Skoda Rapid 2011-2014 1.6 TDI Ambition

Rapid 2011-2014 1.6 TDI Ambition Review

Skoda has risen in India in a very short period of time due to its unique and luxurious cars. Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Ambition is their latest attraction in India. The car has a very good aerodynamic design with great looks. The interior is crafted very uniquely and offers good boot space. The chrome and ivory work on the interiors imparts a very graceful look. Under the hood it has a very powerful engine, which gives a good fuel economy and performance too. The car provides you with a good cabin space and a large legroom for a comfortable ride. The sedan is equipped with very good comfort and safety features. The braking and the suspension systems are specifically built to take the bumps and hits - ideal for Indian roads. Overall, the car offers you a good combination of class and looks.         

Exteriors

Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Ambition comprises of great looks. This sedan is very luxurious and full of features . The car gets the following dimensions, the overall length  being 4386mm with the overall width of 1699mm and the overall height of 1466mm. The wheelbase of the car is 2552mm. This sedan has a very good ground clearance of 168mm. The kerb weight of the car is 1205kg while the gross weight is 1757kg. The sedan comes in 6 beautiful and elegant colors. These colors are Cappuccino Beige, Candy White, Flash Red, Brilliant Silver and Deep Black Pearl. Adjustable headlights, fog lights (front and rear) are very useful at night . There are manually adjustable external rear view mirrors and rear window defogger present in the car. The tinted glass gives protection against the harmful UV rays of Sun. Steel wheels are present with Comoros full wheel cover, which gives a classy look to the car. The radiator grille has been chrome trimmed. The bumpers, external mirrors and door handles all are body coloured and these greatly enhances the beauty of car.

Interiors

Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Ambition is very beautifully designed and crafted from inside. This four door car can easily occupy five persons with great comfort and legroom. The fabric upholstery looks beautiful and is spread  throughout the car and it looks very beautiful. The air conditioner and the heater of the car work quite well. Skoda really emphasized on very small details in the interiors of this car. There are many storage spaces or pockets for storing car keys, coins and other small things.Front and rear cup holders flip frames, front centre armrest and storage pockets at the back of the front seats are also present. The interiors are very well crafted with chrome decor for inner door handles, front centre console, gear–shifter and locking button of hand brake as well. There are dual tone mocca/ivory dashboard and door panels, mocca centre console and ivory upholstery, which give a very sophisticated look to the cabin.  

Engine and Performance

Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Ambition comes loaded with a 16V DOHC inline turbocharged diesel engine . This engine comprises of a liquid cooling system and a high pressure direct injection system . This engine is very capable of providing enormous power and great performance. The engine provides a maximum output of 103.53bhp at the rate of 4400rpm with a maximum torque of 250Nm in the range of 1500-2500rpm. The maximum displacement of the engine is 1598cc . The engine mechanism comprises of 4 cylinders and 16 valves. The valve configuration is of dual overhead camshaft and the fuel supply system is of direct injection with turbo charger type. The engine is pretty good in fuel efficiency; it offers a mileage of 17kmpl on the city roads and 20.5kmpl on the highways . The fuel tank capacity of the car is 55 litres . the emission emitted by the car follows bharat stage IV rules and regulations up to the mark. The car consists of a fully synchronized manual 5-speed transmission system .   

Braking and Handling

Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Ambition comes equipped with a solid suspension system strong enough to survive Indian road conditions. The front suspension has a Mc Pherson suspension with lower triangular links and torsion stabilizer while the rear axle suspension system of compound link crank axle. This is a vacuum assisted hydraulic dual diagonal circuit . The front brakes are disc brakes, which also have inner cooling. for the rear drum brakes are used. And this is a direct rack and pinion steering type which is electro mechanic powered. The wheel size is 5.0J X 14 with the tyre size 175/70 R14 suitable enough to provide good ground clearance .

Safety features

In case of safety, Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Ambition is fully equipped; there are a lot of safety features for the safety of the passengers. The car has front and rear fog lights. The fuel supply of the car is automatically cut off if the car detects any crash. Rough road package is also provided with the car. There is ABS (anti- lock braking system) with dual rate brake assist, which is very good and helpful during hard braking on wet roads. Driver front airbag and anti-glare interior rear view mirror are also present in the car. There is engine immobilizer with floating code system to secure the car from any sort of theft . Remote control with foldable key, remote control locking and unlocking of doors and boot lid and also central locking are some features present in the car.

Comfort features

Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI Ambition does not come with a factory fitted CD player, radio or speakers but it comes with aftermarket audio preparation of 1-din plus cable and connector. There are multiple height adjustments for the driver seat, and rear and front armrest for making the ride joyful and easy. The steering wheel  has height and length adjustable. The air conditioning is manually regulated with adjustable dual rear air conditioning vents on rear centre console. Dust and pollen filters are also installed in the car.

Pros  

Spaciousness, good engine and great safety options.

Cons 

Questionable service network of Skoda India and absence of music player.