SKODA RAPID REVIEW

Skoda Rapid

Who can forget the Octavia that was, in its time, the best selling C+ segment car.  The Rapid as Skoda says is sequel to Octavia (not in all terms). Rapid is an all rounder sedan. The model has been largely inspired from its siblings Fabia and VW Vento.

Exterior:

The first time you look at a Rapid, it seems like you are looking a Vento with Fabia’s front end slapped onto it. This could be a good and bad thing for VW. Having 2 nearly identical cars could result in sibling rivalry. The numbers may fall for the Vento, as the Rapid is expected to undercut the VW in pricing. Here the tactics used by the parent company can be to combine the sales of Rapid and Vento and take over Honda City or Hyumdai Verna.

It's when you start taking a closer look at the Rapid that you realize the bonnet extends over the front fenders. The front bumper is redesigned as well, though the headlamps, grill and fog lamps are inspired from the Fabia. The sides look exactly the same as the Vento and you’ll be forgiven for not being able to tell one from the other. At the rear, the boot lid, rear bumper and tail lamps are all new, but looks similar to others in the skoda family.

Can you spot any difference? On the left its a Skoda Fabia and on the right its the Skoda Rapid!

Skoda is offering the Rapid in 3 trim levels. There’s the base 'Active', mid-level 'Ambition' and the highest 'Elegance'. And to a surprise both, the Ambition and Elegance variants are available with an Automatic. The Elegance is kitted with 15” Alloy wheels, climate control, electric mirrors, driver and front passenger airbags, ABS and an audio system with SD card slot + Aux input. Steering mounted controls were sorely missing, the Skoda could have facilitated atleast the Elegance model with these. The Active variant has just the basic features and no safety kit. This trim level is probably best for the taxi segment only, or those on a very tight budget.

Rapid and Fabia share the same grill, headlights and fog lamps

Rear three quarter view: Side profile is identical to the Vento, typical Skoda tail-lamps.

The Rapid undercuts not only the Vento, but also the Honda City, Hyundai Verna and Ford Fiesta. The Rapids's fully-loaded variant is priced a whopping 60,000 rupees lesser than the Vento Highline. And the Rapid ends where the over-priced Fiesta doesn't even offer its starting variant. Further, the Rapid AT is now the cheapest Automatic sedan you can buy in the country, the Rapid Ambition AT is priced only Rs. 50,000 more than the Hyundai i20 AT.

Interior:

Well, if you’ve sat inside a Vento or Polo, well, you’ve been in a Rapid too. The interiors are nearly identical to the Vento. You will only notice the different colour combination of the interiors. Where the Vento has a grey shade on the dash, the Rapid gets a browner colour. The Rapid uses beige only for the seats, door pads and lower half of the dash. The best part is the black carpeting which obviously doesn’t soil as easily as beige, as seen in Vento.

The interiors look almost like its VW siblings

The Rapid is facilitated with the 4-spoke Skoda steering wheel that is similar to the one in the Fabia. The steering isn’t leather wrapped and were not having mounted controls, not even on the fully-loaded Elegance variant! The AC vents are lined with a shiny black finish which doesn’t look as good as the brushed aluminium of the Vento. Also, the Rapid has a shiny chrome finish on the gear knob, climate control buttons, audio system and headlight switches.

The front seats are comfortable even for 6 footers. The height adjustable center armrest is incredibly comfortable. The gear knob resembled an inverted golf club (typical Skoda). The foot area is well spacious, although a dead pedal is sorely missed, especially on the AT variant. 

Golf-club shaped gear knob

Driver footwell is spacious. Though, dead pedal is sorely missed.

At the back, you'll find good legroom even behind a 6 foot driver. The seats are comfortable with good thigh support. It's important to note that the rear seat is comfortable only for 2 passengers, and not 3. The primary reason being the transmission tunnel which severely restrict foot room for the 5th passenger. Rear passengers also get AC vents, though I didn't find them to be helpful, as the blower isn't powerful enough.

Audio head unit comes with a SD card slot and Aux-in, the steering wheel did not have any mounted controls. A real bad miss.

The audio system is a basic unit that doesn't get the USB input or steering mounted controls that the Vento recently got. It can read from SD cards though, and does have an AUX-in.

The Skoda Rapid has been launched in India at a price of 6.75 - 9.19 Lakhs (ex-Delhi).

Hits:

• A well-built European car.
• Better package than the Vento at a lower price.
• Superb diesel engine.
• Mature ride & handling setup.

Miss:

• Skoda's scary after-sales-service.
• No steering mounted controls, USB stereo, parking sensors etc.
• Petrol engine isn't as impressive as the diesel.
• Tall rear floor hump makes the Rapid more suited as a 4 seater, than 5.