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This ownership report is going to be long and includes the pre purchase, purchase saga, post purchase, dilemmas and heart vs brain story of my first car purchase - the Skoda Rapid Diesel. This a preloved car, which I found through Cars24.

Ever since I can remember, I have been a car enthusiast. Like many of us here, I happen to be a "go to" car person for many in my circle. Again, like many of us, my knowledge of these machines is primarily sourced from Team-BHP. I started reading Team-BHP when my dad was purchasing his first car in 2010 and I wanted expert opinions on choosing between the WagonR K10B and Zen Estilo K10B. We, of course, went ahead with Wagon R and it has been doing great since then (still in our garage and clocked close to 80k km in its 14-year life). It took me another 10 years to be part of the forum, and I joined officially in 2020 when I was doing my PG.

Little about me

I hail from God's own Country and am a big fan of tastefully modified cars. Spent my childhood with scale models and identifying cars flying over NH 47. The love for cars sent me to mechanical engineering, then to IT giants' engineering services arm as an engineer, and finally to another ER&D player in their marketing department, where I currently work. Passion for the automotive industry has always been my trump card in all my interviews, be it jobs or post-graduation. I had tried all my life to convert my passion into a profession where I had taken hard decisions to let go opportunities, but by God's grace, I am doing marketing for transportation now. So yes, I speak, write, hear and smell automobiles 24x7 and I use these in my day job as well. I genuinely think that this part of my life is happiness.

My automotive dump

The first car that we owned was a 2010 Wagon R VXI in superior white, which is happily serving us. My fondest and most blissful memory with cars involves a white '01 Maruti 800 DX. Then other cars I have closely encountered are a cherry red '04 Maruti 800 AC (the car I took baby steps of driving in), followed by a '09 Swift VDI ABS (red- still with us), '10 Honda City VMT (cherry red - still with us), '10 Chevrolet Spark 1.0 PS (cherry red - sold), '13 Ford Figo EXI TDCI ( white - still with us) and '16 Honda Jazz 1.5D (white - still with us). All these cars were owned by my extended family. I got to drive them extensively and I loved them to bits irrespective of what they offered on paper. These are my soul cars, but this write-up is majorly going to be on my prized possession, my preloved Skoda Rapid TDI MT - from the last batch of OG VAG diesels.

Apart from cars, I developed an affinity towards bikes in college, which I got from the riding feel of the Duke 200, FZ, Apache RTR180, RE Classic and Pulsar 180 belonging to my friends. I was happily riding my dad's '99 Splendor then and did not have the guts to ask my parents to buy me a bike. I had to wait until my first job, where I saved to pick up another preowned charm, which is a '16 CBR 250R ABS in 2018. The joy of biking was and is my happy pill and the CBR with all its strengths gave me immense pleasure, memories, adrenaline, thrill and fun. That story calls for a separate ownership thread, which I might not create due to a lack of fine details. I had no clue back then that I would make it to becoming a member of Team-BHP, otherwise could have captured the finest details.

So yes, both of my automotive purchases are preowned and thanks to this team bhp thread, which I stumbled upon a couple of years back.

I intend to spread my purchase story into multiple parts, namely:
1. Dilemma- Options, Test drives
2. Pre-Purchase and Delivery
3. Post Purchase checks and balances
4. Review

Here is quick overview of my overall rapid experience. It is covered in detail in the review section.

Yay

1. Engine is the strongest link in the package. EA189 engine is an old-school diesel but punches above its weight. Full load? No problem, it keeps pulling while delivering decent fuel efficiency. Decent handling as well.
2. Excellent mod potential. Lots of bolts-on mods available. A simple remap should take it into the league of cars that are 2-3 segments higher. Lots of aftermarket parts available.
3. Build quality is of yesteryear cars. Strong body panels, reassuring door thuds. Comfortable seating for 4 people on board, but 5th one is unwelcome.
4. Compact enough w.r.t. width and length. City-friendly by sedan standards.
5. Design, though old, has aged gracefully. Lapiz Blue shade tends to get dirty quickly but when clean, is a looker. Also, paint quality is top notch.

Nay

1. Prone to part failures like most VAG cars. From interior trims to switchgear to power windows to ABS sensors to water pumps to injectors to brake rotors to pads, many critical parts tend to fail as per many ownership histories. The car requires proactive maintenance and pampering unlike Japs. It tends to fail, despite this.
2. Heavy clutch becomes cumbersome in B2B traffic. Also, dieselgate scandal related fixes have made the engine sluggish at the low end, which makes you shift extra gears. Highways are the natural habitat.
3. Expensive parts and service compared to peers, at authorized as well as third-party garages.
4. Quite dated. Originally launched in 2010 as VW Vento and based on 2009 VW Polo. Designs, themes are minimum 15 years old! No wow feeling inside the cabin as such.
5. Missing features like cruise control, automatic headlamps (can be retrofitted though). Would be nice to have features such as additional airbags, esp, traction control etc.

Pic: Collage of my automotive soulmates


Disclaimer : Long post alert! Get ready with your popcorn!

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Dilemma- Options, Test drives

As soon as I finished my PG and started working, my immediate aim was to get a car. It had been a dream since sometime and my GF (wife now) was in full support. We knew we never needed a car, but our hearts always wanted one.

The requirement was clear, the car should an enthusiast's delight with space, reliability and easy maintenance (priorities in that order). Bling features were not our priority but Auto A/C, alloy wheels, Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, ABS and airbags were a must-have. One car to do it all. There was no bar on brands/body styles. Whichever car connected to my style in a test-drive, would be considered. I also wanted to consider some of my childhood crushes, irrespective of my criteria, if used cars turned out as an option. The drivetrain was optional with manual being preferred, considering this could be the last chance to own and own a manual. I was sure that my next purchase, anyway, would be an automatic by default. As life progressed, I would go into the category where convenience takes the front seat ahead of enthusiasm, but this was the time to explore and experiment.

Lazy Phase 1

In early 2022, which was the BS6 era, I used to track the car market, segment-wise. I found it difficult to fathom that the S-Presso VXI AMT OTR price in Bangalore was 7 lakhs and the Santro & Wagon R were 8 lakh-Rupee cars. While I realized that the cars grew in leaps and bounds in terms of safety and equipment, the enthusiast in me couldn't find the rationale as fundamentally, they had 1000cc engines under the hood. The i20 Turbo was 14.xx or something OTR in Bangalore, while I had always thought it as an 8-10 lakh car. So, this perception of mine with respect to brand name always bugged me while shortlisting cars.

To be frank, there was no budget in mind when I started, but then soon reached the 10 lakh mark. Then I started evaluating options and had a hard realization. I drove almost all options from S-Presso to Amaze across brands, but could not find a connection/character/soul in these cars. They felt like people movers (no offence to owners). Three options which stood out were Ignis, Magnite and i10 Nios turbo. Citroen C3 could have fitted here but the instrument console, plastic quality, bare-bones treatment and visible cost-cutting were a huge turn-off. Considering we spend much of the time inside car, I realized that this has to be part of my priority and the eC3 was not considered for shortlisting.

Ignis MT
Ignis drove the way I wanted, quirkiness was nice, stood out in the crowd, and there were not so many of them on the road. But the interior space felt the same as our 14 y/o WagonR and considering this as a probable long-term purchase, I kept it in the shortlist but didn't finalize it.

i10 Nios Turbo
It had a great feature list, and drove great in a straight line. The interior space was okay-ish but handling was not so great, probably due to the soft suspension. Also, the steering felt vague in corners or during high-speed maneuvers. The pricing also did not make it feel VFM and its stablemate, the i20, started looking like a VFM choice. This was also still shortlisted for any offer on sticker price towards the year end.

Magnite Turbo CVT
Car felt quick, likeable design and a beautifully tuned CVT box. But it screamed cost-cutting inside out with respect to interiors, trims and instrument cluster, which was horrible to live with. Also, it did not turn out to be as enthusiastic as I wanted. But it was a great contestant by all means.

I had no set time period to complete the purchase, so I kept on delaying the same. We spent weekends driving cars, but were casually shopping, waiting for the right deal. 2022 was gone in no time.

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Lazy Phase 2 - Used Cars aka Wild Card Entries

I was also into preowned stuff and appreciated the value of the same, especially in depreciating assets like automobiles (like my CBR). Vivekji05 and JayD starting their Mallu channel "Talking cars" and their used car buying series made a lot of sense for me. Many of the cars in discussion were already in my radar as an enthusiast. My idea of owning a car was to have as much fun as possible with a wide grin, so a used car did made sense. So, I started looking at options on Spinny, Cars24, Team-BHP classifieds, cars from known network etc. Just quoting some the options I considered.

Spinny/Truebil

2013 Pre-Facelift Jetta 2.0 TDI MT Comfortline- Saw this on Spinny with 63K km on the odo and single owner. We went to Spinny Park in Yehalanka to take a test drive. Both of us came back impressed after the test drive. It felt tight , right and sharp on corners (rear multi links). But asking price was close to 9L, which I found too much for 10 year old car. Also Spinny didn't bother selling same to me, honestly my SA was not interested to sell that car.

2018 Skoda Rapid - On the same day, we drove a silver Rapid TDI MT from 2018 with the odo reading under 50K. The drive was just after the Jetta and the Rapid felt way too sluggish and laggy. Also, the paint job was pretty dull and lame and the battery seems to be in bad condition. The same SA was not interested in selling this car either.

We spotted a booked 2019 FL City VMT in white shade. We asked him to let us know if that car is unsold. We never heard back from him.

Pic : Rapid and Jetta which we checked out at Spinny Park. Note the paint quality of Rapid's rear bumper


There were other cars from Spinny which I wanted to give a shot and take test drives of, but couldn't due to multiple reasons.
2019 FL Tiago JTP: Asking price for this car was same as the ex-showroom price at that time. So I didn't bother to take a test drive. An Altroz i-Turbo was a better deal than paying premium for a discontinued Tata car.
2016 Jetta 1.4 P : This car looked like a clean one and was listed in Spinny Kochi's inventory for quite a long period. The fuel efficiency reported for this car was very abysmal for the performance on tap. Also, if it was Jetta/Octavia, I decided to settle only for the 1.8 TSI or 2.0 TDI.
2016 S Cross 1.6 DDiS : This is a car which I missed. It was little above 40K on the odo and lovely in every sense. It was an alpha option, which was rare in 1.6 guise. But by the time I made up mind, the car was booked.
2014 Ford Classic 1.6 : This looked like a clean car and was a cheap to buy as well. The odo read around 30k-ish. But I was late in showing interest in this car, and it was sold.
2018 FL Verna 1.6 SX CRDI : It was on Trubil. This car did not look clean but the odo reading was quite low. There were a lot of battle scars. Also Truebil was the cheap arm of Spinny. I suspected the lower quote might account for something fatal. So I ignored the car at a later point.
2014 Pre FL Elantra 1.6 SX CRDI AT, 2016 Polo 1.5 TDI , 2018 Polo GT TSI : They got booked before I could take a test drive. Also, Polos were absurdly priced.

In short, I found Spinny customer service a tad bad along with bunch of overpriced cars. Also, there is no concept of dedicated manager in Spinny with whom you can develop a relationship. Every time, somebody different calls me from Spinny, asking the same question - when was I planning to buy the car after my "add to favorites" action. I was quite annoyed with this. Their loan facilities were also expensive. Only very few cars were rightly priced as per me. But the App UX/UI is great. Ease of browsing and short listing is better than Cars24. Even though I kept on checking out Spinny, previous experience and the way they operate didn't let me zero in on Spinny. Also, Spinny didn't give home test drives at Whitefield.

Cars24

Unlike Spinny, Cars24 was accessible to me as I reside in Whitefield. There is a yard of theirs in the basement of Bhoruka Tech Park. I shortlisted two cars from their inventory at that point. Unlike Spinny, Cars24 hosted very less cars of my taste. But during my first test drive itself, I developed a rapport with yard manager of Whitefield, Mr. Prashant. He has courteous and kind enough to explain the cars, follow up and clarify doubts. Some of the cars I drove in this phase are

2018 Honda City VMT iVtec : This was a second owner car with less than 30k under odo. Car drove good, but there were lot of repaints in the car for which I eventually dropped it. Also, the drive feel was similar to our existing City Vtec from 2010.

2018 Vento TSI DSG : I loved driving this car and it made a perfect sense. It was a highline in white color with brand new Michelin Primacy 4 ST (for which I felt this could be an enthusiast kept car). But the fear of DSG failure made me let go this one. Odo was around 40ish.


Pic :Vento DSG and City at Cars24

There was a Corolla Altis 1.8 (Ignored for expensive maintenance), '12 Civic 1.8 VMT with Sunroof (I was late in taking a decision), '16 Mahindra XUV 5OO W6 FL (later ignored for too much battle scars), '18 Yaris JMT (Ignored for blunt interior), '17 Rapid Ambition 1.6P (Ignored for subpar performance as per my car guy friend), '18 i20 Crdi (over priced) , '18 Figo 1.5S (over priced) which got eliminated from my shortlists of Cars24. I didn't drive these cars though saving mine as well as Prashant's time. Another cars I wanted to drive though, which were Duster AWD from 2014 and Vento TDI DSG from 2018. But both got booked before I could act.

Team BHP Classifieds / Known Network
I was window shopping almost every day but interestingly my slow decision making, and time took to research on these cars didn't let me drive anyone of these. All of these cars went it into shortlist because I have driven them at some point of life and had a crush on them. Few Cars from my shortlist were

'10 Fiesta 1.6S : From TBHP classifieds. There was an urge to check this out but I finally decided taking the fuss on owning Fiesta only if it is in Aquaris Blue shade. So didn't progress here. I used to spot the same car in HSR multiple times but didn't bother to check it out.

'18 or '19 Linea T-Jet : From TBHP Classifieds. This car was from south TN I guess and it was 125S, If I remember correctly. Probably last batch with all bells and whistles. I took a hard decision not to travel down to TN for this one, considering the hassles of transfer of ownership, re registration and also effort required in maintenance. But this was a great shot infact, as T Jets was always special. Steering feedback and stability at triple digit speeds was quite tempting.

'18 Rapid TDI DSG Monte Carlo: The car was from network, but the pricing was above what I thought I can spend on a Rapid DSG. Owner also told the possible works to be done in near future. So, I let this go.

'01 Zen VXI : I spotted a white Zen VXi MPFI which looked amazingly maintained in pictures at least. I wanted to check it out, but ad was down the very next day, maybe it got sold. It was a cute little jellybean with black bumpers.

'14 Laura TSI : Another low run German but fear of maintenance kept me away. Also though Laura was a performer, I somehow was not fan of the looks. So didn't put effort to check this out. This was also a missed chance, as Laura with VRS kit is a looker and bolt on mod potential is infinite.

'16 Jetta TDI AT : Another missed chance, it was quite an impossible task to find such a low run Jetta that too in DSG. Pricing was little on higher. Same story of me being late. This was from Kerala

'14 Vento TDI MT : Mint looking car owned by a college professor or so. Under 40k kms, but fear of injector failure in 1.6 VAGs kept me away. Also, car was overpriced.

'17 Cruze LTZ AT: Heavily overpriced for a discontinued car.

So as many of you might have understood I was like a confused boy in a candy store. Seeing the listing of a car under my radar did excite me to the core. Then after research, I will go to mixed emotions and will be a late decision maker by the time which they would have been sold. Also, this could have also associated to no urgent need of car and my laziness with respect to acquiring one in a stipulated time period. Also please relate this to bloated price tags of Bangalore used car market.

Only good thing here is I only wasted my time with respect to researching, reading and viewing cars, barely made disturbance to sellers. Also, there were few cars which I wanted to check out/consider but did not pop out during my search was Honda City VTec (2003s), Punto Abarth, Palio, Mitsubishi Cedia, Toyota Qualis, Tata Bolt/Zest Turbo, Swift 1.3 ZXi, Baleno 1.6, Optra 2.0, XUV 5OO AWD, Duster AWD, Tata Hexa AT, Baleno Boosterjet, Elantra 2.0 P, Octavia Pre Facelift 2.0/1.8TSI, Lancer 1.8 Invex, Esteem 1.3 MPFI, Thar CRDe etc.

A lot of Eco Sports were ignored from many platforms for their irrational pricing - otherwise it was a perfect sweet spot for my kind of driving. So this was end of first half of 2023. Also, my mom suffered an unexpected cardiac arrest for which I got de-railed and parked my all-other interests, plans for time being.

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Active Phase

This is when things got serious, as my wedding got fixed towards end of 2023. Me and my fiancé then decided to finish the purchase before wedding, as both of us had our dreams to enter wedding venue in our own car. She was an absolute car noob (who calls sedans as car with tail) time with me slowly turned her into car enthusiast. She has now grown to a level to distinguish between Maruti Baleno and Toyota Glanza, for which I am proud of. But I got stuck in a dengue fever and related complication at this point for which again we paused our car hunt.

Towards September 2023, things were back in track, and we started pursuing our car dream actively and put a target on November mid. At this point, we also decided to up our budget till 15L, as we couldn't find a right fit in sub 10L and used car market was also not so rewarding. So back to square one, started shortlisting cars for test drive.

Sub 4m SUV Segment
Kia Sonet 1.0 TGDI was my pick in this segment and HTX+ was well under budget. Maruti 1.5s where boring to drive and average at best, so avoided Brezza. Nexon's quality, stiff suspension and looks was a concern for which it couldn't make into my list. I didn't like how Venue looked and was quite unappealing. Fronx 1.0 AT as well as MT was an interesting pick, but I felt it was priced at very premium considering its a glorified Baleno. That engine is a decent performer for my likes, but I couldn't find rationale in that. I think they took a premium with respect to SUV silhouette. If Baleno was available in 1.0 guise, it would have been in my garage.

Sub 4m SUV Hatch
Shortlists were i20 Nline, Altroz i-Turbo and Baleno. Baleno felt plain jain to drive, Altroz i-Turbo was decent but again head ache of QCs. Arrival of Nline facelift and introduction of N6 variants was a sweet proposition to me. So, I zeroed on a N6 DCT. I also expected N line to be car that could stand out and bring an identity. Nline was packed good, DCT was okayish, space was good for 5 unlike Venue.

Other Cars in the budget
I drove City 5th Gen and ignored for same drive feel of our 2010 City. I ignored Hyundai/Kia 1.5P, Maruti 1.5P in my list with my past dull experience of driving them. Skoda was running great offers for Slavia where I could get 1.0TSI Ambition in my budget or get 1.5TSI MT/1.0TSI AT in my budget. This gave me a huge dilemma.

Other Cars that Could have been in my final list, if manufacturers decided to tweak them
1. Baleno in 1.0 GDI: Fronx was overpriced but Baleno could have made it.
2. Mahindra XUV300 in XUV400 package: The turbo sport variant was awesome but boot compromise + sad interiors played spoil sport.
3. Citroen C3 with better plastics

So It was i20 Nline AT vs Sonet 1.0 AT vs Slavia for me. I liked Virtus better, but it never had an equivalent variant to Slavia's Ambition variant. I had given up looking at used car sites as I couldn't find a reasonable match. But one fine day I got a WhatsApp message from Cars24 about a car which I might like. This was a '19 Skoda Rapid TDI, single owner in a Lapiz blue color with close to 30k on odo. Car looked great with less imperfections (only major one was a broken R ORVM and non-functional foglamp). I decided to book a test drive to check it out.

The Test drive

Car was at our place next day, I drove it for 10kms around Whitefield. Last time I drove a Rapid TDI after a Jetta and felt it underwhelming in Jetta hangover. But this fresh take with some slam on accelerator, I instantly loved the car. The power post turbo surge was great, solid on high-speed maneuvers, stability was good, and design is timeless. Vento/Rapid was a childhood crush, so I went back to excited state, booked the car right after test drive. Also on pricing, it was cheaper than Grand i10 era variant - where I felt a best price to performance rationale. But it looked like it might need some work on suspension side, as it felt stiff. Breaks were also not as per my expectation. RH ORVM unit was also broken. Otherwise, it drove great 205/55 R16 Yoko Earth 1 brand new tires, 1 year old battery and no signs of repaint. Insurance was marked lapsed. Also, Lapiz Blue is a color that is uncommon in these cars which could make it stand out in crowd. It is very close to Racing Blue color which is seen in Octavia RS. It is hard to photograph the beauty of this color but on day light, car looks smashing.

On top of all these, the registration number referred to my all-time favorite automotive, the Porche 911. So, I felt universe is showing some signs!


Pic: First look at Rapid


Pic: Wifey checking out Rapid

Detailed Test drive
I asked them to bring the car to Kasthuri Nagar where I brother resides. We took a longish test drive to OMR and we both loved the car. On highway, car was just lovely for my liking. City speeds were just okayish. I was still in excitement as the soul connect had happened, but my brother was keen enough to spot some imperfections which was not identified in the inspection report of Cars24. We took the pictures and flagged this to Prashant - these were majorly scratches on hood, running board hits, non-functional AC vents, broken arm rests etc. Also, I raised my concerns on suspensions, brakes. Prashant assured to check on this. I wanted him to slash the price as their current pricing is based their inspection report, which missed spotted my catches.

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Pre-Purchase, Purchase and Delivery

Once the car was booked, I was supposed to close the deal in 1 week of time. I initially thought of going with their own loan. Interest rate where less than used car standards (11% v/s 12.5% of Spinny vs 12-15% of independent providers - all diminishing rates) but finally opted another fund source. But I was waiting for Cars24 to update me on revised pricing, which took at least 3-4 days. I think these used car sellers don't understand the customer journey, and this phase is crucial in purchase decision. This is where you are most confused and many influence comes into play. These 3-4 days gave me options for second thought.

My parents were against used car as an option, my network scared me on Skoda horror stories, and I was getting great offers from Skoda on new Slavia owing to festival season. My fiancée also loved Slavia in red shade. Also, since me and my brother easily could catch the misses on car24 inspection, I had solid reasons not to believe their 200-point inspection. This was also supported the fact that the ad stated the car was Ambition variant (so does RC) but in fact it was an Oynx edition - with limited edition lava blue color, blacked wheels, sun blinds, LED headlamps with fog lamps, 16" wheels, white light and DRL over ambition. All these misses from Cars24 made me not believe their inspection. On top of all these, the car at test drive was not clean and had sediments of sands - adding another suspicion on flood.

I had asked Prashant to share the RC card for me to verify in Vahan for challans, insurance, blacklisting and showroom history. I also did a curious social media stalking to get connected to owner. I could actually find him on LinkedIn, got connected, set the context and requested details on car. He had actually exchanged it on Cars 24 for a larger SUV. He also confirmed that car was not flood effected (dust was due to the nature of parking area), no accident history and no known defects best to his knowledge. He shared that insurance should be active and shared the document over LinkedIn chat. This showed Insurance was active till December and we were in October at that point of time. He also had an emotional relationship with car, where registration number was related to his son's DOB. This communication was a relief for me, and I came back to track. But still for being safe, I decided to use the 7 days return policy time to thoroughly check the car.

Ball was in cars24's court and they then returned with action of no discount. I insisted on this for which they finally settled. This was for visible defects not on suspension/brakes. They insisted that car was serviced recently and those would have been fixed anyway. I agreed to this as I felt the stiff suspension could be due to 16inch wheels with thin side wall and I have always felt in brakes in PQ platform cars - Polo, Rapid, Vento, Ameo etc. were not so great. No major concern anyway. So, road was clear, and I completed the payment in 2 days. Regarding insurance, since it was active I let this go.


Pic: Car will show booked in their portal without letting any other test drives. It will also not show up in general searches unless you have added the car to favorites.

Delivery Day 1&2
Delivery 1 was a planned delivery day. 2 hours before delivery, I got a message from Prashant to share the insurance document. I shared the current document and Prashant said that as per their policy, they can issue a gate pass only if the car has at least 3 months of valid insurance. Another bummer, which I didn't understood why. I asked him for B2B and Full Cover quote for which they shared obnoxious quotes than Policy Bazar. So, I tried with Policy bazar and for my fate, realized that they let people renew plans only from 60 days as per their policy. I tried with couple of known insurance agents for the same and got same response. I did get a quote from United India, but IDV was tad low, and premium was on higher side. They told that's the best for a Skoda.

I shared these stories to Prashant and said that I am unable to choose your expensive pricing and I am not getting an option outside as well.I asked let the car stay in yard till it is 60 days to insurance expiry, so that I can get it from Policybazar. This was like 2 weeks or so from Delivery Day. Again, this request was denied saying that I can hold car only for 7 days. I did try speaking to Prashant's manager, explained my fiasco and he assured he will look into. I was all prepped up for a delivery, but this fiasco made me furious and impulsive - I told them I will let this go in that case and asked to refund my booking amount. So, resolution that day, as I told I will try my best to get insurance or let's part this way. My plan was to go ahead with Slavia 1.5MT at this point. But next day Cars24 called me to tell me that considering this as a special case, they are ready to give complimentary insurance (3rd Party), so that I can take delivery. I went ahead, took planned delivery for same day.

Delivery was a non-exciting event, me and fiancee went to yard, casually checked the car, signed papers, finished the digital signs and stuff and Prashant handed over the keys to me. But we were all excited, driving up our first car of the life. We were driving up to my brothers place for short drive. From there we drove to Airport for a night drive, came back confirming car is giving wide grins on highways. We also decided to name it "Ujala", testifying its unique blue color. But we decided not to announce this to outside world before we checking the car with the 3rd party. If there were any red flags, plan was to return the car.


Pic: Delivery Day!

A special thanks to Prashant for being quite supportive and responsive as a sales rep, in this buying journey.

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Post Purchase checks and balances

Wheels Wisdom X Ray Inspection

Even though I spoke to owner, I thought I will make myself safe. So I went ahead with Wheels Wisdom for their X Ray used car inspection. I paid close to 6k for this, where they came picked up, tested the car in their garage, send me regular updates on my WhatsApp, dropped my car back on same day and send me a detailed report. Their report said that the brake rotors at front and pad had worn off (will require replacement), suspension bush kit is off and even identified the Ambition to Onyx conversion was a showroom job than factory. They also pointed at a possible long-term failure of turbo hose where cracks had developed (miss in Cars24 inspection). They pointed on the need of coolant change, they did confirm on absence of error codes, showroom service history, no accident history and my SA suggest keeping the car. They also found the co-driver seat belts are not self-retracting (other misses from Cars24 inspection). Report found convincing as it was in agreement with what we felt in first drive. Report was quite comprehensive, and it felt professional!

Ideally Cars24 was supposed to give me a serviced car which should be ready to drive for next 6 months at least -which was not the case. But I knew that I can't trust Cars24 blindly for their 200-point inspection/ refurbishment stories which they spoke about. Report from wheels wisdom was also confirmed our few findings from test drive of day one. I could have done this check before the purchase and used the result for further bargaining with Cars24. This was not done basically where I felt car was at a good price (rate sightings in these portals) and Cars24 for won't let car go out of yard for any inspection. Wheels wisdom did have a customer location inspection, but it is not as comprehensive as X-ray. Anyway, as Wheels Wisdom report didn't not flag major concerns, for which we decided to keep the car with us.

Wheels Wisdom Sample Report.pdf A sample of Wheels Wisdom Inspection Report

It is true that these use car platforms have democratized the used car space, working on top of used car mafias and fraud sellers. But experience has a long way to go in terms to call it hassle free, especially in the quality of cars and related premium they ask. They are finding it difficult to scale the process they advertise is what I felt - both for Spinny and Cars24. Platforms like Wheels Wisdom comes handy here and I feel the charge is worth, especially if you are getting a premium car or something.

WW also checked with Skoda on extended warranty of my behalf, and I got a quote of 21k for one year. I decided not to go ahead with this and check my luck. Cars24 gives 1 year warranty of powertrain components, 6 months on HVAC, ICE etc. Things like suspension, steering box, ABS sensor (where VAG is famous for failure) is out their warranty. Bottom line is, it's not equivalent to the OEM warranty and there are lot of "if" and "but". Make sure to read the fine print.


Service from Engineering Exponents

Once the report was out, Wheels Wisdom asked me if I am planning to take their membership, so that they can help with the servicing. But I had already made my mind to go with Engineering Exponents/ EE in Whitefield, thanks to the threads from Dr. Narain and the likes. EE is also walkable from my office and reviews told these guys work with passion. So I contacted Jayant on Instagram and got a slot. I asked them to go ahead with a comprehensive service replacing all fluids and filters, as I had my doubts on the grade of oil, liquids or even if servicing itself was happened in Cars24.

Damage to wallet from EE was close to 30k. I knew I went overboard with the replacements, but I did that to keep the peace of mind. Regarding by brake discs, even though WW told to replace it instead of skimming, Jayant suggested that replacement or even skimming is not necessary and to just go ahead with pad replacement. The nonfunctional fog lamps was just a loose connection, which Cars24 Mega Refurbishment Lab failed to find or correct. Again, speaks a lot about the refurbishment they do. Rakshit and Jayant at EE drove the car and told that car felt tight. It was a great experience in EE and later in Feb'24, we moved out of Honda and started servicing our City in EE.

Post EE's service car felt better to drive, throttle response was crisper, breaks were better, and suspension felt plusher. However the prices of the parts was expensive that Boodmo. Jayant clarified that he works with known suppliers as Boodmo tend to send fakes. Few catches from EE's service are occasionally brake make noises (is this typical Skoda VW trait?) and their wheel alignment was not perfect. Car had a left side pull and steering was mis aligned slightly, which I got corrected from a known shop in my hometown. But the car drove nice otherwise and Jayant is patient enough to clarify my queries any time I have it, which I highly appreciate.


Pic: EE Service Bill

My one miss here is I could have I actually gone to Skoda Authorized Service itself as the car was under warranty and service package, at that point. I kind of missed this point, blinded by what I heard of Skoda Horror stories. At least, this service could have been from them, just to feel how it is.

One notable mention from Cars24 was post purchase experience. All transfers, spare key delivery, documentations, RC delivery was notified through app on time, and I never had to interfere in this at any point. This part was truly hassle free.

Detailing from Detailing Mafia Whitefield

This was just before I leaving to my hometown for my marriage. I had a bad experience from here. I zeroed on this place looking at reviews and forum discussion but turned out to be unfortunate. I took their Shark Mafia plan with clay decontamination, clay, machine compounding and polishing etc. Though initial interactions were good and confidence inspiring, final workmanship was mediocre. I could spot only these after I reached the hometown, as I was rushing for wedding preps at that time. There were many polish marks and residual across the car. Majorly in panel gaps.

Based on interaction with them, I even considered doing a hood + bumper repaint followed by Ceramic coating from them sometimes after I comeback after wedding. But with the first-hand experience, I don't think I'll go back to them. I have anyway shared my feedback and they have told me that feedback is shared with management and will not let that happen. They have offered to get rid of compound marks, but I didn't go ahead with that. Got rid of those during my regular wash sessions.


Pic : Sample images of the white spots on the car.

[5252rpm]

Review

I honestly don't know if this section is required. Skoda VW 1.5TDI is enough discussed and reviewed multiple times across the threads in this platform. I'll just point out some of the quick feelings I have about the car. As I write, car has done almost 7000kms with me in last 6 months.

Engine is a hoot to drive. At City speeds its sluggish at start but once you get go its quick enough. In highways its quite ferocious. At mid-range is quite strong, cruising and accelerating is very easy. Claimed 0-100 comes under 10s. It's a long way for me, especially after driving WagonR for a decade. Cruising at expressway speeds is quite relaxing and quick overtakes requires not much effort. Once the turbo is on, its pulls clean till redline, like a petrol car. It does sound like a tractor outside but it's not so intruding with doors shut. Also, character is unlike 1.6TDI where it pulls like a locomotive. Here it is composed. I think diesel gate scandal related fixes had made engine to lose it charm, which makes me think of an immediate remap. A Wolf moto stage1+ map is likely to take it to 140hp and 320Nm torque, which will make it a little pocket rocket. This idea is parked for some time, as I am still enjoying the car's behavior. Will wait for the car to become boring!!

Transmission also shifts smooths with little, long throw. Clutch is on heavier side like VAG diesels. I definitely miss a 6th gear on this car, as car easily pulls to insane speeds at peak power rated rpms (4000) in 5th gear but 6th gear would have made cruising at those speeds little more composed and effortless.

Car's brakes are just enough with a late biting point which takes little time to get used to. It has adequate braking power but not confidence inspiring for the speeds it can achieve. This is also a factor which retracts me from doing a remap, as it would definitely require a brake update as well. Jayant from EE was suggesting a Brembo rotor + pads as a bolt on upgrade but will think in that lines when a remap is seriously considered.

I have been fueling only from CoCo/ Reliance / Nayara. Fuel efficiency is also reasonable, 13- 15 in City and 20-22 on highway. Highway spirited runs will take you range of 17-18s but no complaints here.

Ride and handling are to my liking. Due to stiff ride, large wheels and heavy built, the car is composed on high speeds. High speed maneuvers, lane change, curves etc. requires no major attention. Also on undulations, expansion joints etc., it keeps its calm which is a rejoice to push on. Steering is light at city speed and does tend to weigh up in highway speeds. This is not so supportive neither has best feedback at serious speeds. State highway speed limits are the best speeds where you can enjoy the handling. Steering is not so communicative like a hydraulic one I have experienced in the Figo. But being a flat bottom, it's nice to hold, feel and look at. I really like the stability at highway speeds, especially on those expansion joints, small undulation etc. where car has no drama whatsoever. This trait was missing in almost all cars I test drove for this purchase. Steering has reach and rake mechanism, which means I can find my right driving position as well. It's not a true multi-function wheel, missing controls to MID display. Buttons are only for changing audio, calls ,volume etc.

Suspension is on firmer side. You will know the nature of road underlying. Its comfier enough for highway but tends to make things evident on bad roads. Also makes thuds for event small potholes, which I am still learning the behavior. You need to slowdown heavily unlike Honda City or so to make those bumps, potholes less noticed. But for sake of stability on other hand, I'll let this go! Also, I am trying to run on 26-30 psi in city limits for extra comfiness. Btw, Skoda suggested pressure around 35psi, which will be suicidal for a car of this nature. Have driven 12-13hrs a day with a mix of state highways, mountains, national highways, roads, no roads - never had a sense of tiredness.

Air Conditioning Unit is working as far as expected and cooling is much better than Slavia test drive unit. But the throw at rear vents is really poor, making it sort of useless. ICE is okay to live with. Android Auto and Apple Car play hung up ones in a while, touch response is not seamless. Audio is strictly average with absence of tweeters, screams an upgraded. It would be great if the forum can suggest the best way to increase the sound experience on existing ICE (may be tweeter + subwoofer) without much damage to wallet.

Quality of plastics is a major concern, like VAGs of this era. The buttons, switches, vents etc. has no sense of strength, make you feel that it can fail of any time. It does not feel built to last. Infact, me and my passengers is successful in breaking 3 out of 5 AC vents adjustment mechanism in the car. Hand rest clip is broken. Otherwise, it's hard plastics everywhere and has no plush feeling as such, but yes this is essentially a 12-year-old outdated model. It looks pleasing and not cheap anyway but just that aged.
Also, I don't quite like the Skoda's Instrument cluster w.r.t to fonts, colors etc. but I have learnt that Maxi dot IC is a direct fit. Since it's an expensive affair, parked the idea. I like Jetta's IC (with that chrome ring and all), but is that a direct fit for Rapid? If that's the case, maybe I can try sourcing from used market.

Seats are quite supporting and accommodative for my 6ft frame. Interior space is not best in class and has that tunnel as well at rear. But it's a comfortable place to be in with all ergonomic contour running and perforated leatherette upholstery. Best for 4 people onboard. Rear passenger also loves that large rear headrest which is quite supportive.

ORVM is quite small and generates a large blind spot. You should literally look around rather than trusting ORVM, especially on highways. Planning to get a small blind spot mirror.

Wiper fluid is solid 5L tank, which makes the refill happening only once in 2 months or so, despite of daily driving.

One touch up down feature for all windows comes quite handy. But typical VAG trait, there are squeaks developing.

Headlight + Fog lamps does adequate lighting, enough for highway speeds. Headlight alone is not great though. Since a sedan, lights are quite low and hence not making much white light disturbance to oncoming traffic as well. Like any other LEDs, rain visibility is poor.

Boot is big enough for our 4/5 passenger's luggage.

Horns are not skoda type. Its screams an upgrade to match its legacy.

Tyres are just average, its Yoko Earth. Will consider Michelin/Conti CC5 for next upgrades.

ABS light is ON at the moment. It came on in March, disappeared and came back last week. My ELM327 can't find the defect, need to get it scanned with a powerful tool. This was expected anyway but I am confused about the replacement, should I go with OE or anything else?

Coolant level was close to min after 6k kms, which was a surprise. Infact, I don't recall checking coolant level even casually, but this was noted all of a sudden. Coolant replace was done in last service. Jayant from EE asked me to refill with distilled water and monitor. I have done 1300kms odd after the refill and so far, there is no trace of level drop.


So far, I've been loving the car and driving it around. There is a sense of pride in having this car and I keep looking at the car after I parked. Hoping to have pleasant experience throughout the ownership journey. I am aware that I took a risk of buying and old diesel German. Fingers crossed! Thanks for taking time to read till here, I'll continue updating the ownership saga. Also, thanks for to numerous threads and their contributors helping me loving and feeling the cars beyond machines, I am really grateful to all the esteemed forum members!

Sharing few pics of car for your viewing pleasure!


Pic: Pooja @Guruvayoor temple


Pic: Pooja at our Temple with my parents


Pic: She was part of our save the date shoot!


Pic: All dressed up for our wedding!


Pic: Somewhere around Gap Road.Eroute Pondy via Munnar


Pic: Somewhere in Coonor/Ooty

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[NiXTriX2004]

Nice thread. I really did love this shade of the Rapid. Wishing you many miles ahead. My experience with Spinny was pretty much the same as yours. Come to think of it, was the SCross 1.6 Alpha you were referring to Brown and also booked in Oct 2021 perhaps? If yes, I might have booked the same.

[gaurav.kokra]

Congratulations! VAG vehicles do have their fair share of 'Naatak' and need some pampering. But other than that, these vehicles are built to last. Robust and long life if taken well care of. I am sure you will find it hard to upgrade from this vehicle and will be addicted to the blend of power and mileage this engine offers. I too own a 1.6 TDI 2013 Vento.

Secondly, get the ABS sensors changed because these signals give wrong speed indications and trigger the auto door lock function. It could be possible that you left the keys inside with the vehicle on and the malfunctioning ABS sensors lock the car.

Thirdly, the ELM327 cannot read the ABS and Airbag Module. It can read all other codes. That is why you are not getting any error codes while scanning.

Fourthly, make sure you use diesel additives on a regular basis so that you dont encounter injector issues. I have also made it a point to idle the car 1-2 mins in the mornings for taking care of the inejctors.

Wish you happy motoring and a great memories with your ride.

[evilmessiah]

Nice thread! It was a good move getting it serviced at EE. I'm also getting my Figo serviced from there only. Those guys have a lot of experience dealing with VAG cars and are passionate about it. You should go for the Wolf remap and the big brake upgrade! Cleaning the EGR and blocking it along with the remap would be good for the car in the long run (My car literally felt like it woke up after sleeping for years after the EGR cleaning and remap). Enjoy the car and hope you have a lot of happy memories and long journeys on it!

[raptor_diwan]

Congratulations on your new car purchase! The Skoda Rapid's power, stability, and timeless design are sure to captivate anyone, especially with that alluring Lapiz Blue color.

[sanjeevs]

Congratulations on your new car coming home. This car though designed with old school mentality will be still a great car to drive which you have covered in detail. I must say that you have got a great eye for minute details which other wise would not be noticeable to a layman.
It will be great you you can provide the price range at which the car was purchased so that we can have some ballpark values to deal with.

[sachin_cs]

First of all a heartiest congratulations from a fellow Rapid owner on your purchase, Rapid is a one hell of a mile muncher and you will just love the experience for sure. I own a 2019 DSG and the car has been fairly reliable, the only problems I had to face was an ABS sensor going kaput once and battery going dead. That's that, nothing major so far, it has been a reliable workhorse so far. I'm really happy to see a fellow BHPian pick-up a Rapid that too in a delicious Blue colour.

[AKSarkar1]

As someone who has owned these cars for over 14 years now, I can wholeheartedly say that you have made an EXCELLENT choice with the purchase. Apart from the ABS sensor and maybe a couple of feeble plastic parts like the AC Vents the car is rock solid. Collectively I have put over 1L Kms across this model range and I wouldn’t choose any other car.

Simply put, the Vento/Rapid and the Polo were essentially European cars that made their way in the Indian market, to buy the current generation of the same car we probably will have to shell out exorbitant custom fees and what not. These cars were one of the few models that gave the average middle class Indian buyer a taste of driving a proper thoroughbred vehicle feels like.

All the very best and wishing you a minimum 1L happy Kms on your new car!