Just owning a second car for that reason will easy go on to cost more than the difference between the derv and petrol mkIII vRS ever would. 

 

 

It's still less actually, if you opt for something retro, don't care about marque. My Ascona cost me £300, the engine £300 - insurance on classic is £100 for the year everything declared and I can change it as I like without invalidating any warranty whatsoever! Of course it has running costs, (35mpg when hammered, half the weight of a modern car and more power than a TSi). So I spend the 1k in fuel savings making something that has over 500bhp combined. Agree not everyone's solution! 

Absolutely agree Orville, one of the bigger issues is power to weight ratio nowadays with cars receiving ever more tech and safety equipment causing them to baloon.

What is a bit of a shame is how the vRS has not really gained much of an advantage in weight reduction unlike the rest of the more mundane O3 range....for example despite having on 150 horses a boggo 2.0 TDi O3 is easily as fast as a O2 vRS TDi as its recieved a v mild power increase and lost alot of weight.

Not a fantastic car but a Saxo VTS with only 125hp only weighs 935kg or so....as a consequence has a v healthy power to weight all things considered and explains why in reality one of these things could run sub 8 0-60's.....and its known they can run an indicated 140mph (so probably over 130 real mph).

Also of course I wouldnt ever state that a 220hp car isnt fast, certainly is far from slow but current hot hatches have really raised the bar again in the same way a 120hp car isnt fast against something like the vRS, the vRS isnt particularly quick up against something like an S3 or M135i.

I guess anything would seen dull after driving a 800-odd horsepower F1 car, not sure my body could take that :-)

Yeah totally agree, to be honest the small lighter hot hatches have really won on the power to weight stakes but I guess they always have, the 172 was quicker at time of mk1 too

The octy has moved on but maybe not as much as everyone wants. Mk3 is quicker than the mk2 which was quicker than the mk1.

The S3 and M135i are the bracket above to be fair.

Yeah totally agree, to be honest the small lighter hot hatches have really won on the power to weight stakes but I guess they always have, the 172 was quicker at time of mk1 too

The octy has moved on but maybe not as much as everyone wants. Mk3 is quicker than the mk2 which was quicker than the mk1.

The S3 and M135i are the bracket above to be fair.

 & that bracket would be a price bracket, both the S3 & the M135i are the wrong side of 30K with the vRS the right side of 25K i.e. not really comparable.

 

Regards

T

& that bracket would be a price bracket, both the S3 & the M135i are the wrong side of 30K with the vRS the right side of 25K i.e. not really comparable.

Regards

T

And performance with both offering close or sub 5 sec to 60 figures

The octavia is a solid performer at its price bracket

However, 220bhp is still pretty fast for the average person who runs about in their ~130bhp Focus/Golf, and more than fast enough for most UK roads. I guess it depends upon perspective. Lewis Hamilton would likely find the VRS and M135i rather dull and boring, even though the M135 is a killer compact hatch.

Whichever Octavia you choose is pretty much all the car anyone ever needs in the real world - but some like POWER - it's an addictive drug!

Edited 10 January, 201412 yr by Timoctav

....but morons always appear to be having so much more fun.

 

Simple facts are diesel is convincinglly better for economy, and diesel probably stands more chance of reaching 200K miles without a major rebuild. Petrol wins most other areas convincingly. If running costs are the deciding factor diesel is best. If refinement and performance are most important then petrol wins. For those who sit in the middle the winner is much harder to decide, and it will come down to individual requirements.

Different people have different priorities and it's probably not helpful to try to say which is "best".

It depends what a driver is seeking, what he is going to use the car for, where (and how) he is gong to drive it, etc., and it seems unwise to criticise another driver simply because he has different priorities to you. 

The most helpful posts here are the ones which simply describe what the distinguishing characteristcs of either type of engine are.   I find such posts really interesting and helpful.

Edited 10 January, 201412 yr by Stuarted

One point that seems to be missed is that the petrol car will warm up quicker.

 

So for short winter journeys you may actually get the heater to working.