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Upgraded from my Maruti Alto to a used Skoda Rapid 1.6 diesel

14th February 2022, 14:07 by Dev Shah

The Rapid felt solid/safe, and was confident enough to overtake with ease. The 1.6 diesel engine is such a gem.

BHPian ash22 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Upgrade story:

We have a 2007 Alto that has completed 1.2 lakh kms, and has been reliable and city friendly. With occasional highway trips popping up, we were in need of a safe/spacious diesel car.

Options considered:

Keeping a budget of upto 10 lakhs, only the Tata Altroz XM+ diesel was coming in our budget, and we needed to stretch our budget by a couple of more lakhs for the Venue/Sonet/Nexon.

Post multiple test drives and rounds of family discussions, we settled for the Altroz XZ diesel and booked the car in December 2021.

We were planning for 5 lakhs down payment and another 6 lakhs in loan.

Inspiration for a used car:

My friend bought a 2011 Jetta 2.0 diesel DSG (1.1 lakh kms done during the purchase) for 3 lakhs, and spent around 1 lakh in running repairs/complete restoration and all mechanical works at German Motor Works Chennai. Post which the Jetta was taken out for all their highway runs. Surprisingly, the Jetta completed 25k kms in a year which included multiple Chennai-Goa / Chennai-Mumbai / Chennai-Bangalore runs. I was just surprised to see a decade-old German car running like a workhorse.

Wildcard entry :

I was casually browsing OLX/Cars24 etc on a Sunday afternoon and came across a 2014 end Skoda Rapid 1.6 diesel for 4.6 lakhs (with a dealer). Just shared the ad with my friend who owns the Jetta. He immediately asked me to take a look, With so many Skoda horror stories and expensive repairs running in my mind, I went for a casual test drive. Since it was a 7-year-old German car, I was as expecting rattles/oil leaks etc.

Just one test drive that changed the perspective:

The Rapid was washed and was standing in the parking bay. This was the first look of the car.

The paint quality was excellent with all factory finish. No dents/repaint was done.The outlook was neat which gave a good impression.

Driving impression:

As soon as I slot the key and and gave half crank, the diesel mill powered up. The engine noise was minimal in idling and not much roughness/misfires. No Christmas lights on the dashboard console. This was a positive sign, and I took the car from the parking and went directly to the nearest bunk and filled 5 liters of diesel. As soon as I started the car, I was ready for a long test drive.

The car felt like home within a few minutes, and the seating posture etc. was comfortable. I took a test drive from MRC Nagar to ECR Akkarai, a total of 35 km. The MID was showing an average of 19 kmpl. The power on tap was enormous. Didn't feel like a 70k kms run car.

The Rapid felt solid/safe, and was confident enough to overtake with ease. The 1.6 diesel engine is such a gem. Handling and braking were sharp as expected. Didn't express any of these to that dealer, Left the car at the dealer, and came back home informing the dealer that I will get back to him later.

Final call:

A round of discussions happened the next day within our family with so much of opposition for a used car and that too a used Skoda. Reason being eing our family cars were from the Maruti stable (Zen to Alto).

Somehow this Rapid was in my mind and I was not able to sleep properly that night. With the known injector issues/ABS failures/hard clutch/water pump failures at 70k kms, I was not mentally prepared to buy a used Skoda.

Did some finance allocation and a quick comparison between the booked Altroz and this Rapid:

No car loan since this Rapid came within our cash budget of 5 lakh.
No diesel BS6 DPF issues etc.
If reliability is a major issue, even some new TATA Altroz had oil leaks reported on our forums too.

The next day morning, I went to the dealer again and took another test drive. This time, my wife was with me for the drive. She liked the car, rear seating was comfortable with rear AC Vents and it was a green signal from her.

Delivery day:

Not much drama. Post negotiations with the dealer, we settled for a price. Did a quick PDI, checked papers, transferred the amount to the dealer, and took delivery of the Rapid.

Rapid service:

From the dealer, I went directly to German Motor Works for the checkup. Did a complete round of checks and below works were suggested:

All fluids flushed and replaced, Filters replaced.
Timing kit, water pump, belts replaced.
AC serviced and blower motor replaced.
Tyres and battery was a year old and didn't need replacement.

Total cost from my pocket:

2014 Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Elegance (70,000 kms): Rs. 3,90,000.
Insurance: Rs. 14,000.
Paper works (Name transfer): Rs. 2,000.
New key case: Rs. 1,000.
Service (parts + labour): Rs. 47,000.
Jopasu & other basic cleaning kits: Rs. 1,000.
Total: Rs. 4,55,000.

Take away:

We have completed 1500 km to date post service, and the drive has been cheerful and blissful.
With the 4.55 Lakhs on road for Rapid, I can't even get a new Alto 800 in 2022.
German cars when maintained well, will serve well.
Yes, spares are not cheap and it is 20% to 40% costly over competitors. I was aware of this and mentally prepared.
I was prepared to keep a buffer of 1 lakh cash for the Rapid's spares and service.
Find a competent FNG and you can never say a German car is unreliable.

Signing off with a few pictures: