Thought some of you might be interested in the review pasted below :yes:

MICHAEL McALEER Motoring Editor

ROADTEST - Skoda Octavia vRS Combi: Even surrounded by financial gloom and guilt, it’s tough to resist the lure of a 2010 car. Especially if it combines performance, space and value with an unassuming badge

JOB LOSSES, crippling mortgage rises, a mountainous national debt, and personal pay cuts. The national mood is dour and has been for 18 months or so. Dinner table conversations that were once tedious estate agent rants are now a competition to claim the most Dickensian poorhouse lifestyle. While the church may have fallen out of favour with many, we’ve redirected our Catholic guilt towards creating the Matt Talbot school of economics.

That’s why you need to avoid shouting about this Skoda too loudly. To speak of the incredible bargains in the new car market at present is regarded as economic sedition: such talk will get you sentenced to a three-hour ear-bashing on the dire state of the economy.

Take my word, don’t try it in public: I can safely do it from the confines of our fortified office, with a crack security squad in the lobby to fend off unwanted diatribes.

I suspect Skoda has hired some homegrown Czech special forces for the same task at its office, for the mood there must be positively ebullient. Looking at the sales figures for January, there are a few surprising risers in the charts. Renault is doing very well on the back of their pre-scrappage scrappage offer, for example. But it’s the VW-owned Czech brand that seems to be punching well above its weight.

There’s one obvious reason for this: Irish buyers have rediscovered their taste for value, and it’s one of the few brands that can honestly claim to have immediately tapped the current mood. It was fortunate that the Czechs remembered their core roots in this regard, for we were concerned with its pricing structures when the Roomster was launched some years back. Hanging out with the Germans was starting to rub off on its prices. That’s all gone now and they are well on their way to becoming a proper force on the Irish market. But is this car really the answer to Irish prayers?

The idea of a performance diesel no longer raises eyebrows. The idea of a hot diesel from Skoda doesn’t even cause people to flinch, given the brand’s image overhaul since coming under the wing of Volkswagen nearly two decades ago. But a hot diesel estate from Skoda surely must cause some raised eyebrows?

While the car also comes as a regular saloon, the stealth estate is our favourite format. Give me a BMW M5 Touring over a Z4 or an Audi RS4 Avant over the flashier R8. There’s an inherent modesty in these estates that belies their ability. It’s practical, functional and family-orientated, but it can whip most of the brash and garish wannabes.

In Skoda’s case they refer to their estate as the Combi version, which sounds like a late night takeaway deal.

Naming convention aside, the vRS range, which benefits from at least a passing association with the Golf’s GTi performers, offers a level of bargain buy that hot hatch fans haven’t experienced since they discovered they could re-use the Blu-Tac from their wall posters.

This is the 2-litre diesel version, pushing out 170bhp, and there is a turbocharged petrol version on offer as well, tipping in at 200bhp. Both are combined with either a smart, snappy six-speed manual transmission or the dual-clutch automatic transmission, first introduced to the public on the 3.2-litre Audi TT several years ago but these days a mainstay of many brands.

It’s a strong performer with impressive pace and decent handling, if not quite the equal of more expensive rivals, such as the Focus ST and RS range, or the latest Golf, which seems a little more sophisticated in its handling than the Skoda.

There is significant torque steer if you push the vRS along and you find yourself battling with the steering to get control for a moment, like riding an unruly horse in full gallop. At the same time the traction control can cut in early, particularly on wet roads as the tyres battle to get grip. It all suggests that the steering and chassis are close to their limits.

It’s a common feature in front-wheel-drive performance cars but something that both Ford with its RS range and Volkswagen with its Golf GTis have managed to engineer out in recent years, pushing the acceptable limits for power solely supplied through the front wheels above 200bhp, which was a general rule of thumb for front-wheel-drive hot hatches at the turn of the last decade. That 200bhp limit has been overcome, so we would have hoped that Skoda could have adopted some of the latest developments in this car.

That said, if you are a little more delicate with the throttle you won’t have a problem getting the most out of this fine supercharged diesel engine. It packs a proper punch and for this money we’re hard-pushed to come up with many hatchback models to challenge it. The few that do lack the all-round versatility it offers and the value package.

Admittedly, many consider the Octavia to be a proper rival in the family car class, despite its Golf roots. Yet even in this scenario you have to consider that for equivalent power in a diesel estate you will be expected to add between €7,000 and €12,000 to this vRS price, particularly if you want a similar equipment list. If you are one of those who think Octavias should be pitched against the Ford Mondeos of this world, then you can clearly see the financial benefits of this car.

This is a facelift to the car that has been on the market for some years now. Mainly aesthetic, the changes include minor tweaks to the front bumper and grille, new headlamps and taillights. It’s not enough to draw you into the showroom on its own right, but enough to warrant a second look.

From a practical point of view one of the most impressive elements of the vRS range is the amount of standard features on offer.

There are rear parking sensors, a really good stereo from a brand I’ve never heard off, tyre pressure monitoring, rain sensing wipers and cruise control – all within the €28,615 price tag. There are very few challengers to this car when you put all the elements together. Performance diesels for under €30,000 are as rare as an appreciating used car. Tack on the added practicality of an estate and you’ve got a good family car that offers fun for the person behind the wheel as well.

This is the real deal: a sharp performer cloaked in a modicum of bling, yet practical enough to tick all the boxes for the over-serious and utilitarian Irish pessimist.

When word does get out that you bought a new car and you prepare to be stoned from the moral high ground by our economic Cassandras, you can honestly plead that you’ve only bought a diesel Skoda family estate. That will stem the tide of vitriol. The fact the vRS tagline is never going to make it into the popular lexicon the way GTi did is a lucky break for you. And the punch it packs under the bonnet? Well that can be our little secret. Besides, when you tell them the price, no one will believe it’s a performance version. As I said, the perfect performance car for petrolheads trying to live a little in modern Ireland.

FactFile

Engine: A 1,968cc inline four-cylinder supercharged diesel engine putting out 170bhp @ 4,200rpm and 350Nm of torque from 1,750rpm

0-100km/h: 8.4 secs

L/100km (mpg): 5.7 (49.6)

CO2 emissions: 150g/km

Tax: €302 per annum, band C; auto version with DSG has 159g/km with tax at €447

Specifications: The RS comes with a wealth of features as standard, including ESP stability control; rear parking sensors; dualzone auto air-con; LED daytime lights; Bluetooth phone system; rain-sensing wipers; cruise control; electric windows; tyre pressure monitor; 17†alloys

Price: €28,615 (€32,315 for the auto version of combi; €27,565 for saloon version of diesel)

Rear parking sensors and rain sensing wipers standard?

They weren't before Christmas.

Rear parking sensors and rain sensing wipers standard?

They weren't before Christmas.

Irish spec....

Specifications: The RS comes with a wealth of features as standard, including ESP stability control; rear parking sensors; dualzone auto air-con; LED daytime lights; Bluetooth phone system; rain-sensing wipers; cruise control; electric windows; tyre pressure monitor; 17” alloys

Price: €28,615 (€32,315 for the auto version of combi; €27,565 for saloon version of diesel)

grr, I paid extra for the Sensors (and would have had to pay extra for rain sensing wipers but having had them in the past decided against them) but at least I got 18" wheels as standard....

Bluetooth is an extra over here too...

Sorry to be picky but...

...if you are a little more delicate with the throttle you won’t have a problem getting the most out of this fine supercharged diesel engine

Supercharged?!

Still a good read though

since learning about the Irish spec car I aam pretty frustrated over the UK spec where I lost out on bluetooth and paid for the extras that are standard on the Irish spec, why can't we have Irish spec cars in the UK? I now have to arse around with fitting a parrot to a brand new car :(

Pretty positive write up - and they think at a bargain price.

Spec might be different - but at the current exchange rate that's over £25,000 for the manual model.

Look at the Irish price in euro is a lot more than we pay if you convert it.

Your right Euro spec at mega money, not so bad then. Get what you pay for and pay more....

Your right Euro spec at mega money, not so bad then. Get what you pay for and pay more....

If you purchased one in Ireland for "export" you might be surprised at the price. I don't know if its possible but if it is, about 20% of the retail price is VRT (vehicle registration tax) and a similar amount is VAT which you wouldn't be liable for. Its worth checking out.

If you purchased one in Ireland for "export" you might be surprised at the price. I don't know if its possible but if it is, about 20% of the retail price is VRT (vehicle registration tax) and a similar amount is VAT which you wouldn't be liable for. Its worth checking out.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure we'd still be liable for VAT as we're in the EU, and then have to pay registration in the UK, but that's not 5 grand... Still means that with DTD it's cheaper over here and you get 18" wheels instead of 17....

Folks, I recently had a chicken sandwich (ie. 2 slices of white loaf with sliced chicken, lettuce and dressing in between) in O'Brien's of Westmoreland St, Dublin which, with a cup of coffee, cost 8 euro 40. And bought a tin of baked beans in a corner store for 1 euro 40. Work out the conversion yourself. Point being, prices in the South of Ireland are at silly levels, so don't even try to compare. In the North where I live, dealers are selling cars to the South hand over fist, indeed their main websites all quote prices in euros. Even after VRT, there's a packet to be saved by folk in the South. I am told there are even ways to waive the VRT so saving substantially more (dunno exactly what that's about, something to do with primary residence). Anyway, prices, specs and even the availability of colours are totally different. In the North we are all used to this price phenomenon (especially in relation to fuel North and South) and know it will probably flip 180 degrees at some stage in the future.

Any motor vehicle, boat or plane bought in the EU and inported into another "new" is subject to VAT in the new country. New is defined as any car under six months old AND / OR 6000 kilmotres. Were you to buy a "new" car in Ireland it is possible with the right paperwork to avoid the 21% VAT and export it to the UK where the VAT is 17.5%. Similarly, you can get an English dealer to drop the VAT so long as the car is exported from the UK inside two months.

Additionally there is Irish Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) which varys according to Co2 from 14 to 36%. For example, my 1.9TDI was subject to 16%. So 28% of the Irish retail price of a 1.9 TDI Octavia is tax: VRT and VAT.

So in theory an irish car could be exported to the UK at a saving. It all depends on the numbers. Back in the day, the first place people in the UK went to to buy a RHD car was Ireland. Then came Denmark and then it became common to buy in any european country and order a RHD car. Now everybody is doing it.

Irish spec is usually just EU spec and thus much worse than UK spec. I bought my Ambiente in England. Had I bought Irish, I would have got, essentially, a UK spec Clasic with fog lamps and a few other bits that don't cost the dealer much.

I recently looked at a Fabia here for my mother. The Irish Ambiente seems to be UK spec 1 without Alloys or AC. Plus only two years warranty. I will most likely pick up something pre registered in the UK and save €3000 with the better spec included.