drive the deal seem to get the best prices out of dealers and they quote £1,400 off the Venga and £1,600 off the ix20. £3,000 off a Rapid 1.2TSi, £4k off a Note.

Ah-hem. What is a car broker?

Bought my last car, a Seat Leon via a broker called Carfile who is one of the most respected and longest standing in the field. I saved almost £3000 compared to what the local dealers wanted.

Just looked at their site for the Skoda Rapid. The 1.2 TSi SE 105 is priced at £12463 which is a discount of £3327. Doubt if any local dealer would match that. They also do PX's and I got exactly the same as the local dealer was offering.

Here is a link. www.carfile.net/business/skoda-rapid-12_tsi_105_se...9

Thank you for that :)

Why do you have to buy locally?

They are usually useful for test drives and servicing if price competitive, otherwise i will drive elsewhere.

Sounds like a quick way of paying more for the same product. DTD certainly give some of the best quotes my opinion.

Well I got the cars for a huge £30 less than drivethedeals best price and I got 2 spare wheels thrown in, but then again I was buying 2 so had a bit more buying power.

A quick update,

both cars where sold via car buying service after passing their first MOT's a few weeks back.

Both cars proved reliable, fuel efficent and the boot space and rear leg room was excellent.

One racked up 58k the other 83k

We are not replacing them this time round, we are moving on from this business and the new potential owner has his own ideas.

I did intend on selling them at 3 years old once the warranty ran out due to the TSI timing chain issues, but there was no sign of any problems such as rattle, etc

Look out for 2 FSH Skoda Rapid's likely to be going through BCA Peterborough in the near future, both good cars and excellent value for money.

Our local taxi firm. They have dozens of white ones.

Moved away from i30s and i40s. I wonder if the move was based on reliability or overall running costs?

I know they have dozens of them because they store them in an otherwise unused corner of the local Asda Walmart car park. They have other makes, but there are certainly a lot of Rapids there weekdays when I make an occasional visit. Maybe they use them for school runs. I guess most daytime work doesn't require 4 passenger seats e.g. shopping and hospital runs.

Maybe the seats are particularly vomit proof for Weekend use?

Edited by Chris M on 17/04/2018 at 16:32

I've seen brokers offering the Rapid/Toledo for £11.2k/£12.5k repsectively for the lowest in the range. The Leon is undoubtedly the better car, but a £1-2.5k saving is still a lot for anyone on a tight budget wanting A to B wheels, especially when the car will be doing a reasonable mileage anyway and thus not worth that much after 3-5 years.

I'm not sure everyone would agree with the description of the rapid being a lemon!. I realise this post is on the toledo, but they are essentially the same car,

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/119666/seat-toledo...w

Also, describing the rapid's boot as being 'a bit bigger' than the fabia is slightly misleading given that it is actually more than 65% bigger. As for the width, yes it is quite a narrow car, but if, like me, you live on a very narrow street, that would be a plus point. Having said that, i find it difficult to believe the extra 26mm width of the Fabia would make a huge difference. Our jazz is slightly narrower still than the Rapid and so long as the occupants are not too broad of girth, 3 can fit on the back seat without too much discomfort.

Our local taxi firm's run a lot of both Rapid's and Toledo's

Also, describing the rapid's boot as being 'a bit bigger' than the fabia is slightly misleading given that it is actually more than 65% bigger.

The boot in the Rapid is over 50% bigger than a Fabia

The boot in Fabia hatch is quoted as 330 litres. I was comparing it to the Rapid Spaceback (if people had bothered to read) which has a quoted capacity of 405 litres. Bigger by 22% not the 50% or 65% quoted by other less accuarte posters.

The "normal" Rapid and Seat do have a bigger boot but I was not comparing that.

The rear leg room in a Rapid is way bigger than the cramped Fabia

Its not "way bigger", its a bit bigger. The Leon is defintely a match and maybe bit bigger, we did have one for 4 years you know and the Note has much more than either.

If you want me to compare the "normal" Rapid and Seat to a Fabia the only fair comparison is the Estate. It has more legroom than the hatch so its probably similar to the Rapid. The boot of the estate is 530 litres so its only 4% different but being an estate its much more flexible than a hatch. The killer is price. Using Carfile a Fabia Estate 1.0 SE-L 110 is £13700, the Rapid Hatchback 1.0 SE-L 110 is £15600, a difference of £1900 (with there is another £1500 off both those prices if you go for the PCP). In all seriousness who is going to pay £1900 extra for a Rapid instead of the highly rated Fabia, only those that have been certified insane since the Rapid is based on old underpinnings and has poorer quality fittings inside. And never forget residuals, the Rapid is prediced to retain 28% after 3 years, the Fabia 38%.

So who is going to buy the Rapid instead of the Fabia now?

Plese note that I am not anti Skoda, having bought 2 in the last 18 months proves that. But its a fact that the Rapid is a lemon, it was a lemon 5 years ago when they introduced it and it still is. Even Skoda admit it, the only country that buys it in any numbers is the Czech Republic. In 2017 Skoda sold 177,116 Fabia's in Europe, they sold 66,512 Rapids.

Think that says it all.

Edited by Avant on 18/04/2018 at 11:00

The Fabia clearly fulfils more people's needs, and I've never been convinced that there was enough of a gap between Fabia and Octavia for another model.

Neither have I simply because if you want a bigger Fabia buy the estate.

And why edit my post, what was wrong with it. Loads of apammers get on with no action for ages yet my resoned post appears to be out of order for some reason.

"And why edit my post; what was wrong with it?"

Your original was 'What idiot on here is going to buy the Rapid?" I'll continue to edit your posts until you stop calling other forum members idiots just because they disagree with you.

Spam is removed daily.

I'd probably fall into that category Avant! (not least because i like our jazz CVT), though strictly speaking i wouldn't have been 'buying' one. My wife gets a motablity car and due to it's dimensions along with the width (lack of) on our street, i would have given the Rapid serious consideration. Unfortunately there were no appealing deals at the time for either the Rapid or Toledo. Of course even if there was, the DSG would have put me off. But otherwise, a small cheapish car with an enormous boot?, assuming you are not bothered about vanity and how soft the dashboard plastic feels, what's not to like?

Interesting thoughts about the Kodiaq, Davey - showing that any car of this nature (MPV, SUV - the distinction is blurred) has to be a compromise.

The Kodiaq has the usual Skoda virtues, but as you say it's not the best at handling, and it's not the best at seating seven. The only answer has to be to draw up one's own list of priorities, and see what comes nearest to the ideal - which as our discussion about the Rapid shows, won't be the same for everyone.

For example, our Audi Q2 is on order because we need:

- big engine, medium size of car

- more fun to drive than my V60 (not too big an ask, this one)

- ability to make into a small van, particularly for my music keyboard

- the right height off the ground so that you don't have to climb either up or down when getting in and out

- at the same time handling like a car rather than a 'high-sided vehicle'.

Edited by Avant on 19/04/2018 at 23:59