Well, we've now had our (well technically it's my wifes!) new vRS for exactly two weeks and I've eventually managed to get some half decent photos so I thought I'd stick some up along with my thoughts on the car from my first fortnight of ownership.

It's turned into a slightly longer ramble than I had anticipated so the photos are mostly at the bottom if you want to skip the nonsense and cut straight to the chase!

We ordered the car on the 23rd of December to replace my wifes old Fabia vRS which we had also had from new in 2005. The Fabia had been such a great car that we really didn't consider anything else to replace it other than the Octavia.

Ordering before the end of the year meant we were able to take advantage of the VAT free deal and that, coupled with the fact we plan to keep the car for at least 5 years meant that we decided to be relatively generous with the options.

We went for Xenon headlights, Rear parking sensors, heated seats, the Auto lights and mirror pack, maxidot computer and a spare wheel along with the Race Blue paint.

We'll probably do somewhere around 70k miles in the time we have it so we chose diesel and went for a manual too. I am intrigued by the DSG and do quite fancy one but we have no real need for it so didn't want to pay the premium.

It was built in week 11 and arrived at the dealer about three weeks later. I sneaked along one evening to check it over before the handover day!

Before handover I asked my dealer to fit the grille surround that I had had colour-coded and also asked him to stick the number plates on rather than drill them- my wife and I both have short private plates and I like to fit cut-down plates with the excess trimmed off the ends. You can't do this if there are screw holes in the bumper or boot!

My dealer (Donald King at Chathams in Dunfermline) did all this for me and also supplied the car with a full tank of diesel which was an unexpected bonus!

The car ready for collection;

Everything was in order and my wife drove home with a massive grin on her face!

I spent that afternoon having the interior protected with Scotchguard and then I waxed the wheels, got rid of the dealer number plates and stickers and gave it a quick wash before spending the weekend driving it everywhere!

It really is a great car.

It feels extremely solid, everything (except for a few little storage cubbies) feels quality and well put together.

The seats are very nice (although I've yet to find the perfect driving position) the wheel is lovely to hold and the instruments are fantastic to look at. It feels bigger than I thought it would to drive yet not unwieldy.

One thing which I wasn't expecting is that the needles sweep to the end of their travel and back when you switch on the ignition! Extremely pointless but oh so cool!

The maxidot lets you set up and customise a good range of settings and the display looks great, Xenon headlights are fantastic and the heated seats will be great when the weather gets a bit colder again.

The Bolero is excellent- I really can't believe this unit is standard fit. It works perfectly with the 3GB of music I have on my SD card and the way it integrates with the climate control, parking sensors etc is excellent.

Soudn quality isn't fantastic but it's good enough.

The engine feels like a peach. It's very strong and linear. I haven't red-lined it yet but it doesn't feel far shy of my BMW which has 204bhp (I guess that's exactly how it should feel considering it has 'only' 170!). It's still got a slightly laggy feel when you are below 1500 or so rpm but it is streets ahead of the old 1.9 PD units which I've been used to driving for the past 9 years!

ANd I couldn't believe how quiet it is from outside! Truly amazing compared to the PD units.

The only negative point I can come up with is the gearbox- it's not bad by any means but it does feel a bit notchy and slightly vague. Maybe I'm being harsh as I am used to the box on my 330d which is very heavy and positive, but it did take a bit of getting used to.

Handling seems good so far in the limited runs I've had down my favourite twisties. There seems to be an enourmous amount of front end grip and it steers exactly where you want it to go. The rear end seems keen to get up on it's toes and follow the front around- you can feel it working which removes any felling of understeer which you might expect from a big front-drive diesel hatch. It seems to pull off the trick of being comfortable riding but also taught enough in the corners to be fun.

To sum up, I bloody love the thing, and knowing that there is nothing out there that could provide the same blend of quality, performance, economy and equipment for the list price makes it even better.

Knowing that we took advantage of such a fantastic deal and got it for nearly £5k less than what it would cost to buy one today makes me feel so smug it hurts.

Anyway enough of the drivel, here are some pics.

I managed to get a coat of Raceglaze 42 on last week and found a quiet spot for some pics. They're not the best as I didn't have time to find a decent location and the sun was too strong but you get the idea.

And lastly, my daughter enjoying mums new car. Everytime she gets in it she says "Oh wow broom!"

All comments welcome!

Glad all 3 of you like it!

Nice colour choice...biased me?...yes lol.

needs lowered though sits far to high in my opinion.

Great looking car, and great review!

Nice little review

Glad you're pleased :yes:

Great review !

Looks so much better with a colour coded grille surround

Seeing the pic of daughter you also forgot to say about the fantastic boot size for a family

The Engine gets better and better trust me ! (even better when breathed upon)

Loved it so much I'm getting another real soon

Thanks everyone!

I've always liked Race Blue but it wasn't until I spent time waxing it that I realised just what a fantastic colour it is- it's so deep and rich looking. Absolutely lovely! In fact, my BMW is Estoril blue which was previously my favourite colour for a car but I think I actually prefer Race Blue now!

As for lowering, it does sit a bit high (especially in the photo with the transport film on!) but since it's family transport I can't see us spending money on lowering it.

My mate has a pre-FL which is lowered and re-mapped and if it wasn't the family car I'd do both but I'm afraid it will be staying as it is!

The boot- how could I forget to mention the boot! It's massive. That's all I can say really, swallows everything needed for an 18month-old with plenty of room to spare. It's the first car I've ever had that can take a couple of golf bags without having to take the longer clubs out of the bag.

It's really just great!

glad your enjoying it mate.

Like you I wasn't massively happy with sound quality, got speakers replaced and that made all the difference:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/182498-replaced-speakers-in-octavia-fl-vrs/

Edited 30 April, 201115 yr by DbD

Very nice and mine's race blue too. Good choice.

I know that dealer, that were i got my vrs

Nice write up

I notice the latest cars get the same gear knob as the superb now which is a bonus. The earlier knob was really horrible (changed mine..)

It's time Skoda UK woke up and started to offer colour coded grilles (and maybe also different wheel colours) as options given so many end up doing it.

Looking good dude! Glad it's got the all important Niamh seal of approval

How could you forget to mention the size of the boot in your first post? It's a kidnappers dream!!

I'll need to give you a shot of my car so you can compare the difference and see what the remap is like. Dont think I want a shot of your car though, I know it'll make me want one lol.

fantastic looking car...love the grill too,it looks factory fitted...can i ask how much the grill/painting fitting was ???

Dave, looking forward to a wee shottie of the turbo taxi, will probably make me want to get it mapped though :no:

You'll have to have a shot of ours too, it's the law.

vRS4011- I got the grille sprayed at the Skoda bodyshop. Davey G and I got ours done at the same time and it cost £48 each, I think he said £50+VAT (so £60) if we were just getting one done.

I got mine fitted by the dealer before I picked the car up and it didn't cost me anything. Dave fitted his himself and I think it's pretty straight forward. I wouldn't be paying anyone to do it anyway.

All in I think it cost about £120 or so for the grille- a great improvement for the cash I think.

Very interesting ordered my vRS in September last year and still do not have it have asked dealer and Skoda UK why customers who ordered their cars after me have them already mine has no options so they cannot use that excuse.

Any thoughts thanks

No thoughts Matt, other than "that's really not fair"!

Some people seem to think that it may be the case that Skoda would rather annoy as few people as possible so the people who ordered earlier and are already annoyed are just having to deal with longer and longer delays but others who ordered later are having their cars processed reasonably quickly to avoid annoying them too.

Don't know if that is the case but it makes a certain amount of sense. On the other hand though, I was warned of a 6 month lead time when I ordered so I wouldn't have complained if it took six months. In the end it only took 4.

One piece of advice though- if you have no options ordered I would add rear parking sensors as an absolute minimum. It's a big car with a big spoiler stuck on the boot lid- I think it would be nigh on impossible to park without rear sensors. The spare wheel is worth having too for all it costs. As long as your build week isn't confirmed yet you can add options to your order.

fantastic write up I WANT THE COLOUR CODED GRILL!!!!

If you are not confidant of your parking get the rear sensors, but apart from low bollards, I have not had a problem with parking

looks awesome, my next car if i get my wae .

No thoughts Matt, other than "that's really not fair"!

Some people seem to think that it may be the case that Skoda would rather annoy as few people as possible so the people who ordered earlier and are already annoyed are just having to deal with longer and longer delays but others who ordered later are having their cars processed reasonably quickly to avoid annoying them too.

Don't know if that is the case but it makes a certain amount of sense. On the other hand though, I was warned of a 6 month lead time when I ordered so I wouldn't have complained if it took six months. In the end it only took 4.

One piece of advice though- if you have no options ordered I would add rear parking sensors as an absolute minimum. It's a big car with a big spoiler stuck on the boot lid- I think it would be nigh on impossible to park without rear sensors. The spare wheel is worth having too for all it costs. As long as your build week isn't confirmed yet you can add options to your order.

i agree about the parking sensors also. really handy with parking the car. never had them before in a car but glad with this one as it is big.

If you are not confidant of your parking get the rear sensors, but apart from low bollards, I have not had a problem with parking

I'm sure it'd be fine most of the time but hit one 'low bollard' as you say and you'll have to pay out what it would have cost to get the parking sensors fitted in the first place.

Plus the integration with the Bolero is a neat party trick

Oh, and I'm still loving the big blue beastie!