So far have driven 750+ kms covered mainly during between Home-Office commute with occasional sprints on NH8.
Driver Comfort
After being used to the silence of the Petrol, this one is a noisy child. The moment you switch it own, it growls.
But once you start accelerating, there comes an obvious grin on the face.
- Driver Seat Height adjustment along with the adjustable steering (Rake and Reach) ensures you can find at least one comfortable seating.
- IRVM hinders my view from the front windshield may be due to its slant (or may be that the Driver seat has been adjusted on the up side). With Night Mode, the rear visibility is almost negligible. Also, you need to adjust it a bit to have a view of the rear.
- ORVM are big and gives a good view of the traffic behind.
- The controls for Power Windows are standard
- I find the joystick control for ORVM's as a bit awkward. Move the knob to Left to manage Right Side ORVM and to Right to manage the Left side ORVM. I get confused!!!.
- Just ONE tripmeter!!! Now, even my 6 year old i10 had 2.
- With missing MID in Ambition model, all I can see varying is the outside temperature. Nice conversation starter though!!!
- Fog lights are powerful and add to more visibility as well as look factor.
- Feeble vibrations are felt on Gear lever when in fourth gear. This is something I will get looked into at 7500kms checkup.
Front Seat Passenger Comfort
Now this is enormous specially once pushed all the way back.
I have not yet asked but is kind of obvious the way wifey enjoys her luxurious seat (along with pushing my elbow away from the centre arm rest)
She is happy (and which means I am or have to be!!!).
Rear Seat Comfort
Now, these 2 may be class apart but I can only compare it to my other car i.e. i10.
In i10, if you push the passenger seat all the way back, the passenger seated behind is in the most uncomfortable state.
This is not the case in Rapid where both the passengers enjoy the luxury seating.
Middle armrest is a good "show off" but we haven't used it. If the kids come to know of it (and it will be sooner than later), its going to be their next see-saw.
2 Adults+2 Children were easily seated in the back seats.
Acceleration
It took me a while to adjust my heavy foot style of driving. The moment you step on the Gas Pedal, the RPM crosses 1500+ and you get pushed to the back. Learnt after a while that can simply get the car going by just releasing the clutch and still there was enough engine power available.
For that matter, in bumper to bumper traffic, I can't use second gear at all. The moment you release the clutch the car moves like an arrow has been shot from the bow. Makes me realise time and again that "With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility"
Braking
So far I haven't had any qualms on the braking front.
Again, due to using of an ABS car, trying to get my braking style accustomed to single press of braking instead of pumping of the brakes which was required earlier to avoid the car skid.
ABS has kicked in a couple of times while hard braking from speeds of 100+ on an uneven road (I wanted to test it as well). You feel vibrations in the pedals and in turn you achieve the braking distance what you intended to.
Have read about the Dual Rate Brake Assist which seems to be patented to the VW group of cars but seems it is doing what it is intended to do.
Tyres
You cannot have effective braking with shoddy tyres. The 185/60 Apollo Acceleres on the 15" Alloys maintains the grip on the road well. No tyre noise is audible in the compartment but that may also be due to the well insulated Cabin. They have a long way to go so its wait and watch at the moment.
Meanwhile, the Spare tyre is a 175/70 R-14 on steel frame. Why on earth can't the 5th one also be given as an alloy???
PS: What will be the effect when car will be driven with a spare tyre in case of a punctured Alloy?
NVH
What would the noise in the cabin be like if Skoda hadn't provided the Under hood dampening?
The Diesel clatter inside the Cabin is very obvious even after rolling up the windows right from time when ignition is turned on. The clatter changes to a nice hummm once you start accelerating beyond 40kmph.
With music volume at >5 and AC turned On, it becomes difficult to hear the engine noise for the passenger. Though, the Driver is made well aware about the running engine by means of
RLS, all thanks to the shaking clutch.
Accessories
In the boot, along with the spare type, you get
- Tools for changing the Tyre
- First Aid Kit
- Triangle
- 2 Spare Bulbs + 2 Fuse
The tools are arranged nicely in a box which is then grasped with an adjustable ribbon. The Jack that comes along is different from what we are
used to and so I would definitely recommend to either try changing one of the tyres to get accustomed to it, else at-least have a thorough look at it to avoid any last minute surprises.
Few other points - - Power T - This was to bring the Devil out me but it made me sedate as the fun is now out of the window. All you need to do is choose a car to overtake. Get the Revs to 1800+, depress the Accelerate Pedal and lo - That car will be biting the dust you left behind. Its like having a Power T with you which you can use at your will.(Pehle main niraash rehta tha, sab gaadiyan mujhse aage nikal jati thi, lekin ab mere paas hai Power T ) Overtaking, which was once so thrilling and exciting suddenly became monotonous and ah! so easy!!!
- The Factory fitted Music System is pretty decent. You need to tweak the setup a bit to get the sound of your liking.
- GALA Mode Now, Manual says that Volume should go up with increase in speed (and vice versa), I haven't much of its effect same so far. May I need to drive faster to see the effect.
- Front storage compartment on passenger side has an awkward placement of the opening lid (as per one of the Magazine reviews) but to me it is very convenient to open the same when seated at Driver's seat. The coins/specs/visiting card holders spaces are really useful and well thought of.
- Centre Armrest is very convenient. Came to know later that it is height adjustable and thus it is fun to keep your hand on it all the time and shift Gears, very relaxing. BUT, the access to Handbrake gets hindered.
- Now, the engine temperature gauge is missing but a conversation starter has been provided in terms of Outside Temperature Gauge. Simply Funny.
- Semi Automatic Sedan. Well, some may simply say that driver should know what gear to engage and when but I find the Gear telling feature via the MID very useful. And against my original belief of it being stupid, it is indeed intelligent. Depending upon your driving style (sedate/aggressive), it will tell you when you should be Changing Gears. Personally, I find it quite useful and trust that it should help me in achieving optimum fuel efficiency.
- AUTOMATIC The way this car handles slow as well as high speeds is remarkable. From as low as 50 to high as 180+(yet to test), you can drive it all in 5th gear all so effortlessly.
- Diesel Clatter is obvious. Having driven a Petrol car earlier, you come to know about this being engine from the moment you crank the engine.
- Got a Fuel efficiency of 13.6kmpl during the first week. Not bad considering 5-7 mins idling in traffic and slow moving traffic for half of my journey each day.
- Within the city you can easily drive around in 3/4th ger most of the time. The need to go overdrive feels very less. (Is it OK to drive in 4th for most of times is the question).
- Suspension is stiff. But coming from i10 which also had one of the stiffer suspensions, no noticeable difference observed.
- Braking is good. I think ABS came into play only once when I tried braking hard on a rough rode. Not sure it the vibration in pedal was of ABS or the rough road though.
- Clutch pedal is always on Vibrator mode. Takes time to get used to it.
- Wifey is happy