Don't panic this is not a "VRS vs GTI" troll. I'm a Fabia VRS owner and happy but now at the point of changing my car. It's that exciting time when the brochures are arriving shortly to be followed by a tour of showrooms. Well not exciting if you're my other half but think of it as revenge for all the times she's dragged me around Primark

I want to get back to petrol and very much like the look of the Golf GTI, the Mk6 in particular. But everyone says the Octavia VRS is "GTI performance for less money". I wondered if any of the petrol Octavia owners here did test drive the Golf as well, before deciding on the Octy? (I have not driven either yet and before you say, yes I intend to).

I'm assuming the price difference is evident somewhere, eg. build quality? Or "better" ride or handling? Did you chose your Octy because of budget or would you not have gone for the golf even if you could have done? I'm enouraged by owner's comments here that the Octy ride is good and much better than my Fabia VRS which is like a tin can.

I'm keen to get away from the current look of the Octy though so would wait for the new look VRS and sadly that probably means I won't get a "no VAT" deal etc which would have saved me an arm and a leg.

To further confuse things, the Seat Exeo looks good, also a 2 litre engine and seems based on the older Audi (can't say I like the look of the Leon though, so that's not on my list).

I'm glad I only change cars every 4 to 5 years. Otherwise it would be a full time job.

I haven't got a vRS, I have a 1.8TSI but was cross shopping against the GTI.

I'll say at the start the deal maker for me was the luggage space. We needed a car that was compact because it's mainly one person in the car but big enough to take 2A+2C on holidays if my wife had to give up her company car.

Price, was the next factor. The Skoda dealer offered me $4k more on my trade (on vRS as well as 1.8TSI more than the VW dealer.

The GTI & vRS aren't really teh same car. The vRS is slightly softer than the GTI. If you really want/love the GTI then the vRS will forever disapoint but if you've got kids, swmbo drives a lot etc then maybe the vRS is a good compromise.

In some ways the vRS is a GT SPort with heaps more extras.

i have driven both.

engine wise i couldnt tell a difference between the two with the engine and the octys extra weight. (read in performace car mag few months back in a group test with the gti, cupra, and vRS, that the octy was quicker than the golf above otorway speeds as it is more aerodynamic, tests were done with racelogic as well so will be accurate.

handling the golf was a little more precise and confidence inspiring, rolled less. I also found the steering in the golf was a bit heavier, which i did like.

but the car as a whole i prefer the interior and seats of the vRS, and the boot is a no brainer for me, if i had the choice again i think i would have opted for a k04 cupra, or edition 30 as they are cheaper to tune,

Who in their right minds would choose an Exeo (old - VERY old - Audi A4 in drag) over a Mk6 Golf GTi?

Got to be a golf for me if you have the budget. The MK6 has more power than the new VRS. Golf has 207 and the VRS is sticking with the same lump. Plastics are better in GTI.

Golf has 157 bhp per tonne vs 135 in the vrs. Although these are the old VRS figs and I believe the new one is a bit lighter.

It has to be a Golf unless you need a boot etc when a VRS is brill! Exeo wouldnt even get a look in.

Happy shopping!

not driven a mk2 vRS but i found the mk5 golf boring in every way sadly when i took one for a test drive, hope the vRS is better.

I bought a petrol vRS after test driving a MkV Golf GTI Edition 30.

The GTI interior might have looked a bit nicer but you can't really say the build quality is any better.

For everyday use I preferred the vRS ride and handling.

Was changing from an Accord hatch, so the luggage space in the Golf looked tiny.

As I've said before on here, decided that the vRS was more car for less money.

EDIT: Budget not an issue - would have paid the extra for the GTI if I thought it was worth the money.

Edited 18 June, 200917 yr by Mercurio

If you can afford the GTi, and don't need the practicality of the vRS then it's a no brainer. GTi every time.

There's not much to choose between the Mk5 GTi and the vRS but obviously the Mk6 GTi has moved things on a bit.

EDIT: my first vRS was the TFSI and I tested the Golf GTi, R32 and A4 2.0T before I opted for it.

I've currently got an 09 model Octavia to play with powered by the 1.8 TSI engine pumping out 160 bhp. It's as quick as my regular car, the 170 bhp vRS and the ride is better but it doesn't handle quite as well as it's softer. My car's diesel and this is petrol but the performance is the same. I've driven a Golf GTi Mk5 too and thought that build quality was the same and I couldn't justify the extra £2k for what to me seemed like the same car (as the vRS). I can't get on with the looks of the Mk6 though. Shame you don't like the Leon Cupra even if the luggage space is lousy. As for the Exeo, I've always liked the Audi of that era (2003/4 ?) better than the newer ones which IMO have gone that little bit too far in design terms.

I saw my first Exeo in the flesh the other day - it actually looked really good, although it makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's a restyled last-gen A4.

big fan of the leon , the dash however is awful and its a bit claustrophobic.

love my vrs to bits ,it ticks all the boxes for me , with the revo its just brill.

however , given the budget i would prefer a golf just for the looks .

having to do loads of things that a family needs tho imo. the octy is better and just that bit rarer.

The Exeo is rancid. An old A4 that Seat have mullered the styling of. Utter clown shoes. They've even pulled the door mirrors off where they belong and stuck them on the door panel on some little black plastic things. It's an unmitigated disaster of a car. God I hate Seat. I thought they'd peaked at the dodgem car styling of the rear of the Mk1 Leon or maybe the abortion that is the Mk2 Leon instrument cluster, but no, it's the Exeo that takes the biscuit.

The facelift mk2 octavia is rancid. An old Golf that Skoda have mullered the styling of. Utter clown shoes. It's an unmitigated disaster of a car. God I hate Skoda. I thought they'd peaked at the styling of the rear of the Mk1.

i couldn't agree more

I drove a Mk V GT TDi (140) before finding out about the TFSI VRS.

It was ok. Extra medium. Very competent but bland and I found the interior very drab and not a nice place to be and I didn't think £15k was that good 2nd hand. But by no means a bad car.

I just liked the Octy better. Cheaper sure but I liked the interior and the extras and the reputation for reliability. I like to take the left field choice too, so if everyone gets GTis I'll look hard for something else.

I've certainly never regretted choosing the skud.

Buy an Exeo and then get the front end of a A4 from the scrapper?

Edited 19 June, 200917 yr by Aspman

damn, that's some serious mis-quoting right there!

looks like seat are going to have a leon with 265bhp in the future..now that would be seriously tempting as they also get an electronic LSD

skoda seem to be getting left behind in the performance stakes at the moment...

Thanks for all the replies.

I do actually like the look of the Exeo, and being based on an Audi is not a bad thing, even an old one. The 2L petrol is £19.5k, not too much more than a VRS. From there if you like the Audi thing it's a jump up to about £25k for a basic new Audi A4 in 2 litre guise from the horse's mouth (about same price as a Golf GTi once you spec it up). I should imagine the Seat would depreciate more though.

I'll report back when I have done some test drives.

I am in the same place right now needing a new car after my beloved MK1 \Vrs has been wrtten off

my short list was

Octavia MK2 \Vrs

Seat Leon MK2 Cupra K1

Golf GTi MK V

Audi A4 S Line TFSI

Focus ST

Mazda 3 MPS

After much deliberation I now will not be shifted from the Octavia MK2 \Vrs for the money I don't think it can be matched:thumbup: just need my insurance to pay out!

the resons the rest were dicounted

The Cupra's dash is just plane fugly and boot is a little small

The Golf is over priced and boot is to small

the Audi very nice but seriously over priced

Focus ST very nice but very thursty

Mazda 3 MPS did not like the interior

I currently have a Golf GT Sport Diesel on loan from my insurance company the interior is very drab and dark.

The handling is very composed much better than my old MK1 (not driven a MK2 yet and I hope it feels like the Golf)

Chris