High list prices and big discounts (like VAT...) might be good when you get down to the actual price (makes you think you got a bargain), but its a pain for company car drivers (like me) as we get taxed on list price, not purchase price...

Yep - I know it might seem like an easy life to some, but paying for a work tool (95-98% of my mileage is company business) does gripe at times especially when you're paying 20% more than you should.

Had a quick look at the Rapid at my local dealers the other day when picking up my new Roomie, I quite like the look of it, although it was loaded with options.

I asked the Sales Exec who sold me my car if there had been much interest and she said that a lot of people had been to look but not many bought. She thinks that it was launched at the wrong time and that sales will pick up in new year, I assume when current Octavia is no longer available. Maybe it might of been better to launch Octavia 3 first to create the gap in the range first before launching the smaller Rapid?

Edited 5 December, 201213 yr by Jonnobris

chicken and egg

do you launch the octavia 3 and leave a hole in the range and potentially lose sales?

do you launch the rapid appear to duplicate a model then launch the octavia 3 and sort the range out?

if you take the second you get a few of the new model out on the road,without losing any sales, and get time to sort out any possible niggles and glitches before large numbers need recalls / retrofit fixes, plus you can build some stocks as well

2nd seems to make a certain amount of sense

I was thinking some more about the Rapid yesterday and came to the conclusion that it HAD to be a cheaper more basically furnished car because it is still so similar in size to the Octavia. I would have probably preferred a slightly smaller (genuinely Golf sized) car with a posher interior but given that is not the case, the positioning of the Rapid does make sense, even if I still find Skoda UK's list pricing a bit, ahem, ambitious.

Managed at last to have a sit inside a Rapid. Liked the interior and the sports seats this particular vehicle was fitted with, although there were a couple of minor negatives. Felt the seat didn't slide far enough back thus having to compensate by lowering the chair, which moves backwards as it descends and the dash top could have been made of a more tactile material, similar to that on the current Fabia II (excluding S trim). Otherwise I would have one but currently I feel the vat free Fabia II is far better value, hence why I collected a new Monte Carlo today; our fifth Fabia to date.

TP

I hope Skoda make the Rapd for a few years. 1.2tsi 85/86ps/bhp seems best all rounder, just fits into 119 tax bracket £30 a year i think, the 105bhp/ps is next bracket up, worse furl consumption and probably not worth paying the extra performance for everyday driving/runabout.

Mixed reviews on value for money, compared to a ford focus, megane, kia/hyundai i30/reasonably priced car with a star, the rapid is excellent value, however I think the Fabia Estate is a much cheaper alternative, estate boot is almost as big but is much more practical shape, more head room, cgeaper to buy, chunkier looking doors and dashboard. only thing I can see the rapd has over the fabia estate is more rear leg room for a big price to pay.

However if I could afford a rapid I'd buy one, purely because of the unique hatch with saloon-like body shape. people don't buy fiat 500's over a fiat panda because they are good value for mone or practicality.

wasn't the Octavia dubbed as a hatch in a saloon like body when it was launched many moons ago???

i don't know but isn't the octavia hatch the same body type/shape as a mondeo hatch, mazda 6 hatch (big sloping rear end) rather than a small slopig rear end (golf, fabia, fiesta, corrola, etc.)

if the octa was dubbed as a hatch in a saloon like body then the mondeo, mazda 6 and a lot of other cars should be dubbed the same if u know what i mean

People have gotten used to the word 'hatchback' being inextricably linked with the idiotically undersized boots of the current 'superminis' like Fiesta, Corsa, and even Fabia (I very frequently find my Mk1 boot to be 'not quite big enough', last night during the annual trip to Toys R Us for example!). Yet despite the small size people still have this ingrained idea that hatchback = more practical, which is only true if the boot is sized properly (i.e. original Octy, Focus/Mondeo, etc).

As far as I'm concerned, small cars like those mentioned above being thought of as 'practical' by the buying public is very much a triumph of marketing (and rubbish drivers' inability to judge distance or use their mirrors properly when reverse parking) over reality and it has directly resulted in people now starting to refer to cars as "a hatchback in a saloon body" - total rubbish. It's simply a properly proportioned car instead of a square backed wedge of cheese on wheels.

Edited 9 December, 201213 yr by Thecko

The Rapid/Octavia is technically known as a "liftback"

They find it amusing in CZ that we still call them hatchbacks.

As for the Rapid/Fabia debate, yes the Fabia is better value but to me the Rapid looks like a more modern car inside and out.

My Dad has just reported back on his first look at the Rapid; currently on his third Superb after years with Merc's, Jags and Volvo's.

Shall we say not impressed, bland with a low rent interior in his opinion and the first 'modern' Skoda I think he's really not liked. He also said he walked past it a couple of times and only when he saw the badge on the boot did he realise it was a Rapid :S

Think he's going to wait to see if the new Octy is any better.

TP

i think the telling point on here is the total number of 1 person who has said they have one on order

compare that to a city go launch on the several and the number orders placed without seeing the car in the flesh and the general shatter

on the several times i have been in the dealers i have only seen one other person looking at a rapid, but more looking at fabia and yeti's

people seem to be voting with there feet and wallets

I saw my first one today. Was outside a neighbours house and turned out to be a vindis demonstrator.

Blue mettalic and my first thoughts were it was smaller than I thought it would be and by god it was forgettable.

If that one was one of the £20k models it looks £5k - £7k too much.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

they do seem expensive.....

They are.

Rather than sending out Elegances, Skoda have dumped a highly specced SE on the dealers (Elegance were not being built yet).

So you go in the showroom, see a new car the same size as a Fabia estate sitting there and then have kittens when you see the board saying it's over 20 grand!

Got to hand it to Skoda if they were trying to scare people off.

For me the price is only going to make sense when the new Fabia and Octavia are out.

At the moment it's out of place in the current Skoda range, especially for cost.

I was seriously considering a rapid (vRS) but the predicted price will seriously put me off, and seeing as the new octy is miles lighter (kerb weight) than the outgoing model, and bigger, maybe that would be a better choice, as you would definatly get more for the money...

looking forward to the specs of the new fabia.

The Rapid/Octavia is technically known as a "liftback"

Outside of the UK maybe.

We call an estate an estate too, not a 'wagon'.

Took another look at the Rapid today while waiting for my lovely Octy VRS to have its' service.

The Rapid on display was 18k.

It just felt and looked cheap. The plastics are awful. From the rear it looked like a Mondeo.

I just don't "get" this car. It is nondescript. I believe it will be a big failure for Skoda unless they offer massive discounts.

The plastics are awful.

In what way?

In what way?

Dashboard plastics are hard to the touch. Not at all sumptuous, if I can describe it as such.

Door plastics are even worse. They are shiny and hard. The rear window winders (yes, winders in a 18k car) are more suited to a cheap far eastern vehicle.

The car just has this general sense of cost cutting about it.

I had a look at one today while my Roomster was in and I have to say while not up to £18k's worth I thought it felt pretty good. I think the sweet spot is maybe the 1.2 tsi 86 in SE trim. Being 6ft 2 I was keen to see how room compared to Roomy and wasn't bad and had a bigger boot.

Is it me or are the only people vaguely impressed those that run Roomsters?

I better not comment any more as I've already dug a bit of a hole......

I drive a superb and if I had to downsize I'd have one!

Dashboard plastics are hard to the touch. Not at all sumptuous, if I can describe it as such.

I thought as much - I really don't "get" this current obsession with soft-touch plastics. Why are you fondling your car's interior all the time to want it to be soft-to-the-touch?. It seems like the modern equivalent of the velour fabric interior to me - in 10 years people are going to look at all the soft-touch equipped cars on the second hand market, which has gone sticky, and think "what the hell were people thinking?"

I can completely get behind the idea of wanting the cabin to look good, sitting inside a dull monotone environment can be extremely depressing, but for me at least the things that need to feel good are the steering wheel, gear lever and to a lesser extent the handbrake, all of which are much better achieved with leather than with melty soft touch plastics (A friend of mine had a Ford Focus that had some strange 'soft touch' style plastic steering wheel, and after a hot day one time part of it melted/distorted and it looked bloody awful).

Edited 4 January, 201313 yr by Thecko

I thought as much - I really don't "get" this current obsession with soft-touch plastics. Why are you fondling your car's interior all the time to want it to be soft-to-the-touch?. It seems like the modern equivalent of the velour fabric interior to me - in 10 years people are going to look at all the soft-touch equipped cars on the second hand market, which has gone sticky, and think "what the hell were people thinking?"

I can completely get behind the idea of wanting the cabin to look good, sitting inside a dull monotone environment can be extremely depressing, but for me at least the things that need to feel good are the steering wheel, gear lever and to a lesser extent the handbrake, all of which are much better achieved with leather than with melty soft touch plastics (A friend of mine had a Ford Focus that had some strange 's!oft touch' style plastic steering wheel, and after a hot day one time part of it melted/distorted and it looked bloody awful).

Never mind the fondling. The plastics are truly awful.

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

Edited 4 January, 201313 yr by kevberlin