The Skoda Rapid has been quite a pleasant car and is one of the bestsellers from the gallery of the Czech automaker. It has been over half a decade since Skoda had first introduced the sedan and it still continues to amuse. The car had earlier received a facelift in 2016, and now again, a mild facelifted is expected to be unveiled at the 87th Geneva Motor Show.
The Skoda Rapid 2017 gets a number of aesthetic changes from the earlier version. It now has a lot more to offer than the previous generation model. All thanks to Skoda, who has brought about the much needed changes.
But even after the Skoda Rapid becomes far more complete car than before, does it have enough to offer you the best value for money deal. Let’s delve a little deeper into details and find out.
The aesthetics
A facelift always calls for a mild tweaks in every corners of the car. However, Skoda has leaped a long jump and has rendered a thorough revision of the front section. It now features a company’s trademark “Butterfly” grille, which brings it among the league of the Octavia and the Superb sedans. The headlamp cluster looks much more sober and plain and very much in line with the global version. The previous generation’s swept back headlamps are done away with, and the current generation gets much more straighter projector headlamps with LED daytime running lights running below it.
The overall design is based on the company’s crystalline design, which renders bolder lines running across the side section. It gets stylish ORVMs (outside rear view mirrors) integrated with turn signals, which was missing in the earlier one.
The facelifted Skoda Rapid is also 27 mm longer than the older generation.
The reworked interiors
Skoda gets rid of the regular interior brown and beige tone. Some features, which were missing in the older version, has also been added. The new version gets a cooled glove box and a touchscreen infotainment system too. The entire cabin is now made with black-beige color tone, along with leather upholstery and chrome bits all around the cabin. It also gets a “Drive” central infotainment system with a 6.5-inch full colour touchscreen integrated with MirrorLink technology. The overall finishing in the new model is better than the previous one, thus making it much more scaled with the global version.
The updated engine
The 2017 Skoda Rapid comes with a new 1.5-litre TDi (diesel) engine. It has been tuned up subtly to produce more power than the previous version. The previous generation model was driven on a power of 103 bhp and 250 Nm torque. The newer facelifted version is capable of making 108 bhp of highest power and a similar 250 Nm of maximum torque. That said, the petrol trim remains more or less same in the new car.
Fuel efficiency
Skoda did come up with better number in terms of mileage in the new Rapid facelift. But this is only marginal. The newer petrol version offers an economy of 14.84 kms per litre and 15.41 kms per litre for the automatic and manual trims respectively. The earlier version returned with a figures of 14.3 kms per litre and 15 kms per litre for the automatic and manual petrol variants respectively.
On a similar note, the diesel version also gets slight changes. It earlier offered 21.66 kms per litre and 21.14 kms per litre for the automatic and manual respectively. It has been tuned up now to offer 21.72 kms per litre and 21.3 kms per litre respectively for automatic and manual transmission.
Competitors
As a commonly known fact, the sedan segment in India is a tough place for newbies. But yet, it is not that difficult to press for established cars that receive regular facelifts.
Practicality, the 2017 Skoda Rapid faces much heat from the Honda City and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and its close cousin, the Volkswagen Vento. Despite the fact that, City has been a success story from a long time now and the Ciaz is the latest sensation, the facelifted Rapid turns out to be a more premium vehicle among them.
Conclusion
With all the the added features and revised existence, the new Skoda Rapid, as one would expect, does come at a higher price tag. The starting price is expected to be close to Rs. 8.5 lakhs for the base model while the higher variant might end up with a tag of up to Rs. 13 lakhs.
All of that said, the price still looks at par with its competitors and does stand a strong chance to prove its point. However, the launch date and other relevant details will be up once it is officially unveiled at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show.
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