Car: Skoda Octavia vRS TDI range
Prices: £19,215-£20,090 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 14
Emissions: 157g/km
Performance: Max Speed 140mph / 0-60mph 8.2s
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 48.2mpg
Safety: ABS, ESP, brake assist, twin front and side airbags
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4572/1769/1462mm
TORQUE REALLY IS CHEAP
Our Rating: 7.1 / 10
Skoda’s acclaimed Octavia vRS is now offered with the option of diesel power. Andy Enright assesses the value proposition
Studied impartiality may well be a desirable in any vehicle review but I’m afraid I’m going to fail you on this score. I love the Skoda Octavia vRS. That is, I love the petrol-powered 197bhp version that I’ve had the good fortune of racking up a few thousand miles in. When Skoda announced a diesel version of its sportiest Octavia, I was at first a little sceptical, expecting it to be a badge-engineered version of their 140bhp 2.0-litre TDI model. Fortunately I was wrong, and this engine is good for a hefty 170bhp.
This means that the diesel Octavia is going to feel even quicker through the midrange than its petrol counterpart, a car that rarely feels anything other than respectably rapid. Whereas there’s a tinge of guilt and a quick scan to the fuel gauge when really pressing on in the petrol model, the diesel car assuages this sense of remorse with a combined fuel economy figure of 48.7mpg. Naturally, you won’t get anything like this figure if you drive with the throttle pedal welded to the bulkhead but progress in a more measured fashion and you’ll achieve a typical touring range of 589 miles per tankful. As a result, this is the sort of car where it’s quite easy to forget which side the fuel filler’s on when you pull into a filling station.
The vRS package has proven a popular one amongst Octavia buyers and includes deeper bumpers, a boot spoiler and 17-inch Zenith alloy wheels, the Octavia vRS looking purposeful without appearing as if it’s returning from Max Power Live with a teenage driver who’s just maxed his dad’s credit card. Other details include green brake callipers, Cat’s Eyes reflectors in the rear bumper and vRS badging on the tailgate. The interior also benefits from some subtle upgrades with deeply bolstered sports seats, a three spoke steering wheel and aluminium-effect trim to lift the somewhat sombre Octavia fascia. Black rooflining and a leather-trimmed gearknob complete the interior package.
If you owned one of the first generation Octavia vRS models (which only came with petrol power), you’ll find with this second generation model that the rear overhang has been extended a little further to give the Octavia more of a ‘three box’ profile. Like the old vRS, the latest car boasts a practical hatchback rather than the boot its stub-tailed lines may suggest. The old Octavia was renowned for possessing one of the biggest payloads in class but the latest car comprehensively trumps it, available capacity going up by 36 litres to 560 litres with the rear seats in place. Bear in mind that this dwarfs what’s on offer from a BMW 5 Series, a Jaguar S-TYPE, a Mercedes E Class or a Volvo S80 and you’ll get some idea how huge it is back there. The VW Golf (whose design platform this car shares) doesn’t even compare. Fold the rear seats flat and you’ll then get a yawning 1,350 litres of available room. Not a car for the agoraphobic in other words and if you opt for the estate, that seats-folded capacity increases to 1,620 litres.
Passenger room is similarly generous – and that’s important since the prodigious luggage space of the original MK1 Octavia required rear seat passengers to pay in kind. The wheelbase of the second generation model has been teased out by another 66mm, endowing it with admirable rear legroom even when the front seats are occupied by long limbed adults. Rear headroom is better than the swooping roofline would suggest, helped in no small part by a slightly more generous seat back recline than in many such cars.
When it comes to the vRS TDI, there’s also an estate version offered. Built on the same platform as the hatchback model, the Octavia estate eschews the current trend for long wheelbase estate versions and instead concentrates on offering solid value for money and practical interior solutions rather than headline grabbing gimmickry. A split/fold rear bench isn’t the most exciting feature but it can free up a huge amount of space – some 1,
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