[Pancham]

Can you post a full view of the car along with the wheels? Any reason why you did not go for 16 inch wheels?

[santoshr]

Originally Posted by Pancham

Can you post a full view of the car along with the wheels? Any reason why you did not go for 16 inch wheels?

Here's a couple more with the tyres :






Why not 16" >> Because 16" inch will cause a deviation of close to 5% from the stock wheels. Since I am running the Ambition, my stock tyres were 175/70-R14 and so If I move 205/55-R16 that will cause a deviation of 5.2%.

175/70-14 4.8in 11.8in 23.6in 74.3in 853 0.0%
205/55-16 4.4in 12.4in 24.9in 78.2in 811 5.2%

If your stock is 185/60-R15 i.e if you own Elegance or Prestige variants, even then the deviation would close to 4% for 205/55-R16.

185/60-15 4.4in 11.9in 23.7in 74.6in 850 0.0%
205/55-16 4.4in 12.4in 24.9in 78.2in 811 4.8%

Since the top end models ship with 15" it is a safer bet and with Skoda's nasty reputation on voiding the warranty no point risking it.

[motomaverick]

Nice wheels, now some black or cf sticker and a performance upgrade to go with the looks

[santoshr]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Nice wheels, now some black or cf sticker and a performance upgrade to go with the looks

Thanks Moto.. I have the smoked tail lights lined up, a T-o-T remap and some nice shiny new Stanley seat leather covers.

[santoshr]

Had plans to take the care to service for the weekend. However a day before the planned service the "check engine" light started flashing. Dropped off the misus to work and headed straight to the service centre. By the time I reached the service centre the engine had bogged down as if not enough fuel was being sent to the engine.

The SA opened up the bonnet and voila 4 wires had been cut and dangling, A bunch of foam/sponge under the engine cover was eaten up as well. The SA took the car in for the dangling wires and the 15K service.

1. Engine light flashing
2. Electrical wires which had been cut
3. Service

Refused the alignment balancing job, and also refused the under body protection which was being offered for around 4-5k with 5 years warranty. I was not sure how much would it cost to fix the electricals. Later in the day got a call from the adviser asking for go-ahead for the electrical issue -- 200rs per wire and apart from the 4 visible cuts every thing else was good. A sigh! of relief that's what resulted after the call. My expectations were that this would be in thousands, or something on the lines of "we will need to replace the entire wiring."

A day after the car went in, got a call reporting that the car was ready and that the total bill was Rs. 7000. This mainly included 4k for the oil, 800 for the wires and other stuff. Picked the car up oiled and greased and without any warning lights flashing . Did a quick test, the car felt as being back to normal. That very day from the service center I had to head out to Mumbai. Took it a little slow, the car was behaving well.

A few weeks passed by and it was time for a drive, the drive was planned by HVK's team and man was it worth it. This drive had an off road patch and a whole bunch of poth holes, however the car never did bottom out not even once. From steep humps to massive poth holes, the car flew over everything and din't complain. I was mighty proud of the Rapid and the new tires.

I reckon this is because of the harder compound. The alloys are 15", i.e an inch bigger than the stock I had ( Amibition comes with 14"), however the tires are lower on profile by 10mm which means over all GC would not have changed much.

As a result of the drive there was an inch thick layer of mud in the wheel arches. And so it was time for some 3m magic --

The wash -


Shampoo -







Wax on --


Wax off --


Clean and Shiny as good as looking new --





The wash scrubbed off a truck load of crud and mud.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by santoshr

Had plans to take the care to service for the weekend. However a day before the planned service the "check engine" light started flashing. Dropped off the misus to work and headed straight to the service centre. By the time I reached the service centre the engine had bogged down as if not enough fuel was being sent to the engine.

Good sign of Skoda After Sales improving. Rs. 7000 is damn good including the repairs.

Originally Posted by santoshr

As a result of the drive there was an inch thick layer of mud in the wheel arches. And so it was time for some 3m magic --
Attachment 1126115

The wash scrubbed off a truck load of crud and mud.

Did you get any wax or sealant applied or just simple car wash for which they charge Rs 444?

Also get rid of that sticker on front left fender else it would leave a very bad mark and wouldn't even come off.

[santoshr]

I got a wash and Wax, the thing for 1060 + taxes. Had gone primarily to get the bottom cleaned, could have done with the local around the corner wash as well.

On the after sales - Also note they've started collecting feedback. Also got a feedback from their mumbai office asking for if all my complaints were attended to and all that. The spares continue to be a problem though, atleast they are on the right path.

[santoshr]

Its been an year already and the car is behaving like a dream. Got the tail light replaced, took them a while to source it but they eventually got it and fitment only took 10 minutes.

Skoda - Sir, the tail light requested has arrived when can you come.
Santosh - Sure thing, I will be there Monday morning at 0930
Skoda - Good we look forward to seeing you

I reach really really late by around 11.30, instead of the agreed time of 0930.

Santosh - I am sorry but I got stuck in this horrible traffic and am really late, can you do this on priority for me. The only request is the change of the RHS tail light. If you think you cant get it done soon then lets cancel this for today and I will come back tomorrow.

Skoda SA - Let me see what I can do.

15 minutes, the car was out ready with all the paper work done with the gate pass. Thanked the SA whole heartedly for understanding my sense of urgency.

Right hand side Tail lamp - Rs 1750/- + taxes

A big thumps up I would say. And the costs of spares are all that ridiculous. 1700 bucks for a tail lamp isn't all that bad.

Took the car out to Gujarat for a week, was driving solo and so there were many times I would get scared thinking what if the check engine light starts flashing or the glow plug light. 3250 kms of driving in some very remote parts of Gujarat, came back all alive with absolutely no issues. The Rapid for sure can take some badgering, I was more or less driving for 10 hours everyday for 6 days straight. These engines are built to go on and on and on, reminds me of the that Duracell commercial.

Bad roads, no roads , gravel, rain , mud more or less drove over all types of terrain its no off roader but the engine and the S-Drives can handle all the badgering. Thats for sure.

Surprisingly there have been many report that Sdrives are a little too delicate and can't handle poth holes well. I would like to disagree, I went over bad poth holes, thud thad everything. No puncture no buldge nothing. Came back unscratched.


The Remap -
Next in line was the remap, I had decided that I wanted it and so finally gave Mr Sid from Tune-O-Tronics a call.

WHy T-o-T ? Having read Kryptonite's report I knew these were down to earth guys, more of enthusiasts than businessmen.

Kirrus - My next fav option primarily because they are closer i.e in Mumbai however reading up threads I felt more connected to T-o-T.

RD tuning Box - Spoke to a couple of friends, the biggest pro here was the plug-n-play capability. No pulling out the ECU and all that, simply disconnect it when taking it to service. However there are various concerns, it really doesnt give you access to the potential that the car has. Sort of felt like a hack job as compared to a more comprehensive I know what I am doing types job.

A few emails back and forth and there I was face to face with Vivek from Tune-o-Tronics. We met up early morning at 0600 since it kinda worked for both of us.

Step 1 - Plug their thingy into the ODB socket, take a dump of the Map and other files.

Step 2 - Disconnect the Air filter, behind it is the ECU, unscrew it and take it to a table

Step 3 - Open up the ECU box, connect the ECU to one of their readers and take a dump of the EEPROM

Step 4 - Unlock the ECU

Step 4.5 - Email the files to on of their colleagues in Bangalore, and wait for the map to be sent back.

Step 5 - Take the ecu back to the car, connect it to the car. Put back the Air filter.

Step 6 - Write the Map using their custom software to the ECU via the port below the steering.

Vivek was patient enough to answer a million questions that I had --

What Map should I choose?
How different is it from the Stock ?
Should I change the air filter ?
Why do you need to take the ECU out ?

And many such queries, he also told me that they have mapped a Rapid TDI upto a 160-170bhp but obviously that is not good for the engine. The most common map that they give out to us TDI engines is the 130-135 bhp 320 NM torque, this has been extensively tested and is closed to 99% of the efficiency of the stock. And so I should ideally not see any or negligible loss in the average.

Took the car out on a test drive with Vivek closing monitoring my RPM and the speedometer. In the city at around 1500 RPM didn't feel all that different. Just felt like it was revving better, the engine noise and feel was better.

As soon as I crossed 1800 RPM I had a grin on my face. Now that's what I am talking about. Its a breeze now to reach upto 3500 RPm which with the old map used to feel like an effort,well not really effort but at least there used to be more work that needed to be done.

We stopped at a signal, were the first in line. Vivek wanted me to go full throttle in each gear upto 2500 RPM on the first and the second.

And Vrooom went the car, before I put the car in fourth I was already at a 100 kmph. Kryptonite's car does a 0-100 in less 10 seconds, I reckon I am not too far behind. I didn't test this but at that point during the full throttle test I reached a 100 pretty fast should be around 10-15 seconds I reckon. It really doesn't matter how many seconds it takes, the car feels so much more better now I really think its going to be really hard to go back to the stock map now.

On that note, Vivek and Sid also mentioned that there is only a one time cost. Incase Skoda suspects something funky happening they will put back the old map in which case I can request T-o-T to put the map back and that there will be no charge associated with it. Any specific maps if I want they will do it for free. They keep traveling and so I am hoping when they are Pune I have them check the car out.

Took the remapped car out to Goa and man was I able to rev it hard, felt like the stock map keeps the beast chained. On the ghat overtaking was a breeze, upgraded tires give superb cornering, on flat reaching 160 is now a breeze. Its like the car has a whole new personality that I did not know of.

In the coming weeks, Vivek has ordered me to change my air filter its not in the best of shapes and so a cleaner newer air filter should even make the performance better.

For the first time after a long time I am excited to drive the car even from Work to home. Usually I am really excited for the highway drives but with the remap its like a kid in me has been awakened and all he wants is to drive his remapped 134 bhp Skoda Rapid belting out a 320 NM torque and these are on the wheel values. On the Rails it should be closed to 140-145 bhp.

[500ContyCruiser]

Originally Posted by santoshr

Right hand side Tail lamp - Rs 1750/- + taxes

A big thumps up I would say. And the costs of spares are all that ridiculous. 1700 bucks for a tail lamp isn't all that bad.

Yeah, cost of ownership has come down drastically for Skoda. Just they need to work some more on A.S.S. and they probably be back in market for good!

Originally Posted by santoshr

The Remap -
Next in line was the remap, I had decided that I wanted it and so finally gave Mr Sid from Tune-O-Tronics a call.
...
..
.
For the first time after a long time I am excited to drive the car even from Work to home. Usually I am really excited for the highway drives but with the remap its like a kid in me has been awakened and all he wants is to drive his remapped 134 bhp Skoda Rapid belting out a 320 NM torque and these are on the wheel values. On the Rails it should be closed to 140-145 bhp.

My car is about to complete 1 year [16th Oct] and has clocked around 32K kms. So, I am contemplating on remapping it. Have tried following yours and Kryptonite's thread. Still a lots to digest before I can make any decision.

How much does tuning alone cost?
Will help, if can break the price details (estimate price, if not exact amount).

[santoshr]

Originally Posted by 500ContyCruiser

My car is about to complete 1 year [16th Oct] and has clocked around 32K kms. So, I am contemplating on remapping it. Have tried following yours and Kryptonite's thread. Still a lots to digest before I can make any decision.

How much does tuning alone cost?
Will help, if can break the price details (estimate price, if not exact amount).

Damn man 32K in an year thats nice. Shows how much you love driving the Rapid, after the remap you will want to get up at night and go for a drive its that addictive.

T-o-T's advertized price is Rs. 33,000/- one time only charge. This includes any number of maps. There is no other cost involved, upgrading the air filters are a good option but i've had multiple people recommend me not to. The MAF sensors go bonkers because of oil deposits from the oil based filters. And so if Skoda sees that oil on the MAF sensor it may not give us warranty. The K&N air filter however if you decide to do is 5-7k.

[500ContyCruiser]

Originally Posted by santoshr

Damn man 32K in an year thats nice. Shows how much you love driving the Rapid, after the remap you will want to get up at night and go for a drive its that addictive. T-o-T's advertized price is Rs. 33,000/- one time only charge. This includes any number of maps. There is no other cost involved, upgrading the air filters are a good option but i've had multiple people recommend me not to. The MAF sensors go bonkers because of oil deposits from the oil based filters. And so if Skoda sees that oil on the MAF sensor it may not give us warranty. The K&N air filter however if you decide to do is 5-7k.

How are you guys managing with warranty part? You are fine with voiding warranty?

[santoshr]

Originally Posted by 500ContyCruiser

How are you guys managing with warranty part? You are fine with voiding warranty?

If you are asking about the K&N Filter, then no I did not get them. Vivek explained there shouldn't be a huge difference, however reading up Kyrptonite's explanation and the dyno run after the remap with and without the performance filter I think there is. However I am not very confident about that just yet. Maybe in the future, I am on the stock air filter for now. So no warranty issues there.

On the remap I had a detailed conversation about this with Sid. Let me try and put it in points :

1. The standard VAS scan which Skoda and VW do during standard service runs will not detect this. Vivek ran such a scan and showed me the output. Clean as it should be.

2. There's only a handful of people at VW who understand what talking to the ECU is, and even they have difficulty reading the change.

3. With EGR turned off, ideally the check engine light should be glowing. If at any point they realize that the EGR is turned off and that the check light is not glowing they will suspect something wrong.
Engineers at the service station will simply sratch their heads flash the whole thing to bring back the default behavior and be happy that they fixed it.

4. If the ECU is sent to company for something drastic then yes they will know.

5. You would have to be really unlucky to have a service engineer scan for EGR's or the map for them to have pick it up.

The remap is not invisible but they would need to know what they are looking for to be able to actually find it.

If the car has gone in for something drastic like a major engine fault then yes they might go into detail, find the map and negate the warranty. Technically the remap voids your warranty, but the chances of them knowing a remap has been made are slim, very slim.

[500ContyCruiser]

Originally Posted by santoshr

If you are asking about the K&N Filter, then no I did not get them. Vivek explained there shouldn't be a huge difference, however reading up Kyrptonite's explanation and the dyno run after the remap with and without the performance filter I think there is. However I am not very confident about that just yet. Maybe in the future, I am on the stock air filter for now. So no warranty issues there. On the remap I had a detailed conversation about this with Sid. Let me try and put it in points : 1. The standard VAS scan which Skoda and VW do during standard service runs will not detect this. Vivek ran such a scan and showed me the output. Clean as it should be. 2. There's only a handful of people at VW who understand what talking to the ECU is, and even they have difficulty reading the change. 3. With EGR turned off, ideally the check engine light should be glowing. If at any point they realize that the EGR is turned off and that the check light is not glowing they will suspect something wrong. Engineers at the service station will simply sratch their heads flash the whole thing to bring back the default behavior and be happy that they fixed it. 4. If the ECU is sent to company for something drastic then yes they will know. 5. You would have to be really unlucky to have a service engineer scan for EGR's or the map for them to have pick it up. The remap is not invisible but they would need to know what they are looking for to be able to actually find it. If the car has gone in for something drastic like a major engine fault then yes they might go into detail, find the map and negate the warranty. Technically the remap voids your warranty, but the chances of them knowing a remap has been made are slim, very slim.

Thanks Santosh for the detailed explanation!

Will have a word with Sid and take a call some time during October.

[santoshr]

In the last trip to Goa I had lots of issue with visibility, it was raining and with the strong beam of oncoming vehicles I couldn't see a thing.

Spoke to el_lobo , he highly recommends going to 90/100W but the problem with Skoda is as soon as they see the cutout it is "Thanks and Regards" on the warranty. WHen I bought the car I had the accessories guy charge me 1500 bucks for the phillips 55/60W bulbs, and I was under the assumption that 55/60 xtreme vision was what I was running. However due to lack of visibility I was looking for options, but el_lobo was like xtreme vision is by far the best option you have if you don't want to put it a cut-out.

And so early in the morning I decided to verify if I really was running xtreme vision, and lo-behold I wasn't. The car had the standard stock OSRAM bilux which kinda sucks and is more or less accepted in the community to not be good enough. Instantly bought a new pair of Xtreme vision 600/- a bulb, and replaced. I will know today if this improves visibility.
The point to be noted MYLORD is that the accessories shop at the Showroom charged me a cool 1500 bucks for nothing. Its too late now to go back to him and argue for 1500 bucks, and I should have taken care to verify/check if the bugger did in fact change the bulbs at that time or not. Partly my fault as well. Anyways bygones be bygone.

Removing/Changing head light bulbs
1. Turn off the car, with the keys removed
2. Remove the rubber casing which covers the light. Just needs a nudge, this is made of rubber and so won't require alot of force.
3. Pull the connector, this connector is what is connecting to the three pins of the bulb
4. Pull the bulb with a downward motion, the locking clips are on top and so with a downward motion pull the bulb will come out easy.

As the manual states, make sure the bulbs being put back have no finger prints.

Headlight Bulb specification -- H4 12v 55/60 W

Fog Lamps --
1. Pull the grill outwards , with the corner of the grill towards the light acting as your hinge.
2. Insert your hand through the opening to push a socket which dislodges the fog light assembly
3. Screw anticlockwise and the bulb fitment should come out. Note these H8 bulbs are joined to the connector which then connects to the wire.

While searching for head lights information I also confirmed that the fog lamp fitting is H8 and by-and-large there are more or less no option on h8 fog light bulbs. When enquiring at the friendly neighborhood accessories shop he says h11 should fit a h8 socket, but if you are looking for the same wattage yellow fog lights then what you have and what you will put will not give you ny added advantage.

Am curios to know if white fog lights are better than yellow, and what will happen if my head lights are standard yellow but fog lights are white might look wierd to both me the driver and to onlookers. Thats parked for now.

And do so while reading up I saw the very cool Philips Silver Vision PY21W Styling Indicator Bulbs , couldn't resist and ordered a pair from powerbulbs.com should take a week to come. Will update pics when done. \

Accessorisation till date --

Phase 0 -
1. Philips 55/60 lights -- However these had not been put. :(
2. Suncontrol film --
3. ICE - HU - Alpine 2 din WE-233
Speakers - RockFord Fosgate prime 1652S comp speakers @ front
RockFord Fosgate prime 1653 co-axials @ rear
4. Free accessories - Mud Flaps + Floor Mats --> Both of which have now been removed.

Phase 1 -
1. Mobile stand --> Was torn down at the 15K service. :(
2. 3d Maxspider Ragu Mats
3. Mud Flaps - Order online, but the holes did not line. Ended up removing the mud flaps which came with the car #ugly.
4. Euro style Number Plates --

Phase 2 -
1. Upsize tires and Alloys - Plati premium 15" alloys with Yoko S drives 205/55 tires.
2. Sparco Steering cover --
3. Sparco Seat belt pads --
4. Razo racer pedals -
5. OVRM mirror extensions --

Phase 3 -
1. TOT Remap --Now sporting a cool 134 BHp at 320 NM Torque
2. Phillips xtreme Vision 55/60W
3. Phillips silver vision indicator bulbs -- http://www.powerbulbs.com/product/ph...ndicator-bulbs

Phase 4 - ( End of 2013)
1. Stanley leather -- 1.5 mm Scandinavian Dark brown

I wish I could get Karlson, they cost half of what Stanley does and karlson does a top notch job. However Karlson only operates in Bangalore. Stanley has a authorized partner here in Pune who will get the seat covers shipped from Bangalore and do the fitting themselves.

[motomaverick]

Welcome to the club Santosh. Nice to know that you went ahead with TOT. They do a wonderful work. 330 is a cool 80nm increase in the torque which is really good. Happy driving with the red rocket.