). There is no model in their portfolio that can be a good replacement for Rapid. It's Innova and Fortuner for the mass and Camry and Vellfire for the luxury segment. By the way, congrats on the XUV 7OO. It is one of my shortlisted vehicle.

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

Its not a design defect. Its the price of advanced technology.
Similarly, for piezoelectric injectors you need to be really careful with the fuel.
Another example are these DPF failures. Design flaw not really. Usage patterns and our environment make them fail.

The more sophistication in your vehicle, the less forgiving they are.

This is what puts me in a dilemma to buy a new car since majority of the vehicles comes with this sophisticated design/architecture that is failing in real world conditions for a variety of reasons. I hope all these will be sorted out pretty soon especially the engine and fuel related issues.

[Dushyanth]

I own a 2014 1.6 TDi, so far the mileage stands at an approximate 1,12,000 kilometres and I haven't faced any major issues till now(touchwood). Only issue that I’ve faced till now is the fuel pump going kaput at 90000 KM. Other than this nothing has failed so far and she drives the same way as she did on day one.
But there has been a lot of discussion about fuel injectors and ABS sensors and wheel speed sensors, etc. And at times I wonder how so many people are facing the same issues repeatedly, maybe the servicing interval? driving? fuel quality? car care such as washing and cleaning?, etc. then I managed to list out these points about what I generally do with my car and see if I'm doing things any differently.

List of things that I regularly do to my car which I feel are aiding my car being niggle free.

1. Stick to fuel from one company as much as possible.
I buy fuel for all my vehicles from SHELL only. I’m not marketing SHELL here but stick to any one retail chain as much as possible. This applies to any vehicle from any manufacturer. My car has done more than half of its running on highways, say 70:30 highway:city mileage ratio which means mostly long distance touring. Heck, thanks to its brilliant fuel efficiency on highways, I was able to do a Bombay trip of 2700 kilometres without having to buy diesel from any other dealer then SHELL. Bangalore to Pune in one full tank and top up at SHELL Pune was enough to explore Bombay and came back via the same fuel station back to Bangalore. Obviously there are exceptions when I need to fill fuel at pumps other than SHELL, but those instances are very far few in between, because of their expanding reach its relatively easy for me to stick to one brand of fuel.

2. Do not run your vehicle under low fuel conditions.
Try not to run the vehicle often with low fuel as much as possible. These modern diesels use fuel to cool the injectors and when the vehicle is in reserve, the fuel supply to cool these vital components is cut off in order to save fuel. I usually keep 1/4th fuel level mark as a reference and fill up before the gauge falls before 1/4th tank. Again, there are instances which are not under my control where the vehicle does run with fuel below the 1/4 mark, but it is very rare.

3. Pressure washing the underbody.
Try to avoid pressure washing the wheels from the underside while pressure washing the car on a ramp, any direct high pressure water entering the critical components will ruin them. I ask my driver or the car wash centre to just use high pressure nozzle only from the outside which is sufficient to clean the rims and the wheel well only and never on the inside via underbody.

4. Regular servicing.
My car has been regularly serviced at TAFE adhering to the service intervals(15000km/1year). Even if your have a competent FNG at your disposal, try not to delay or skip oil changes and various filter changes including fuel filter. Additionally, I get all the fluids including Transmission and coolant changed every 50000 kilometres and timing belt and water pump kit at 1,00,000 well before the recommended 1,20,000 mark as a precaution. TAFE wasn’t the same before but its better.

Make sure the car does what its meant to do which means drive it regularly. They are built to run and not sit idle.

[Augustine]

Actually the listed problems are common in VAG cars. All other cars are also running on the same road and are equally used. I have personally seen many VAG cars with even more problems. Very few VAG cars run little better giving a bit lesser problems. They are only good for first 50k kms. Whatever the futuristic technology may be used, if it is porne to breakdown or is not reliable it means it is not developed completely, or is poorly designed (keeping aside their ASS). Just a solidly built chassis and body will not make a good car. So many people are fed up of these cars. In fact we all know.

[techmotor]

Originally Posted by Dushyanth

1. Stick to fuel from one company as much as possible.

2. Do not run your vehicle under low fuel conditions.

3. Pressure washing the underbody.

4. Regular servicing.

Make sure the car does what its meant to do which means drive it regularly. They are built to run and not sit idle.

I have been following all of the above mentioned points. Regarding fuel, there are unfortunately no SHELL fuel stations in Kerala AFAIK. Reliance and Essar/Nayara are a good 30 KMs away from my home. IOC, BP and HP are the major ones available here and I've been filling from IOC(Company owned) bunks. I even asked one of the service center which is the fuel brand they recommend and they didn't give any recommendation. I typically don't run in low fuel conditions. All service and repairs have been done at Skoda authorized service centers only and washing/cleaning is done either there or by myself.

Originally Posted by Augustine

Actually the listed problems are common in VAG cars.......So many people are fed up of these cars. In fact we all know.

One of the very purpose of this forum is to share, care and learn. I've highlighted the issues I've faced which I consider as sharing information with fellow members in this forum

[techmotor]

A quick update. I've got the issue checked from a FNG. As I suspected, it was a problem with the fuel injector. I've got it replaced from them and the problem seems resolved, at least for now. Meanwhile, I've taken TDs of Safari, XUV 7OO, Compass, Slavia and Kushaq. I'll share my TD experience and initial observations on related threads.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by techmotor

A quick update. I've got the issue checked from a FNG. As I suspected, it was a problem with the fuel injector. I've got it replaced from them and the problem seems resolved, at least for now. Meanwhile, I've taken TDs of Safari, XUV 7OO, Compass, Slavia and Kushaq. I'll share my TD experience and initial observations on related threads.

Thanks for the update. How many injectors and how much did it cost?
If I were you, I would look beyond Skoda for a new car. They don't really deserve your repeat business any more (read Slavia and Kushaq), how much ever good they are.

[techmotor]

Originally Posted by hrman

How many injectors and how much did it cost?
If I were you, I would look beyond Skoda for a new car. They don't really deserve your repeat business any more (read Slavia and Kushaq), how much ever good they are.

One injector got faulty and it costed me 15K in total. Since I was in the market for a vehicle, I thought of TDing Slavia and Kushaq to see how they fare in performance, ride and handling. I felt Rapid superior to Slavia in all aspects except for new age tech/features like touchscreen unit, ventilated seats etc.

[techmotor]

And here we go again. Got an ABS sensor warning with some jerking (as is the case usually) while returning from office. I’m not getting a breather with these recurring issues making it even more difficult to sell the car