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Old 16th September 2014, 19:48   #16
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Congrats Horizon81 !! You might have felt a sea of difference between the softly sprung i10 to the Solid handling Rapid Also, that shade of red looks awesome Hope you are planning to get the 3M color protection done soon.
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Old 16th September 2014, 21:21   #17
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Congrats Horizon, for your new car..Wish you and your family happy and safe rides,,
I am eagerly waiting for mine,,,
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Old 16th September 2014, 22:44   #18
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Congratulations on your new ride. Enjoy your ride and drive safe. I loved the color and the locations. Smashing!!
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Old 16th September 2014, 22:52   #19
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Wonderful review and that 1.6 is a killer!
Hope you have some amazing miles with it and also a great colour!
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Old 16th September 2014, 22:55   #20
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Quote:
Originally Posted by harsh.m06 View Post
Congrats horizon81! Rapid looks surprisingly great in this shade! A well written review as well. Looking forward for a long term ownership report. Happy mile munching

I miss projector headlamps in my Vento. Could you elaborate some info upon the illumination comparison between old Rapid and the one with Projectors?
Thank You. On projector headlamps, all my test drives were during day time, so couldn't compare with the normal headlamps. My BIL owns a Vento Highline, and he was with us on the long journey. His opinion was that there's no comparison at all, the projectors win hands down. Best part is that the light beam is very sharp, with almost zero spread beyond its edges; you get very good illumination on the road with the edge of the beam not reaching to even the ORVMs of the cars ahead. I'll post a picture with the three modes(high/low/fog) at night.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vik0728 View Post
Congrats Horizon81 on your latest acquisition. Looks lovely in that shade.

Having owned a car in the exact same shade, have small advise. Please be very careful while driving at high speeds behind a truck. The tiny stones seem to chip the color quite easily and this Red shows up these marks quite readily.

Drive safe and pile up more miles.
Thank you for the wishes and the advise. In less than a month, I've realized that this shade requires higher maintenance. Nothing other than MF towels/mitts would do. Will plan to get a protective coat on the paint from 3M.

Quote:
Originally Posted by venkyhere View Post
congrats on the new car. wish you many happy miles with it.
I too am planning to upgrade to rapid, and apart from the well desired ride quality and power, my main concerns are regarding noise in the cabin.

- At 100kph on the highway, which noise dominates ? wind/tyres/engine ?
- how is the noise insulation compared to i10 (same/better/significantly better) ?
- does the car come with 'rough road package' - steel plates for underbody protection (i have seen this on my friend's laura & he said its standard)
Thank You. Answers to your questions:
-noise at 100kmph on the highway and comparison with i10: No wind noise, a low engine hum is audible inside the cabin, and tyre noise, I did not notice (probably I was too thrilled by the new car to notice). Compared to i10(2008), the i10's sound levels are higher, with wind and tyre noise dominating. I have upsized 175 Michelin XM2 on the i10.
-rough road package: The car comes with the rough road package - These are hard plastic/fiberglass panels running under the body.

Quote:
Originally Posted by supertinu View Post
Congrats Horizon on your shining red ride. It looks lovely in that color and some of the picture with the railway bridge in the background are amazing. Wish you many safe miles in the car.

How did you get over the concerns with Skoda A.S.S? any extended warranty coverage?
Thank You. The railway bridge is on the kollam-tenkasi route which is undergoing gauge upgrade. The beautiful British architecture is under threat of demolition for the same.

Skoda A.S.S and extended warranty: The car comes with free 5 years warranty. That's 2 years normal + 3 years extended, free. Scheduled services are at every 15K kms or one year. So I'll need to be at the service center only once a year (albeit the first year where I have a check up at 6 months). The staff at TAFE Hosur Road has been courteous so far. Financing was also super fast, once the papers were filed at Bangalore, a person from VW/Skoda Finance came over to my permanent residence at Kerala on the same day and got the verifications done by EOD. Only hiccup was regarding the confusion on whether the vehicle would arrive in Bangalore in time, but it did. In the end, I was happy to get a car with a June manufacturing date in August. So, all in all, very good experience so far.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Passiautonate View Post
Congrats! Really love this color. Looks Beautiful.

I can relate to you as you were looking for safety features in the new car, life do changes after a baby Isn't it? When I was in the market for a car for my wifey I was hell bend on ABS and Airbag too, bought Asta 1.2 Option. As the car will be taking my 10 months old to creche.


Just a small suggestion- Its a great car and surely it comes with all safety features but I won't recommend taking it to 140s with your wife and son onboard. Imagine you are carrying your most precious items at the back seat. I feel the same whenever I am driving with my kid and Indeed I am a changed driver now.

Cheers!
Thank you for the wishes and the concern. Nothing to imagine, they are most precious to me . Just clarifying - I did 140s for just a couple of minutes on an open stretch to loose the tailgaters. Letting them pass me at the lower speeds didn't work a couple of times, since they seemed to have lost interest and slowed down after every time they passed me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by D4D View Post
Congrats on your new ride!

All these German cars are well engineered and their attention to detail is incredible.
Good decision to take the 5 year extended warranty to get peace of mind, important when owning a Skoda.

Wishing you many happy miles with it!
Thank you. The 5 year extended warranty was part of the free package.

Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolBlueBiker View Post
Congrats Horizon81 !! You might have felt a sea of difference between the softly sprung i10 to the Solid handling Rapid Also, that shade of red looks awesome Hope you are planning to get the 3M color protection done soon.
Thank You. Absolutely! Will visit 3M HSR layout soon. I may have put a few swirls already

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemant_Joshi View Post
Congrats Horizon, for your new car..Wish you and your family happy and safe rides,,
I am eagerly waiting for mine,,,
Thank you and wish you the same too.
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Old 17th September 2014, 10:10   #21
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

@Horizon

A beautifully written review.

After all the horror stories and bad experiences Bhpians have faced with Skoda, you review is like a whiff of fresh air.

I have immense respect for Skoda cars. Just wished the management and the rogue dealers could do justice to their beautiful and sturdy machines.

The Flash Red looks pretty against the dark back ground and the car sure is a stunner.

Wish you many happy trouble free miles with the Rapid.
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Old 17th September 2014, 11:31   #22
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Hi Horizon81,

Congrats for the RED beauty.
Skoda makes real good car, its only the people who make the difference, if any, otherwise.

How is the ground clearance in actual scenario as European specification of GC is difficult to understand.

It always amused me as to how a GC of 140 for old Octavia could manage the Indian Roads and over 2500 mts of wheelbase.
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Old 17th September 2014, 12:16   #23
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Hey Horizon81

Congratulations on your new set of wheels. Color looks really good too (reminds me of my old Ferrari - M800 - sigh!). A few queries if you could help me with.
  1. A breakdown of the expenses for the OTR (did you trade in your i10 as part of your deal)?
  2. Since you stay close to Hosur road, have you ever tried the notorious 'Wipro backgate' road in your new ride? Wanted a feedback on the ground clearance - I have a feeling that if it passes this stretch without scraping, it's indeed a good one.
  3. Any mods / add-ons you're planning for the car?

Thanks in advance and wishing you many more happy miles to go.
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Old 17th September 2014, 12:20   #24
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Quote:
Originally Posted by arnabchak View Post
@Horizon

A beautifully written review.

After all the horror stories and bad experiences Bhpians have faced with Skoda, you review is like a whiff of fresh air.

I have immense respect for Skoda cars. Just wished the management and the rogue dealers could do justice to their beautiful and sturdy machines.

The Flash Red looks pretty against the dark back ground and the car sure is a stunner.

Wish you many happy trouble free miles with the Rapid.
Thank You, and I hope to have a hassle-free ownership. I'm not loosing sleep over the other horror stories though. Rapid seems to have lesser issues than their other products (Touchwood )

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wanderers View Post
Hi Horizon81,

Congrats for the RED beauty.
Skoda makes real good car, its only the people who make the difference, if any, otherwise.

How is the ground clearance in actual scenario as European specification of GC is difficult to understand.

It always amused me as to how a GC of 140 for old Octavia could manage the Indian Roads and over 2500 mts of wheelbase.
GC on paper is same as that of Vento. But the suspension setup is different. I've gone over pretty nasty potholes (couldn't avoid the route) and the underbody didn't scrape. There's a huge road hump near my hometown, the kind which drops the car heavily when you come down after the hump. I didn't have any issues with it with 3 passengers including me, a kid in a car seat and a fully loaded boot. But, with 4 passengers and the kid, and with an empty boot, the hump broke off my front mud guard in half. In summary, yes I do get tensed about the GC at times over bad roads when the car is fully loaded. Not when I'm driving alone.
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Old 17th September 2014, 16:09   #25
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Hi Horizon,

Congratulations on your new car and welcome to Club Rapid!
We have a Deep Perl Black MPI, its truly a performer.
Maintenance would be a bit of an issue for Red/Black.
Our Rapid has multiple hairline scratches now, don't know from where they came though. From far its not visible, but when one goes closer it doesn't look good.
Have to go for Paint correction + protection soon.
Anyway Wish you a Happy life with your Rapid.
Keep munching miles..
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Old 17th September 2014, 20:59   #26
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

First of all, congratulations for the new car and excellent color choice. The red looks really outstanding on this car. A friend of mine in Canada bought a Merc last year in the same color. And I must say, the color suits the Rapid as much as the Merc.

Secondly, excellent photo shoot. Love the backgrounds you have chosen. A picture says a thousand words, but yours say a lot more than that.

Please post some pics of the interiors too. Only highlighting the exterior doesn't seem to do justice with the car.
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Old 18th September 2014, 12:42   #27
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Thanks a lot everybody, for your wishes and kind words.

Quote:
Originally Posted by void_001 View Post
Hey Horizon81

Congratulations on your new set of wheels. Color looks really good too (reminds me of my old Ferrari - M800 - sigh!). A few queries if you could help me with.
  1. A breakdown of the expenses for the OTR (did you trade in your i10 as part of your deal)? No I didn't trade in my i10. Invoice price: 9.78L, Octroi etc 7.9K,RTO charges: 1.62L (registration, road tax, chosen number, "handling charges" etc), zero dep insurance:41K(got it free)
  2. Since you stay close to Hosur road, have you ever tried the notorious 'Wipro backgate' road in your new ride? Wanted a feedback on the ground clearance - I have a feeling that if it passes this stretch without scraping, it's indeed a good one. Nope, I've gone through similar roads in Kerala last week. You can't be carefree. You need to be aware of very large potholes, with 3 or 4 people in the car and a loaded boot.
  3. Any mods / add-ons you're planning for the car? No mods planned, but I've seen a red rapid with a low spoiler on the boot and it looked good. I may go for it.

Thanks in advance and wishing you many more happy miles to go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolguru4ever View Post
First of all, congratulations for the new car and excellent color choice. The red looks really outstanding on this car. A friend of mine in Canada bought a Merc last year in the same color. And I must say, the color suits the Rapid as much as the Merc.

Secondly, excellent photo shoot. Love the backgrounds you have chosen. A picture says a thousand words, but yours say a lot more than that.

Please post some pics of the interiors too. Only highlighting the exterior doesn't seem to do justice with the car.
Thank you. I'm flattered by your words. I'll post interior pics as soon as I get the seat covers done, in a month's time (waiting for salary )
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Old 19th September 2014, 11:49   #28
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon81 View Post
My biggest doubt was regarding the run-in period and how to do run in.


There is a lot of individual preference on how to do a run in. At the end, I say, drive as you would drive a car that is already run in. You need to flex the engine. There is no harm even if you hit the red line cause you will hit that point for a second. Yes; don't stay nailed at the red line in the early days or even later. Baby the car and the manufacturer claimed "run in" miles will probably need to be doubled. Gone are the days you need to practise all this running in. Get behind the wheel and have fun.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon81 View Post
A word of caution from the user manual - the rev limiter comes in to play only if you are revving up under normal circumstances; if you slot in to a wrong gear that will take the engine speed higher than the redline, the rev-limiter cannot protect the engine.
This is strange, the rev limiter should come in to play in a case of wrong gear selection too. Wonder what the deal is here. It is as if this system is designed to watch only throttle input. I don't know how this works in other cars.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon81 View Post
The advise in the manual is to start moving the car as soon as it is started, as the initial load helps the engine attain ideal temperature faster than if it is kept idling for say 30 to 60 seconds.
The manual is correct. The faster you get the engine to optimum operating temperature, the more efficient your engine.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon81 View Post
In a dilemma now regarding engine oil change after run-in. SA says there's no need till 1 year/15K kms.
Change the oil.

The Rapid is hands down the most fun to drive diesel out there. Cheap gas sealing the deal even further. It is probably quicker than all the petrol cars on sale today from the segment. I am not a big fan of the suspension and steering. For the speeds the Rapid can do, I felt a stiffer set of springs and a more communicative steering would have helped. Would have also liked it if Skoda had done something about the green back lighting for the clocks. I prefer the Vento's clocks.

Last edited by sandeepmohan : 19th September 2014 at 11:55.
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Old 19th September 2014, 12:28   #29
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Quote:
Originally Posted by sandeepmohan View Post
[left][indent]

You need to flex the engine. There is no harm even if you hit the red line cause you will hit that point for a second. Yes; don't stay nailed at the red line in the early days or even later. Baby the car and the manufacturer claimed "run in" miles will probably need to be doubled.
I've chosen to go with the user manual for their recommended number of Kms. I've started to hit higher revs now daily, but unfortunately, I rarely get enough open space and safe conditions to do so in my office commute in Bangalore. I'm hitting 3-3.5K rpms daily now. I have another trip planned in Oct first weekend, and plan to go higher then.

Quote:
This is strange, the rev limiter should come in to play in a case of wrong gear selection too. Wonder what the deal is here. It is as if this system is designed to watch only throttle input. I don't know how this works in other cars.
Quoting the user manual, word by word: "CAUTION: The engine is not protected from excessive engine revs caused by shifting down at the wrong time. This can result in a sudden increase in revs beyond the permissible maximum rpm, thereby causing engine damage." Possible corner case (say 5th to 2nd or 1st), but they've put it in the manual for the sake of it, probably?
Quote:
Change the oil.

The Rapid is hands down the most fun to drive diesel out there. Cheap gas sealing the deal even further. It is probably quicker than all the petrol cars on sale today from the segment. I am not a big fan of the suspension and steering. For the speeds the Rapid can do, I felt a stiffer set of springs and a more communicative steering would have helped. Would have also liked it if Skoda had done something about the green back lighting for the clocks. I prefer the Vento's clocks.
Agree on the suspension, though it is better than the Vento. The rear suspension can become a bit noisy over rough roads, but I'm not complaining as I feel its a nice balance between comfort and stiffness (all my back seat passengers have backache trouble and they approve if the ride quality. I was spoilt by the dead steering on the i10, so the weight on the Rapid is welcome, atleast for me. On the back-lighting, they should have something to differentiate from the Vento right? but I think they've chosen green to go with the Skoda family color.
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Old 19th September 2014, 17:36   #30
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Re: My 2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance, Flash Red

Skoda is a superb car with an excellent engine. I always loved Fabia.
The heavy feel of the Skoda car and grip on the road is just amazing , A German built cannot be doubted at all.

Congratulations for your new ride !!

Just keep us posted about the after sales services & maintenance cost of the vehicle, which included regular nigs & digs on the roads.

Happy Motoring
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