Skoda Rapid Elegance Plus AT Ownership Review

[vishnu vichu]

Left rear tire's outer edge was showing some extra wear as compared to other tires. SAAS advised me to rotate the inner side to outer for that tire. I have done it accordingly. Let's see what happens.

running on insufficient air pressure must have resulted in the uneven wear.

 

[Tornado]

Yesterday, got 30k km (first fully paid servicing) done.
As per prior appointment, dropped the car at 9:30 pm at Shivaji Nagar Viraj SAAS with following complaints.

1) Mobile charging port not working for which they replaced the fuse.

2)Uneven tyre wear for which they adjusted something called as 'toe.'

3)Wiper blades replacement( it seems they haven't replaced them)

4) Delayed gear shift & car needs to be taken on higher RPM s than expected when on automatic mode, especially in the morning after first crank. This has led to decrease in fuel economy too. (For this, they have advised me to leave the car for 3 days at SAAS so that they can take a video of the DIS & send it for the warranty approval to SKODA and get the software updated). I told them that I would bring the car next week.

Posting pics of the bill bellow.

Servicing cost inclusive of labour, consumables & spare parts & whooping taxes (intended to bring Acche din for all of us including farmers notwithstanding the fact that they are plundering us while selling fuel at Tughlaq rates ) approx. INR 13k.

Also got the 3M interior cleaning, polish, and AC vent anti bacterial treatment done, all cost me, INR 4 K approx. I was satisfied with the cleaning especially they removed the sweat marks on the fabric inserts on the elbow rest on the doors.

Wheel alignment & balancing not done as SA said that tyres needs to be replaced due to wear and tyres can still be used for another 8 to 10 k km.

They also advised to replace the pads before next 5 kkm running.

Car was delivered at 6:30 pm.
Overall good experience, but the car's front & rear glasses were not that squeaky clean internally which I had to clean with microfiber cloth while on the way back to home.

 

[Tornado]

One question : [Early in the morning, I am facing one issue since beginning. At cold start after idling for a minute or two, when I move on, gear up shift doesn't take place unless RPM level goes to 3.5 to 4. 0 k RPM.which leads the engine to whine. This occurs for half a km distance or first 3 to 4 minutes. Later on gears start up shifting at 2 to 2.5 k RPM. And then throughout day it up shifts similarly without any need to raise the RPm above 2.5 k RPM while moving on from standstill.

Two days back car was taken to SAAS for getting the gear related software upgraded. They had told me that it would take 3 days for the same, however they did it within a day. Now car changes gears without any delay in the morning & throughout the day.

 

[mihirmehta16]

Hi Tornado,

This thread has been of great help for me. I have booked SKoda Rapid 1.5 TDI AT DSG. Some of my relatives (who do not own Skoda) told me that the maintenance cost of Skoda is very very high.

Can you please clarify on how much did you spend on a yearly basis since the time you have purchased Skoda Rapid ?

It will be really helpful.

Thanks

 

[Tornado]

Gone are the days of high expenses on Skoda ASS AFA Rapid is concerned.) because many of the Skoda spare parts are manufactured now in India only hence no custom duty (which use to be 100 % in the days of old octy, Laura, superb), as they need to import parts from Germany by ship , waiting period use to be 1 to 2 months for arrival.
Still most of the parts of Octavia & superb are manufactured in Germany & are costly but not the Rapid's.

Skoda offers a one lakh km warranty at some amount, which is been found very helpful to me.
They have replaced my steering rack ( cost 11 k approx) free of charge under this warranty.

More wonderful part is that, the DSG gearbox is also covered under this warranty.

For present prices of routinely replaced spares you can check the 'my car helpline' website or visit the ASS directly. And you can check them in my earlier posts too.

Mefeels, at present, Skoda ASS is far better than the VW ASS, ( based on inputs from a Vento owning friend). VW doesn't offer free labor charges for first three services while Skoda did for me atleast.


Of late, they have launched a 'never before ' scheme ", if the car which has come for servicing is not delivered back on the same day, bill would be paid by the dealership".

 

[Irfan C]

Gone are the days of high expenses on Skoda ASS AFA Rapid is concerned.) because many of the Skoda spare parts are manufactured now in India only hence no custom duty (which use to be 100 % in the days of old octy, Laura, superb), as they need to import parts from Germany by ship , waiting period use to be 1 to 2 months for arrival.
Still most of the parts of Octavia & superb are manufactured in Germany & are costly but not the Rapid's.

Skoda offers a one lakh km warranty at some amount, which is been found very helpful to me.
They have replaced my steering rack ( cost 11 k approx) free of charge under this warranty.

More wonderful part is that, the DSG gearbox is also covered under this warranty.

For present prices of routinely replaced spares you can check the 'my car helpline' website or visit the ASS directly. And you can check them in my earlier posts too.

Mefeels, at present, Skoda ASS is far better than the VW ASS, ( based on inputs from a Vento owning friend). VW doesn't offer free labor charges for first three services while Skoda did for me atleast.


Of late, they have launched a 'never before ' scheme ", if the car which has come for servicing is not delivered back on the same day, bill would be paid by the dealership".

Hi,

I had a nightmare with VW Polo my daughter broke the AC Vents costed me 5k and that too twice.

On a look out for an automatic car thinking of Rapid with the new 4-4-4 scheme.

But concerened on after sales and costs

 

[Tornado]

Hi
Can you please clarify on how much did you spend on a yearly basis since the time you have purchased Skoda Rapid ?

ASS cost depends on running in km and not the years.
I had to spend total Rs 22,000 till now, I have also spent some money on interior, AC vent cleaning, color protection, etc but that's because of my personal requests and not part of ASS bills.
Car is now 3 k km approx run. Next servicing is due at 45 k km,till then no expenses are expected.

Hence, 45000 km / Rs 22,000 = Aproximately Rs 2 per km is the ASS cost per km.

Hi,
I had a nightmare with VW Polo my daughter broke the AC Vents costed me 5k and that too twice.

See, these can be called as accidental or intentional damages and can't be labeled as ASS cost. Also they can be called as rare damages and can be claimed FOC under zero dep insurance
Regarding the price of the AC vent, the vents are sturdy, fit & finish above average, and are rattle free as compared to Maruti & likes, hence might be costly as compared to Maruti.

, VW & Skoda (Vento & Rapid) have started manufacturing the commonly replaced & consumables locally and are 50 %cheaper than imported counter parts.

an automatic car thinking of Rapid with the new 4-4-4 scheme.

I am unaware of the 4-4-4 scheme.

But concerned about spare part cost & ASS

Zero dep insurance + extended warranty for 4 yrs /1L km is the answer for this issue. They don't hesitate to replace the damaged oil sump under zero dep insurance.

PS : When I say ASS cost or spare parts cost has come down that doesn't mean they are cheapest, they might be little costlier than Maruti but still VFM due to quality, fit finish, servicing interval, built quality.

Servicing interval of Maruti is every 10 kkm while that of Skoda Rapid is every 15 kkm. So during first 1 L km, Skoda Rapid needs 6 servicings & Maruti needs 10 servicings. So total 40 ‰less visits!!, each visit costing approx Rs 10k.

Also Maruti needs to pay royalty to FIAT for any diesel engine part or consumables (filters), hence costs more than FIAT cars.

 

[Irfan C]

ASS cost depends on running in km and not the years.
I had to spend total Rs 22,000 till now, I have also spent some money on interior, AC vent cleaning, color protection, etc but that's because of my personal requests and not part of ASS bills.
Car is now 3 k km approx run. Next servicing is due at 45 k km,till then no expenses are expected.

Hence, 45000 km / Rs 22,000 = Aproximately Rs 2 per km is the ASS cost per km.

See, these can be called as accidental or intentional damages and can't be labeled as ASS cost. Also they can be called as rare damages and can be claimed FOC under zero dep insurance
Regarding the price of the AC vent, the vents are sturdy, fit & finish above average, and are rattle free as compared to Maruti & likes, hence might be costly as compared to Maruti.

, VW & Skoda (Vento & Rapid) have started manufacturing the commonly replaced & consumables locally and are 50 %cheaper than imported counter parts.

I am unaware of the 4-4-4 scheme.


Zero dep insurance + extended warranty for 4 yrs /1L km is the answer for this issue. They don't hesitate to replace the damaged oil sump under zero dep insurance.

PS : When I say ASS cost or spare parts cost has come down that doesn't mean they are cheapest, they might be little costlier than Maruti but still VFM due to quality, fit finish, servicing interval, built quality.

Servicing interval of Maruti is every 10 kkm while that of Skoda Rapid is every 15 kkm. So during first 1 L km, Skoda Rapid needs 6 servicings & Maruti needs 10 servicings. So total 40 ‰less visits!!, each visit costing approx Rs 10k.

Also Maruti needs to pay royalty to FIAT for any diesel engine part or consumables (filters), hence costs more than FIAT cars.

Yes get your point.

As for A C vents every friend who owned a vento or polo had the problem and didnt get covered under warranty. And they are very flimsy play around or the guy cleaning the dashboard presses hard they are gone.

Not only that even the diesel engines had injector issues with all old polo and ventos

 

[nspnikhil]

Today, after a drive of 5 to 10 km, engine temperature light started blinking.
I opened the owner's manual and followed the instructions.
Coolant level had dropped down to 'min' level hence replenished it till max level with a coolant purchased from fuel bunk. The blinking light disappeared immediately.

One question : the coolant color inside the coolant tank of the car was reddish (petrol like)(I had to confirm that it's a coolant tank only from the owner's manual) , and the coolant which I added was green colour. Is that fine?

you will need to use glysantin g30 for your car i think it is only coolant available in market which is available for vw groupe cars and certified by vw. using coolant with different grade will spoile whole collant which will lead to bloackage of colling system in future. if you have mixed any other coolant then ask service center to flush old collant and refill with new coolant. upto 15000 km vw group use mineral oil so it is considarable to have those problems. please try to not use not recommended parts and fluids for your car by vw.

Today I went for a long journey, hence checked coolant & engine oil level.
Coolant was OK but engine oil level was down to minimum level however there was not warning sign on the MID.
Nearest city was Satara on NH4, where there is no Skoda showroom or ASS.
From the owner's manual, it was not possible to know exactly which engine oil is to be used to replenish the level,hence decided to visit VW ASS . To my surprise, VW ASS was open despite being a Sunday & ppl there were extremely cooperative, prepared jobcard immediately. As oil level was too low, they refused to start the engine & replenished oil first 2 Litre engine oil was required. Then they started the engine & took the car on the ramp, checked underbody & sump for leakage & damage t, there wasn't any. Total charges including labour, Rs 2161.
As per owner's manual, oil consumption can be 500 ml per thousand km during initial ownership, same was confirmed by the VW SA. Hence, I felt relieved. Is it ok? Also one of the technician said, if I happen to need any help at odd time or on closed day, just talk with the watchman & he can arrange for help AFA VW related work of Skoda car is concerned.

Guys, posting some pics of underbody & sump, is my car fitted with 'rough road package'?

you can use castrol edge 5w-40 sn for your car. castrol magnetic 5w-40 is not available in market as it is oe oil. please dont use shell helix it is only good for petrol cars. shell india dont sell helix 5w-40 for diesel cars.

i know this service center. i also visited it for test drive vento AT. i hope they filled 2 litres of oil in front of you. because car have only 4.3 liter oil capacity. mostly topup need 500 ml or 250ml. 2 litre of top up is impossible in my opinion.

all vw,audi,skoda in india comes with factory fitted rough road package in india. so you car also have it. dont worry about scrapping on=f underbody it will just scarf rough road package.

Nice pics and travelogue Bharath Sir.My friend,who used to have Vento TDI MT 2013 version,bought Rapid DSG replacing Vento as his Vento was declared total loss after an accident done by his friend.I felt that Rapid is downgrade from Vento in terms of interiors and features.

dont forget about projector headlamps. rapid and vento have same features. vento have better finish on center console so it looks better. but vento dosent have projector.

ASS cost depends on running in km and not the years.
I had to spend total Rs 22,000 till now, I have also spent some money on interior, AC vent cleaning, color protection, etc but that's because of my personal requests and not part of ASS bills.
Car is now 3 k km approx run. Next servicing is due at 45 k km,till then no expenses are expected.

Hence, 45000 km / Rs 22,000 = Aproximately Rs 2 per km is the ASS cost per km.

i think you want to save service o=cost is 1 rs per 2 km or 50 paisa per km. you have mistakely typed it wrong.

Yes get your point.

As for A C vents every friend who owned a vento or polo had the problem and didnt get covered under warranty. And they are very flimsy play around or the guy cleaning the dashboard presses hard they are gone.

Not only that even the diesel engines had injector issues with all old polo and ventos

ac vents of polo/vento/rapid are really weak. what i done is i removed ac vents and added feviquick to the directon control knob. most of type you can repair the vents ar home with fevi quick. if you want vents for lower price you can get orignal vents on aliexpress. serach for polo 6r parts.

injector issue is one of the malpractice done by service centers. it is really hard to have injector issues in skod vw cars. lot of my frind owns vento/polo/rapid they never faced injector issues. injectors are also covered in warrenty so even if they fail it will be replaced in warrenty.

Hi Tornado,

This thread has been of great help for me. I have booked SKoda Rapid 1.5 TDI AT DSG. Some of my relatives (who do not own Skoda) told me that the maintenance cost of Skoda is very very high.

Can you please clarify on how much did you spend on a yearly basis since the time you have purchased Skoda Rapid ?

It will be really helpful.

Thanks

please go read this review of rapid you will find maintenance cost of the car.

 

[Tornado]

you will need to use glysantin g30 for your car i think it is only coolant available in market which is available for vw groupe cars and certified by vw. using coolant with different grade will spoile whole collant which will lead to bloackage of colling system in future. if you have mixed any other coolant then ask service center to flush old collant and refill with new coolant. upto 15000 km vw group use mineral oil so it is considarable to have those problems. please try to not use not recommended parts and fluids for your car by vw.

Yes got the coolant replaced totally at 15 kkm servicing.

i think you want to save service o=cost is 1 rs per 2 km or 50 paisa per km. you have mistakely typed it wrong.

My bad!! , yes I did mistyped it.
Rather than typing 3k km, I should 've typed it 30 kkm, and I miscalculated the ASS cost too,
It should' ve been like Rs 22 k / 45 k km = 50 paise per km.

please go read this review of rapid you will find maintenance cost of the car.

Oh!, you forgot to provide the link.
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...oda-rapid-1-6-tdi-1-00-000-kms-2-5-years.html

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[Tornado]

Two days back car was taken to SAAS for getting the gear related software upgraded. They had told me that it would take 3 days for the same, however they did it within a day. Now car changes gears without any delay in the morning & throughout the day.

15 days back, the problem resurfaced again. They summoned Skoda engineer, he updated the gear shift software, this time with the car running on road.

Result: Nothing changed.

They asked me to to keep the car at SAAS for 3 days ,I obliged.
At the end of 3 days, they told me that a mechatronic part of the gear box needs to be replaced & has to be imported from Germany. And whole thing would take 8 days,

They arranged an alternative brand new Skoda Rapid, MT(petrol) for me, which was only 238km run. The car is registered with RTO with white registration number plate.
Since last 10 days, I drove it & covered 1100km.

Today I received a call from SAAS, My car is ready for delivery after the part replacement & test drives.

Tomorrow, I will pickup the car, let's see what's in store, fingers crossed.

 

[nspnikhil]

They arranged an alternative brand new Skoda Rapid, MT(petrol) for me, which was only 238km run. The car is registered with RTO with white registration number plate.
Since last 10 days, I drove it & covered 1100km. View attachment 211573

Give some info about petrol rapid. how she drive?

After replacing mechatronics unit gearbox will work as new. may be first owner have not used gearbox in proper way. Dont forget to ask about warrenty on replaced mechatronics unit.

 

[Tornado]

The first owner has got 4 AT cars in his garage BMW, i10 etc..all purchased prior to Rapid. Also I found that during first 5000km inspection of Rapid he had complained to SAAS about lesser pick up,but SAAS had told him that in general AT cars have lesser pickup than manuals.

I use to face this problem of poor pickup only in the morning till the temperature of the engine reaches more than 55 °c. Of late I started facing it at any time at any temperature.

Anyways got the car delivered back to me, they replaced the mechtronics under warranty, however I had to pay for labour charges (Rs 500 approx ) for replacement of transmission oil though they didn't charged for new transmission oil.

Also I had to pay Rs 1000 for 1lit engine oil top up.
One litre must have been consumed by the engine because of higher RPM I had to do so as to overcome the pickup issue.

I will post the driving experience of my car after the mechtronics replacement, also review of petrol Rapid in next post.

 

[Tornado]

Since I took delivery of the car after mechatronics unit replacement, the engine makes little unusual sound when the A pedal is touched & slightly pressed, this sound disappears when I press it further. Meanwhile, yesterday, I received a feedback call from Skodas, I rated the recent SAAS experience 8/10, and told them I reduced 2 points for this unusual sound. They promised me some action.

Today, morning I drove the car with parking & fog lamps on as upcoming vehicles were little reluctant to give me the way. Don't remember if I switched off the light after reaching my destination. In the afternoon, I It started as usual, I drove for 7 kms with two stops which involved engine switch off too. I stopped for third time, and when I tried to start the engine, it just denied to start showing warning signs as shown in the pic,
however the power windows, ICE was working fine.

I called up the Viraj SAAS, the SA who handled the mechatronics replacement said that battery might have discharged and need to be jump started. I asked them to send someone for the same, They said, now the mechaic has gone outside and I need to contact someone(battery shop) around my car. I scolded them like hell. Finally one responsible lady contacted me and gave me a phone number, asked me to contact Skoda RSA , Skoda RSA people told me that RSA is active for my car and sent a fellow immediately with battery & jump cables, car started immediately and the warning signs disappeared too. It ran 25 km without fuss. I hope this 25 km run is enough to charge the battery so as to start morrow morning.

Anyways, meanwhile, I received a call from Viraj SAAS, they agreed to send a fellow to check the engine sound and battery morrow morning. The concerned fellow called up me and enquired about the engine sound issue, while talking with him he learnt that I was waiting for the battery fellow to arrive for jump starting the car. He advised me to tow the car to the SAAS for engine sound issue whenever RSA battery fellow arrives even if the car engine starts!! I scolded him, he finally agreed to come to my workplace to check the car morrow morning.
Don't know if the battery & engine sound issue are interrelated.?

 

[nspnikhil]

My car had same problem. It refused to start.
Head mechanic of skoda service center assisted an local mechanic to solve the problem. On next service they changed fuel pump in warrenty. That local mechanic was impressed with the remote problem solving skills of skoda mechanic.
Check car manual for signal shown in display. It have all problems and solution for every signal.