All generations and engines together · 21,480 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 70k
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 11,834 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The 7-speed DSG fitted to automatic Rapids uses a dry clutch pack rather than a torque converter, and it wears like a clutch rather than lasting the life of the car. Owners have reported judder pulling away and, in at least one case, a full clutch and flywheel failure at only 6,000 miles. Skoda extended the gearbox warranty to 5 years/150,000km in 2013 and, in 2017, switched the box from a supposedly "non-maintenance" item to one needing a mineral oil change every 40,000 miles, which tells you the early cars were struggling without it. Out of warranty, a clutch pack or mechatronic unit replacement typically runs into four figures.
EA189-engined 1.6 TDI Rapids were among the VW Group cars given the NOx emissions software fix. Afterwards some owners reported EGR valve, fuel injection or emissions aftertreatment problems, enough that Skoda sent goodwill letters promising to consider claims for such failures within 24 months of the fix, provided the car hadn't done more than 160,000 miles. A clogged or failing EGR valve typically shows up as rough idle, a limp-home mode, or a smell of diesel fumes, and can cost a few hundred pounds to sort out of warranty.
A scatter of niggly electrical faults keeps coming up on owner reports rather than any one big failure: cruise control cutting out, the sat-nav freezing or misbehaving, and the Climatronic system blowing air that swings between hot and cold every few seconds without a clear cause. None of it is officially acknowledged as a pattern fault, and fixes tend to be a dealer reset or a module swap rather than a proper repair. Worth budgeting a couple of hundred pounds if a climate control actuator needs replacing.
Some Rapids develop a droning or drumming resonance in the cabin, most noticeable at a steady motorway speed. Honest John describes it as a known fault with a dealer remedy available, which suggests Skoda has a fix (likely extra sound-deadening or a seal update) even though it's never been badged as an official TSB. Cheap to live with if you know about it, mildly annoying if you don't and start hunting for a phantom exhaust or wheel bearing fault instead.
Ride quality has been a running complaint since launch: Honest John flagged "unsettled" ride on early cars, Auto Express called it jittery over rough roads, and Carbuyer separately noted owners marking the car down on ride comfort. That lines up with this site's measured MOT-fail data, where suspension is the standout failure category for the family-hatch segment the Rapid sits in. It doesn't prove every noisy strut or worn bush is destined to fail an MOT, but the class-wide pattern and the owner folklore are pointing at the same components.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (Family hatchbacks), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.