Skoda Octavia WRC Limited Edition...The Facts.

[estorilblue]

After purchasing my Skoda Octavia VRS WRC No. 100/100 I found that information on them in general is quite hard to find. Briskoda does have the most information I have found, but it has been spread over several pages an there is no real single page to compile these, so I am trying to get it all here on one page...as well as try and find answers to questions I have too.

In order to complete this labour of love, I may have used certain cars numbers as examples. If you own these cars, and take objection to with me mentioning your number...please let me or a mod know and I will have the text edited. Hopefully you will see what I am trying to do here and help me out!

So...what we do know;

The WRC Skoda was released to the public in 2002, to celebrate 100 years of Skoda in motorsport. Only 100 were sold, of which 75 were LHD and 25 were RHD which were released to the UK at an original selling price of around £20700 (approximately £5000 more than a standard car) although many were sold at a lower discounted price as the asking price was considered too steep by some.

It has been referred to as "Skoda Octavia VRS WRC", "Skoda Octavia Rally" and the "Skoda Octavia VRS Limited Edition". As per the normal VRS, it is also officially known as a "RS" outside of the UK, due to Ford having the "RS" name rights in the UK.

At the time of writing, Briskodas WRC registry has been able to locate 30 of the 100 prodcued, of which 22 are RHD, leaving 3 RHD unaccounted for. Out of the 25 issued to the UK, number 89 was stolen and burnt out, and number 66 lives in Spain. This leaves a maximum of 23 *driving* cars in the UK, 20 of which are known. Number 1 resides in Germany, number 100 in the UK. This actually makes it one of the rarest VAG production cars available to the general public, especially when compared to such limited edtions as the 2002 Golf IV Anniversary which was limited to 1800 examples purely for the UK market.

The latest car to be found is number 72, which resides in Portsmouth, UK.

The 25 cars issued to the UK were registered on 02/52/03 plates, and the date of registry did not reflect the specific cars build number, for example although mine was the last made number 100, it was registered on a "52" plate, whereas number 12 is on a "03" plate. The bulid numbers and country of issue appear to be random, for example the UK did not recieve a batch of 25 ranging from 75 to 100, instead the UK plays host to 25 cars ranging from number 12 to 100. 12 being the lowest number found in the UK so far.

The cars were standard in every respect except the following features which were above and beyond a standard production Octavia VRS of that time;

- WRC replica graphics celebrating 100 years of motorsport.

- Exterior paint in "Candy White".

- Build number badge on dashboard, located above central air vents. Format: ***/***.

- Xenon Headlights with washers.

- Front Side Seat Airbags.

- ESP.

- VRS front door kickplates.

- Rear Mudflaps.

- "B Pillar covers in black (included in exterior graphics, but actually a seperate OEM part).

- Heated Front Seats.

- Side rubbing strips deleted.

- White 17" Spyder alloys.

- CD player and 6 CD Changer.

- Cargo net.

At the time of its build, the WRC had many options, such as Xenons and ESP that were not available to be specified on a Standard Octavia VRS, although that soon changed and those items just became a regular option on later Ocativa VRS's (Late 03 onward).

The promotional car, built prior to the car being released to the general public had bigger brakes, silver 17" spyder alloys, grey headling, no rear wash wipe, rear parking sensors and a sunroof.

Many of the cars no longer have their exterior graphics, now being just plain white, number 100 is an example of this, whereas number 84 still has its full graphics. Dealers sometimes removed the graphics in order to make selling them easier as they were deemed to be a bit too much for some buyers, as happened to number 51.

The usual documentation (handbook) supplied with the car, and the V5 make no reference to the vehicle being a WRC or Limited edition.

Some of the cars have been modified tastefully, number 73 now sports 19" white alloys and a replica WRC rear spoiler.

There were minor differences between the models, depending on market or build date etc, for example number 73 has Grey headlining, whereas number 100 had black headlining. It has been reported that some were made without a rear wash wipe, and others apparently came with black carpet or alarms with internal sensors although I have yet to find an exact car number with these variants. It is common to find WRC's with dealer fit front arm rests.

The car has been rumoured to "Handle" differently, but those who have checked the part numbers for suspension etc, have found them to be identical to the Standard VRS.

The WRC is commonly confused with a Police Spec VRS, however the exterior "Candy White" paint is all they actually share.

Problems specific to the WRC are few, it has been known for the build number badge to fall from the dash due to the glue giving up, and the white spyder wheels are very hard to keep clean, and original paint wheels are now looking a little worse for wear on some cars which is not bad considering it is a 7 year old car!

Valuing the car today is hard, as no specific price guide exists due to its very limited production run, but looking at the ones that have been for sale recently, they tend to be advertised £1000 - £2000 more than a Octavia VRS of similar age/mileage. The Skoda Octavia WRC is a modern classic, and future collectors car considering it was a rare version of the car that put Skoda back on the map in the public sector, the Skoda Octavia VRS Mk1.

Thats about everything I can think of at the moment, hopefully this article will help people who desire to know more about this very special car. I am looking for any original promotional material for this car, in particular any press material or original spec sheet. Does anyone have a hard copy they could scan in, or alternatively a link to online documents?

Does anyone know how you originally placed an order for these cars? Could you order one, or were they sent to dealers to sell from the forecourt?

If anyone can see any errors, or has something to add, please do so....although I am trying to keep this article as factual as possible so please bear this in mind when posting.

Mods:If this article could be made into a sticky, I would really appriciate it as I think it would help alot of people. I have not added this information to the registry so as not to hi-jack.

Regards,

Mike.

Edited 18 August, 2009 by estorilblue
Updated figures due to new WRC found.

[billy2981]

I like that mate, nice to see how much you like urs and have taken the time to sort this out for everyone.

billy:thumbup:

[N7EJA]

nice

[Bowders1]

Impressive write up there and intersting read.

Thanks

[countryboyhaha]

Very good write up

[tin0]

thanx, some useful information on there

[Taxi 219]

Well sourced and written Mike

[andy2407]

As a matter of interest, there was a silver Octy with WRC graphics at the 2007 Doksy meet in the Czech Republic - attended by a few Briskodians.

As far as I know its was a "standard" car with the graphics added - I believe they were available as a retrofit item (for around £1k).

I have a pic of it (next to a WRC model) but no further details sorry...

[Interphase]

What's with the gills on the silver Octy's bumper? Haven't seen those before but they look pretty good.

[Johnny50]

What's with the gills on the silver Octy's bumper? Haven't seen those before but they look pretty good.

Look like Milotec (or similar)

Rob has them on his Red estate and they look spot on.

[karlbar2k]

same sort of thing on the S3+S4 as they had twin intercoolers in the wheel arch.

[estorilblue]

As a matter of interest, there was a silver Octy with WRC graphics at the 2007 Doksy meet in the Czech Republic - attended by a few Briskodians.

As far as I know its was a "standard" car with the graphics added - I believe they were available as a retrofit item (for around £1k).

I have a pic of it (next to a WRC model) but no further details sorry...

Interestingly enough, that picture shows the WRC as being car 42....one we havent "found" yet! Im going to stick my neck on the line and say those graphics on the silver car are not genuine Skoda WRC items....my reasoning for this would be the fact the rear door handles are not covered, the front bumper rubbing strips are covered in green and the red used is not the same peachy-red used on the WRC!

[N7EJA]

i thought the rear door handles, and insides + front bumper bits were sprayed green and not a sticker. genuine stickers just not a WRC tho

[Matt C]

Great work, a good read! Thanks for the mention of my car, No72!

I too have been searching for some history on these, and have found very little information out there.

Thanks,

Matt

[VRSPhil]

The stickers on the silver one are not the genuine Skoda ones... The red looks like a solid block of colour unlike the standard one which is made up of small dots. Also the shape of the flying arrow on the rear doors is different. I like it though.

[Exportio_vRS]

Great write up Mike, enjoyed reading it. My graphics were removed/sprayed over by the dealer in Aberdeen, unfortunately this has now made my car go a bit cream coloured instead of candy white. All my headlining is like a beize/cream colour.

Ross

WRC_068

[estorilblue]

Thanks guys, if anyone can think of anything else to add...please do so. Im hoping this page will serve as a reference point for other people trying to find info on the WRC.

[estorilblue]

On another note....what other WRC cars have headlining in black? Id be interested to know at what build number they changed the colour from grey.

[Exportio_vRS]

On another note....what other WRC cars have headlining in black? Id be interested to know at what build number they changed the colour from grey.

I wonder when they changed from creamy beige to grey or black

[tin0]

Mine has the black/dark charcoal colour headlining! Didnt realise the wrc had variations

[estorilblue]

What number is yours Tino?

[tin0]

What number is yours Tino?

Mine is number 34. It was owned by my mate (Monkeynuts off here) but luckily for me he needed to buy a house so I got the car

[Matt C]

On another note....what other WRC cars have headlining in black? Id be interested to know at what build number they changed the colour from grey.

Light grey headlining in mine. (No 72)

Matt

[estorilblue]

So let me get this straight, 34 had black headlining, 72 had light grey, but then 100 had black????

STRANGE!

[Mustafa]

Hello

Friend of mine with that no. 42 has some problems with his account, so I promissed him that ill write some words.

Here in Czech, there are 4 WRC editions 24, 32, 42 and 28 and i know about one from Slovakia no. 18 and Im in contact with some from Germany.

They all are meeting together on some car events. If you want,we could manage meeting of WRC Editions and maybee for other RS models too . Like Briskoda trip from 2006 and 2007.