CS45

Thank you, that’s who I’ve ended up going with because they were really quick and helpful on the messaging service. I’ll update once I receive it.

Hello, I’ve been looking at upgraded head unit options for my 2013 Rapid, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the RCD330 Noname 187B from AliExpress is the best option. The two questions I have now are how much ill get charged on import duties, and which seller to go for. The main ones seem to be Lemon Shark, Aidu Auto and Lexucar. Which seller did you buy from and how was your experience? cheers

Sounds good! The reason I asked is because, as you said, they seem to have a lot in common, so I was interested to see how a Rapid/Toledo owner would find it. Cheers for the response.

Out of interest, what do you think of your Suzuki Baleno overall?

Yeah I agree, and what I like about MG’s EVs is that they’re just cars that happen to be electric. Completely unpretentious and functional. MG seems to be the only brand that gets that EVs aren’t a novelty. Did they ever sort out the confusion about the roof rails on the 5?

Well it seems there’s lots of decent options emerging. Personally I find VAG’s (among others) EV strategy really odd in that they’re developing whole new models for their EV range which then need new marketing, branding etc rather than making electric versions of the nameplates people know and love. Everyone knows what a Golf is and what sort of thing to expect, whereas no one knows the ID3 yet, even though that is very similar to the Golf. I think the strategy Peugeot and Vauxhall are using makes more sense, but I guess time will tell. That being said, I do really like the ID3.

These look great! I love little mods like this. How do you find the Heko wind deflectors? I’ve been looking at some for my notchback and these look great.

LONG POST WARNING Hi everyone, I’ve had my 2013 Rapid for a few months now, and other than a couple of electrical glitches that are getting fixed under warranty, I have little to complain about. Except for one thing: The drivers seat comfort is god-awful. I don’t know if it’s just me that’s experiencing this or it’s my particular car, but after even a short journey, I’d find myself getting an ache in my right thigh, a stiff lower back, and shin splints. I have looked online and a couple of owners reviews and a long term review also mentioned that they found the seat hard and one said they always felt as though they were sitting on something. I’ve been trying to work out what the issue is, and from what I can see, it’s a perfect storm of a few things. Firstly, the pedals position is bizarre. They’re heavily offset to the right, and each one is at a very different height, most notably the accelerator is further back than the brake. This means that during normal driving, a lot of pressure is put on my right upper thigh, which is pressed into the seat. This leads to the next issue, which is that the seat is very firm, there isn’t much cushioning, and at the back of the seat, there’s a large drop from the aggressive bolster into the flat base. I’ve also looked under the fabric, and in the place where my backside is pressed into the seat by the awkward pedal placement there is a gap between the foam with long piece of plastic to create the shape in the fabric. Moreover, the seat doesn’t offer much under thigh support, and it probably doesn’t help that I have quite large thighs that mean I end up sitting slightly on the bolster. Either way, it was unbearable, and a massive disappointment after the MK2 Fabia I had, where the seats and pedals were perfect for me. This gave me an idea, as when I looked at the seats in the Fabia compared to the Rapid, it was clear the Fabia had way more cushioning as the base was about 50% thicker, and it was also slightly less aggressively bolstered, flatter and had more under thigh support. To try and replicate this in the Rapid, I added an ordinary square house cushion, and a memory foam car seat topper to add some shape. This helped, but they would often move about leading to an uncomfortable position. I decided to try my luck with some tailored seat covers from eBay to go over the cushions. I went with these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TAILORED-SEAT-COVERS-for-SKODA-RAPID-2012-2018-full-set-/184279152716 I’ll be honest I wasn’t really expecting much of the ‘tailored’ claim given how cheap they were, (£60) but as you’ll see from my later pictures, the fitment is actually very good. I started with the drivers seat. The cover is one piece, and it just slides over the seat. It has a flap which can be pulled through the gap between the backrest and the base, and around the whole cover there are elastic loops, which can be secured using the included length of string or metal hooks. Luckily, the cover stretched over the cushions I had in place so I passed the loops for the cover base through the cushion’s buckles securing the cushion in place. These then stretched under the seat and could be hooked to the metal structure. Once all hooks were in place, the cover was pulled nice and taut. I did the same for the passenger seat albeit without the extra cushions. I then did the rear, which did seem a bit like an afterthought compared to the surprising excellent fronts, with less precise holes and less well thought out securing locations. Regardless, after some questionable handiwork with the string, they were secured and in place. And here are the end results: Rear Bench As you can see, the drivers seat does look slightly strange with the large lump from the extra cushions, but once you sit on it, the sides of the seat cushion topper rise to give just enough bolstering and shape, while the house cushion beneath it makes the seat wonderfully soft and comfortable. Actually, it makes the seat feel more like the Fabia’s. A little bonus of these covers is that they say Elegance on them, matching the car’s trim name. Overall, I’m really happy with the results. Partly because the covers look great and they fit very well, (and I’d definitely recommend them) but mostly because I can now enjoy driving the car without getting pain from it. Sorry for the rant and the fact that this has been a long post, but the seat discomfort has been really winding me up for the whole time I’ve had the car so this seems like a massive win to me. Cheers

UPDATE: I installed this TPMS kit. The external sensors are a bit ugly, but it seems to do a good job and it’s a neat and easy kit aside from that. It has a display with a solar panel that attaches to the windscreen that wakes up when it detects vibration like a door closing.

That’s a great guide! It seems as though yours split in a different place as mine, as mine has the corner that goes behind the plastic cover next to the height adjustment handle, but by the looks of it this method will work for me as well, cheers!

Wow, that is astonishingly tight. I did look for Toledos, but they were much more scarce with a TSI and within budget. I have to say the Rapid is a very strange car in terms of penny pinching. My car has 4 electric windows, but they aren’t automatic unlike my old Fabia and they couldn’t even stretch as far as putting buttons for the rear windows on the drivers door. It also has luxuries such as voice control, yet no mirror in the sunvisor. Very strange. Never mind, thanks anyway, gradually I’ll get used to the Rapid’s quirks and in the mean time I’ll order an external TPMS kit. Cheers

Hello, I’m wondering if I’m just being stupid, but my Rapid Elegance doesn’t seem to have TPMS. I can’t find any settings for it in the Maxidot, and there’s no button by the hand brake like the manual suggests. Am I missing something? I’d be amazed if a top spec Rapid doesn’t have it when my 60 plate Fabia GL2 had it.

I have the same issue, the back corner seems to have come away from wherever it’s meant to be behind the plastic cover. I don’t notice it though because I’ve just put a couple of seat cushions over it because I find the seat base quite firm anyway. Im afraid I’m not sure how you’d fix it though. Good luck

Thanks for your help, it has been behaving itself since I did that a few weeks ago. However, the Škoda dealer have found a door seal that needs replaced, I’m not sure which one though. I have noticed that the one on the car where the door meets the B-Pillar is split, so I’d hope that’s the one they’re fixing. Can’t imagine that would cause the doors to fill up though, so I’ll keep your advice in mind in case it happens again. Have you had any rust issues as a result of the watery doors?

Yes I did see a couple of DSGs for sale but avoided them for that exact reason. They are the 7Speed dry clutch if I remember rightly? Also I’m not keen on the behaviour of the dsg at low speeds in my parents VW Transporter T6

Thanks, I’ll take a look

Hello, I’m looking at upgrading to an RCD330 (from Aidu Auto on AliExpress) in my 2013 Rapid Elegance and I was wondering if some people could share some knowledge as there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of info about doing it on a Rapid/Toledo. I currently have the swing with Bluetooth, maxi dot, rear park sensors, voice control and multi function steering wheel. Will the RCD330 work with the cars existing features that I just listed? Should it be able to connect right up to the existing harness? How do you connect to CarPlay? Is it through the existing USB port? Anyone had any issues or things I should be aware of? Cheers

I’m not sure which part they’re doing in this case, the bottom door seal or the window seal. Either way, they know full well it’s a design fault, I don’t know what it is with UK VAG dealers and playing stupid about common issues.

Thanks for the reply, it should be going in to my local dealer for a new cruise control switch and a door seal next week. The cruise control will be covered under warranty (thankfully because it’s pretty expensive), but the door seal won’t be because the warranty doesn’t cover water ingress. I understand that it’s a part that could become less effective with age, but it is a bit annoying given that it is a common issue. The service tech I spoke to said he’s never seen it before working on Toledo’s, although I find that hard to believe seeing as Škoda even issued a new design. Never mind, at least the cruise isn’t costing me to fix, and the car is a delight apart from that. Out of interest, which engine did yours have?

So far I’ve only come across one unusual spec omission which I assume they changed on later models : the driver can’t control the rear electric windows... there’s no switches for them in the front, even though it has them in the back. Such a strange form of cost cutting. Yes the doors are a strange problem and one you’d expect them to discover when testing given how widespread it was. I’ll not try and fix it myself just yet as I’m hoping to have it fixed under warranty, which leads me to a question: can you use that approved used warranty at any Škoda dealer? I don’t fancy taking an hour and a half journey to the dealer I bought it from for some simple little issues when I’ve got a dealer nearby.

Hello, a few days ago I upgraded from my 2010 Fabia Combi Greenline2 to a 2013 Rapid 1.2 TSI 105 Elegance in gorgeous petrol blue. I’m loving it so far but I have noticed a couple of issues which I’ll be contacting Škoda to have fixed under its 12 month warranty : 1) Cruise control not working properly as it often won’t engage, will disengage itself, and speed can’t be adjusted without it disabling itself, Carista found a fault code for the cruise control switch. 2) Drivers door filled with water, I’ve heard this is common, and I drained it by gently lifting the seal at the bottom of the door. Other than that, I think it’s excellent, feels very quiet and refined, especially compared to the 1.2TDICR in my Fabia, and the fuel economy is pretty decent as well. I do have some questions though: 1) Is there any way of changing tracks in the car when using Bluetooth audio? (Other than using Siri) I have the cluster maxidot and mfsw with the swing system, and all of the phone’s functions work well apart from skipping tracks. I understand this feature is possible using MDI, but this was temperamental enough on the Fabia so I can’t be bothered trying it on the Rapid, and Bluetooth integration is great aside from not skipping tracks. If it’s not possible, I’ll get one of those Bluetooth controller buttons, but just curious if anyone found out any other ways of doing it. 2) Doing little Carista changes like the dial sweep and audible locking confirmation won’t void my warranty will it? 3) Is there anyway of stopping the doors filling up? As it seems to be a common issue it seems likely it will start doing it again after I’ve had it fixed at the dealer. 4) Anyone who’s bought an approved used Škoda before, did yours have a service before it was delivered? Are they meant to come with a service? Mine hasn’t. cheers

Hi @deerslayer you’d only really be able to notice at lower speeds, but the telltale signs are that the cooling fan runs, the car idles at around 1200rpm, the start stop system doesn’t activate, the fuel consumption may be a bit worse, and on the outside you may smell a hot, burning smell. Another sign I’ve noticed on my 1.2TDI is a subtle change in the sound of the engine.

No worries, I’m happy to host!

No worries, either way I’m going to look into both options, also the MoT is in February so I may well wait and see how the rest of the car is holding up then before I make a decision.

Thanks for your advice, what you said lines up with what I heard about these engines previously, which is what I was referring to at the start of this topic when I mentioned huge repair bills, so I would assume that the 2.0tdi mentioned by sepulchrave is a much different and easier job. It was my understanding that the smaller TDI’s were much more of a challenge, which you and the other replies here seem to confirm. Again, thanks for your help, as well as the others who’ve replied so far.