Never mind the fondling. The plastics are truly awful.

Because they're not soft to touch when fondling your car. We get it. Personally I'd rather have something that's a bit durable and isn't going to melt in to a sticky mess after a few years. To each their own.

18k for a Rapid or similar cash for a Mk7 Golf. No contest!

I'd agree there. If I had £18k to spend right now on a brand new car then a Golf S with the 1.6 TDI would definitely be on the 'to investigate' list... But then again, the 1.2 TSI SE Rapid would also be on that list.

I agree on the point about the 1.2TS. Reasonable buy as a budget car.

As Auric Goldfinger pointed out " should have gone to specsavers " is what i say to" Bluecar 1 "

I say to Bluecar 1 , go into a KIA showroom and take in the superb range of motor cars / prices / spec , before making judgment

couple of guys at work have hyundia's (i20's) and they seem better quality inside than the rapid i sat in

not many people seem to have picked up on something i noticed very quickly

front seating position seem about 4-6 inches nearer the screen than other skoda's giving an impression of less cabin space for the front seat driver and passenger

if you look at the dimension images on the skoda website look at where the steering wheel is pictured on a rapid compared to fabia or octavia, also when sat in the rapid, look at how little the distance is from the front of the instrument cluster to the edge of the windscreen

that to me explains a lot, they have compromised front space to increase boot space, even the citigo feels bigger to me as there is plenty of room between me and the screen

I say to Bluecar 1 , go into a KIA showroom and take in the superb range of motor cars / prices / spec , before making judgment

Which one are you looking at? The Cee'd seems to be priced more likely to compete with the new Octavia, except is smaller than the Rapid and with old-tech engines.

I would not worry, i think the prices may drop once Skoda realise no one are buying them !

The ones that are brought i feel will not hold there value and so there will be some very good second hand prices in a couple of years.

I'm not so sure.

The MkIII Octavia will be priced higher than today's car which will make the Rapid look to be better value.

Once the Fabia is replaced too (and sees a price increase) the Rapid (and its prices) will have a more defined niche.

As I said before, the days of cheap Skoda's are all but over.

I hope I'm wrong, I just wish people who now buy Skoda's went back to their Vauxhall's, Ford's and PSA cars leaving the cheap Skoda's for the exclusive purchase of 'those in the know'!

You don`t need to fondle your car, but soft-touch plastics in dashboard and doors just feel so much better when YOU HAVE TO TOUCH those sometimes. Those hard plastics make the car feel cheap and cold. Rapid just looks cheap and old from the beginning.....