TudorM

The 1.8TSI comes with the dry clutch DSG7.

The Superb V6 is in a different league all together drive-train wise and no one in their right mind will dispute that. The V6 and the VRS don't really compete with each other on pretty much anything.

@lol-lol, don't confuse the DQ250 in "lower" class/level cars with engines such as the 1.8TSI and 1.4TSI with the DQ500 in "higher" level applications (such as the Tiguan). They are both 7 speed, but only the DQ500 has wet clutches, while the 7 speed DQ250 used with engines such as those you mention has dry clutches. It would be more or less impossible to have a wet clutch gearbox (manual or automatic) and have no maintenance cost over the life of the unit, like you claim. The gearbox oil will have to be replaced after a certain mileage (even if it's 50k, 100k, 150k etc). Or you're asking for trouble at higher mileages. You are correct about the other points though, more gears, better use of the rpm range, lower weight etc. I would still hope that VW does consider using the DQ500 in more "plebeian" applications.

It's been officially stated for a while now: 340 front and 272 rear.

Hmm, I was expecting the side mirrors lights to be a whole lot more powerful! They barely seem to be doing anything, at least in those photos anyway.

Guys, this whole debate is pointless... Taken from the official specs: Petrol - 0-100km/h in 6,8s and 80-120km/h in 4/5 gear in 5/6s Diesel - 0-100km/h in 8,1s and 80-120km/h in 4/5 gear in 6/7,5s Conclusion, petrol is faster off the line and in gear. Torque is 350Nm for petrol and 380Nm for diesel so basically the same. Diesel's advantage is economy (and not so much for a sporty model). End of debate! Back to VRS updates...

@pipsyp, those are not the Gemini 18" wheels. Here's a link with even more photos. You have the Geminis in there and they're different. @ali, relax... that image is probably from a car with a manual. @Ansum, they all do if you look closely (including the non-VRS silver one).

No one said all of them were VRS, there's also a Superb facelift in those pictures. Plus, none of them have the actual VRS wheels on, which makes them look even more nondescript. And the highlight of the O3 VRS is the back of the car, not the front, with the dual exhausts. Looks pretty clever on the estate especially. IMO, a grey/white one with the black pack and the anthracite Gemini 18" wheels would be the best looking combo for a combi.

Welcome to last week! :P They are VRS cars with standard 18" wheels, with and without window chrome surrounds.

Well, that's because the wording from Skoda is misleading. The hatch has a standard sunroof, that any hatch in this price range has, despite the fact that the car's roof seems to be made almost completely out of glass. Which is what gave Skoda the power to say "panoramic" and as you can see it has already started to confuse potential customers. Only the estate's sunroof is a true panoramic one, with one half being mobile and the other fixed in place.

There's a "Black Edition" pack available that's going to have the front grille, side mirrors, roof bars and window surrounds in black (just as in the official photos). It's a 60 euro option in France. The picture above with the red car is indeed the pre-production test mule, but the only difference is that the diffuser and exhausts are blacked out. The final vehicle looks very similar to that.

That was pretty obvious from all the official photos and yes, the estate gets a full panoramic sunroof. There's plenty of videos available on the internet as usual. I'd definitely pick it on the estate.

There's yellow as an available optional color. It's been on the configs for some time now. The thing is that these online configurators don't have the option for the "Black package" to make the car look like in the official photos and all the photos we've seen so far don't have it. Let's hope it will be available to order in July, as it makes the car look much better than the bling "chrome".

Didn't mean anything by it anyway, I hope you didn't take offense. But yeah, to me personally, I like the VRS exhausts more than the GTI ones, those seem kinda flimsy to me.

I think you're looking too much into it, Timoctav. And if you look at the full width of the car the tips don't seem to be that large, at least to me anyway. But hey, I don't have a Porsche on my driveway, hehe...

@Nick, the car might still be on the delivery suspension "stilts" or however you want to call them. If you look at other pics with VRS side by side with a normal Octi, the VRS is definitely lower than those. @Timoctav: the GTI has had twin exhausts for ages now, haven't heard anyone complaining about those! :p I think it looks great, and no one in their right mind will ever think the Octavia has some nuclear power-plant under the hood, VRS or not...

It needs to have those transportation "stilts" taken away from the suspension ASAP. Otherwise, nice looking color and good choice of engine. Enjoy!

And you're expecting to get a reliable statistical spread of values out of the numbers of people that reply to you on a forum?! You do know that in order to get anything meaningful you would need tens of thousands of people to reply, people that have used that particular gearbox in the most diverse environments and ways of use (urban, motorway, heavy users, light usage etc etc). Then and only then you can get a proper view of the reliability of said gearbox. Why do you think all these reliability surveys such as JD Power and others need more than 60-100.000 people to contribute for that survey to be taken seriously? Here's the two possibilities you might get from you asking this question: 1. The gearbox is crap. The 1.4TSI engine is crap (you were worried about that too!). Go buy the Honda Civic AT. 2. The gearbox is great. The 1.4TSI engine is great. Go buy the Octavia 1.4TSI DSG. Pick the one you feel fits your worries. End of thread... PS: You can be certain that the only ones that have a proper database of issues (real or imagined) of any part is VW. And you can bet your behind it will never be made public, unless they get their own Snowden.

How can someone possibly be worried sick about any product that they haven't even ordered, let alone own?! People tell you that there's a pretty high chance that the gearboxes are fine, but you still go "don't know if I believe that though"... Are you expecting people here (that you don't know personally) to basically reassure you of your own purchases with your very own money? That doesn't make any sense... If you're worried "sick" about a white goods product, there's a simple solution: don't buy it! Go buy something else... This whole topic is just silly.

It's definitely available on the online configurators from Slovenia, Germany, Romania, where I've checked. But since you guys in the UK seem to get preferential treatment (not in a good way), you might be out of this one too!

Countryboy is correct in theory, but has the torque figures wrong. The 7 speed dry clutch can handle 250Nm (engines up to 1.8TSI FWD), while the 6 speed wet clutch can handle up to 350-380Nm (engines up to the VRS engines). The 7 speed wet clutch in the Tiguan for example is a different version and newer, it can handle up to 500Nm if I'm not mistaken. There was another topic where all of this was stated already.

If you check the german prices, the VRS is actually more expensive than the equivalent GTI/GTD with or without DSG. Crazy, huh?

On the german config webpage you can see the "new" colours... yellow and green. No "meteor" grey in sight. There's also a listing of standard equipment and tech specs.

Why in the world would you want/need one?! That's one of the fake race-like things I dislike about the Gti.

Paul007, can you elaborate a little bit on the heated windscreen? Does it have the thin wires going across it or is it the new "electrically conducive material" that supposedly has no wires in it? I'm guessing, since it's warm outside, that you haven't used it yet... Did it bother you/was it visible in bright sunlight?