Relatively standard Octavia vRS on the Nurburgring - Impressed!

[shark_90]

This weekend I was at the 'ring with a group of friends. The cars ranged from a Mk2 Golf with a 1.8T, an Evo X, an M3 CSL, a Nissan 350Z, a J reg Subaru Legacy Estate through to my Octavia.

Due to breaking my foot nearly two weeks ago, I was unable to drive at all during the trip :thumbdwn: I was totally gutted and nearly didn't go, but I had two personal friends travelling with my in my car. It wouldn't have been fair on them to not go and we would have all of course lost our money so I decided to add them both to my insurance, hand them my keys, and be chaufferred to the 'ring and back!

This gave me the opportunity to reflect on some of the qualities and pitfalls of the Octavia from a passenger's point of view, as in the nearly 6 months of ownership I have only ever driven the car.

Interior

I am, and always have been, impressed with the general interior feel. Being a VAG car it benefit from using switchgear from other cars and the interior plastics are not low-rent as you might expect from a budget brand car. That remark might upset a few people but there's no detracting from the fact that the Skoda brand is the budget marque for VAG. I'm still not convinced about the silver trim on the dashboard and the doors, I had aluminium trim in my B6 A4 and I can't help but think that silver plastic is trying to emulate the same thing, but failing.

The seats look nice and are quite comfortable, but I think they could be more adjustable (tilt and seat base extension would be nice) and I can't help but feel that they're not as supportive as they could be. Partially because of the lack of adjustment as mentioned (I always feel sat "on" them rather than "in" them) but also because I think they could be slightly more figure hugging, and I'm a portly 16st.

I had no complaints from whichever of my two mates were sitting in the back and both of them are 6ft or so tall, so the rear legroom scores top marks here.

Road Ride/Handling

Although the car is mechanically standard some of you may remember my recent thread about fitting BBS CH 19" wheels, which I guess could be detrimental to the ride quality. The car was excellent on the motorways and felt very stable at all times. I'm really not used to being a passenger in a car, especially in my own car, and there were times on some of the Belgian/German backroads when I thought "I'd perhaps be going a bit slower around this bend if I were driving" but the car never faltered and no doubt I was just being paranoid!

On Track

Now this is where I am most impressed. As mentioned I couldn't drive so I had to pick someone that I trusted to take me around. As neither of my friends who travelled with me had been to the 'ring before, they were definitely not going to be my Taxi drivers.. so I asked a friend of mine who I'd been to the 'ring with twice before, and on a good few trackdays in the UK too. He agreed and so we went out for a quick drive to warm the car up and so he could adjust the seat etc, and get used to the car on a few corners. Then it was out on track.

The car was pretty fantastic and both of us were mightily impressed. We didn't time the first lap so I'm not sure what it was. The car is on standard brakes with OE pads and discs, and standard suspension and roll bars. The car is remapped and I have a full Milltek on it. We had absolutely zero hairy moments and although the car rolled a little bit, it always felt progressive and really stuck to the track. No spinning the power away and no massive understeer, which is what I expected.

After we'd let the car cool down we went out for another lap, 4 up this time. The car felt a little underpowered up some of the steeper hills (I'm not a 'ring geek so I'm not going to start giving out corner names!) with 4 people in it but it handled and went just as well in general! My two mates had been out in a couple of cars before mine, including the CSL and both were as impressed with the vRS as I was. The mate who I asked to drive has had various daft cars, including a very heavily modified Mk4 R32 and Audi S4 and he commented on how good the car was too and thanked me for the drive.

So, as well as the car, the rest of the weekend was a cracker. Taking in Brugge, the Nurburgring (and eating at Pistenklause of course - Steak Argentine anyone?) and a trackday at Spa Francorchamps, it was 4 days of petrolhead heaven with excellent company, great cars and a the beer was flowing throughout the trip.

Same time next year? I'm there!

Edited 7 May, 2009 by shark_90
Pedants complaining about the title

[Andy tfsi]

Good write up and some very valid stuff for the rest of us to take on board.

I feel the MKII vrs isn't built on a budget as far as the mech and tech equipment are concerned, it's just some of the finishing touches such as the plastic door trims which feel like tupperware that let it down.

sounds like you had a fantastic time, you could only imagine how jealous I'm feeling right now:)

[Captain Scarlet]

Good review that, it's something most of us owners rarely experience, being in the passsenger seat for any length of time. Planning on going to the ring later this year and have found your info useful. Hope you get back soon.

[moox]

great post, although i feel calling a car with a non-standard exhaust and a remap 'mechanically standard' might be a little misleading.

[yegnold]

I knew as soon as I read 'mechanically standard' that the engine had been tinkered with but nothing else...

[Rhoobarb]

How did it compare to the others? Lap times, etc? If you got these of course

[shark_90]

Sorry I meant to post the lap time.. we recorded the lap with 4 of us in it and unfortunately we had to slow down for two yellow flags but we pulled a 10:12 BTG which I didn't think was too bad given the slow downs. The Evo was doing 9:35s consistently but one of the other guys took it out and beat that by around 20 seconds I believe.

Not sure what the others did.. I'll find out and post them up!

As for mechanically standard I thought that was the best description given the power tweaks.

[babhishek]

As for mechanically standard I thought that was the best description given the power tweaks.

nice one!! I know what to call my Octy II if I do a remap.

[Yeti_Man]

Nice write up there, one day I'll make it there myself, hopefully!

Out of interest, what tyres were you running front and rear and how much tread was on them?

Lee

[shark_90]

nice one!! I know what to call my Octy II if I do a remap.

Have I missed something here? Standard = Standard. Mechanically standard in my mind means not software, nuts and bolts. Which it is apart from the Milltek which isn't really regarded as a performance modification.

It certainly can't be referred to as modified in the proper sense of the word. At least not yet anyway

[shark_90]

Out of interest, what tyres were you running front and rear and how much tread was on them?

The Tyres are Dunlop Sport Maxx 235/35/19 all round. Approx 6mm tread at the back and I'm guessing around 4.5 on the front. I really need to buy a depth gauge!

[rsbspt]

The Tyres are Dunlop Sport Maxx 235/35/19 all round. Approx 6mm tread at the back and I'm guessing around 4.5 on the front. I really need to buy a depth gauge!

19"? Another aspect of your car that is 'standard' then...

[shark_90]

*sigh*

OK, so I have no suspension mods, no brake mods, no intake mods, no fancy fuel pump etc etc etc.

I fully expected the car to be total sh*te on the 'ring. I thought it was going to boil the brake fluid and handle like a sack of spuds. It didn't at all and still posted a 10:12 with 4 people in it.

Jesus, there is no pleasing some people is there?!

[shark_90]

Title changed, is that better?

[fireheed]

Nice one mate.

Was at the ring myslef in April with the VRS and was well impressed, car got a good thrashing for 2 laps and never let me down. Will deffo be doing it again.

[shark_90]

If anyone is interested, I made a short video of the trip and stuck it on YouTube