Bohemian Sports Saloon
by Ross Finlay (10 Apr 01)

Sooner or later, most of the manufacturers involved in the World Rally Championship build a series production model with a nod at their rarefied WRC machines. In Skoda's case, it's the Octavia RS, which goes on sale here in May.

As a relative newcomer to top-flight WRC competition, Skoda is currently one of the supporting acts, but that's not to belittle its sporting heritage. Enthusiasts who saw how well its competitions department performed, in the low-finance days when the Bohemian firm (now in the Czech Republic) languished behind the Iron Curtain, admired the determination with which the works team tackled rallies like the RAC and the Acropolis.

That was when the Skoda budget for an entire event would hardly have kept Ford's service barges going. Yet, beginning with the rear-engined models, Skoda had a class-winning run in the RAC Rally which lasted for more than 20 years without defeat.

The road-going Octavia RS is naturally somewhat milder than the current WRC cars. But it's still a budget effort, although to the customer's benefit. Despite having a familiar 180bhp Volkswagen group 1.8-litre 20-valve turbo engine, a 0-62mph time of 7.9 seconds and a top speed of 146mph, the RS will go on sale at £15,100.

It doesn't make use of the four-wheel drive system which is so effective in the Octavia estate, but it's well set-up without that. The suspension is lowered, there are anti-roll bars front and rear, and an anti-spin regulation system is fitted as standard. The ASR certainly comes into play, because when you tank the RS away from a standing start, especially in situations like leaving a T-junction, that 180bhp does make its presence felt.

Rally Know-How Shows

The main thing about the way the RS handles and rides, though, is that, partly from its years of preparing rally cars, Skoda knows just how to combine high cornering power with a more supple ride than many of the Octavia's rivals provide. On a Durham test route it handled sharply, lapped up the sweeping bends, was agile enough on the tighter turns, romped up the hills, and hauled itself down from speed with secure and powerful braking.

There's a little Skoda joke about the brakes. Look at the wheels, and you see green-painted calipers, the same colour as the company's winged-arrow badge, designed in the 1920s.

Some people feel the standard Octavia front end is rather dull, partly because of the rectangular grille, but on the RS it's matched by rectangles all the way, from the light clusters to the extremely businesslike intakes across the air dam. There's also a mean-looking rear spoiler, and if you haven't got the message after taking all that in, a chromed RS badge is placed on the boot.

None of this is garish, because that isn't Skoda's way. The cabin is restrained too, although sporting in its presentation. There's an interior colour scheme in black, light grey and silver, a sports steering wheel with dimpled leather rim, and very supportive front seats. Since they have height adjustment, and the wheel can be altered for reach as well as rake, getting comfortable is no problem, although you have to like firm upholstery of the Central European persuasion.

Well Equipped, Too

A trip computer is standard, as well as an eight-speaker sound system and a six-CD changer; so the RS isn't crude or stripped-out. The latest Octavia front seats allow for a little more rear kneeroom than the Golf-type platform provided in previous models, and one feature in which the RS beats most of its direct rivals is its massive boot space. This is another Octavia, however, in which the instrument display is quite attractive, but you wonder how nobody at the development stage noticed the reflections in the clear plastic cover.

Items like fascia vents and door handles are familiar from other cars in the VW group line-up, but, in the RS as in all its model range, Skoda has managed to take its own individual, rather austere approach. And its radios are different from those in all the sister marques.

The sporting Octavia is built to Volkswagen standards, with good safety and security features, and extensive warranties (although not, as far as owners in this country are concerned, for cars bought abroad, out of the normal UK dealership network). It also has the Variable Servicing system which, according to driving styles, can mean service intervals of anywhere between one year/15,000km and two years/30,000km.

It should be said, though, that any RS owner whose on-board computer says the 30,000km service interval will do just fine simply hasn't got the message about this genuine sports saloon.

And anybody who hesitates about an RS because of some "image" problem ought to grow up and get real.

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