Thecko

Stop/Start maybe?

Ah, yeah, I'm on the standard size tyres with mine, also I rarely need to take passengers on shorter journeys and at least once every 2 months I seem to end up doing a return trip or two to my sister's in south wales which I get epic economy on. There are absolutely loads of factors to take in to account when trying to explain economy and to decide whether it's good or bad. I don't know what it is, but a combination of geography, my driving style and who knows what else has meant that all three of my cars (Mk4 Fiesta, Mk1 Fabia 1.4 mpi and now the Rapid) so far have seen me getting pretty much bang on what the govt mpg figures are for the car. Personally I'd say if you're within 10-15% of the official figures then that's good after taking traffic, terrain and load in to account.

Very few 'short journeys' (most of my drives are at least 20 miles long whether it's to work, or a trip to visit family, etc), and the patience to just do 60 on the motorway when you're driving to work. That's it. I suppose it also helps that I'm in the North West which is actually very flat compared to other parts of the country so my engine will be working less hard to make it's way up hills all the time. And yes, I have the 1.2 105PS TSI, not the TDI

On fuelly make sure you click on the UK units near the fuelly logo on the top left, otherwise you'll be seeing miles per US gallon, which is smaller than a UK gallon. I definitely do lose economy in November/December And probably will once I fill up next as well, traffic jams going to and from work every day so far on this tank :(

I've found I mostly lose economy because I seem to always end up working right near a big shopping centre/district which causes ridiculous traffic jams heading towards christmas. The new job this year is probably going to be no exception as I'm working right near John Lewis in Cheadle

I can't say I've experienced any booming noise in mine (bought in May last year), there is certainly a bit of tyre noise on rough surfaces though so it could be a case of how sensitive your hearing is to particular frequencies? In any case, one poster who's had this issue fixed it himself by putting some foam on the parcel shelf, I think that was an Octavia 3 from memory so could be worth looking in that section.

Depends who's going in the back I guess. I've driven with my sister's twin girls plus 1 adult in the back a few times with no grumbles or complaints from the back, but I think 3 adults in the back for more than short journeys would certainly be a bit more uncomfortable. It's a stretch to describe it as a 4 seater though, how wide are your friends?

lol. Yeah because we've all get a vested interest in lying where-as dealers don't I've done 20k+ miles in mine, haven't had to put a drop of extra oil in.

Not surprised - Apple appear to have updated the iOS accessory protocol at the same time as the connector change, and them being them, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's not backward compatible. Meaning even if you put a cable together, it probably won't work.

Also, I don't know if you've ordered the cable yet, but don't go with the temptation to buy one of the ones that look a little more slimline, you need the type that looks to be a bit more bulky where the two cables meet in to the one. I won't bore you with the technical details of why but something like this one should do the trick http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-iPod-iPhone-iPad-Y-Cable-USB-to-AUX-Interface-Lead-SU41-UK-/221151080488?pt=UK_MP3_Player_Accessories_Cables_Adapters&hash=item337da1b028

They still have that image on the Rapid section of the SUK website? Lol I contacted them when I got my Rapid telling them that the image was wrong and they replied thanking me for pointing it out and that they'd sort it ... epic fail! A cheap cable off eBay should sort you out for the iPod providing your iPod has the old wide apple connector, I'm not sure the new thunderbolt connector will be compatible even if you found a cable claiming to work. I'm using an old 4th gen iPod nano at the moment, bluetooth to the phone also works but does not support media control (track selection etc) so is useless to me.

Didn't see many Rapids on the road when I got mine but I'm seeing more and more of them now, tend to see at least two during my morning commute now (I'm not paying enough attention to notice if it's the same two I see every morning )

The 1.2 tsi is very good for economy, most people are reporting returning mid 40s or above with a mix of driving styles and road conditions.

I can't say I've ever noticed anything like this but I *do* have a spare in there, thus preventing it acting like a boom box?

So the moral of the story, if you want to haggle, be prepared to walk away