JKeswick

I have ordered the Challenge edition estate DSG with virtual cockpit in Meteor Grey. Got a great lease deal through 21st Century Motors, massively cheaper than Skodas (VW Finance) lease quote and not much more than my current VWFS leased vRS TDI 16 plate. Delivery estimate is middle of June with my current one going back first week of June... will have to borrow a car for a couple of weeks, and heres hoping to no delays!

Unfortunately no aftermarket options for me as it will be a lease. I am not fussed about noise. Its one thing that is noticeable across most sporty new cars. Family friend has a new Civic Type R with the triple exhausts... you can hardly hear it! It was more the lack of knowledge, the Challenge is a UK only spec, you would think they would know what they are marketing! Went to a local dealer before Christmas to test drive a manual 245, the car was owned by the head of sales and he didn't have a clue about anything technical on the vehicle what so ever! I am looking forward to having the petrol over the diesel and this will be enough of a sound change for me!

I have just ordered a 245 Challenge to replace my existing 2016 TDi vRS. I am a little confused about the exhaust spec which in the brochure is written as ‘Black exhaust tailpipes with sports sound’. This isn’t very clear so asked my local dealer who couldn’t clarify exactly what sports sound was supposed to mean. I would have assumed a sports exhaust but wanted to clarify. I messaged Skoda UK who passed my query onto the product team. The response was ‘the sound comes from the interior cockpit through the speakers’. Thats all well and good but is misleading, so I raised this as it’s an element mentioned in the specifications of the challenge model over and above the base vRS. After pointing this out Skoda came back to say this is a feature only available on the challenge model and not available as an extra. Funny as I have the cockpit sound in my 2016 tdi! My guess then is that either an improved sounding exhaust will feature on the challenge model along with black exhaust tips or it will be just exhaust tips and no sound improvement at all. Anyone know any different?

I am very tempted by the extras, it doesn't add much to the lease compared to adding any extras to the base vRS. Can we assume from the specifications of the vRS Challenge that 'Black exhaust tailpipes with sports sound' means a sports exhaust, so in theory better sounding than on the base vRS petrol, rather than referring to the VAG interior sound?

My current diesel vRS lease is coming to an end and I have a few options for its replacement. I am going petrol as I want to have a bit more fun and going DSG. However today the lease prices for 'Challenge' have been released. Forgetting cost for a minute, is the Challenge worth going for over the base vRS 245? I note the VAG differential is standard on the base vRS, so apart from extra comforts and visual details the performance elements are really the dynamic chassis and sports exhaust. What would you go for?