A useful car - Skoda rapid spaceback
Discussion
I've had this thing for 10 months or so now so thought I'd make a post about it!
When buying it I did something that I don't think I've ever actually done before and figured out everything I actually wanted from a car and figured out what fitted the bill. Any car I've bought is figuring out what I actually wanted or needed, fun or, erm, interesting, has been further up the list which resulted in a nissan cube a couple years back. A car which was comfortable and could fit a washing machine without even folding the back seats, but was utterly hopeless for carting bikes around.
So early last year I figured out what I was wanting from a car. Cheap to run, not frustratingly slow, able to have a towbar or roof bars fitted, back seats that can fit full sized adults comfortably, and one of the more particular things I was after was a panoramic roof, something on the cube that I actually really liked.
I didn't want an SUV type car and wasn't really interested in a big barge either, I was more looking for the "smallest big car" or "biggest small car" that I could find.
After some digging, the shortlist was more or less down to a Skoda rapid spaceback sport or a Citroen cactus. And after a while going through classifieds and looking at a couple cars I ended up with this.
While rapid is definitely a misnomer with a 1.2 turbo, it's not needing to set my hair on fire and it's fine for cruising up and down the road with or without bikes covering it.
On the drive back home it was averaging close to 50 mpg, and with it getting £35 a year road tax, it covers the "cheap to run" side very well. Often managing 500+ miles on a tank is great for longer round trips as well. I've found a lot of smaller cars often only manage 300ish, which means if going to Glasgow and back from Aberdeen you're often on fumes as you get back home.
Not long after getting it I managed to find an OEM towbar kit for it and a suitable set of roofbars. The nissan cube was only able to fit one bike inside it, with both wheels off, the front seats slid forwards and the derailleur ziptied up to the frame, so this was a massive improvement!
Interior has sports seats and with the panoramic roof its a surprisingly nice place to be for a sensible workhorse and it's a smart enough looking car without being over-styled which it seems like almost everything new is these days.
Nearly a year in and it's been a great jack of all trades so far.
When buying it I did something that I don't think I've ever actually done before and figured out everything I actually wanted from a car and figured out what fitted the bill. Any car I've bought is figuring out what I actually wanted or needed, fun or, erm, interesting, has been further up the list which resulted in a nissan cube a couple years back. A car which was comfortable and could fit a washing machine without even folding the back seats, but was utterly hopeless for carting bikes around.
So early last year I figured out what I was wanting from a car. Cheap to run, not frustratingly slow, able to have a towbar or roof bars fitted, back seats that can fit full sized adults comfortably, and one of the more particular things I was after was a panoramic roof, something on the cube that I actually really liked.
I didn't want an SUV type car and wasn't really interested in a big barge either, I was more looking for the "smallest big car" or "biggest small car" that I could find.
After some digging, the shortlist was more or less down to a Skoda rapid spaceback sport or a Citroen cactus. And after a while going through classifieds and looking at a couple cars I ended up with this.
While rapid is definitely a misnomer with a 1.2 turbo, it's not needing to set my hair on fire and it's fine for cruising up and down the road with or without bikes covering it.
On the drive back home it was averaging close to 50 mpg, and with it getting £35 a year road tax, it covers the "cheap to run" side very well. Often managing 500+ miles on a tank is great for longer round trips as well. I've found a lot of smaller cars often only manage 300ish, which means if going to Glasgow and back from Aberdeen you're often on fumes as you get back home.
Not long after getting it I managed to find an OEM towbar kit for it and a suitable set of roofbars. The nissan cube was only able to fit one bike inside it, with both wheels off, the front seats slid forwards and the derailleur ziptied up to the frame, so this was a massive improvement!
Interior has sports seats and with the panoramic roof its a surprisingly nice place to be for a sensible workhorse and it's a smart enough looking car without being over-styled which it seems like almost everything new is these days.
Nearly a year in and it's been a great jack of all trades so far.
Loved mine - few details here
Skoda Rapid Spaceback - Clicky
Chose it for very similar reasons - wanted something with low VED, good economy (not a bloody dag dag) 5 doors hatch with fold down rear seats, well equiped as std and It ticked every single box.
Background
I've got a few cars and they tend to be older and bloody needy and I just wanted one car that wasn't needy and for it to just do the job with no fuss and it did perfectly in reality it was my version of a reverse mid life crisis - I already had a stupid car
Unfortunately it didn't end well and First post here documents why - clicky
Still miss it but it's regarded as "the car that must not be spoken about in the house"
Edited to add a picture
Skoda Rapid Spaceback - Clicky
Chose it for very similar reasons - wanted something with low VED, good economy (not a bloody dag dag) 5 doors hatch with fold down rear seats, well equiped as std and It ticked every single box.
Background
I've got a few cars and they tend to be older and bloody needy and I just wanted one car that wasn't needy and for it to just do the job with no fuss and it did perfectly in reality it was my version of a reverse mid life crisis - I already had a stupid car
Unfortunately it didn't end well and First post here documents why - clicky
Still miss it but it's regarded as "the car that must not be spoken about in the house"
Edited to add a picture
Edited by B'stard Child on Sunday 12th January 19:10
Haha, I'm surprised it was as unpopular as that, it's not like it's a zafira or something horrifically boring!
The seats don't have that much adjustment but I find them fine.
Overall reasoning is actually pretty similar! I've had an Elise as a daily-ish car for knocking on 15 years now and while still happy to drive that everywhere, it's going through a bit of refurbishment at the moment. The idea of buying the cube was similar to this, but it was quite a bit crustier, and it really was just awful for trying to take bikes anywhere. Can't buy a towbar, roof is too high for roof bars to be useful, and side opening boot meant boot racks wouldn't work either!
The seats don't have that much adjustment but I find them fine.
Overall reasoning is actually pretty similar! I've had an Elise as a daily-ish car for knocking on 15 years now and while still happy to drive that everywhere, it's going through a bit of refurbishment at the moment. The idea of buying the cube was similar to this, but it was quite a bit crustier, and it really was just awful for trying to take bikes anywhere. Can't buy a towbar, roof is too high for roof bars to be useful, and side opening boot meant boot racks wouldn't work either!
Ian974 said:
Haha, I'm surprised it was as unpopular as that, it's not like it's a zafira or something horrifically boring!
Correct - I'd rather walk than drive something like a Zafira 
Ian974 said:
The seats don't have that much adjustment but I find them fine.
I found them super comfortable too and not being leather it was like sitting on velcro - you could barrel into corners and not move a mm sideways - as with most cars with a slight shortfall in pull ponies the trick is maintaining all momentum 
Mrs BC is short in the leg - actually she's short everywhere
The front of the squab apparently cut of her circulation
I jacked the back of the seat up with spacers and longer bolts to help and then she complained she slid forward all the time - which was daft cos the seats were better than velcro
I don't think it would have mattered what I did - I made her into a "car snob" and I got the fall out from it.
I'd have another in a heart beat but I'd need to part exchange Mrs BC first.........
Ian974 said:
Overall reasoning is actually pretty similar! I've had an Elise as a daily-ish car for knocking on 15 years now and while still happy to drive that everywhere, it's going through a bit of refurbishment at the moment.
Rapid (OK maybe that wasn't the best choice of name) makes a perfect parts chaser then Ian974 said:
The idea of buying the cube was similar to this, but it was quite a bit crustier, and it really was just awful for trying to take bikes anywhere. Can't buy a towbar, roof is too high for roof bars to be useful, and side opening boot meant boot racks wouldn't work either!
The cube always seemed to me like style over function - haven't seen one without a sticker bomb'd wing or tailgate for ages - they seem like they have a bit of a cult following - maybe I'm just not ready to join a cult!!!Yeah, when you're looking it's easy to get scope creep and before you know it you're trying to justify spending twice what you were planning on an Octavia VRS, but for what I'm after all that'd be doing is costing more money.
Agree on the seats, just absolutely fine for me. I think they're fairly similar to what I had in my old EP3 civic type R, not overly deep bolsters, just grippy enough to keep you in place on the road.
The cube: in fairness if it was just to be a city car it'd be absolutely fine, it pulled its weight massively with a couple family house moves as well, but just wasn't practical for cycling. And we'll call the styling "slightly divisive"
It was only after picking up the Skoda I realised I hadn't driven a relatively normal car at 70 in a long time, only the cube, Elise and a mates pickup truck. It's blatantly obvious to state, but the difference the shape and aerodynamics make to a car maintaining it's momentum once you come off the throttle is quite a bit more than I'd realised!
Agree on the seats, just absolutely fine for me. I think they're fairly similar to what I had in my old EP3 civic type R, not overly deep bolsters, just grippy enough to keep you in place on the road.
The cube: in fairness if it was just to be a city car it'd be absolutely fine, it pulled its weight massively with a couple family house moves as well, but just wasn't practical for cycling. And we'll call the styling "slightly divisive"
It was only after picking up the Skoda I realised I hadn't driven a relatively normal car at 70 in a long time, only the cube, Elise and a mates pickup truck. It's blatantly obvious to state, but the difference the shape and aerodynamics make to a car maintaining it's momentum once you come off the throttle is quite a bit more than I'd realised!
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