I'm not going to say what I do for a living or where I work, but a colleague saw my lowered Rapid sport in white, parked in the car park this week and asked if it was a new addition to the unmarked traffic fleet. I laughed to myself because I know it as my crappy Rapid, but it did confirm to me that it does look good and fast from certain angels. The place I work does use Octavia VRSs so they might have mistaken it for one of them but it still makes me smile.

Not a surprising question when you consider the Met uses unmarked Citroen DS4 1.6 HDi units - exactly the same horsepower and roughly the same acceleration as your Rapid (in fact the Citroen might be a tad slower as it's heavier).

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Yeh, I dont think they knew it was a Rapid, in fact they've probably never heard of a Rapid, they just saw it and assumed it was an unmarked traffic car. I think if you were sad enough to put VRS badges on it then people would think it was one. I've seen on this site that they are making a Monte Carlo version, the press pics look great but by the time it arrives it will probably sit as high as a 4x4 and look like another cheap Skoda.

http://skoda.co.uk/fleet/emergency-services

 

This one looks like lowering was not on the spec sheet.

Maybe the 'Eibachs Blue Light Suspension Kit' is fitted.

Perhaps the Police now have two rapid response sections

 

" Rapid " and  " not so Rapid "

Perhaps the Police now have two rapid response sections

" Rapid " and " not so Rapid "

That's definitely true of the Met - won't come out for anything these days.

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Blimey they do use Rapids!

Do they?

Or are Skoda UK trying to get them too, taking them to Roadshows and lending them out and trying to get some Forces to pass money Skoda UK's way for them?

I wonder if the perps in the back commented on the class-leading rear space?

Blimey they do use Rapids!

I saw one in Winchester the other week. Made me laugh. It looks so wrong.

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I saw one in Winchester the other week. Made me laugh. It looks so wrong.

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Out of interest why does it look wrong? comparing to lets say a Astra or a Corsa ?

Think the Spaceback would make a better Police car than the Corsa's  we see round here. Having had both, the Skoda has far more room inside and drives better.

 

 

TP

Out of interest why does it look wrong? comparing to lets say a Astra or a Corsa ?

I think it was the way the Police striping was put on and the tiny wheels. Looked so base spec. The Rapid hatchback might have looked better.

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Probably looked so wrong because Skoda will have almost certainly provided a base model with small wheels and jacked up 4x4 style suspension. If you were providing a vehicle to showcase wouldn't you want people to look at it and think, that looks good, I might get one of them, rather than that could be better. I'm still confused as to why Skoda offered me shorter springs when I bought my car, they even said it will make it look better. Why not just make it look better in the first place, look at the press pics, the suspension is lower in those pictures. There is no reason or excuse these days to build a rubbishy looking car, even if it's cheap, look at Kia, cheap but handsome.

People need working suspension and ground clearances when the car is at Revenue Weight, 

and that is how they build cooking models.

Sporty Looks and Style over substance and practicality has been an issue for a long time now.

 

Skoda is one of the worst for basic and now rather old suspension, which is not a bad thing,

but then they use cheepo parts and can not have that functioning that well.

Not even longevity in the parts they use.

 

The Idea of Sports Suspension at Skoda / VW is make them look a bit lower and have Lower Profile Tyres and some plastic tat and stickers on the body,

never mind they still handle and ride cr4p.

 

Vorsprung Durch Technik.   That will do, enough spent, Multilink suspension only for those that are paying enough.

Probably looked so wrong because Skoda will have almost certainly provided a base model with small wheels and jacked up 4x4 style suspension. If you were providing a vehicle to showcase wouldn't you want people to look at it and think, that looks good, I might get one of them, rather than that could be better. I'm still confused as to why Skoda offered me shorter springs when I bought my car, they even said it will make it look better. Why not just make it look better in the first place, look at the press pics, the suspension is lower in those pictures. There is no reason or excuse these days to build a rubbishy looking car, even if it's cheap, look at Kia, cheap but handsome.

 

Agree, surely they should of sent the best model looking the business, but then again they may going in there offering the cheapest price per unit and not selling a car by proving a "false looking demo" model which does make sense.

A lot of manufacturers used to offer the police gift vehicles, it was usually when they had introduced a new model. Think of it as a bit of free advertising, the police got free cars and the public thought well if the police use them, they must be good. Volvo have basically made their reputation bullet proof through police use over the past 40 years or so. If I was incharge of marketing I'd provide the best looking model I could.