Bigger than the Fabia and smaller than the Octavia, the Rapid is a surprisingly roomy compact saloon. There’s oodles of room for four adults, even two with real legs, who can sit in the back and wiggle about a bit. Not only that there is a huge boot, accessed through an equally large tailgate despite the car’s saloon-style shape.
If there is a niggle it’s the quality of the interior plastics. I have no doubt they are built to last and no doubt fossil hunters in the distant future will come across bits of it long after the tin-worm has had the bodywork, but they feel hard and unpleasant. This is particularly noticeable when you put coins or keys in any of the trays. They rattle like a cannibal’s bone collection in a gale.
The rattle is so bad you end up stuffing your pockets again, just to stop it. Now there’s an excuse for a man-bag! It’s not helped by the fact that the suspension does not provide the pliancy of ride that you would expect in a wee car running on 15 inch rims with some decent rubber. Road noise is transmitted into the cabin and even wind noise is noticeable, but if the Skoda designers had thought to put wee rubber mats in the bottom of the storage trays and cubby holes that would have helped greatly. Then again, detail like that costs money and this is a ‘budget’ car.
On the other hand, the seats are bloody good. The driver’s seat may be a bit short in the back for taller drivers, but otherwise it’s an awfy comfy place to rest your butt and play with the pedals and the 5 speed ‘box.
And therein lies the rest of its appeal. The 1.2 TSI turbo petrol engine is a wee sweetie. It may only have 85 bhp, but it seems to think it has rather more. When driving along on your own it feels quite spirited, but when full of wife and weans, it struggles a wee bit on the hills.
It’s not the most sporty of compact saloons on the road, but no-one will buy this for a weekend track car. This is family transport for those who don’t appreciate the finer things in life, who simply want the convenience of a conveyance into which you can pack a standard 2+2 family, a few changes of clothes, plenty of fizzy drinks and multipacks of crisps in preparation for ‘going doon the watter fur the Fair’.
And they won’t be bothered too much by fuel bills. According to the Government style figures, Skoda claims 55.4 mpg, but even when playing around with the engine and gearbox it was actually returning 48 mpg, and that’s real world motoring. Anyone who wanted to minimise visits to the filling stations could easily get 50 plus out of it.
The test car in SE trim was priced at £14,650, but it had 1745 quidsworth of extras on it, which made it look a little less attractive, especially as the base model comes in at £12,900.
The SE spec includes 15 inch alloy wheels, height adjustable driver’s seat and a nice leather rimmed steering wheel on an adjustable column. It’s also got air-con (great for those three days of summer we had recently), tinted glass and an electronic ability to cope with phones, MP3 players and other such modern gubbins.
As for the extras, the metallic paint cost an extra £495 and the Winter pack which cost £475 but this featured hearted front seats, front fog lights and headlamp washers plus heated washer nozzles. The SatNav system accounted for another £550 while the entirely sensible (especially for dog and child owners!) Protection Pack at 75 quid provides floor mats and a reversible rubber/carpet for the boot floor. Even more sensible was the £75 temporary spare wheel option in place of the expected aerosol and tyre inflator.
The top of the range ‘Elegance’ pack adds a further £2075 to the price of the SE, which makes the price £16,725, but for that money you start looking for a few more little extras.
If I was a dog owning pensioner with two grand weans to ferry around, I might be quite happy with one of these, but I’m not, so I won’t. That’s not to say the Rapid won’t have its following though. Many folk are entirely happy with Volkswagen reliability and build quality at Skoda prices. Mind you the price differential gap is narrowing these days.