Hi. New to the Rapid owners section. We have just been to order a Rapid Spaceback SE Sport 1.6tdi DSG in Corida Red. Ideally would have liked the 1.4tsi in Race blue but needed to get one asap as driving around in a hire car since writing off the Yeti, so went for a stock car which were all diesels. Oh well. Should get it in around 3 weeks which is better than 3 months. Hope it's as nice as the Yeti was. I know very little about the Rapid as never expected to be replacing the Yeti so soon but seemed great on the test drive apart from the terrible armrest which gets in the way of the handbrake and gear stick. Hopefully it won't be such a problem with the DSG gearbox. I'm sure I will have plenty of questions for you guys to answer about the car as time goes on.

Sad to hear about the Yeti, had two of the pre face lift model myselfs. Decided to switch to an Octy III but found that far too uncomfortable, hence now being in a Spaceback.

 

The new SE Sport trim is a great spec and similar to that on the Yeti, although one or two things you may be use too are missing from the Rapid, such as one touch up for windows and wipers that stop when you pull up at lights.

 

 

Enjoy the new car,

 

TP

Me too, I'm collecting my 14 plate Rapid 1.6 DSG in a couple of hours time, having to downgrade from a 2.0 DSG Yeti for financial reasons. Sad, but that's the way these things go. Still, we look on the bright side of things, we've had Fabias & Octavias, two Yetis & now a Rapid.

 

I think we like Skodas! 

 

Hi Mandaroo, I hope you enjoy your Spaceback when it arrives, ours is a similar colour, Rio Red.

Sad to hear about the Yeti, had two of the pre face lift model myselfs. Decided to switch to an Octy III but found that far too uncomfortable, hence now being in a Spaceback.

 

The new SE Sport trim is a great spec and similar to that on the Yeti, although one or two things you may be use too are missing from the Rapid, such as one touch up for windows and wipers that stop when you pull up at lights.

 

 

Enjoy the new car,

 

TP

I agree there are a few things missing from the spec that we got used to on the Yeti such as the Bi-xenon AFL (or what ever they're called) head lights which were the best lights we've had on a car plus the heated leather which is another thing we're going to miss. Not had fabric seats in a very long time and being a valeter find looking after leather interior much easier especially with a 3 year old in the back. Oh and the Auto lights and wipers but I'm sure we will soon get used to this.  

Welcome to the group, sad to hear about the yeti. I changed from a golf and was sad to loose the auto headlights and auto wipers... My rapid is an early model so we're also missing an extra set of rear window switches.

Regards the cloth seats I'm wondering if there is a spray on protector (I had a supergaurd pack applied to my golf but I don't work in the motor trade anymore so don't have access to the stuff and wouldn't want to pay a fortune for it!) I have a 15 month old and so have a similar worry of spillages and crumbs - so far I just manage to keep on top of it through a wash and Hoover every month, and a deeper clean every quarter.

Try this to protect seats;

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Autoglym-Lifeshine-1-Interior-Protection-Includes-Trigger-Buy-It-Now-/271616101528?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f3d94cc98

 

 

TP

I usually apply an AG Lifeshine kit on our cars when we first get them. Wouldn't pay £££'s for it like at the dealership but I get the kits a lot cheaper and have plenty of leftovers in the shed. It should help with the seats.

Well the day has come to collect the Spaceback. Its horrible weather outside so will be difficult to check it over for any damage if its sat outside covered in rain. Just don't want to find it has damage when we get it home like we did with the Yeti. The hire car has gone back and never thought I would say this but I will miss that Passat. It just worked perfectly as a car. Lets hope the Spaceback is nearly as good. 

How did you get on?

Now have a Spaceback SE Sport sat outside. Early thoughts on it are generally good. The 1.6 tdi seems easily strong enough for the size of car, the ride quality is actually really nice on the 17" wheels. I was a bit concerned after reading things on here. If anything the firmness suits this car better than the Yeti but is early days. The sports seats are very comfortable even though they are the grey Onyx and not the red which is what we were told it would be coming with but that's no biggy. There is a fair amount of road noise getting in and the diesel is a bit grumbly but easily livable with. I'm not sure that DSG works quite as smoothly with the diesel as it did with the Petrol. The gear changes are a lot more noticeable. The glass roof is lovely and from the outside the black glass looks great with the Corrida Red paintwork. The only real downside to this car is the poor interior materials. It all looks very nice and Germanic very similar to the passat we have been driving around in but as soon as you come into contact with any of the trim you really do realize its been made out of melted down wheelie bins or similar. Having said that we did know this before ordering so shouldn't really complain but its just a bit of a shock when you find that only the steering wheel, gear stick and handbrake are the only things that are made out of good quality material, but then again these are the items you do touch the most. Other than that we are so far very happy with it.

Agree with the ride comments.  The 2014's ride much better than the motoring press give them credit for. My 14 petrol rides smoother than the 13 diesel I test drove, despite having bigger wheels and tyres on.

Edited 22 October, 201411 yr by camelspyyder

I know what you mean about the interior plastics. It's functional over luxurious.

I was wondering if I could get some sticky backed fabric padding to fit to the door trims to help soften the interior acoustics. There is a shaped section of plastic in the rapid that in my polo is fabric.

Will look on ebay lol....

Would like to be different and say I like the interior of our Spaceback and I'm happy with the quality. Looked at a number of options to replace our Octy III, including Kia, Toyota, BMW and Volvo and in the end found I felt 'most at home' in the Spaceback.

 

Mind I did feel the piano black inserts of the sport pack looked more effective than the miss mash of aluminium effect inserts and piano black steering wheel and radio surround in the Elegance we also tried.

 

 

TP

i may have come over a little negative. I do really like our interior. It's perfect for our family car and I like the design. My trouble is that I'm constantly comparing it to my Polo R-Line which has a special interior. I must stop doing that lol

I think the interiors are smart with quality fabric,fittings and switches.

I've not had a car that was a patch on this since the audi went in '93.

I very satisfied with the interior. It's a nice place to be. Shiny piano black fixtures are a nice touch. I'm not bothered about the plastic dash as it's very soundproofed with no rattles at all. The Sports interior is great in my opinion and it's no way looking like a MK2 Fabia interior like the MK3 Octavia snobs seem to think [emoji57]

As I've said before, I prefer the Sport interior to the 2-tone SEAT one.  If anyone hears of a smashed rapid with the dynamic interior (especially the red sports seats) let me know.

Don't get me wrong. I love the looks of the interior. I think it looks better than the rather dated yeti interior but just wish there was a few softer plastics. Another thing I have noticed today is the rather lurchy (if thats a word) feeling when carrying out slow manouvers like parking or driving slowly around car parks etc. The dsg seems to be constantly changing gear at low speeds which isn't very confidence inspiring. This never happened in the yeti. Maybe this gearbox doesn't work as well with the diesel unit.

May find things improve with miles, our TSI is getting close to 4k now and only just starting to give a 'run in feeling'.

 

TP

May find things improve with miles, our TSI is getting close to 4k now and only just starting to give a 'run in feeling'.

 

TP

Hopefully this will be the case. Another slight problem is that the Bluetooth isn't working. Tried a couple of phones but the MDI says "no Bluetooth connection" or something similar. Anyone know if the the Bluetooth has to be activated during PDI which they may have forgotten to do? will have to give the dealer a ring. really don't want to have to make the 50 mile round trip to get them to look at it. Wondering if they will let me take it to the Skoda dealership more local to me even though it isn't one of their garages.

Edited 25 October, 201411 yr by mandaroo

Me too, I'm collecting my 14 plate Rapid 1.6 DSG in a couple of hours time, having to downgrade from a 2.0 DSG Yeti for financial reasons. Sad, but that's the way these things go. Still, we look on the bright side of things, we've had Fabias & Octavias, two Yetis & now a Rapid.

 

I think we like Skodas! 

 

Hi Mandaroo, I hope you enjoy your Spaceback when it arrives, ours is a similar colour, Rio Red.

 

Be interested to hear your thoughts.  Did you test drive one at all?  Quite rare cars.

 

I presume SE spec and be interested to hear what discount you got if you are happy to share that info?

 

Have had a Felicia, MK1 Octavia, Fabia 1 VRS,  Octavia 1 VRS, Octavia 2 VRS and now Fabia 2 VRS but feel that the Rapid is the car that is right size etc and way the best deal but only the diesel DSG fits the bill for being an auto and running costs ie low road tax, fuel consumption etc.

 

The torque figure looks fine just hope the top end is not too dissappointing after the VRSs but then it can be chipped quite nicely!

Edited 25 October, 201411 yr by lol-lol

Hopefully this will be the case. Another slight problem is that the Bluetooth isn't working. Tried a couple of phones but the MDI says "no Bluetooth connection" or something similar. Anyone know if the the Bluetooth has to be activated during PDI which they may have forgotten to do? will have to give the dealer a ring. really don't want to have to make the 50 mile round trip to get them to look at it. Wondering if they will let me take it to the Skoda dealership more local to me even though it isn't one of their garages.

False alarm re Bluetooth. Just went into settings in the stereo and activated "make vehicle Bluetooth discoverable" All is fine now. 

Be interested to hear your thoughts.  Did you test drive one at all?  Quite rare cars.

 

I presume SE spec and be interested to hear what discount you got if you are happy to share that info?

 

Have had a Felicia, MK1 Octavia, Fabia 1 VRS,  Octavia 1 VRS, Octavia 2 VRS and now Fabia 2 VRS but feel that the Rapid is the car that is right size etc and way the best deal but only the diesel DSG fits the bill for being an auto and running costs ie low road tax, fuel consumption etc.

 

The torque figure looks fine just hope the top end is not too dissappointing after the VRSs but then it can be chipped quite nicely!

We moved from a 1.2 DSG Yeti to the 1.6tdi DSG Spaceback and find it powerful enough for the size of car. I wouldn't say it feels particularly quick but that might have something to do with the rather agricultural sound coming from under the bonnet. We had an Astra diesel before the Yeti and found that a lot quieter. Sure it will all get smoother once run in. Never been lucky enough to own any VRS Skodas so couldn't say what the difference might be.

Well after having the Rapid for a couple of weeks, I thought I would give it a clean up while it wasn't raining. The Corrida red comes up quite well really.