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Living with a Skoda Rapid DSG for 100000km: Ownership experience so far

29th November 2024, 11:55 by Dev Shah

When we bought the car back in 2019, I never thought that I would be using this as my daily driver.

BHPian sachin_cs recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

1,00,000kms and counting:

Dear DSG fence sitters, I’m happy to update that I have completed 1,00,000kms with my 2019 Skoda Rapid DSG. There has been no issues with the gearbox ‘yet’ and the car is still running on the original clutch plate. I will divide the post in three sections-

Experience with the car in the last 1L kms
Major Updates
Pros & Cons after long-term ownership

A. 1,00,000kms in Skoda Rapid DSG:

When we bought the car back in 2019, I never thought that I would be using this as my daily driver. The purpose was to use it during our weekend trips or long road trips we take each year, because we had hatches to take care of the city duties. Due to change in many aspects of family life like transfers, new venture, change in responsibilities etc, I ended up using the Rapid as my daily, I take it to my office, library, outing with friends & family, grocery shopping, road trips… you get the gist right. We also have an official Tata Sumo & a 2019 Kwid as a beater, but I hardly use them, most of the time I end up using our Rapid, even in city, mostly because of two reasons 1. I feel more comfortable in taking my big car to small spaces (Kwid by design has lots of blind spots so visibility is not as good as rapid) 2. Rapid is cheaper to run, yes you read that right- 17 kmpl vs 24 kmpl that too on a cheaper fuel. As a result, Rapid has done 1,00,000km and Kwid has done 49k kms in almost the same ownership period.

B. Major updates:

1. Rear Sachs struts were replaced:

For those of you, who have been following my thread and BHPian Tuisha110’s thread would be aware of a problem we were facing. There was a distinct thud noise in the rear especially over minor bumps. I was in touch with Tuisha110 and the seller GermanCart for the same, since the BHPian had good review after the rear shocker replacement, I requested the Germancart guy to ship me the new shockers too. I got them in a week and got them fitted. It was a 30 minute job as the rear ones are relatively easier to install. Post installation, I have done 5000kms and I’m happy to report that the new shockers are definitely quieter. I must say that I’m impressed by the service provided by the seller, he didn’t even ask a question and sent me the new shockers and took the headache of dealing with Sach India upon him. I have not got an update since if the company honored the warranty or not. So far, I’m happy with the Sachs setup on my car, the handling and the dynamics have really transformed. The other day I was driving to my work in the morning, it was an NH with a speed limit of 80kmph & I was doing 83kmph in the fast lane, a baby cow jumped in front of my car at 2 car lengths. I slammed on the brakes! Steered towards the left, got off the highway and joined back, my heart beat shot and it took a while to understand what exactly happened. I thank my stars that everyone was safe and it established the importance of maintaining your suspension, brakes and tyres in good shape. No matter how safe your vehicle is, how many gizmos it has, if the basics are not right, it’s of no use. I also saw the ESP light flashing in the instrument cluster and the combination of ESP-Michelin Tyres-Sachs shocker saved me that day. My faith in sedans have grown even stronger, I can’t imagine what would have happened if I was driving a high C.O.G. car with bad dynamics and sloppy handling.

2. Timing Kit & Water Pump replacement along with coolant flush:

There was confusion on the replacement interval of the timing kit, Skoda A.S.S. told to get it replaced at 90k mark while the user manual said 120k kms. Since it’s a critical part and it’s better to replace it proactively, I decided to get it replaced at 100k mark to celebrate the occasion and burn some money on the car ownership. This year has been the most expensive car maintenance year for me- fixed dents & scratches, 50k + suspension upgrades, zero dep insurance with all the add-ons & now 25k for timing-water pump and 9k on coolant flush. It has already crossed 1L this year and there’s still 4 months to go, not counting the fuel bills.

Because of the earlier saga of scratches on my door when I left the car, I decided to take a day off & stay next to my car and I literally stood next to my car in the workshop when the mechanic was working on my car. I was told that the car would be returned the same day but it wasn't, I was okay with it because I didn’t want them to do a hastily job anyways. Changing timing kit and water pump is a complex task and it’s best you get it done from right place. It needs removal of wheels, disconnecting axel, removing engine mounts, lifting or rather tilting the engine on a jack and then you get the access to water pump. Timing & pump were replaced by evening and then started the coolant flush job, Skoda sells the 2 flushing liquid for ~ 6k. The point of getting coolant flushed was because I could see the coolant turning black and also the coolant reservoir started developing black deposits. Process was- drain the coolant, mix the liquids and pour it in the coolant tank, drive for 30-40kms and then drain. Repeat the process with water till the water gets clear. I went on a drive with the mechanic, the senior mechanic told us to drive for 40kms but the the guy I was with said 20kms is good enough. During the drive, the coolant temperature increased to 95, it usually stays at 90. We got back and the refilling-draining process went on and I realized that I’m not getting my car back the same day. As usual, the courtesy car was not available, so I asked them drop me at a friend’s place and I borrowed her car for a day. The next day I went to the service center and the car was ready, definitely an improvement over the previous service experience as the car was cleaned much better. Cleared the bill of ~33k and asked them to drop the car at my friend’s place because I was driving her car.

The Coolant flush made in Germany

Comes in two bottles, you have to mix them before pouring in the car

Pampering your car is not cheap

Once you mix these two, bubbles emerge like the ones you see in carbonated drinks

The ticking time bomb called Water Pump

You may notice the jack on the underside of the engine

Rust and debris coming out after coolant flush

Saw this Kodiaq, looks like it skipped legs day

3. Headlight Condensation:

My happiness was short lived though, when the chauffeur parked the car at my friend’s place, I noticed heavy condensation on the front-left headlight. It was clearly not there when I dropped my car, I immediately called the service advisor and he connected me with the technician who worked on my car. The technician informed that he used the pressure gun to clean the radiator, which has probably resulted in the moisture seeping into the headlight. Spoke to the managers and they asked me to come back. Since it was late and I had already devoted 2 days to my car, I decided to keep a watch on the headlight and then take a call because condensation on German cars are normal. Waited for 3 days but the condensation was too much & was not going away on it’s own, despite me using the headlights throughout, decided to drive back to the showroom and let them do the troubleshooting. They opened the bumper and removed the headlight & checked for physical damages, there was none, blew high pressure air inside the headlights assembly and the condensation was gone. Fitted back the headlight and I drove back home (35kms) and while I was parking the car, I saw the condensation was back . I immediately called my ASM and explained him the ordeal, he said he will connect with Skoda India and wait for their directions. We discussed the warranty procedures as well because in case of replacement, I will have to leave my car for few days again. He called me back the next day and said the Skoda India has advised to drive the car with headlights ON and dust cap removed in clean environment. They said if there’s no physical damage or fault, they can’t replace the headlight right away. I decided instead of giving back the car to the service center again and live without a car, I took their advice and started troubleshooting it by my own. I was not comfortable with driving the car without dust cap, so what I did, I drove the car for 90 minutes in the night, engine became proper hot, returned back home and parked the car in closed parking and left the headlight in ON position with the dust cap removed. Repeated this process for 3 days and the voila! The condensation is gone for good, however the condensation has left some water marks on the headlight lenses but I’m just done with it, don’t want to fiddle it anymore as I have already given way too much time on my car. Regarding the service center experience, I would say the managers were supportive throughout, they tried to do their best and it was better than the previous time. However, I was not satisfied with the workmanship of the technicians and the turnaround time, they clearly need to be more careful with cars. Overall it was 8/10 experience, not the best but not bad either.

C. List of likes and dislikes after 1L kms with the car:

Likes:

No rattles even after 1L kms of abuse on Indian roads, can’t say the same about new gen cars from Skoda/VW
Great NVH levels and if the roads are good, you don’t feel the speed much, it masks speeds very well.
Comfortable cruiser for the long journeys, I have done many trips like Hyderabad, Nagpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, South Bastar etc. but it eats roads for breakfast.
Whenever we see a new car, my Mom judges the boot space of the car by keeping Rapid as a benchmark. It is that good.
Efficiency, getting 23-24kmpl is a piece of a cake for this engine gearbox combination. I don’t get the logic that we are killing diesel engines which do double the distance than the petrol counterparts for same amount of fuel. Are we not doing more pollution by burning double the fuel in gasoline vehicles for the same distance? For e.g. the car I borrowed from my friend is a petrol automatic and it gave 13.1 kmpl on the same roads where I drive my Rapid.
Performance is surprisingly good even by current car’s standards, just a small dab on the A-pedal and the diesel locomotive pulls cleanly. It’s one thing to produce 110BHP/250NM but what matters more is that how you put that power down! Heisenberg does a great job here.
Strong body panels! This car doesn’t lose shape over time, i.e. it doesn’t pick small dents easily. Just for example, the Honda, Maruti, Renault we have at home/relatives, their body-line is not clean, there are a lot of unevenness and small dings.
Handling-braking combination is great, more so after the suspension mods. The modern day car feels like toys when it comes to handling prowess of this old beauty.
Straight line stability is amazing and the car feels in control almost all the time. I have noticed that we tend to cover the distance faster whenever we travel in the Rapid. I guess that explains the name
Good glass area inside the cabin makes it airy. AC performance has been satisfactory and I feel that the 1.5 TDi has better AC performance than 1.5 TSIs
Great ergonomics, everything falls in place. On the other hand, I feel really weird when I drive Renault cars, French & Italians have messed up egos for sure.
Sense of safety, we always prefer our Rapid whenever we are out on the highway. Skoda has a proven track record on safety and it comes with a host of safety features like- ESP, Airbags, Hill Hold Assist, EDS (Electronic Differential). ESP was not a common feature when we bought the car and I can’t put enough emphasis on the fact that how vital feature it is, it saves the car from losing traction during high speed emergency maneuver. It has saved us from strays many times.
The combination of stiff suspension, great body control and good glass area makes it a great car for people with motion sickness. Put my family in the rear seat of Scorpio, Sumo, Bolero, old Verna, 1st gen alto, City etc. and you will be in for some nasty surprise. I have got the bragging rights that in the last 5.5 years, no one has puked in our car, nor has felt any motion sickness.

Dislikes:

Expensive! This was something I didn’t realize initially but the maintenance can get really high when you rake up miles. Majority of the parts are made in EU, be it ABS sensors, water pump or other child parts. Localization was low for these models and they are very costly to replace.
This year itself I have spent more than 1L on maintenance (service, suspension, water pump-timing kit), DSG clutch/mechatronics are yet to throw an error but I have mentally prepared myself to embrace future expenses on them.
Ground clearance can be a challenge in not so perfect roads, I had 2 underbody hits recently one in Kashi & other in remote area of Jharkhand-CG border
Compared to Hyundai-Kia diesel engines, the VW TDI is on the noisier side, especially on the low rpms
Headlights are crap, they just look good with DRL & projectors but they don’t serve the purpose at night.
Service is a hit or miss. I’m having love-hate relationship with my dealer here, many a times my car was damaged when I left it in the service centre. They need to invest on skill development of their mechanics, they are no longer working on a roadside workshop where in you are opening door trims using screwdriver instead of prying tools
Availability of spare parts- since the car is not in production, you need to place orders to get parts. E.g. I had to wait for water pump, abs sensors, ORVM knob, air filter! Right, even air filter was not available.
Low ingress/egress is becoming a problem for my aging parents. We might have to join the bandwagon of so called suvs unfortunately
The biggest problem- what should be the next upgrade? Rapid has set a very, very high benchmark.

Below are some small updates that I could not post here because of paucity of time & procrastination: