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-   -   "Leisure"ly enjoying the Skoda Rapid TDI (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/144428-leisure-ly-enjoying-skoda-rapid-tdi-2.html)

Car completed 1750KM.
Got an average of 15.7KM with Tank Full method.
No AC but Heater On during mornings.
All of the distance has been done within city and yet to see the true potential and highway mannerism of the car.

The car is a GEM.
It is very difficult to control the urge of not pushing yourself to the seat.
As mentioned at many places, once the engine warms up, it shows its true colours.
OBD Scanner is now my daily companion.
As I have observed, the Coolant temperature gradually rises till 90degrees and then settles around the same. Is it correct?

Minor niggles -
1. There is constant 'kit-kit' noise from top of windows while driving on uneven roads.
2. Third gear is a bit notchy for me to slot it.
3. Minor vibrations felt in fourth gear.

My Dealership thread is now up at - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...i-gurgaon.html


Long Press the Menu button to get this option.

I haven't faced any of these niggles. However I sometimes get some kind of rattling on the door panels when going through uneven road. I haven't noticed any additional vibrations in fourth gear, but will observe from now on.

You will definitely enjoy the car much more out on the highways.:)

I have been itching to take the car for a Highway run ever since it completed its 1000 Miles of Run-In period.

Here were my observations after Gurgaon-Jaipur-Delhi trip.

• Clocked a total of ~610 Kms during the trip.
• 250 Kms of Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch majorly done at speeds 80-100kmpl. Max Speed of 120 reached. Distance covered in 4 hours 15 mins.
• 265 Kms of Jaipur-Delhi stretch majorly done at speeds 80-120kmpl. Max Speed of 140 reached. Distance covered in 4 hours.
• 100 Kms of Local Running in Jaipur mainly at crawling speeds.
• Overall Fuel Efficiency achieved - 17.95km/l clap: (Would have been much higher had I been more sedate on my return drive as well)
• Since the car doesn't have MID, I regularly use the OBD Scanner Tool to monitor/regulate my speeds and improve fuel efficiency.
• Stock Headlamps are absolutely Useless. Not sure what to do as I do not want to void my 5 Years of extended warrantly.
• 3 Step Intermittent Wipers are Lovely. Various intervals helped a lot when it drizzled.
• 5th Gear indeed acts like an Automatic. Used it from 50kmph till 120kmph.
• Brakes!!! Brakes!!! Brakes!!! - Confidence Inspiring.
• ABS kicked in when you brake hard on uneven roads (very few on NH8 thought, strange!!!)
• Automatic Volume Leveler (GALA Mode in Stock HU) was much more evident on Highway run.
• Spacious boot gulped in 2 Big Samsonite's along with 2 medium Bags and many small bags. (Kids, you know :D)
• Tyre Noise is more evident on certain stretches than other. It has something to do with the kind of Gravel & Tar used to lay the roads. More or less the NVH was good.
• The big front door pockets were really helpful in storing a lot of small stuff along with 2 Tupperware 1L bottles.
• The front windscreen visibility is a bit problematic with the Seat height adjusted a bit height as the inner rearview mirror comes in line of vision. I am 5'8"

After the trip, I am all the more in love with this Czech beauty.

The car has been (very)slightly veering to left on empty stretches. Planning to get the Alignment checked. Any recommendations for a good tyre shop near West Delhi?

No other niggles so far.

In the City-Run, getting a FE of 15.25-15.75kmpl on a Full Tank-Full Tank method. Lovely!!!

I am really happy with the GPS Unit that came alongwith.
It acted as a GPS as well as a BIG screen for Rear View Camera as well as Bluetooth Handsfree Unit pairing with my phone.

But, two things were really annoying about it.
1. Wires!!!
There was one wire which was connecting the Camera with GPS Unit and another wire of charger of the GPS unit.
I simply hated the wires running across the otherwise clean dashboard.
2. Reachability
With the Unit being that distant, it was really difficult to either find a location on the map while the car is running or picking up a phone via Bluetooth.

This is how it looked like -


Was searching hard for the solution which would address both the issues.
There were 2 options -
Option 1 Move the GPS near the A-Pillar to Driver side. While this was my preferred option, this would have required removing all the covers to remove the existing Camera wire and route it towards the other side.
I am very nervous about removing any of the plastic components. They break too easily.

Option 2 Move the GPS below the RVM. Benefit would be easy viewing while reversing while the loss would be a bit of compromise on the front visibility.
Carefully looked for the Screen placement for Option 2 to minimise any loss of visibility and finally went ahead with it.

What was required?
The Camera wire to be routed behind the A-pillar, and then taken to the RVM hiding behind the roof cladding.
The Power Cable to be routed behind the A-pillar, and then taken to the RVM hiding behind the roof cladding.

Routing of the Camera wire was easy as enough length of wire was available.
As for the Power Cable, since it was shorter in length, I procured a long USB cable and bought a Car charger with USB Option.

This is how the wires were routed -
USB Wire joined with the USB Car Charger


Closer Look


USB Wire looped around at the end of Passenger foot well


USB Wire entering A-Pillar on Passenger side


Wires being routed from A-Pillar


Wires being routed from A-Pillar


Final Result - Clean Dash


Rear View - Mirror/Camera
No part of the whole of Honda Activa is visible from the (pathetic) Rear View Mirror which is clearly shown by the Rear View Camera.




On other topic, reached another milestone clap:


The car has completed 3200 kms now and the last full tank gave a fuel efficiency of 16.26kmpl in the City run. :thumbs up

Thanks to the various DIY threads on Noodle mats running all through the forum, got inspired and made my own custom set of Noodle mats.
The mats provided by the dealer during Delivery had already started showing their age on the Driver side.
The things that I was most annoyed with were -
a) Slippery nature of mats leading to their frequent movement under Driver's pedals.
b) Their inability to cover most of the carpet area
c) Flimsy quality

Thus, following the steps mentioned in various DIY threads specially DIY-Noodle matds, created my own set.

Cost involved -
Price = Rs.72/sq.ft.
Length = 9ft
width = 2ft
Total Price = Rs.1296

Noodle Mat Roll


The material


Finer look


Back Seat mat










Also bought a 1.5M roll of Anti Skid material and made a custom Dashboard Mat as well lol:
Price = 150
Used only some of it for this purpose and the rest is being used at various other places in house

I am about to go on the Boodle mat expedition
So just had one question.
Did u feel that 9ft was a little less or is that enough and what have you done for the transmission tunnel?

9 Feet (by 2 Feet) was sufficient with also a piece of around 1X2 left.
As for the Transmission tunnel, I did the matting in 3 parts, one on the hump with long ears tucked below the 2 side mats.

It has been 6 months!!! Whoa.

Somewhere in middle of April, I got call from Giriraj Motors to schedule the (First Check Up) service for my Skoda Rapid since it was nearing the 6 months mark.
Initially I had plans to get my car serviced at Fahrenheit (Moti Nagar), but thought I would give these guys a chance; it being near to my office place and thus will save me a day.
Booked the car to be serviced on a certain date. Inquired about Pickup/Drop charges and they were advised to be Rs.200 for Pickup only. Drop facility was not available.
(Compare this to Rs. 0 I pay to get my Hyundai i10 serviced and where both Pickup and Drop is done by Hyundai folks)

Anyways, I always like to go myself for the pickup so am usually interested only in Pickups and in this case went myself for the drop as well at the pre-allotted time (10AM in the morning to avoid any kind of rush).
I was received well at the reception and soon met the Service Advisor.
It was a Check-Up service only so no major tasks to be done.

Things I asked particularly to be checked

• Engine Oil Level
• Coolant Level
• VAS update (if available)

Both of the above seemed to me just at par when I used to check the levels.
Also inquired whether the car will be washed and the answer was Yes (No extra charges). Honestly, I thought car wash was not part of this checkup as I read in some of the threads, but seems like I was wrong.
Took the time for delivery was given as 12:30PM (quite fast, eh!), exchanged mobile numbers and head back to office.

Got a call at 12:25 that car was ready for delivery, took an auto-rickshaw and head to the Service Station which is around 7Kms away.
Reached at 12:50 and met the Service Advisor. He took me to the car and advised of the work performed on car

1. CAR wash
2. VAS Update
3. Coolant Update (Free of Charge)
4. Engine Oil Update (To be Paid)

Now, I took the car under 5X5 plan under which all maintenance costs upto next 5 years were to be taken care by Skoda.
Guess, I was a bit wrong there as upon reading the fine print it mentioned the cost of only 5 services.
The car was topped up with 0.800L of oil and the total bill came out to Rs. 752 (incl taxes).
Argued a bit but then gave up and paid the same.
Bill Attached below

Overall score - 9/10

I would suggest you to remove that ASAP because it will affect the airbag.

Thanks for the concern but since there is no Passenger side Airbag, hence its presence won't make a difference.
Anyways, I have removed it since it kept on skidding all by itself.