Do I modify the VRS petrol, or take the hit on depreciation and get a leon cupra or if I can stretch to it an Audi s3. What are peoples views on the leon?

depends, do you need the extra room from the Octy? if not the S3 would be the one to go for, quattro

S3 would be awesome but I would need to raise another 5k at least. Size of car isn't an issue. Was surprised that it was cheaper to insure an s3 than remap vrs.

2 very differnt cars but if you can stretch to a s3 that would be my choice......

1.8t k04 quattro yes please

Found the interior of the Leon, does not have same quality feel as the Octy, but has better looking instrumentation. Why not tune the Octy? it has esentially the same floor pan and running gear as all the other Mk5 golf based cars. I assume you prefer the looks of Leon , or the 4wd of the S3. No matter which one you choose the performance route will be virtually be the same. Personally i would stick with the octy , it's more of a sleeper than the other two.

I love the idea of the tuned octy. Great looking car. Sleeper... Yes.

Leon, looks good from front. K04 turbo.

S3, 265hp and quattro.. But very expensive.

If I keep VRS it will be downpipe and remap, upgrade head unit and that's about it probably.

With k04 ur only a remap away from 280 ish hp.

Leon would be the way to go if it were a bit better looking as its cheaper than the S3, also I would expect mpg to be better. The insuance would be way less on the Leon compared to making the Octy K04.

I would say the Leon would be a sidestep really, I mean sure its got a K04, but you could add that to the VRS for less than it would take to change.

How about a golf ED30 with a remap?

Not a fan. I'm leaning toward VRS remap I think.

Found the interior of the Leon, does not have same quality feel as the Octy, but has better looking instrumentation. Why not tune the Octy? it has esentially the same floor pan and running gear as all the other Mk5 golf based cars. I assume you prefer the looks of Leon , or the 4wd of the S3. No matter which one you choose the performance route will be virtually be the same. Personally i would stick with the octy , it's more of a sleeper than the other two.

VRS and cupra both have a tfsi engine'but the cuora is running'lower compression larger turbo and injwctors. Remap the vRS and you'll hit 240hp. Throw maybe 2500 at the vRS and you'll be running circa 270-280hp. With a uora a 400 remap alone will see uou making 280-300hp. Throw 2500 at it and you'll be around the 350hp region.

Personally i think'stage 2+ on the octavia is perfect. And the car is'better to drive and run day to'day than the cupra. The cupra is very harsh, but a'plus point is it has much better brakes

Drive a Skoda. Snap overtake a BMW on a country road, the look on the driver's face is priceless . . .

VRS and cupra both have a tfsi engine'but the cuora is running'lower compression larger turbo and injwctors. Remap the vRS and you'll hit 240hp. Throw maybe 2500 at the vRS and you'll be running circa 270-280hp. With a uora a 400 remap alone will see uou making 280-300hp. Throw 2500 at it and you'll be around the 350hp region.

Personally i think'stage 2+ on the octavia is perfect. And the car is'better to drive and run day to'day than the cupra. The cupra is very harsh, but a'plus point is it has much better brakes

Dude you need to type slower

There are 2 lovely stage 3 Octavias for sale at the moment, both of them crying for a K04

Cheap power.

S3 yes, I just couldn't live with the cheap nasty interior dashboard on the cupra, it is truly a 'coalface' !

I tried all 3, and preferred the S3 to drive. Money being no object I'd have gone for it, but from a practical point of view I chose the octy

Discounted the Cupra on looks, too 'boy racer' for me, and cheap looking interior.

I recently had the Octavia mapped to Stage 1 and love it, glad I chose it now, but just not in std form!

Depends on what your priorities are I suppose.

dont be fooled by the S3 and its 'quattro' its just the haldex system from VW.

Keep the skoda, bigger boot and essentially the same car.

Yes, all of these are virtaully the same car. The 4WD in the S3 is the only real move forward, factor in transmission loss and there is only a marginal power gain on the S3 over a mapped VRS.

These are all too similar for me, i'd only move from one of these marques for what is a real world upgrade. However if I had to make a choice and didn't mind thye cost it would be the S3. The running costs will be higher though.

There are 2 lovely stage 3 Octavias for sale at the moment, both of them crying for a K04

Cheap power.

Stage 3 and all the mod's makes for a real world practical wolf in sheeps clothing

My mate sold his S3 sportback due to the harsh ride and fuel costs. It's a very thristy beast

My mate sold his S3 sportback due to the harsh ride and fuel costs. It's a very thristy beast

I also found the steering quite numb.

Fast and got quattro, yes. But too uninvolving/lacking feel to keep for long. I'd get bored of it, which was why I bought and modified a Skoda. Prefer the sleeper effect myself too.

I'd go the modified route anyday. It's more fun, it's more personal.

FWD is the future. Less weight, less transmission loss. With a diff I'm having a great time in my Octy, traction isn't an issue

Yes, all of these are virtaully the same car. The 4WD in the S3 is the only real move forward, factor in transmission loss and there is only a marginal power gain on the S3 over a mapped VRS.

These are all too similar for me, i'd only move from one of these marques for what is a real world upgrade. However if I had to make a choice and didn't mind thye cost it would be the S3. The running costs will be higher though.

There wouldn't be a power gain on a standard s3 over a remapped vrs tsi plus the s3 is a heavier car. Therefore remapped vrs has a better power to weight ratio.

Mod it.

Why are you even asking the question?

In seriousness, I do like the S3 as an 'out of the box' solution. But I share the observations listed above; I think it's the most boring and uninspiring of the 'sports' models offered on this platform, despite being the most expensive and effectively the luxury/quality choice. Steering seems very dull and lacklustre; I put this down to the Haldex system perhaps. Was the only thing that made sense and was different, when I drove one.

On the Leon question, is the overall package that puts me off; not all that practical, boot space is about on a par with the Fabia and the interior is woeful. How they got it that wrong inside is beyond me, when they have Audi, VW and Skoda to compare notes with! Cheap, scratchy plastics and just masses of wasted space in the centre dash area. Very odd.

ALRIGHT ALREADY!!!!! I'm gunna keep the VRS!!! downpipe, intake and remap after the cambelt is changed very soon. And HarryVRS I was just thinking about a diff this afternoon.

Leon interior is very poor and s3 is expensive for a car which gets reviews of being boring.

one in pic below is brand new with 90 miles on it at time pic taken in for a detail its the black edition one then of course my blue bruiser.

Get into a showroom and look around the Audi this one was delivered SHOCKING build quality interior is 90's 306 looking to me and very square seats ........ look like old landrover defender seats and there was overspray on ALL lower door seals when you looked at them sills didnt look like they were a factory job entire thing made me so pleased I got the Skoda for the price I think it was a ripp off big time was £30k looks good and im sure drives really good but close up and having to sit in it id rather my cheap skate skoda