[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by sjain2054

Talking purely of engines, wouldn't the Etios 1.5 be better than this one? I am asking you because you have driven both. Is there a big difference and Rapid is better by a lot? The etios has the 4 cyl, eager, more reliable engine on a light body. On the face of it, it seems that its a better choice for engine lovers. What do you think?

Not at all. The Etios is not rev happy, lacks top end grunt and is commuter in comparison. It's only peppy in town.

The highlight of the 1.0L TSI is the Turbo and the push you get at 2,000 rpm.

[GTO]

I love the Etios 1.5 too and think that the car has superb balance. Might not be the fastest, but the Toyota has poise and will make you smile.

This Rapid TSI is a level up though. Just in terms of speed alone, there is no comparison.

[John316_WRC]

This thread is already 25 pages long in such a short span of time - and still going strong!

Even as a marketing exercise, the magical numbers "7.49 L" for a C segment sedan has given sleepless nights to many, including me!

And it's not like Skoda has skimped on features, that equipment list can shame many mid variant sedans.

Well played Skoda, Simply Clever.

[speedfreak01]

I am already a very happy and satisified VAG customer since 2015. I own the vento highline 1.6 mpi. It is an excellent car and it was an uprgade from my honda city. So ever since the 5 year itch hit me, I’ve been thinking of changing the car since about 4-5 months now. Requirement was strictly petrol MT, sedan or crossover didn’t matter. Started looking at octavia 1.4 tsi mt but it was above my budget so i dropped it, then looked at setos gtk but that too got discontinued. Now all of a sudden skoda launches this tsi rapid and it got me interested. Although due to covid I’ve pushed my car upgrade to late next year. But I still have not been able to control myself about going through all those reviews of the TSI rapid. If the drivability is better then my 1.6 mpi vento then this is the car I would want to exchange to. Looks smashing in the monte carlo red variant. The only downer for me would be same interiors and it wont really be an upgrade but thats ok. I am too satisfied with the vag build quality to ignore these points.

[bednbath]

Rapid makes so much sense in Indian car market at this point of time. No interesting sedan launches for so long and all the excitement and news was reserved only for compact suvs. Skoda launches old rapid with a new heart and has everyone excited for a sedan. Indian market is indeed maturing to see ahead of fancy gizmos and sunroof. Skoda now please work on your after sales also.

[SuvidC]

I am smitten just by reading the reviews of the new 3-pot TSI from VAG on the Rapid. Certainly makes the Rider variant a sweet sweet deal. However, I'm not very sure as to how amenable are the dealers on the discounts on the Rider variant, so would appreciate leads from the fellow BHPians who bought the Rider as their steed.

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by SuvidC

However, I'm not very sure as to how amenable are the dealers on the discounts on the Rider variant, so would appreciate leads from the fellow BHPians who bought the Rider as their steed.

No discount on the Rider. However you can get 20k discount on the Onyx variant.

[tejascshetty]

Hi! I had booked the Rider variant. I can give you an indication of the on-road prices and discounts in Bangalore.

I believe the three Skoda dealerships in Bangalore are all owned by the same Tafe group. So I don't think you can really play these dealerships against each other to get the best deal.

That being said, as I had mentioned earlier on this thread, the St Marks Road, Dealership offers almost a 40K discount on the Onyx Variant. They were willing to give the Onyx variant at 12.2 Lakhs OTR. The logic being that since the Onyx variant is essentially the Ambition variant with extra bits and pieces, the ex-showroom price is comparable to the Ambition variant in the RTO database (9.99 Lakhs). Therefore, this gives them a little bit of a wiggle room to offer discounts on the Onyx variant. That being said, they were reluctant to offer any discounts whatsoever on the Ambition and the Rider variants. Given enough time, they may offer discounts on the Ambition variant, but given the incredible response they have received for the Rider variant, it is unlikely they will offer any discounts on the Rider variant anytime soon. It also looks like the Rider variant introductory prices of 7.49 Lakhs may not last for too long as even the new Vento base variant is priced comfortable higher. This would allow them to price the Rider variant higher though still remaining VFM.

On a side note, I have to mention that the St Marks Road dealership of Skoda in Bangalore has been an absolute joy in terms of buying experience thus far. Very polite and helpful SA's. They have kept me constantly updated of the delivery schedules. Furthermore, they have been more than happy to indulge repeated calls about some detail or the other. Despite the overwhelming response, they are making an effort to ramp up their customer service. Fingers crossed that this experience remains the same.

[SansGT]

Autocar and evo India are hinting at the new Honda City review to be released at 11 AM today. Now the battle will intensify! Super excited to see how the new City fares and then the comparison with the Rapid will be more prominent.

[longhorn]

Highly unlikely that the Honda City will be priced anywhere close to the Rider or the Ambition variant. In fact it is the pricing + the TSi engine of the Rider variant that makes it stand out from all the available options in the market in that budget.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by John316_WRC

Even as a marketing exercise, the magical numbers "7.49 L" for a C segment sedan has given sleepless nights to many, including me!

It's the pricing + turbo-petrol engine that has reignited interest in the Rapid. If either one of these two were not promising factors, this thread would be dead.

Just compare the recent action on this thread vs the Polo 1.0 TSI thread. Mind you, that one covers TWO cars (Polo + Vento), and still has just 10 posts in a week.

Originally Posted by tejascshetty

That being said, they were reluctant to offer any discounts whatsoever on the Ambition and the Rider variants.

Freshly launched cars almost never have discounts. But they will surely come later as the Rapid is a vintage car by segment standards.

On the other hand, if the car is well-priced to begin with (in this case, the Rider), I wouldn't care about discounts. What matters is whether I think the end deal is worth it, with or without discounts. If I was looking at the higher variants though, I would definitely wait some months for the big discounts to kick in. The Rapid doesn't even have a diesel or AT yet. I fully expect discounts in the high 5 figures (or close to a lakh) on the higher variants by the festive season.

[PrasannaDhana]

While I understand how great a package the rapid is(it always has been, Courtesy: 1.7 lakh km run Rapid 1.6 tdi in the family), I am also concerned about the plummeting resale of the existing 1.6 petrol rapid owners (specially ambition and above variants). Rider variant of 1.0 tsi definitely will have an impact.

[Squanderer]

Quoting an excerpt from BHpian Sabrish on his modifications from a different thread.

Originally Posted by Sabrish

Hello all, as mentioned earlier the Rapid Rider is now home and apparently it is the fi......
A few basic mods done

- 16 Inch Clubber Alloys - Sourced from an Ex Rapid Owner
- Changed the MRF ZVTV to Yoko Blue Earth 195 Section
- Blackened Roof, ...
...[/ATTACH]

Also Quoting BHPian Endless on things to watch out for.

Originally Posted by Endless....

Test drove the rapid this weekend. A friend was looking for a 2nd car. .......

Other things to watch out for in case you consider the Rapid:

2. For those of you considering a wheel upgrade, skoda is finicky there. You will loose warranty for wheel upsize or tyre upsize. There isn’t a logic to it, get used to it, especially now that the car comes with a 6yr warranty. Mine came with 4 yrs.
[/ATTACH]

While I had the same question as Tokyo drifter, I was curious to see what the dealers at SGA told Sabrish.
Question from BHPian Tokyo drifter - Does this mean your car's warranty is voided now, as these mods are not (all) from the dealer?

Originally Posted by Sabrish

Not at all, none of them have any impact to the stock wiring. In fact the only electrical mod was the Fog Lamps but that was also initially quoted to me by the Skoda dealer team during the delivery. I did check with them if they are going to install the way how it is on an ambition or a style variant but they will add a switch on the dash for the lamps and I have done it in a similar fashion albeit outside at a much lesser cost.

without having to disturb any stock wiring...So the warranty holds good..
...

Wraps/OE Wheels/Seat Covers do not alter the mechanical set up hence the warranty issues dont crop up

Hello All,
Its my first post here. I have booked the rider base variant (carbon steel) from SGA cars Coimbatore where BHPian Sabrish also got his.
The Sales Rep at SGA Coimbatore informed me that one cannot change the alloys to 16" as this will certainly void the warranty, however 15" alloys wont.
I was keen on changing my alloys until the SA had advised me against it.
I would like to hear what others think about this and if indeed it is possible to change the alloys without voiding warranty?

CHeers!

[Endless....]

Originally Posted by Squanderer

Quoting an excerpt from BHpian Sabrish on his modifications from a different thread.


Also Quoting BHPian Endless on things to watch out for.



While I had the same question as Tokyo drifter, I was curious to see what the dealers at SGA told Sabrish.
Question from BHPian Tokyo drifter - Does this mean your car's warranty is voided now, as these mods are not (all) from the dealer?




Hello All,
Its my first post here. I have booked the rider base variant (carbon steel) from SGA cars Coimbatore where BHPian Sabrish also got his.
The Sales Rep at SGA Coimbatore informed me that one cannot change the alloys to 16" as this will certainly void the warranty, however 15" alloys wont.
I was keen on changing my alloys until the SA had advised me against it.
I would like to hear what others think about this and if indeed it is possible to change the alloys without voiding warranty?

CHeers!

Depends on how much trouble you are willing to take in the unfortunate event of a warranty claim. Like I said earlier, this wheel upsize voiding warranty situation has no logic, but yet it’s here to stay. On the other hand, maybe they will give you some leeway if you upsize from their stock. But for the prices they quote, you might as well pick up the ambition

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by GTO

It's the pricing + turbo-petrol engine that has reignited interest in the Rapid. If either one of these two were not promising factors, this thread would be dead.

Completely agree! The Rider variant is offering significantly better performance than the Verna 1.0 Turbo Petrol DCT that has been launched at almost double the price - i.e. 7.49 lakhs versus Verna's 13.99 Lakhs. From the recently published Autocar acceleration figures, the Verna does 0-100 in 13 seconds (they qualified saying the real figure may be close to 12 seconds if the road conditions were not so wet). The Rapid beats the Venra hands down with a 0-100 time of 10 seconds!

Skoda, Here is a tagline for the Rider - A third more speed at half the cost!