Team-BHP - 2016 Skoda Rapid Facelift : A Close Look

And Skoda's Lucknow dealer Vishal Cars has closed down its sales operations! Message of yesterday. Skoda says their Kanpur dealership has also done the same (as anyway both are Vishal Cars).

This is the second time Skoda's Lucknow dealer is folding up its business. Back in 2011, Commercial Cars did the same thus opening up "opportunity" for others.

Vishal was the only dealer here since 2012. They had been there in Kanpur only prior to that.

Skoda says their service centre will nevertheless continue to be operational in Lucknow.

There is a rumour that Rapid is getting an Onyx edition in India soon. It may have new alloys, some black features on the exterior and a sporty touch interior. That is, it will be different from the normal variant and the edition "X" in terms of appearance only.

A new variant of Skoda Rapid, Onyx Edition, is ready for launch. Happened to get a close look at the model and what more, it is also coming in a new shade of blue, "Lapaz blue". The color looked darker than the one in Octavia twins and very similar to the "Urban blue" shade of Maruti Baleno. Looked quite premium. It also gets a new 16" alloy wheel design finished in piano black.

Managed to grab the interiors as well, and this variant, though based on the middle Ambition variant, has the projector headlamps and touch screen HU with Android Auto / Apple Car Play. The steering is a flat bottom one with leather finish and has been borrowed from the Edition X variants, sans the red stitching.

Quote:

Originally Posted by narayans80 (Post 4464150)

Isn't this similar to the Race Blue that Skoda used to have on the Octavia (like this one) ?

I felt this is a shade darker. Obviously they are different because they have different names :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by vshankarhere (Post 4464073)

A new variant of Skoda Rapid, Onyx Edition, is ready for launch. Happened to get a close look at the model

Are the seat covers fabric like in current Ambition or art leather? Any idea on pricing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shipnil (Post 4464177)

Are the seat covers fabric like in current Ambition or art leather? Any idea on pricing?

The seat was a fabric one. But there should be alcantara seat covers as part of the kit; just like the Edition X.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vshankarhere (Post 4464258)

The seat was a fabric one. But there should be alcantara seat covers as part of the kit; just like the Edition X.

If this is the case then only difference between Ambition and Style would be, side airbags, cruise control and reverse camera. Not sure if style would make any sense with this new trim.

Just took delivery of the Rapid 1.6 MT (style variant) MY19. I now see these five items on the MY19 version (compared with the style variant that was on display at the showroom):

Automatic headlamps
Interior lighting arrangement a bit different (feels a teeny-weeny bit upmarket)
Anti-theft alarm with interior monitoring (there's a red illuminated switch beside the drivers seat Bpillar) (question: cars these days come with immobilizer and rolling codes plus fuel cut off. Is there a neccessity to provide anti-theft alarms?)
Rear diffuser
The infotainment display looks the same, but the new MY19 brochure calls it smartlink, instead of mirrorlink. Not sure what the big difference is though. When I plug in my iPhone, carplay apps including google maps works.

Hope this helps prospective Rapid buyers. I was this close to booking a Vento 1.6 highline, but went for Skoda as I thought it was better value for money and looks better (all subjective opinions).

Quote:

Originally Posted by gigatech2006 (Post 4476044)

Just took delivery of the Rapid 1.6 MT (style variant) MY19. I now see these five items on the MY19 version (compared with the style variant that was on display at the showroom):

Automatic headlamps
Interior lighting arrangement a bit different (feels a teeny-weeny bit upmarket)
Anti-theft alarm with interior monitoring (there's a red illuminated switch beside the drivers seat Bpillar) (question: cars these days come with immobilizer and rolling codes plus fuel cut off. Is there a neccessity to provide anti-theft alarms?)
Rear diffuser
The infotainment display looks the same, but the new MY19 brochure calls it smartlink, instead of mirrorlink. Not sure what the big difference is though. When I plug in my iPhone, carplay apps including google maps works.

Hope this helps prospective Rapid buyers. I was this close to booking a Vento 1.6 highline, but went for Skoda as I thought it was better value for money and looks better (all subjective opinions).

Congrats on the new car. The google maps working in the car play is due to the IOS12 as apple started allowing third party apps

Quote:

Originally Posted by gigatech2006 (Post 4476044)

Just took delivery of the Rapid 1.6 MT (style variant) MY19. I now see these five items on the MY19 version (compared with the style variant that was on display at the showroom):[list=1][*]Automatic headlamps[*]Interior lighting arrangement a bit different (feels a teeny-weeny bit upmarket)

Congratulations! "Automatic headlamps"... Are they white?
Are the interior lightings LED?

I hope steering etc remain the same. Not yet flat bottom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar (Post 4479004)

Congratulations! "Automatic headlamps"... Are they white?
Are the interior lightings LED?

I hope steering etc remain the same. Not yet flat bottom.

Thanks Vipin!
They are regular halogen projectors, blackened. No flat bottom on style variant, but it's available on the limited edition ones (Edition X and Onyx).

Interior lighting is still the orange glow bulbs - no LED. However the boot name plate has white LED ;)