GatorLinearFade

I don't understand people getting so upset about a few minor niggles. Even if you buy an Aston Martin or a 911, you run the risk of having a few of these small annoyances in the beginning of ownership. Something about a mountain and a molehill. I recently saw a new M3 with orange peel paint so obvious even a blind man could spot it, but BMW's quality control guy obviously was still drunk from the party the evening before.

front bumper is the same, and I see no differences in the interior on the press renderings. What did catch my eye though, is the mention of "specifically adjusted silencers" for a sporty sound. Would this one have real sound, instead of the sound generator? See here: http://www.skoda-auto.com/en/models/octavia-rs-230/ EDIT: I do see a few more differences: no more fake carbon fibre in the interior, and the headlights are black inside. Also, the wheels seem to sit slightly further outside on the twitter pic.

the Octavia VRS already has the bigger brakes of the GTI performance pack. So only question is whether it now also gets the mechanical diff..

perhaps the 2nd axel drive number is only used on the 5th and 6th gear, as a true overdrive? Don't know how they'd do that in the gearbox though... EDIT: the answer is here: http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6419

this post confirms that 70mph in 6th corresponds to 2000rpm on the DSG: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/283691-dsg-gear-ratios-on-a-new-vrs/ As I said, it is an extreme overdrive, theoretically allowing Veyron speeds :-) So I still believe the 3.44 is the correct number to use. I agree with your table for the manual, where you used the 2nd axel-drive number, as should also be done for the DSG.

Not correct: you have to use the 3.44 as final drive ratio, leading to a max speed of 210mph for the DSG, if the power were available. The 6th gear on the DSG is indeed an extreme overdrive. I don't know why they list 2 numbers, but using the first one would give a manual TSI a top speed of only 130mph @ 6200rpm, which is obviously wrong.

I agree that the dipstick has a poor design, but I still manage to make out the difference between the bottom part which is entirely covered, and the upper part which has some random drops. If you don't, I suspect your oil level to be really low. As for checking fluids every 1000 miles, that's ridiculous once you're past the first 5k or so. I do it on my classic car, but a modern car shouldn't need that level of monitoring.

Here in Belgium it's an option. The TSI demo I drove didn't have it. Mine does, as I chose that option.

Interesting: I noticed the same, but in my lhd car the passenger side is right instead of left, so it may just be a weight issue (though I'm only 65kg).

Hi all, So I've done about 6000km with my new TSI VRS combi, which was delivered end of September. I think it's about time I write down my thoughts so potential buyers have some more info to base their choice on. Positives: great looking car, outside and inside, although the wheels are placed too far inside the arches, especially at the rear. Can be solved with spacers (but haven't done so yet). very practical, as expected. The boot is huge, rear leg room excellent, lots of storage space,... very budget friendly, at least here in Belgium. A similarly specced Audi A4 would be 10k euro more expensive. powerful and flexible engine, as expected from 220bhp and 350nm. the engine has very low inertia making rev-matching a very pleasing experience, although it's hard to do while braking (see negatives) great Xenon lights, turning into corners. This is an eye-opener for me, even though my previous car also had Xenon lights, the difference is day-and-night. Steering in corners is very accurate, requiring few mid-bend corrections. The variable rack is also very nice, as even 90 degree bends can most of the time be taken without moving hands. Brakes are strong, though a bit over-assisted. Negatives: the engine doesn't feel very eager on light throttle, not even in sport. I never find myself driving faster than I thought I was. Rather the opposite. This is also related to the next point: I'm not fond at all of the sound/vibration characteristics of the engine. It sounds and feels like an agricultural 4-cylinder. At least you can use the sound generator to drown the real engine sound. Then again, it does sound fake. My Vauxhall 2.0 turbo was much closer to the smoothness and creamy sound of a 6-cylinder, without any sound engineering. Fuel consumption is not impressive. I average about 8.5l/100km on the long term, which isn't bad, but it's not better than my previous 200bhp/1300kg car, which was 12 years old. Brake and throttle are too far apart for easy heel-and-toe. Motorway stability is poor. If the tarmac is perfectly flat, it's not so bad, but when the camber varies or some wind is blowing from the side, constant correction is required. Sound insulation is very poor. The engine itself is rather quiet, so that's good, but when you pass lorries or you drive at higher speeds, the noise penetration is rather high. I'd say it's comfortable up to 120-130km/h. It's definitely not a car to spend hours at +160km/h in. Traction is not very impressive, though this may be related to the Conti 2's, which are no longer state-of-the-art. XDS doesn't seem very effective: I can easily spin the inside front wheel coming out of tight turns. I also experience strong wheel hop when ASR is disabled. Sound system (Canton) is mediocre. It improved with time, but it still doesn't sound like a quality hi-fi system. So I can only conclude that at this point, I'm not in love with the car yet. The low price keeps my head happy, but my heart may need more time and/or the car more miles to properly bed in.

colour doesn't match here either, but it is a VRS on the display, which is already pretty nice.

For your viewing pleasure, here's my Corrida Red TSI VRS with winter wheels (Dezent TD graphite):

I found some online references that the Focus ST has a torque limiter in 1st and 2nd, but I found nothing for our VRS. Can anyone confirm similar experiences, i.e. the car pulling stronger in 3rd than in 2nd?

no, it's a manual. I know the DSGs come with a torque limiter to protect them, although IIRC that limit is higher than what a standard car produces, so it's only an issue when putting a new ECU map.

Hi all, Does anyone know whether the manual TSI VRS has a torque limiter in 1st and 2nd gear? My car feels a lot more powerful in 3rd than it does in 2nd. There's still enough torque in 2nd to get the front wheels spinning on wet tarmac, but on good dry tarmac, the car feels rather weak... In 3rd and up, it goes like a rocket.