Skoda Rapid Facelift Diesel Automatic Review


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[cheers]

Arun I am not saying that Facelift Rapid will fail or it will continue with the failures of Transmission buddy. I am saying in general, in the past, the Skoda Cars were having serious failure issues including transmission and so, still, people perceive Skoda to be unreliable as a brand. I have also said, in my drive this particular TD car did not come up with any issues.

Regards

Akash
This is a brand new car. So it should ideally not have any issues. But I sincerely believe you have a valid point here Akash. Skoda say they have the exorcised the Transmission "ghost". But the concern on the buyer's mind is "what is the guarantee that it will not happen again?" Which I feel is very valid. I mean what is stopping Skoda from giving a 7 year Warranty on this Transmission? This could very well be the shot in the arm that Skoda is looking for. If they can give it in China, why not in India? Provided they are serious about India and the volume generating segment in particular.
 
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This is a brand new car. So it should ideally not have any issues. But I sincerely believe you have a valid point here Akash. Skoda say they have the exorcised the Transmission "ghost". But the concern on the buyer's mind is "what is the guarantee that it will not happen again?" Which I feel is very valid. I mean what is stopping Skoda from giving a 7 year Warranty on this Transmission? This could very well be the shot in the arm that Skoda is looking for. If they can give it in China, why not in India? Provided they are serious about India and the volume generating segment in particular.
This is a very good argument and this is the only way of they can instill some confidence among prospective buyers of VWcars.
 
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Awesome review once again... Rapid looks fab in white. And I guess you missed out the painting part... I am a big fan of the paint job of VW and Skoda.. Every time I see a skoda or VW in dark shades, I go wow. I always wonder why my city's paint job is not as good as the skoda's.

Coming to the car, rapid diesel is always a good performer. The matured ride quality is where rapid scores over the Japanese counterparts. No swaying, unwanted movements in rough highways. The steering feedback is also good (Good than my city too). The diesel has good loads of torque to ponder in cities too. The interiors are well screwed and definitely will last the time. No cheap cost cutting seen anywhere. However I don't still understand why it is having a huge transmission tunnel, may be because of the same platform used in different cars?? IMHO, it can be reduced a bit for accompanying the 5th person.

One thing that scares me in skoda is the maintenance. Skoda has came a long way now and they are giving a 4 year maintenance package. But it is good enough to have a peaceful ownership? The current owners should confirm. And coming to the DSG, isn't the diesel has the more reliable 6-speed DSG??? I never heard any failures in the 6-speed DSG like the failures of the 7-Speed DSG. And I would definitely buy the rapid AT with the DSG, if Skoda is providing the same level of warranty like it provides in China...
 
Thread Starter #19

Akash1886

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Awesome review once again... Rapid looks fab in white. And I guess you missed out the painting part... I am a big fan of the paint job of VW and Skoda.. Every time I see a skoda or VW in dark shades, I go wow. I always wonder why my city's paint job is not as good as the skoda's.
Thanks Buddy![:D] The Skoda Rapid passes through 11 stages of painting as I know. So after so much of effort, the end result will surely be a great one. I must say, the Red one I saw at launch was too hot!

One thing that scares me in skoda is the maintenance. Skoda has came a long way now and they are giving a 4 year maintenance package. But it is good enough to have a peaceful ownership?
I would say the brand and products always look to improve so by giving the 4 year maintenance plan Skoda definitely is looking to improve the ownership experiences.

And coming to the DSG, isn't the diesel has the more reliable 6-speed DSG??? I never heard any failures in the 6-speed DSG like the failures of the 7-Speed DSG.
Buddy the 1.6 Petrol gets 6 Speed AT where as the 1.5 Diesel gets 7 Speed DSG.

Regards

Akash
 
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Buddy the 1.6 Petrol gets 6 Speed AT where as the 1.5 Diesel gets 7 Speed DSG.

Regards

Akash
Well then [clap] The 7 speed scares me the most. Hope Skoda provides extended warranty for the DSG and get the issue fully solved. Rapid Diesel was, is and will be my favorite in the segment..
 
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[thumbswink]

Well, Skoda has earned the reputation of making unreliable cars in the past and mechanically their transmissions and other parts are prone to failure which in-turn make the car non-functional even while in drive. I don't have to quote examples, ample are there. But, unlike those Skoda cars, this one proved to be different and of the 35Km TD which I had, never even once did this car show any tantrums i.e no violent jerks or sudden stalling. If you compare the stalling pattern of a manual car Vs that of a automatic, then yes, Automatics very rarely stall and mainly the automatics stall due to malfunction of transmission or battery. It is not that Automatics are 100% stalling free! Though, Skoda and Transmission failure are co-related as well, however unlike past, this Rapid worked well for me.

Regards

Akash
Hi Akash,

This is another example of unreliable cars and biased attitude from Skoda. A friend of mine owned a Rapid TDI DSG and covered 68000 in 1 year and 364 days as of yesterday. Yesterday, the dashboard warning light with spanner symbol came on indicating some error code identified to failure in engine electronics or transmission electronics. The car was taken to nearest S.A.S.S. in Salem and after careful diagnosis, it was reported that the Mechatronics unit had failed and would report to Skoda for replacement of Mechtronics unit under warranty as he also had an extended warranty availed.

Today, a few hours back, S.A.S.S. informed that the after careful inspection, the acid from the battery which was replaced by my friend outside of Skoda after 15 months of ownership, has spilled on to the mechatronics unit causing failure. SASS, to utter dismay and shock to my friend, has informed that the warranty is excluded for that very reason and he would have to pay charges to replace the Mechatronics unit at a cost of Rs.2.5 lakh rupees. As per my friend, there was no noticeable fuming of battery terminals or trace of spillage from battery onto Mechtronics unit. Neither I nor him are aware of anything that may cause the battery spills to enter Mechatronics unit causing failure. Also, they have not provided any proof for their claim.
The car was driven to SASS at low speeds as per instruction and now they claim that the Mechatronics failed completely. I guess, this is another case of Skoda washing their hands off their responsibility and passing the buck to a potential unsuspecting customer who finally is to be blamed for trusting brands like SKODA.

With ever reoccurring incidents like these, Indian customers will continue to see VW Group cars with dark glasses and possibly stay away from them while appreciating all the engineering marvels they make from borrowed drives.
 
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Battery water leaked in to gear box and it failed?is it some kind of joke from Skoda.I think those Skoda engineers should try their luck in some fiction movie script writing. their gear box is made of biscuit wafers or what?
 
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The placement of the mechatronics unit is away from the battery next to the DSG gear box. This is confirmed by my friend who is a service manager at VW ASS and he thinks something is fishy. Even then, a story like this is not comprehensible by any standards. I have advised my friend to make a surprise visit tomorrow and take snaps and ask for proof from SASS center.

I really feel pity for my friend and I'm scared to death myself as to what if something similar happens to my Vento TSI and 6 other Vento Automatics I've made my near and dear ones buy in the last 10 months.[frustration]
 
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Decided that we are going to book a Skoda Rapid.Will be visiting Skoda showroom to have a look at Rapid for colour selection and will be TD'ing MT and DSG.I wanted DSG coz its easier to drive in city considering that traffic conditions are worst in our city but mom doesn't want AT car due to the fun coming from MT and dad had convinced her to take a look at DSG and decide.Even dad also wanted to go for DSG only.

We are buying it under our company name and under buy now pay in 2018 offer.
 
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Hi Akash,

This is another example of unreliable cars and biased attitude from Skoda. A friend of mine owned a Rapid TDI DSG and covered 68000 in 1 year and 364 days as of yesterday. Yesterday, the dashboard warning light with spanner symbol came on indicating some error code identified to failure in engine electronics or transmission electronics. The car was taken to nearest S.A.S.S. in Salem and after careful diagnosis, it was reported that the Mechatronics unit had failed and would report to Skoda for replacement of Mechtronics unit under warranty as he also had an extended warranty availed.

Today, a few hours back, S.A.S.S. informed that the after careful inspection, the acid from the battery which was replaced by my friend outside of Skoda after 15 months of ownership, has spilled on to the mechatronics unit causing failure. SASS, to utter dismay and shock to my friend, has informed that the warranty is excluded for that very reason and he would have to pay charges to replace the Mechatronics unit at a cost of Rs.2.5 lakh rupees. As per my friend, there was no noticeable fuming of battery terminals or trace of spillage from battery onto Mechtronics unit. Neither I nor him are aware of anything that may cause the battery spills to enter Mechatronics unit causing failure. Also, they have not provided any proof for their claim.
The car was driven to SASS at low speeds as per instruction and now they claim that the Mechatronics failed completely. I guess, this is another case of Skoda washing their hands off their responsibility and passing the buck to a potential unsuspecting customer who finally is to be blamed for trusting brands like SKODA.

With ever reoccurring incidents like these, Indian customers will continue to see VW Group cars with dark glasses and possibly stay away from them while appreciating all the engineering marvels they make from borrowed drives.
Guys,

I am a Great Fan of Skoda(VWG) , been driving these cars since 2002.
When I was in Saudi Arabia, we encountered similar problems with DSG Gear Box on Skoda Octavia TSI.

The DQ200, which is a dry clutch gearbox, is the one, which has been plagued by DSG failures. The chief reason for this is that the gearbox uses synthetic oil. So what exactly happens ?

Synthetic oil contains Sulphur. Now, when the car is driven in stop-go traffic, and if you add hot and humid conditions to that (India, for example), electrolysis happens, and the Sulphur is deposited in the form of conductive particles along the oil.

The computer now detects this as a short circuit, and cuts off the clutch, which is why you do not get the “Drive” mode when your DSG fails.

These problems have largely vanished once VW switched the oil to mineral oil. It is, otherwise, a fantastic gearbox.

Did a quick research on that topic and found reports about a worldwide recall of the DQ 200 gearbox, some 2,6 million cars were affected. They thought that the solution for the problems would be an exchange of the synthetic ATF against a mineral product. Allegedly, there were additives containing Sulphur in the synthetic ATF, which would interfere with the electronic control unit of the gearbox.

Besides that, VW reported problems with that gearbox in hot and humid conditions and heavy stop & go traffic. It seems that the gearbox does not get enough cooling due to the lack of fresh air when the car is in traffic jams.

I have found reports on problems with the DQ200 after that date, but to me it seems that these reports are not a sign of a general problem. So it seems that the recall has solved (or at least vastly improved) the problem.

The 7 speed DSG is used in the following combinations.
NAME SPEED TORQUE CLUTCH TYPE

DQ 200 7 250 Nm DRY
DQ 250 6 400 Nm WET
DQ 380 7 380 Nm WET
DQ 500 7 550 Nm WET
DQ 511 10 550 Nm WET
DL 501 7 600 Nm WET

Now. The problematic gearbox was the DQ200 one. Which does duty in the VW Polo GT TSI, VW Vento TSI & TDI, Skoda Octavia TSI & TDI, Skoda Rapid TSI & TDI as of now.

There are two issues with them.
1. Mechatronic Failure:-
In this, a vehicle will not move even when in D mode.
2. Multi Clutch Assembly:-
This is like when any manual car needs a clutch replacement. You can still use your car and it will take a long time for it to stop working. Anyways, one should get it repaired ASAP.

Now. The issues with these cars is such that because of our humid conditions and stop start traffic. The gearbox gets hot and causes too much stress for itself.

Solutions to it:-
Whenever you are at a signal or a toll or somewhere you have to stop for more than 10 - 15 seconds, instead of stopping and pressing the brakes in D. Shift the gear knob to N and engage the handbrake. So that there's 0 stress on the box. Some may suggest you **** to P but that is not advisable, as in case someone rear-ends you, it will cause damage to the Park pin. So follow this practice.

VWG claim that a gearbox oil change recommended around 60,000 kms or so. However, in the manual it also states that if you are driving conditions are humid and have stop start traffic one must get it done earlier. I suggest get it done every 20,000 kms. I used to do the same.

Lastly, the gearbox may seem like a weak link in the car to you. However, believe me it is maddening. It shifts gears in 8 milliseconds. It gives mileage as good as a manual if not more.

These VWG engines coupled with a dual clutch transmission are pure gems.
Also, do not forget that the gearbox issue are known to VW too. So in case anything goes wrong most of them replace it for free even if your car is not in warranty. As it is expensive. They know the issue and replace it if needed. Also, go for extended warranty if you do not plan to modify your vehicle. I wanted to modify it so extended warranty was useless for me.

Hope it helps.
 
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Hello Everyone,

I have two questions:

1) The new updated Rapid 2017 has a GC of 163mm; is it good for indian road and mammoth speed breakers? Also the recent version now comes with updated 16" wheels; will this increase the GC from 163 mm? if yes, then how much?

2) Also the media unit in the updated Rapid 2017 has mirrorlink support, but does it also support Android Auto/Apple Car Play? Has anyone tried it? AFAIK it is the RCD 330 unit and I believe it supports Android Auto and Car Play. Has Skoda India disabled this feature? if yes, can we enable it?

Awaiting reply.
 
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Skoda Rapid New Variant - Style MY18

New Doc 2017-09-04_1.jpg

Skoda have launched new variant which sit above Style LE variant and gets few additional features at just 22K increase in price. Additional features are :-
1. Updated RCD which now gets Android Auto, Apple Carplay and MirrorLink (same headunit is found in Rapid Monte Carlo)
2. 2 curtain airbags. So now top variant Rapid comes with 2 dual airbags (standard feature) and additional 2 airbags (for now limited to Style MY18)

© to Varun Mehrotra
 
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Skoda Rapid New Variant - Style MY18

View attachment 231342

Skoda have launched new variant which sit above Style LE variant and gets few additional features at just 22K increase in price. Additional features are :-
1. Updated RCD which now gets Android Auto, Apple Carplay and MirrorLink (same headunit is found in Rapid Monte Carlo)
2. 2 curtain airbags. So now top variant Rapid comes with 2 dual airbags (standard feature) and additional 2 airbags (for now limited to Style MY18)

© to Varun Mehrotra
Thank you for the information, but this info is not showing in the official Skoda website.
 

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