I just thought I'd write a little post about my experiences going from an Octy 2 FL vRS to a 3 vRS now I've had 3 days in the new car.

Essentially, I can't believe how much better the new car is in every way! I will start with a couple of negatives. Firstly the headlights I'm sure aren't as good, the the new bending xenons tend to move around a bit more making you almost feel a little bit sick at times! Also they have removed the closable storage cubbies in the boot and the cooled armrest. I suppose they are slight negatives. I preferred the feel of the old steering wheel too - it felt chunkier.

But as for the positives. Blimey. Almost everything is better. It looks a lot better for a start - chunkier, more modern, more conventional and more mature. With a set of big alloys and the black pack it looks more like a performance car in the vein of an Audi RS rather than slightly awkward and chavvy like a modded mk 2 (sorry modded mk 2 owners - I don't mean any offence, just my way if putting it)!

The interior is far more modern with better fit and finish and to be honest, indistinguishable from a Golf in quality. The doors close much better, the handles feel better inside and out and it is more comfortable as well as larger and more spacious inside. The multimedia system is more advanced but I wish I had a Columbus. It's all I can think about! Will have to hope we can work out a retrofit soon. Oh, and the interior lighting is very cute - a bit like my old Superb.

As for the drive.... It's quicker, by quite a bit - more power and less weight really work in its favour here. Having driven both, the mk3 feels a little less urgent perhaps in the midrange, but ultimately it is quicker. The ride is better on 18s, and the brakes are definitely better. As for handling, not much in it really. Maybe you felt a little more attached to the road in the old car, this could be down to tyres though - the old car had continentals and the new dunlops. I've never really liked the feel of dunlops on any car I've had.

Generally, I feel Skoda have spent my (more) money in the right places on the new car. There are cost cuttings going on, and there were in the old car too. It seems like they've spent the money here on the chassis and the engine and they've really got it right.

All in all, this was a very good upgrade from Skoda and I'm very happy so far (lack of say nav apart!)

I made the same jump and feel exactly the same.

sounds like a good report.....

will make my own mind up when i get mine in mid oct

Thanks for this. Great to hear impressions esp as compared to mk2

How do you find the climate control, I found the mk2's a bit blowy at times, too heavy on the a/c and always having to adjust it.

Are you finding the seats as comfy?

@rked The aircon is a completely new system, and you can set 3 levels of 'strength' as the OBC calls it.  On the weakest, you hardly feel it, so I'd say that may fix the heaviness you experienced.  It has an air quality sensor too which puts the recycle on if it's fumey.

 

Re the seats, the FL seats were supremely comfortable I thought.  The new seats are a new design, with the headrest intergral in the seat a la Porsche.  They still feel a little new as if they haven't quite moulded to me yet, and the central material is a quite different with a neoprene type material rather than the alcantara and netting type material of the FL.  I didn't like the old black netting material as it was pukering a bit from my trousers.  The new stuff will hopefully be a bit more hard-wearing, but time will tell.

Thanks enjoying the review

Keep finding new features too like the LED light in the mobile phone storage hole ahead of the gearknob.

I feel the same. There are also two LEDs on the ceiling to illuminate the gearshift.

Yeah sounds like the Audi stuff is filtering thru

I feel the same. There are also two LEDs on the ceiling to illuminate the gearshift.

And directly above the interior door handles

Love the review......I will be keeping an eye on posts about the mkIII. But for now i will enjoy my new pride and joy (well 5 months now for me) my vRS FL 2010....

Maybe I'm biased, but I dont really think it is in the vein of an Audi RS! Maybe getting towards Audi S or S-line but not RS.

Is the interior lighting improved over the mk2 then? Specifically around the footwells? Are there lights in the rear footwells? (or is that an optional extra)

 

Have you noticed any rattles?

Nice report and well put (I've not had the pleasure of driving one yet as I've only sat in 1 at the dealers....  ) as the standard vRS had neither sta nav or leather (the key things I'd miss, together with cruise which both mkIIs had) it makes a worthwhile read from someone who's had both a standard mkII and a new mkIII- I'm assuming both were petrol?

 

I was rather underwhelmed by the interior compared to the Blackline, but again as mine came with leather and the Amundsen as standard maybe it's not a fair comparison, but a comparison none the less that's relevant to me. There was nothing really to make me feel I was sat in the top of the range model. I felt I was sat on rather than in the seats and the wing mirrors seemed smaller to me, offering poorer visibility. That said I was only in there for a few minutes and 1st impressions can be misleading.

 

Ultimately I guess those of us with a mkII will be forced into either buying one or changing either model or manufacturer later on which would be a shame as I really do like my mkII vRS but that would have to continue when I swap next time, especially given the price increase.

 

enjoy your mkIII!

Essentially, I can't believe how much better the new car is in every way! Almost everything is better. The interior is far more modern with better fit and finish and to be honest, indistinguishable from a Golf in quality. The doors close much better, the handles feel better inside and out and it is more comfortable as well as larger and more spacious inside.

This could be purely trim level. Coming from L&K O2FL I felt the loaner O3 I had was miles behind the outgoing car.

Yes, interior is nicely laid out, is quieter and looks decent but certainly doesn't look or feel like a £24k car (That's A4 pricetag). The doorcards especially are inexcusably poor quality affrair, like something borrowed from old Hyundai. Terrible plastics with incoherent sloping lines going in all directions on top and some tacky silver trim that does not match anything else inside the car. Stereo with shiny black surround looks like something out of mk2 Mondeo and once again, looks like it was designed for a different model and then transferred over - there is nothing else in the high polish piano black in the entire interior? Decision to remove certain elements, like armrests, at this price point is borderline insane in my opinion, but hey - as long as people pay the money, right?

 

As for handling, not much in it really.

Lucky you have vRS. In non vRS trims they removed multilink suspension at the back and replaced it with old school torsion beam. Not only it's noisy as ef, but the thing now rides and handles like old nissan minicab. One of the foreign car shows did slalom test comparison of O2FL vs O3, both non vRS models, and the O3 just couldn't physically complete the course. I think Evo magazine in UK said pretty much the same. And all for the sake of saving about £150.

 

Generally, I feel Skoda have spent my (more) money in the right places on the new car. There are cost cuttings going on, and there were in the old car too. It seems like they've spent the money here on the chassis and the engine and they've really got it right

Yes it's prettier and more manly but I think that overall O3 vRS is a better car than O2FL vRS, but not 1/3rd of a price better. The rest of the range is a step back from O2FL actually. They asked for more money while cutting costs in wrong places. The 1.4TSi is now belt driven. The multilink suspension is gone. vRS didn't get active chassis control, not even as option, and it's something that even Seat Leon ST with a price point below £20k O3 will be offered with. No LPG and the fact none of the engines are convertible to LPG is a huge middle finger to fleets on the continent. And all they truly offered back is mostly irrelevant toys. Gadget to remind you to have a coffee. Gadget to read road signs and display them somewhere around your chest line. Gadget that will fight with you for control of the steering wheel when you try to narrowly avoid accident at the last send by changing line without indication. Etc etc. All nice to have. But it comes at cost.

Edited 9 September, 201312 yr by v0n

i just dont see the interior in the 3 is so much worse than the 2. imho the 3 is better. looks wise its an octy vrs.....understated to the extreme.

 

as for A4 money? yes a different spec and lower engine. the 185ps diesel in the A3 is about 26-27k! A4 if they put it in that will be way above.

 

just saying, dont want the discount argument

Just following up some of the points above from an owners point of view:

 

I have carbon trim in mine, not silver which goes better I suppose with the piano black.  I also have piano black on the steering wheel.  The interior feels fairly coherent, if not Audi level of quality, it's comparable with a Mark 7 Golf (which we have in the family too). Door cards? They are better than the MK2, I'm sorry, but they are! Neither are premium, but then again, Skoda is a value brand, and like I said above, I think they've spent money in the right places (i.e. engine and chassis).

 

As for the door mirrors, they might actually be smaller than the FL, as i don't have the FL anymore, I can't compare directly, but they are a totally different shape.  They do appear bigger than the Fabia 2 we have.

 

Footwell lighting doesn't feature sadly.  Maybe it could be retrofitted? I'm sure cruise can.

On my RS is footwell lighting front and back serial, and works perfect.

Great post, good to see some real world thoughts coming through from owners of the mk2 FL VRS and the new mk 3 VRS, interesting, and will no doubt help people like myself make a decision.

 

As for the differences and what it has and hasnt got compared to the older FL or other models within the VAG range, its difficult to say, it doesnt matter what brand you buy they all come with different specifications compared to others, for example, I was looking at the A4 black edition online the other day and it was the 2.0 TDI 150 and yes it had some toys and some things were nicer but for certain 'gadgets' that I like I was looking at paying extra or going without, the Golf again, you get lots of toys and teh same engine as the VRS but you lose space, the VRS you get space and toys, but at the sacrafice of some other things plus more money compared to the outgoing model!  Difficuklt, its all horses for courses, pay your money, take you chance.

 

My issue is that I can have a TDI VRS DSG or the Golf GTD for the same price each month, both have plus and minus points and thats my sticking point, I cant decide which gadgets and functions I want more!!!

 

Decisions!

Alright all you Mk2 FL lovers out there.. one thing I think was better on the old vRS was the DRLs.. They were very distinctive down there in the bumper - quite a lot like a Golf or Scirocco R.  The new ones are a bit thin and pony and are the same as other Mk3s with Xenons.

 

Back lights are better though 

Gtd same money? I mush look again, my PCP figs were always about £40 different

Great post, good to see some real world thoughts coming through from owners of the mk2 FL VRS and the new mk 3 VRS, interesting, and will no doubt help people like myself make a decision.

As for the differences and what it has and hasnt got compared to the older FL or other models within the VAG range, its difficult to say, it doesnt matter what brand you buy they all come with different specifications compared to others, for example, I was looking at the A4 black edition online the other day and it was the 2.0 TDI 150 and yes it had some toys and some things were nicer but for certain 'gadgets' that I like I was looking at paying extra or going without, the Golf again, you get lots of toys and teh same engine as the VRS but you lose space, the VRS you get space and toys, but at the sacrafice of some other things plus more money compared to the outgoing model! Difficuklt, its all horses for courses, pay your money, take you chance.

My issue is that I can have a TDI VRS DSG or the Golf GTD for the same price each month, both have plus and minus points and thats my sticking point, I cant decide which gadgets and functions I want more!!!

Decisions!