SKODA RAPID TSI AUTOMATIC

The Rapid’s post-BSVI resurgence continues with a new automatic version

- TUHIN GUHA

Type 999cc, 3-cylinder direct-injection turbo-petrol

Max power 110PS@5,000-5,500rpm

Max torque 175Nm@1,750-4,000rpm

LxWxH(mm) 4,413x1,699x1,466

Price ₹ 11.04 lakh onwards, on-road

+ Gearbox’s Sport mode responsiveness, efficiency, engine and dynamics

- Downshift quality, expensive higher variants

Life seems to have come full circle for the Skoda Rapid in the past year. Sure, the Rapid has been the best-selling Skoda in India in the nine years that it has been around, but in recent memory, newer rivals had taken much of its glory away. Most nine-year-old cars would usually wither away here, but the Rapid’s post-BSVI resurgence has been a heartwarming, and enthralling one. Skoda India seems to have found the best balance between value and engagement with the revised Rapid. It sold more of these cars this year, with a single, ostensibly niche turbo-petrol manual engine option, than it did last year when both diesel and petrol options were still on sale.

But here we are driving what may be the Rapid’s final flourish before next year’s replacement, an automatic that is meant to widen this new-found appeal even further. In a good insight into how committed the SkodaVW combine seems to its India 2.0 resurgence plan, Skoda has swapped its DCT gearbox – technology almost synonymous with the VW Group – with a six-speed torque-converter. The Czech brand says this was done to reduce cost and dispel the perceived maintenance issues associated with dual-clutch units.