A vRS petrol/DSG is on my short-list as a new vehicle. But it looks like they've all disappeared from dealers as demo cars so it's proving impossible to try one out. (I want more than an accompanied 10 minutes round the block as a test drive which rules out a nearly new one, even if there were any around.)

I can't believe it's so difficult to organise a test. I've emailed Skoda centrally and they say that my local dealer should be able to access a database that tells them which dealers have what and hence point me towards an appropriate dealer with a vRS. But, bizarrely, they claim not to have access to this same system centrally.

My dealer doesn't seem to know what they're talking about - they've tried some other regional dealers by phone but apparently without success.

So I'm stuck. There's no way that I'm going to order a model without trying one out in the same power and transmission spec as I'm considering buying (trim level and options are a different matter obviously). But I can't organise a test because no-one owns up to having a vRS demonstrator.

Anyone got any bright ideas to work around this impasse? (I'm based near Cambridge and willing to travel a reasonable distance, say up to 100 miles or so, for a test.)

I think Hayes in Clacton have a Vrs demo. Don't know if it's a DSG though and possibly bit of a trek for you.

vRS's with a DSG box are like hens teeth to find.

I was lucky I found one in Aldershot, a (170CR) non FL one, but it gave me a taster of its capabilities, in the end I decided against a vRS, because of the fuel consumption figures, higher RFL & insurance, so I went for a 1,8 Elegance with DSG instead, better fuel consumption, very small rise in RFL & reduction on insurance.

The difference is about £1,000 & the difference in performance is about 0,5 sec 0-60 & 10mph top speed, but the thing is where are you going to use that performance on the roads without getting nicked?

I had to do a 120mile round trip to get a TFSI demo when I was looking. Pit of a PITA. Would be nice if dealers would coordinate with each other to have more options locally. Everyone had dervs but no petrols.

I have just ordered a VRS DSG from Progress Bedford without a test drive.

This is the first time I've bought a new car without driving it

They are getting a manual VRS demo in about 2 weeks

I stipulated in the order contract that I can cancel if test is not to my liking

The DSG box I tried in a Superb PD140 last year

If you can't test drive a vrs dsg locally try the golf gti or audi a3 2.0t dsg. You'll either love dsg or not like it, don't seem to be too many that sit on the fence with it.

Having owned a Golf Edition 30 with Dsg IMHO it is a fantastic system 90% of the time and a bit of a PITA the other 10%.

The 90% -

superfast changes, ability to overide your selected mode (drive or sport) with a simple paddle click, auto throttle 'blip' on a downshift off the throttle (just sounds excellent). Ability to use it like an auto, very useful in heavy town traffic. Gearbox protection programmed in - ie won't let you shift down into too low a gear. Mechatronic control box for DSG can be remapped to enable very high torque handling capabilites and even smoother faster changes with higher maximum in gear rev limits.

The 10% -

Drive mode (or whatever it's called on the Vrs) is like driving miss daisy and Sport mode is completely the opposite holding the rev's higher in all gears regardless of what speed/throttle position - this made sport mode a bit pointless for me as I much preffered manual mode when pressing on.

Can be a little lurchy when pulling away from a standstill, can be a delay when booting it in either of the 'auto' modes or if you override an auto mode by dropping a gear using a paddle - feels a bit like turbo lag (but obviously it's not)

There's a lower rev limit on the Dsg than on the manual.

The paddles can be hard to 'find' sometimes when not driving at quarter to three on a totally straight road as they are small - I know some golf owners who have stuck large (much longer and curved) carbon fiber paddles to the original ones and they swear by them.

Hope this helps a bit

I didnt have a test drive either..but I have essentially ordered a different looking version of the car I already own so didnt expect the oily bits to be any different, so it wasnt really a worry

plus they didnt have one anyway!

I haven't a bad word to say about DSG having had three, but if you're reversing uphill, they don't like it. Any other "auto" would do it without any fuss but not the DSG.