[Hemant_Joshi]

Mine is Elegance trim with Projector Lamps..
Not sure, what Bulb can be fitted - and besides, it would impact the Waranty...
don't know, how to resolve this,,
I have also opted for extended waranty - 2 + 3...

[adi_petrolhead]

Changing to Xenon bulbs will not void your warranty. Warranty is void only if any wires are cut, or split. Replacing to xenons doesn't come at a cost of wire cutting. I had them installed in my Laura Ambiente model. Although you risk letting in dust in the headlamp cluster while it is opened to remove and upgrade the bulbs, there is nothing else you need to worry about. If one goes for xenons, p8 is not the way to go. You will not notice any difference in the light throw and spread, besides a cool white colour. So if you actually want good beam spread, find a professional who can add genuine d2s bulbs with the correct ballasts. That will be money well spent, and oem projectors mean beam cut off will be good.

[suhas_raj]

Hey Mate, Congrats & welcome to the Rapid family !! The family apparently is growing rapidly as well going by the number of initial ownership reports being put up on our forum. You have got yourself a gem & with that DSG, boy oh boy She gets really tempting as a mean machine !!

I have a 3 month old black beauty albeit without the DSG...

Does not seem like you want to do any running in of your engine going by the revs you have mentioned Enjoy. Keep revving n drive safe. Cheers !

[charansuki]

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in responses. I have been extremely busy and was out to Wayanad to celebrate my Birthday This car was my birthday gift that I bought for myself and thoroughly loved the drive on the curvy and beautiful roads of Kerala and Karnataka. I would say Money well spent.

Originally Posted by neethi_raj

Congrats Charansuki on a great buy. May you have thousands of trouble free miles. It would be nice if you could post a few photos of the interiors, especially the leather seats you opted for. A pic of the rear view camera screen would also be nice. I am asking this because these are in my shortlist too ;-) and a final request, could you post the detailed cost including the accessories. Thanks in advance.

Thanks Neethi_Raj. I think I have made a mistake in my initial post. I didnt get leather seats but have got art leather seats (Foam leather). The brand is maple and got it done by Vinayak itself at the time of delivery. Its Beige in color and matches the lighter dashboard color. I now regret it because it is already getting dirty. Need to maintain the interiors with little more effort now. It is difficult with a 1.5 year old kid in the family. Anyway, I have included a passing shot of the seats, also couple of shots of reverse parking display. The detailed cost of the accessories are as follows. One the whole I got 2000 discount off of the prices mentioned below. I think these are very high because i got it done by the dealer, but didnt want to void any warranty so went with them.

1. Reverse parking display : 8000 rs
2. Seat covers : 16000 rs

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hey congratulations charansuki on the wonderful car! Looks wonderful in the pictures. Wishing you and your family unlimited safe & happy miles with it! Keep the thread updated

BTW, Addressing the DSG as "AMT" is like addressing a Ferrari as a "Car" .
PS - I'm pretty sure that if you had threatened a cancellation - the Vinayak guys would have promptly allocated the colour you wanted. And given smart excuses like last minute cancellations / their own generousness of giving away their demo cars to you. Anyway, doesn't matter now. Enjoy the ride!

Thanks Reinhard. I will surely keep this thread updated. And Lol for your AMT comment. I actually thought of doing that drama of cancellation but knowing many worse buying scenarios, I didnt want to end up in one. Also the sales rep who was attending me was good and seemed very genuine, its her management that I had reservations with. I didnt want to spoil a long term relation with a fight at the beginning. So went with the booking. On second thoughts I am actually liking the color now. It is very practical and doesnt show too much dust and grime.

Originally Posted by hillsnrains

Congrats!
Welcome to Skoda family. I too have same color but don't have DSG
I envy you for your beauty. I will be watching this thread very closely. Looking forawrd for more inputs from you on the performance of your car.
Iam waiting for the alloy wheel pic
Wish you many more happy miles!

Thanks hillsnrains. I have updated about its performance in my following posts. I have few more updates based on my recent trip to kerala. Pic of alloy wheel is included

Originally Posted by Hemant_Joshi

Congratulations Charansuki, on Your New Rapid, its a super car., Wish you miles of happy rides,,

I was also in same quandry - Vento or Rapid - however, the Looks of Rapid, and the more visible and SOLID feel of Rapid won over the Vento,,
Mine is a Manual 1.6 TDI, Elegance,
I was not sure about an Automatic - have never driven any.. so decided to go with 1.6 Manual - Did not wait for the New 1.5 OR DSG,


Never heard about the Toffee Colour, or seen one, but, CB is really cool and masks lot of dirt,,

I am also not that satisfied on the Beam of Projector Lamps, High beam is just OK, but otherwise, I am also inclined to upgrade the Bulbs - but, that would definitely bust the Warranty, so, staying put,, not sure - what can be done..

Same story with Additional Warranty and Insurance, here with my Dealer in Pune,

However - They were very prompt and professional, and Hoping, Skoda has finally fixed their ASS.

Thanks Hemant. Yes Toffee Brown is a new color now, available both in Vento and Rapid. It is a killer color if you ask me but CB is not bad either.

The high beam of projector lamps are satisfactory for me and I have no issues with it. Low beam feels lacking but within city, where there are street lights I will learn to manage.

Originally Posted by premc44

Is there a toffee brown colour for Rapid?. The Skoda India website does not show this colour as an option

This is a new color for rapid. Its so new that even showrooms dont have brochures printed for it. Also the website is yet to be updated. However I have seen this color and looks awesome

Originally Posted by kiran_cr

Congrats charansuki. It is a definite beauty isnt it? I especially like the new projectors. Also i wanted to know couple of things.

1. How is the default audio system in Rapid when compared to Figo?
2. Can you please post the total cost of the car with all the breakups? You can PM me also if its not right to post on a public forum.

Im having my eyes on this beauty now, hopefully in next 1 month i will be able to book one.

Cheers,
Kiran

Hi Kiran,

The default audio system is excellent and even better than Figo, All the controls and features you find in Figo ICE is present in this system.

The break up of the car is as below

1. On road price - 13,71,121 (BLR)
2. Cash Discount - -27,500
3. Seat covers - 16,000
4. Reverse Parking Display - 8,000
5. Discount on Accessories - -2,000
6. Extended Warranty (2+2) - 11,700
Total = 13,77,321

There are better discounts to be had. For example cash discounts itself can stretch to 40K+ and you may even get warranty or Insurance free if bargain hard enough. But dont take my word for it. It purely depends on the dealer and your negotiation skills. I went in blind because there was no information on the offers on new DSG models. Hopefully now people know better

Originally Posted by deepfusion

I am waiting for some free time when I would take the rapid and the p8 HIDs for a transplant into the low beams. For the high beams, I am looking at philips white vision/crystal vision or the Osram Night Breakers unlimited/plus. Will keep you posted.

Thanks deepfusion, will look forward to your feedback

Originally Posted by suhas_raj

Hey Mate, Congrats & welcome to the Rapid family !! The family apparently is growing rapidly as well going by the number of initial ownership reports being put up on our forum. You have got yourself a gem & with that DSG, boy oh boy She gets really tempting as a mean machine !!

I have a 3 month old black beauty albeit without the DSG...

Does not seem like you want to do any running in of your engine going by the revs you have mentioned Enjoy. Keep revving n drive safe. Cheers !

Thanks Suhas_raj, Ha ha well I cant make up my mind to drive slow. well to be honest I am putting the car through all sort of paces and all sort of driving conditions. I am not redlining the car and taking care to keep it below 4.5. 99% of the time the RPM is below 2.5K. Now that I have completed 1.5KMS I dont care anymore. I will explore the full range of this engine in the days to come.

[charansuki]

I have just returned from a trip to Wayanad and now have a good understanding of this car's capabilities. Especially about the DSG gear box, Steering and Handling, Fuel Efficiency, and Engine performance. I have now completed 1500+ Kms in about 12 days. Not bad i think . I also have few more photos as promised.

DSG: I am simply in love this gearbox, Its proven itself in the winding and hilly roads of wayanad. Never once did i feel the need for more power or engine just revving without power transmitting to the wheels. The gear changes are perfectly timed based on the throttle position, existing load, the terrain and black magic . Its a different feeling driving something automatic and I am now almost used to this gearbox and have learnt a thing or two about using it optimally. As before the "D" mode remains the most versatile mode. I have not used S mode so far. If I press the throttle a bit too much, say to overtake something, there is an instant downkick that lets me zip past like a rocket. Based on how hard I press the throttle the gears change or hold. If its is holding in the same gear for longer than I like then all i have to do is just remove my leg from the throttle for a split second and gear upshifts immediately. It is surprising how quickly it manages to read my intentions. Generally speaking, upshifts from 2nd to 3rd to 4th varies hugely depending driving styles and conditions. D mode decides how fast or slow it upshifts based on various factors. Mainly it is the pressure on throttle but it also seems to be influenced by driving style in the last kilometer or so, and the terrain. If it is an incline then it holds the gear even if the trottle is not pressed and vice versa. Overall, the DSG is an amazing piece of instrument and I just hope that i dont face any nightmares that is this gearbox was previously known for.

Steering and Handling: In short I miss the driving dynamics of a Hatch and Hydraulic Power steering. I noticed that the car tends to oversteer a bit and I find it slightly difficult to keep the car within the lane as opposed to what I was used to in my figo. Two main things that affect the steering is the EPS. It just isnt equal to a hydraulic. Seems disconnected and i feel like I am floating on air. The other thing that makes me miss my old car is the boot. In Rapid, the boot does tend to stick out in sharp turns, This unsettles me a little bit. May be I still need to get used to a sedan. However rapid does go faster than the figo without additional effort on my part. I can take a turn at higher speed than what i could do with Figo. May be this is what is causing the boot to stick out. Anyway, driving in the hills just got a little boring. but on normal highways not much of a difference.

The Engine: Its simply superb. The power on tap is excellent and is very smooth. There is hardly any noise on the inside. The engine revs freely and I rarely notice any turbo lag. The best range of this engine is between 1.5K to 2.5K RPMs. You can reach 100KM/Hr and yet the engine will be hovering around 1.5-1.8K RPMs. this is especially evident with the cruise control. Press the throttle and this car zips and zooms like a rocket without any struggle. Overtaking is a breeze and cruising is a pleasure. I dont have too much experience with the old 1.6 but with whatever i have, I can easily say that this engine is more refined than the old one. With a DSG this is a superb combination.

Fuel efficiency: I am yet to fill up after my trip so will get accurate numbers after the fill up. However the on board display was showing 17+ throughout the trip (100% AC). Not bad considering most of the terrain was hills and curves. I have travelled 750+ Kms and the tank is now one pointer above the 1/4th mark. the DTE shows that I can still go 250Kms. I am very happy with the FE and hope it continues if not improves after the first service.

Now for some photos.

[quakerme]

Congratulations charansuki!
looks like you are more than happy with DSG, the color looks super cool, even-though i'm not a fan on looks with skoda's exterior but I would give full marks to the interior's skoda along with its twin vento are in a different league with supreme interiors.

[neethi_raj]

Thanks Gurucharan for the photos. Your photography makes your car look even more beautiful. As you said the accessories are a bit on the costlier side but thats the cost to pay for warranty. IMO you could have got the seat covers installed by a third party. Never the less, they look pretty indeed.

Do keep this thread up dated...as you see you already have quite a few followers.

[charansuki]

Originally Posted by quakerme

Congratulations charansuki!
looks like you are more than happy with DSG, the color looks super cool, even-though i'm not a fan on looks with skoda's exterior but I would give full marks to the interior's skoda along with its twin vento are in a different league with supreme interiors.

Thank you quakerme. Yes the interiors are very good and feels very comfortable.

[charansuki]

Originally Posted by neethi_raj

Thanks Gurucharan for the photos. Your photography makes your car look even more beautiful. As you said the accessories are a bit on the costlier side but thats the cost to pay for warranty. IMO you could have got the seat covers installed by a third party. Never the less, they look pretty indeed.

Do keep this thread up dated...as you see you already have quite a few followers.

I definitely plan to keep this thread updated. Vinayak even threatened that installing seat covers outside might void warranty as they need to remove the seats etc etc. I just didn't want to take any risk even before driving the car. Now I am little more aware of what is and what isn't a risk I will think carefully going forward. In my old car, Figo, I had not made any modifications. The car was in stock condition, even the OE seat covers were maintained well. The advantages I had in Figo were that the seat covers were black so no issues of dirt and color fading and I didn't have a kid back then to dirty anything. This time, in the Rapid, the Seat covers were beige and I have a small kid. So thought I will go for seat covers. Anyway. The covers actually looks little more premium than what I can get externally for lesser cost. But is it worth paying that much extra? that is something I don't agree.

An update on Tafe and Vinayak showrooms in BLR. After my post here on Team BHP. I received a call from Shankar Narayanan, Manager at Tafe. He had read this post and wanted my feedback on what went wrong with Tafe and he wanted to correct any mistakes.

I felt that it was a good gesture and appreciate Tafe for soliciting customer feedback positively. I explained that the issue with Tafe was more towards how they priced my old car for exchange and few pointers on presentation etc. He assured me of best services in future.

As mentioned before i had a small idol on the dashboard which is now happily resting in the AC vent of the front windshield. I asked him how much would it cost to remove it and sent him photos of where the idol was lodged. He promptly came back soon and said that it would take 3K to remove the idol as the entire dash needs to be removed and reassembled. Vinayak also gave me a similar quote and feedback. I plan to get my car serviced in Tafe as it is closer to my house. More updates will follow after my experience with them. So far all is good with Skoda

[ALSUDA]

I bought my Rapid from Tafe Hosur Rd & got serviced (6months check up, 1 year service & in this Jan 2nd service will come up). I'm very happy with sales & service.

[Seran Manian]

Originally Posted by charansuki

Hi Everybody, This is my second initial ownership report on Team-Bhp. My first car was a Ford figo, Titanium diesel.

Well I am attaching few initial photos but will update with more photos after this weekend. I am driving to Kerala and plan to have a mini photo shoot with my DSLR and post some good quality photos. For now, I wish I have none of the A.S.S nightmares with this car and continue to love this as much I do now.

Congratulations. If iam right this is the first review of a Skoda rapid DSG review. I would love to see a lot of your experience shared here as you are one of those going for the Dsg first batch.Nice crisp review and would love to see more pictures. All the best. Have a good time and drive safe.

[charansuki]

Originally Posted by Seran Manian

Congratulations. If i am right this is the first review of a Skoda rapid DSG review. I would love to see a lot of your experience shared here as you are one of those going for the Dsg first batch.Nice crisp review and would love to see more pictures. All the best. Have a good time and drive safe.

Thank you Seran Manian. Yes, I think I am the first person to post a review about Skoda DSG here. I am looking for other posts but not able to find any apart from official reviews. Hope to see more people join soon so that I have lot of peer information.

Well I am glad to be first at something in my life

[Hemant_Joshi]

Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead

Changing to Xenon bulbs will not void your warranty. Warranty is void only if any wires are cut, or split. Replacing to xenons doesn't come at a cost of wire cutting. I had them installed in my Laura Ambiente model. Although you risk letting in dust in the headlamp cluster while it is opened to remove and upgrade the bulbs, there is nothing else you need to worry about. If one goes for xenons, p8 is not the way to go. You will not notice any difference in the light throw and spread, besides a cool white colour. So if you actually want good beam spread, find a professional who can add genuine d2s bulbs with the correct ballasts. That will be money well spent, and oem projectors mean beam cut off will be good.

Thank you for this info, am seriously considering...

[abhi_d]

Thanks Charansuki for sharing this wonderful piece. it's enormously useful
I'm all set to buy the toffee brown color. Just to add that in Hyderabad we have only one dealer for Skoda (Mahavir auto) and they told me that they won't offer any discounts on DSG whatsoever, since it's their hot-selling vehicle.
Currently there is a 3 weeks waiting period here, so I'm planning to book it in last week of December so that I can possibly get a 2015 manufactured model.

Anyways, attaching a snap of the toffee brown baby, since it's still not revelaed in Skoda's website.

Will keep you guys posted

Cheers
Abhi

[quadra]

Originally Posted by abhi_d

Thanks Charansuki for sharing this wonderful piece. it's enormously useful
I'm all set to buy the toffee brown color. Just to add that in Hyderabad we have only one dealer for Skoda (Mahavir auto) and they told me that they won't offer any discounts on DSG whatsoever, since it's their hot-selling vehicle.
Currently there is a 3 weeks waiting period here, so I'm planning to book it in last week of December so that I can possibly get a 2015 manufactured model.

Anyways, attaching a snap of the toffee brown baby, since it's still not revelaed in Skoda's website.

Will keep you guys posted

Cheers
Abhi

Attachment 1320345

Is this color available with black package? MT?