Just been reading about the Mk3. Nearest version to my present 1.8 TSi seems to be a 177 bhp 1.8 TSi, not yet available in UK and looks like it will cost not far short of £20K. (I paid about £12600 for mine in late 2008)

The vRS is reckoned to be coming in at 250 bhp .

I don't want a diesel. H'mmm................

Think they might have lost a niche in the market.

The Evo comment was that people into spending that kind of cash might not be interested in a Skoda.

I'd be pleasantly surprised if the 1.8 TSi became available for much under 20k in elegance spec. The VRS will have 220bhp. :-)

The days of cheap Skoda's are over.

The MkIII has just been group tested in What Car? (against the Golf, Mazda 6 and MG6) and the Octavia won. Interior quality on a par with the VW, but the Octy is more practical (bigger boot), better specced as standard and is cheaper.

Skoda don't need to discount anywhere near as much as they used to as the brand is much more valuable than it was when the MkII was introduced.

I'd keep your 1.8 TSi or buy one of the last MkII vRS's whilst you can still bag a 'cheap' Skoda.

as silver said, its a tried and tested brand. Only morons still think of skoda as the joke in the industry and as such skoda are now priced as they are.

I believe they are now more expensive than seat

Well with average depreciation being between 40- 60 percent after 3 years , you are looking at a minimum of £12,000 for an average 3 year old car ...might be worth the wait ! Hopefully by then any gremlins will be sorted. win win.

Just been reading about the Mk3. Nearest version to my present 1.8 TSi seems to be a 177 bhp 1.8 TSi, not yet available in UK and looks like it will cost not far short of £20K. (I paid about £12600 for mine in late 2008)

The vRS is reckoned to be coming in at 250 bhp .

I don't want a diesel. H'mmm................

Think they might have lost a niche in the market.

The Evo comment was that people into spending that kind of cash might not be interested in a Skoda.

With the new Golf GTI coming in around 220bhp I would be more than extremely surprised to see the vRS coming in at 250.

As for the Mk3 vRS. We're probably not going to see that until around June/July at the earliest. I'll go along to the release and get myself a test drive - want to know if it's going to be a potential replacement for my current car.

My car was new in March 2011 so will only be two and half years old come the release of the Mk3.

So if I like it and I'm considering the change, the earliest I'll be looking will be around a year after it's released - hopefully time to iron out early adopter issues.

The Octy is a volume car & they need to keep the factory going, at the prices they are looking to charge they may struggle so incentives will I think appear after a few months, buying now unless you have to may not make financial sense. Another plus for hanging on is s/hand car prices may be rising as there are hints of a world wide shortage of s/hand R / H drive cars, Auction prices are climbing & this will eventually filter into the forecourt prices it it continues. Japan where many came from is now exporting 20% of s/hand cars it did pre sunami

Edited 11 March, 201313 yr by Stuart_J

I bought a last of the line MK2 vRS, the hope is that come 3/3.5 years time the new vRS estate will be on offer (or at least available at a decent discount) and like others said some of the early build issues (of which I am sure there will be a few) will have been ironed out.

What alot of people forget or dont consider is that VAG are trying to save ALOT of money with the new platform, perceived quality will improve but Im still sceptical that actual quality will be better.

I bought a last of the line MK2 vRS, the hope is that come 3/3.5 years time the new vRS estate will be on offer (or at least available at a decent discount) and like others said some of the early build issues (of which I am sure there will be a few) will have been ironed out.

What alot of people forget or dont consider is that VAG are trying to save ALOT of money with the new platform, perceived quality will improve but Im still sceptical that actual quality will be better.

This is my logic also. The MQB platform everyone is getting excited about was not conceived to be the last word in technological advancement but merely platform sharing economics taken to the next level. i.e its invention was borne out of the desire to save money rather than to make more advanced cars.

Im sure its still very good but all new cars have teething problems and i definately think an octy will be a safer purchase in year 2 or 3 or infact probably after its first face lift whereby all the small updates are implemented and any issues ironed out.

With the new Golf GTI coming in around 220bhp I would be more than extremely surprised to see the vRS coming in at 250.

From Evo review:-

And it's a promising pointer to the Octavia vRS scheduled for a July UK launch at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. That will have around 250bhp and come, like the rest of the range, with either manual or DSG gearboxes. By then, too, we'll have estate-car versions, planned for launch in March.

Time to start looking at Seat lol....

Nah i'm kidding i just could'nt drive a seat!!

I just traded in a 2yr old Elegance Estate to get a Blackline VRS Est with DSG ,, With view to get a deal in 3 years on Mk3, have to say it wont be easy parting with this new old MK2 ?

In the past ive bought new Mercedes and BMW but this one has to be best value and still gets the looks !

From Evo review:-

And it's a promising pointer to the Octavia vRS scheduled for a July UK launch at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. That will have around 250bhp and come, like the rest of the range, with either manual or DSG gearboxes. By then, too, we'll have estate-car versions, planned for launch in March.

WHat do EVO know? Someone probably told them it was getting 250bhp as if they thought it would only get 220bhp then EVO probably wouldnt bother their ar5e speaking about it.

I used to subscribe to EVO but got bored of it as i like to read about everyday cars as well and not just "the joy of motoring" type cars. They do seem up themselves sometimes and my opinion is that they turn their noses up at "lesser" models.

From Evo review:-

And it's a promising pointer to the Octavia vRS scheduled for a July UK launch at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. That will have around 250bhp and come, like the rest of the range, with either manual or DSG gearboxes. By then, too, we'll have estate-car versions, planned for launch in March.

Sorry - but the GTI is confirmed at 220bhp.

There is no way that VAG will allow a faster/better performing engine than their "flagship hot hatch" has to appear in the vRS.

im sure i read in auto express that the gti will have two power outputs.

VRS has 217bhp. Was in the tech guide in mk3 forum

I was sure it had already been confirmed. :-) Same output as the standard Golf GTI. The performance version of the Golf gains 10bhp and a larger brake setup iirc.