The toroidal Stako tank, placed in the spare wheel well (with the wheel replaced by a repair kit), holds 42 liters of gas, which even in the city should be enough to drive for 350-400 km without refueling. Going outside the city allows to drive for even 500-600 km, unless someone stubbornly tries to overtake everything that stands in his way and forgets about speed cameras. Though something tells us that a target user of Rapid – married with children – won’t feel the desire to drive this practical Skoda over the limits. Especially when he has an LPG system installed in his car – that somehow always works on the subconscious mind and helps reduce the pressure your right foot exerts on the gas pedal.
It’s not worth rushing headlong for one more reason. In order to protect the valves, valve seats and the engine, Landi Renzo configured their system so that in the range of 3000-4000 RPM the engine receives a small, 7% dose of petrol (LPG portion is then reduced accordingly), and above 4000 RPM the engine works on petrol only. This explains the reproducibility of power figure measurements on the test bench – maximum values are reached at 5400 RPM, so no wonder the engine generates the same power on both types of fuel, if it really works in both cases on… the same fuel. Maximum torque is reached at 3800 RPM, so with little involvement of petrol. Thus a small (almost unnoticeable) difference in favor of the base fuel (111.3 to 110.1 Nm) is understood.
We’d really like to find something really bad here, just because that’s what we normally do. It wasn’t an easy task this time, but we managed to find one thing – the fuel type switch is located in such a place (on the dashboard, left of the steering column) that it’s really easy to obstruct it with certain setting of the steering wheel and the seat. Of course, it also depends on the driver’s posture and some drivers will not experience this problem, but it may happen that in order to see the level of LPG on the display, you will have to lean towards the instrument panel. Skoda could also think about moving the gas filling valve under the petrol flap cap (in all their cars, not just this model) – since self-service has finally become a reality (at least in theory right now, but that’s just a matter of time), it would simply be more convenient. But we do understand that the company is guided by the body durability issues and does not want to “pierce” it if it’s not absolutely necessary.
Time for the verdict. If you’re looking for a car in which practical solutions dominate over performance and emotions, this one’s for you. The dedicated gas system means that Rapid scrams “Skoda” even louder, as reducing running costs makes it even more suitable for pragmatic people. You need to be aware that no one will cast a jealous glance on this car on the streets (apart from envy drivers of old versions of the Octavia), but that’s not why people usually buy a Skoda. And although this car is boringly reasonable and devoid of any panache, it gets our blessing without any problems. Get it while it’s cheaper!
Zobacz stronę producenta:
LandiRenzoloading results...
Aby utworzyć konto Warsztatu, należy zgłosić dane firmy: 609-966-101 lub biuro@gazeo.pl