only to be replaced by another one!!

 

I've owned my 2013 Rapid (Hatchback) 1.2 TSi (105 BHP) Elegance for almost 2 years. It has covered just under 20K miles in this time and has undergone 1 (minor) service. It has averaged 39 mpg overall, with a best of 46 mpg and worst of 34 mpg.

 

I replaced virtually all the bulbs with LED's, and the dipped beam headlight bulbs with Osram Nightbreaker's. The dipped beam headlights are poor, but the Osram's led to a marked improvement. They don't last long (~9 months), but I considered the improved illumination to be worth the £15 / set.

 

I ran the car on 185/60/15 Continental winter tyres November - March, and although we had relatively little snow this year, what little we did have caused me no issues. The original (215/45/16) tyres show relatively little wear over 2 years, perhaps as a consequence of the relatively light weight of the car. The ride and general NVH is certainly markedly better on the smaller tyre combination.

 

On the plus side I found the car comfortable, exceptionally roomy and relatively quiet when cruising (70 mph = ~2100 rpm). The MDi & 64 Gb USB stick / Bluetooth audio streaming satisfied my audio needs and the huge boot allowed me to carry furniture on more than one occasion. I suffered none of the maladies commonly described on here, and, beyond an intermittent creaking / rattle from the passenger side front suspension, found the car to be entirely reliable.

 

My only "breakdown" was entirely self inflicted - I left the lights on all day last year and completely flattened the battery. I then realised it is not possible to open the bonnet when the battery is flat, necessitating my only call to Skoda assist during my ownership. The bonnet release lever is fouled by the passenger door trim, meaning it is not possible to pull the lever, without first opening the "deadlocked" door. The Skoda assist chap agreed the design was a clear oversight, but managed to re-energise the car's central locking via the 12V accessory socket / cigarette lighter.

 

The first MOT was passed with no advisories and Skoda quoted £219 to extended the warranty by 1 year.

 

The car is certainly built down to a price and cost cutting is evident throughout, when compared with alternatives in the range (Octavia / Yeti etc). The lack full control from the multi-function wheel and lack of electric window control from the drivers door proving especially irritating. The central arm rest is also a throw back to cars of yesteryear (and appears to be identical to the one in my old 2002 Octavia Combi 4x4!!).

 

Overall I found the car to be refreshingly straightforwards. It was by no means a car I took any pleasure from driving, but as a simple (and relatively cheap) mode of transport, it more than exceeded my expectations. The initial purchase cost (the Rapid was 1 year old / 10K miles) was similar to a new Citigo. I drove them both and considered the Rapid to offer considerably more for the money.

 

I've replaced it with a Rapid Spaceback 1.2 TSi (105 BHP) SE Tech, which I hope proves as dependable as the car it replaces - updates to follow..........

 

My old car:

Edited 25 March, 201610 yr by pinkpanther

First impressions of the Spaceback are positive. The car is a late 2014 1.2 TSi SE Tech and the steering / suspension / ride seem marginally better than my 2013 hatchback. Worthwhile improvements include DAB, Sat-Nav, a "fully functional" multi-function steering wheel and x4 electric window controls on the drivers door.

 

I now have 128 Gb of MP3's (music & audiobooks) readily accessible in the car. It is spread across both a 64 Gb USB stick (MDi) and 64 Gb SD card. I no longer have the irritating "bong" / muted stereo when the Bluetooth connects to my phone and the Maxidot displays full audio details when streaming audio via bluetooth. The bigger screen on the Amundsen+ makes navigating through MP3 folders considerably simpler than on the Swing stereo in the older car.

 

I've lost cornering fog-lights, but hope to enable these (and a few other features) with Carista. I'm also in the process of replacing bulbs with LED's and will re-fit my Osram Nighbreakers.

 

The boot is a bit of a come down, when compared with the hatchback, but I'm pleased to see both my rubber interior mats and front mudflaps are interchangeable with the old car.

 

The spaceback is fitted with Bridgestone Turanza ER300. I've had these before (on a Roomster) and I'm not a fan. I found them to be quite noisy and they seem a little lacking in grip. The car has only done ~6K miles, so it'll be a while before they're ready for replacement.

Edited 26 March, 201610 yr by pinkpanther

Nice replacement car. Hope you enjoy it [emoji4]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice replacement car. Hope you enjoy it [emoji4]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Many thanks - early indications are positive. I set about the car with Carista earlier and have enabled 1 click opening (for all doors), needle sweep, refuelling quantity (not sure about this one, but it appears in the Maxidot), speed dependent wipers, tear wipe and 2 flashes for indicators, rather than 3.

 

For some reason enabling cornering fog-lights brought on the "lights out" warning on the dash, despite the bulbs being fine. Disabling this feature switched off the tell-tale. Not sure about this, as it worked fine on my older car (early 2013 Elegance).

Hi

I have a 1.6tdi DSG spaceback, and I'm more than happy with it,

It was a demo car from blade skoda, I do about 700 miles a week in it and it's fab on fuel

On the way to London last week and at motorway speeds I was getting 65 mpg

The gearbox can have a mind of it's own sometimes but I think this is just how the DSG box is

I've had one fault with the car in about 5000 miles and that was a throttle sensor

Just hope it's as reliable as my old 1.9 tdi roomster

Nice one, enjoy it.

Get some pics up!

I love my SE Tech, seems to me to have a nice amount of kit and feels more premium than it really is. It's the sweet spot of the range I think. I'm not a fan of the pano-roof on the Sport, although the I would rather have the sports seats for sure. Mine was ex-demo so I didn't get the chance to spec them unfortunately.

It'll be interesting to see how the mpg compares to your old one. My long term average is 46.6mpg, which is a good mix of my 17 mile commute, hardly any motorway, a good few short runs into town a week and a little bit of naughty driving on b-roads too.

Edited 27 March, 201610 yr by Tom_vRS

First impressions of the Spaceback are positive. The car is a late 2014 1.2 TSi SE Tech 

 

 

Does it come with the later EA211 engine now? (As fitted to the Octavia & Fabia of the same age)

 

When you lift the bonnet if you see an oil filter at high level on the left of the engine then it's still a EA111

It'll be interesting to see how the mpg compares to your old one. My long term average is 46.6mpg, which is a good mix of my 17 mile commute, hardly any motorway, a good few short runs into town a week and a little bit of naughty driving on b-roads too.

 

Likewise. Would be interesting to see if a newer version is more economical

 

Economy a virtue of the tsi engine. Does the later Rapid come with stop start etc?

Does it come with the later EA211 engine now? (As fitted to the Octavia & Fabia of the same age)

 

When you lift the bonnet if you see an oil filter at high level on the left of the engine then it's still a EA111

 

Mine is fitted with the older (105 BHP) engine, whereas I understand the latest cars feature the 110 BHP 1.2 TSi (cambelt - EA211) engine.

Likewise. Would be interesting to see if a newer version is more economical

 

Economy a virtue of the tsi engine. Does the later Rapid come with stop start etc?

 

I suspect my 2014 spaceback will return very similar MPG returns to the 2013 hatchback it replaced (1100 Kg vs 1095 Kg).

 

I had the EA111 1.2 TSi in a Yeti back in 2009. This was quite poor on fuel (mid to low 30's), probably as a consequence of poor aerodynamics and higher weight (1265 Kg).

Likewise. Would be interesting to see if a newer version is more economical

Economy a virtue of the tsi engine. Does the later Rapid come with stop start etc?

If only Skoda didnt make outrageous claims for it. Most of the 1.2TSI owners on here get mid 40's but the overall official figure is about 56!

If they had truthfully told me 46 was a reasonable figure I'd be happy, but I'm not because they lie.

Strangely, my current 435bhp steed does 25mpg(US) on the daily commute (at 75mph). Its US Govt highway mpg figure - 25mpg. I guess US consumers won't accept the fanciful (lying) figures permitted by the EU.

Edited 4 April, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

If only Skoda didnt make outrageous claims for it. Most of the 1.2TSI owners on here get mid 40's but the overall official figure is about 56!

If they had truthfully told me 46 was a reasonable figure I'd be happy, but I'm not because they lie.

Since I stopped doing my 70 mile daily round trip to the office, my mpg from the 1.2TSI (105) has levelled out at 40mpg. I'm not unhappy with it, but it's pretty poor considering its a modern-ish, small engine dragging a light car around. That's the same mpg we used to get from a deeply inefficient Rover 1.8 litre K-Series turbo engine dragging a two-tonne Rover 75 around. I am tempted once my warranty runs out to fiddle with a few things (K&N air filter for example) to see if I can improve it at all.

Quite pleased with the economy on my 105, especially as it's been winter.

Low of 43.2, high of 50.4, average 47.12.

Quite pleased with the economy on my 105, especially as it's been winter.

Low of 43.2, high of 50.4, average 47.12.

Mostly motorway miles I assume?

That's the sort of Mpg I used to get when my driving was 90% motorway. It's the local roads that utterly destroy fuel economy for this engine type.

Mostly motorway miles I assume?

That's the sort of Mpg I used to get when my driving was 90% motorway. It's the local roads that utterly destroy fuel economy for this engine type.

Almost no motorway whatsoever.

The majority of those miles are commuting 17 miles each way, a gentle A road commute mix of 30/40/60, a bit of stop start for the last couple of miles. Quite a few short journeys popping around town and doing site visits at work. I've done maybe 250 miles of motorway since I've had the car and I've also done some very high speed stuff and spirited driving (maybe 100 miles or so).

It's a good average and it'll do just fine.

Mine used to do that sort of figure (47) on thd old 25 mile flat A road commute.

It couldn't have had an easier journey for mpg - and still that's 9-10 less than the EU overall figure, let alone the extra-urban one that it should do on that drive.

Car sellers in the EU should be made to publish real-world figures like they do in the US.

495 miles for the first tank - 44.5 mpg. A marginal improvement compared with my old 2013 hatchback.

Averag

 

495 miles for the first tank - 44.5 mpg. A marginal improvement compared with my old 2013 hatchback.

 

Averaged 40.5 mpg over the last 5K (mainly) urban miles.

My 2014 Toledo is also a 105 bhp TSi, fuel consumption on a round trip to Leeds was around 51 mpg.  Now that there is more local mileage (including hills) it has dropped somewhat, over 3200 miles the average is currently 49.5 mpg. Compared with the 1.4 TDi Roomster I had previously, which averaged about 52 mpg, that isn't too bad.

 

I am tending to cruise a little quicker in the Toledo than in the Roomster, the better aerodynamics and less weight certainly help.  The 20% increase in power is nice, too.  The amount of torque at low revs came as a very pleasant surprise, it's somewhat diesel like.  It's certainly a darned sight better than the 2 litre vvc engine in my wife's CRV, that is totally gutless under 2000 revs.

The TSI 105PS can produce some pretty reasonable mpg figures given the right conditions, however once you start working it economy drops off somewhat. Whereas the TDI 105PS seems less effected as our Toledo TDI is proving so far; last fill to fill reading was 62 mpg compared to the petrol, which was giving me at best 44 mpg, on the same 38 mile rural road up and down dale commute to work.

 

TP

The TSI 105PS can produce some pretty reasonable mpg figures given the right conditions, however once you start working it economy drops off somewhat. Whereas the TDI 105PS seems less effected as our Toledo TDI is proving so far; last fill to fill reading was 62 mpg compared to the petrol, which was giving me at best 44 mpg, on the same 38 mile rural road up and down dale commute to work.

 

TP

 

Indeed - I agree that the tsi produces some reasonable mpg figures but it can be somewhat affected when worked hard. My economy dropped from the usual late 40s mpg  to late 30s when driving through France at speed fully laden - whereas my old 1.9 pd Superb always did about 50mpg even pressing on through Europe

65mph is about the speed for reasonable long distance economy, anything over that and the avg mpg drops to mid early 40's

I can achieve around 51-53mpg keeping below 65mmph, better in summer than winter of course. It's a bit boring though keeping to that speed say on the motorway, especially when most stuff in the left lane is doing similar or lower speeds.

My 2014 elegance is also going, albeit I have the 1.6tdi.

My ownership experience has been a little different from yours though.

Covered 70k or so in the 30 months so far.

Had the following replaced so far -

Injectors

Full wiring loom

Water pump

Cam belt

Coolant tank and sensor

Turbo boost sensor

Faults to be looked at before return -

Clutch whine

A/C fault temp bears no resemblance to number on unit

Stereo radio reception, can't keep tuned in.

More rattles than mothercare. Various bits of broken trim.

Can't wait for my superb to arrive.