Paul MR

Hi Bidey, yes I did, weeks ago...Bump Stops... It made no difference to the car at all. I've just now had the car back from the dealership after 2 days worth of evaluation. The problem is not, spare tyre or lack of, not tailgate maladjusted, or lack of sound proofing, none of those. Its the suspension....the shock absorbers. I tried to tell them this weeks ago. My dealership asked Skoda if these could be replaced under warranty... guess what they said..., they said NO. Skoda will only do this if they get a large number of Rapid owners complaining about the same issue. I now have plans to elevate my complaint further, by-passing Skoda customer services completely...

I can't really see a trend emerging here with respect to who has what tyres and what road noise you have in your Rapid. From what I've recently read on the internet (i.e reviews) when the Spaceback was launched it had revised suspension settings compared to the standard Rapid at that time. Apparently the spec for the coil springs remained the same but the dampers fitted to the Spaceback are different i.e. softer. Most owners on here who have a Rapid registered in Sept 2013 or earlier do have the low frequency boom including me. I don't think the Spaceback suffers in the same way. It would be interesting to hear if any Spaceback owners on here have the same low frequency boom as some Rapid owners do.

Hi... The fix was something to do with the' bump stops' on the rear suspension, which didn't make any real difference to me. It was suggested by Skoda U.K. not the garage as I understand it, so they carried out the modification. This boomy noise/resonance that reverberates around the cabin is in my opinion just as much to do with the front suspension as the rear. The Rapid seems to be set-up to give a very firm ride, which is aggressively damped whether its shocks or coil springs or a combination of the two that contribute to this characteristic as some would call it in the rapid. I'll book the car in next week as the dealer Trust Skoda in Stourbridge has offered to look at it again, so they are at least trying to solve this issue for me.

Well, took the car back to the dealer this week to have a suspension mod done as per Skoda UK's recommendation. This was supposed to fix the low frequency/resonance noise/rumble, but it hasn't made things any better in my opinion. They have offered to look at it again, so I'll wait and see and decide after a few days. Also had both front doors fixed as they rattled/creaked when travelling over less than perfect road surfaces so that's a small step in the right direction. I think I need to test drive a newer rapid and compare that to the ride I'm currently experiencing in mine. My guess is that I'll notice an immediate difference and the lack of that annoying low frequency/resonance noise. From what I've been hearing the spaceback and newer production rapids don't suffer from this affliction. For those who are interested the modification was made to the rear suspension only. It only took 30 minutes to do so not a big job by any means.

Well to be honest, the problem that I and one or two others have may well be down to the build date of the car. Mine was first registered in Sept 2013, so the build date could be anything up to 6 months previous. If on the other hand you have a New Rapid with a reg'd date of Sept 2014 onwards (with a much later build date) then you may well not have the problem at all. My previous car was a 2011 Octavia SE with multilink suspension, and the ride quality/road noise couldn't be any different. Thus, when I started to drive the Rapid full time it was only then that I noticed the difference in its underpinnings and this intrusion of road noise into the cabin.

Hi All, Following on from my last post on here regarding this really annoying and uncomfortable noise/low frequency boom/reverberated sound that's transmitted through to the cabin over certain road surfaces, and those of us who have a rapid with this know only too well how bad it really is, I have some news. My Rapid is going back to the dealer next week to have some modifications done on the suspension or at least that is what I understand. When I've had the work done and have the necessary information, I'll assess whether its any better or any worse. At the moment I'm keeping an open mind. Stormchaser, Before I purchased my Rapid, I had two separate test drives and It wasn't until I had taken delivery of the car and had been driving it for a few days on familiar roads that the noise made itself apparent over a variety of differing road surfaces.You won't necessarily pick it up on a short test drive...

Hi, Took my Rapid back to the dealer yesterday. Went out with a skoda technician, we took the car around various roads in and around the Stourbridge area. Problem is, the roads around Stourbridge are pretty good and well repaired compared to the roads near where I live (some of which are poor) which I'm used to driving on. I could reproduce this low frequency booming sound/reverberation within the cabin yesterday but not to the extent that I could when driving around the roads nearer home. The technician simply advised that it was no worse or better than other Rapids he had driven, standard response from most motor dealers. The technician said he would send a report to Skoda UK regarding this issue and he also mentioned that new Octavia owners had also complained about the exact same problem, so they know that this is an issue that affects at least two current models within the Skoda range. Next step for me is to write to Skoda U.K. with a copy to the dealer outlining the nature of my complaint. It all seems to stem from the stiff suspension torsion beam setup at the rear of the car and it spoils an otherwise decent car apart from one or two build quality issues which are minor in comparison. I think the only way of getting any resolution on this is to report/write to your supplying dealer and Skoda U.K., the more owners that do this the better chance we stand of getting something done.

Hi all, Yes, I too have this low frequency booming resonating sound on my Rapid. Only had the car two days and its already becoming a pain! I think this problem is related to the suspension/chassis set-up and therefore the build date of the car. I personally don't think that changing the make of tyre your running on is going to make that much difference. I've had a few Skoda's and this is the first time I've picked-up on this sort of noise coming into the cabin. From what I can gather, if you have a fairly new rapid, you probably won't have the problem, but if your's like mine is about 12 months or older, then you could well have. Of course some people are going to me more sensitive to this sort of low frequency reverberation than others, I had two separate test drives in this car and still didn't notice the problem until I had taken delivery of the vehicle. I'm phoning the dealer tomorrow, then Skoda U.K. , if no joy i'll just sell it on.

Hi. I now have a rapid 1.4 TSI 122ps DSG with the greentech technology.. What you can do in traffic at say the lights is this: Put handbrake on, select neutral, take foot off brake. Not sure if engine cuts out, only had it a day so far, but it saves you having to keep foot on footbrake for any length of time. But as previously stated, if you pull up at the lights as normal, after a few seconds, the engine cuts. When the lights change to amber, as you take your foot off the footbrake, the engine re-starts, immediately so by the time your right foot hits the accelerator the car just pulls away as if nothing had happened, very smooth. Of course the stop-start can be disabled before each journey if required.

Hi, another question I have is how does the Greentech stop / start system work with the 7spd DSG auto box? Does it only kick in when you've applied the handbrake and moved the selector into N or P and if so when does engine re-start occur is it after you've put you foot back on the footbrake and moved the selector into D ready to drive off again?? I would like to hear comments from anybody who has experienced a rapid with this system with the DSG auto box.. Thanks

I'm also thinking about buying a used rapid 1.4 7sp DSG Auto. Can anybody tell me what to look out for and listen for when test driving a rapid with the 7Spd DSG box. How can you tell a good one from a bad one, as I have no experience with DSG auto boxes, Thanks

P.S. Has ayone else on here been unfortunate enough to have mis-fueled their diesel PD tdi engine?

Hi.. I put unleaded in the car instead of diesel. Three gallons of it, then drove home 1/2 mile and when I came to use the car to go out later that day it would'nt start, tried to start it three times and nothing. I then realised what I had done, hence calling out RAC to syphon off the petrol and clear fuel lines plus the diesel fuel filter. Car running fine now and have booked it into VW Audi garage to have a service and the fuel filter changed. Its something I won't do again for a long time, RAC man cost me £180. The thing is, I'm just waiting now to see what fails in the future as a result of mis-fueling. Car's only only done 10,000 miles. Thanks for replies....

Hi.. Can anybody tell me how to change the diesel fuel filter on a 57 plate Skoda Fabia 1.9TDI. According to the R.A.C man, its a ten minute job, no special tools needed, just a new filter and some spare diesel required. He's told me how to do it, but just wondering if anyome else has done it successfully? Thanks

Hi.. A DMF is a dual mass flywheel. Its part of the clutch assembly and its causing a lot of problems on some Skoda diesel engines right now. Its not normally fitted to petrol engine cars although I have heard that certain manufacturers are using them on petrol cars. In other words, if the 1.4TSI engine is fitted with a DMF I would leave it well alone!...