Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0T FSI review
by David Finlay (3 February 2011)
Heaven knows there is no shortage of Golf-based hot hatches available from the four largest manufacturers in the VW Group. If you gathered together just one each of the various models from Audi, SEAT, Skoda and Volkswagen itself you would have a moderately-sized car park's worth of the things. But although many parts are shared, a considerable difference in attitude is apparent among the four brands.
The vRS, in petrol form (there's also a diesel), is the hottest Octavia there is. Its two-litre turbo petrol engine produces 198bhp, which gives it very respectable performance - 0-62mph in 7.2 seconds and 150mph flat-out are entirely decent figures, though what they don't show is that the vRS pulls well from low engines speeds. If straightline speed is what you're after, this Skoda provides quite a lot of it.
However, if you know your VW engines you'll be well aware that the same unit is found in more spectacular forms in the A3, León and Golf, where in some cases it produces not far off 270bhp. Even the León FR offers 10bhp more than the Octavia does, and it's the third most powerful model in the Spanish range behind the Cupra and Cupra R. And there are similar stories to be told by Audi and Volkswagen.
Compared with its closely-related opposition, then, the Octavia vRS is a warm hatch rather than a hot one. Personally, I'm okay with that. Much as I enjoy fast cars, 200bhp or so is more than enough for a car of this size as far as I'm concerned, and more than that would be of interest only on a trackday or some such event.
And power isn't the whole story in any case. For a car of this type, the vRS rides unusually well (it would be better still if it didn't have such low-profile tyres, but then it wouldn't look as good as its target customers probably want it to) and handles precisely enough. While it doesn't feel in any way like a race car, it can be positioned accurately, and it swishes through the bends with lots of grip and a very nice front/rear balance. There's definitely more cornering ability than power, and that's the way I like my road cars.
While not outstanding in any way, the vRS does its job very well, and it has the extra advantage of having more luggage room (585 litres seats up, 1455 litres seats down) than any comparable performance car from the same stable. That helps it to claw back some lost ground from the £800 cheaper and more powerful, but slightly less practical, León FR, while its price advantage of around £4000 compared with the equivalent A3 and Golf is not to be forgotten as long as you don't mind the fact that those cars have far greater brand bragging rights (a shame, given how impressive Skodas are these days, but regrettably true nonetheless).
The vRS's main challenger is probably the other vRS, by which I mean the 168bhp turbo diesel. It's slower, though it hardly hangs about, but it's only £800 or so more expensive and it's nearly 13mpg better on the combined fuel economy cycle. And the diesel is of course much stronger at the sort of engine speeds you're likely to use most of the time on public roads. If you want a performance-oriented vRS, that may be the one to go for.
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