I have applied to order a VRS with a lease company (paperwork going through now, should be ready to actually place order next week!). My understanding is that the waiting/lead time for the VRS is approx 5-6 months currently and I have thought of going for an Elegance instead. My main reasons for going for an Octy 3 were the size of the boot (Keen snowboarder and Golfer) so space is required! As long as MPG is around 40+ I dont mind if its Petrol or Diesel.

 

MY choice for the VRS is below.

 

VRS TDI DSG Combi.

Meteor Grey, Cruise control, Sunset Glass, Black pack.

 

Where it gets interesting is that I could order the Elegance instead (and get a better specced car?) and possibly get quicker delivery for around £20-30pm less than the VRS (although the money is not really massive factor!)

 

Elegance 1.4TSI DSG Combi (very similar quoted mpg figures as VRS TDI DSG)

Metal Grey Metallic

18" Golus Wheels

Bi-Xenons/AFS.Cornering fogs

LED rear lights

Sports Suspension

Power closing Bootlid

3 Spoke Steering Wheel MFSW

Sunset Glass

Cruise control (Std Fitment)

Amundsun Nav (Std Fitment) Not actually required tho!

 

For the sake of 0.4 seconds difference in 0-60 its neither here nor there and although a 10mph difference in top speed I am only likely to ever see that if driving through germany on the autobahns so not really a factor.Financially the Elegance is around £1000 less overall compared to the VRS.

 

What do you guys think?.

Edited 6 February, 201412 yr by tamkyo101

I suspect that the Elegance will come through quicker if the reports of the vRS popularity are to be believed.

 

BTW - I'm looking at a 1.4 DSG Elegance Estate as well - wife put her foot down regarding a vRS (and on my scheme I can have either the DSG OR the Estate - so going for the 1.4) as she wants to be chauffeured in comfort - unlike in the Fabia vRS..

I'd go the Elegance too as thats the way I went, I ordered 28/12/13 built this week collected 01/03/14 or 9 weeks in total, the 1.4 DSG TSI is very smooth and in Elegance trim feels just a bit special, customers will say "Skoda's have come a longway" whereas is a VRS they may just rub their lower back.

 

Other thing that done it for me, the VRS TDI is sheep in wolf's clothing.

 

Regards

T

Has to be the Elegance route. The car I am waiting for was ordered 15/12/13, built 24/01/14, now sitting at Emden for delivery 1st March. With the current number of people stating their wait times for a VRS, I think it's the better option.

Thought about an Elegance and then unthought, in a nano second. Wait is forever, but there will be no regrets when the car arrives next month. TSI vRS, the one with the proper engine.....

Not much in it really - better spec on Elegance but the vRS has the looks. Depends really if that is a consideration for you. 

If delivery time is an issue then the Elegance is the way to go.

Even with the the delivery delaying ACC my 1.4 took 12 weeks from order to drive away.

...better spec on Elegance but the vRS has the looks.

 

 Not sure I agree about the looks -  I prefer the wheel options on the Elegance and overall, I think it has a degree of subtlety that is lacking in the more in-your-face vSR. 

 

I will admit to liking like the red disc calipers, and the sit of the vSR, but I need all the ground clearance I can get for the back roads here in South Devon.

Nice spec for the VRS but i would lose the DSG as it's wasted on the Diesel engined VRS.

My elegance was an early build and it was less than 11 weeks from order to agreed delivery date due to return of lease car, it was built within 6 weeks of order and arrived at dealer with over a week to spare!

Ordered vrs hatch tdi , white with black pack and sat nav, on my drive bang on 14 weeks

As a company car quite honestly a base spec 2.0 TDi Elegance manual would make the most financial sense.

Low list price and lowest emissions. Easily as fast as the 1.4, not alot slower than the vRS and good base spec.

I personally dont see the point of getting an Elegance, spec'ing the ass out of it then having to hand HMRC more money for the privilege but we're all different, your money your choice. Bare in mind to get DSG on An Elegance and have paddles youre looking at £1400; that'll all be taxable.

Go with what you really want, not what will come through quicker, I am due to collect my DSG Diesel vRS on March 1st and that will be 5 and a 1/2 months, and I have looked forward to it every minute of the wait, as it looks ace, has a great base spec before adding my extras and is generally a very good car, the Elegance is a nice car as well, but in my opinion it doesn't have the wow factor, something which is important to me, I want to be able to look at my car every day and think wow, so go with what you really want.

 

Oh and that 1.4 TSI engine is a nice engine, not sure which one the Elegance gets (140PS is it), however, my wife has it in her Beetle the 160PS engine, and its nice and is generally punchy, but to say its as fast or as good in general performance to my mk2 vRS with the CR 170 diesel is simply wrong, the two are leagues apart in performance and running costs, the diesel in my opinion beats it hands down, but thats just my opinion, if I were you I would get a decent test drive in both and go from there.

As a company car quite honestly a base spec 2.0 TDi Elegance manual would make the most financial sense.

Low list price and lowest emissions. Easily as fast as the 1.4, not alot slower than the vRS and good base spec.

I personally dont see the point of getting an Elegance, spec'ing the ass out of it then having to hand HMRC more money for the privilege but we're all different, your money your choice. Bare in mind to get DSG on An Elegance and have paddles youre looking at £1400; that'll all be taxable.

Bar a couple of quid, the lower CO2 (and hence BIK) of the DSG 1.4 outweighs the extra in purchase cost..  I didn't add the paddles into the equation which probably tips it very slightly towards the manual, but again - only a couple of quid.

Bar a couple of quid, the lower CO2 (and hence BIK) of the DSG 1.4 outweighs the extra in purchase cost.. I didn't add the paddles into the equation which probably tips it very slightly towards the manual, but again - only a couple of quid.

The 1.4 is good, v good but Im a doubter as to whether it'll be as efficient as a 2.0 TDi real world. Every low capacity turbo petrol ive driven in the past has had great performance considering but the minute you start extracting that performance (and despite the huge artificial torque these little engines produce they still need to be revved to extract their best) the economy suffers big time.

I hear lots of good things about the 1.4 with people averaging 51mpg etc but on the flipside the diesel should be able to achieve high 50's low 60's without breaking much of a sweat and being driven harder; also id still argue the toss that the diesel is the more muscular of the two, what it perhaps loses off the line purely by being a diesel it would absolutely make up with in gear flexibility and punch......and I am saying all this despite the fact I prefer petrol engines full stop.

If you really need DSG I get it, particularly on the 1.4 but I like to keep things simple where CC's are concerned.

I love my cars and agree youve got to be happy (if poss) with what your company inflict on you for 3 or so years and its nice if you have a choice, still think however a basic 2.0 diesel manual Elegance is all the car anyone would need as a company car, the performance benefit of the vRS isnt significant enough for me to justify the extra expense, the 2.0 TDi 140 is so good compared to what went previously (its quicker than my Blackline DSG) for me it'd be a no brainer.

If I were buying a new car with cash and wasnt doing stacks of miles i'd consider the 1.4 absolutely.....but id probably end up getting a vRS TSI.

Edited 7 February, 201412 yr by pipsyp

I've yet to try the new 1.4 140PS - my current steed is the (older) twincharger version but have tried the older 1.4 122PS (turbo only) and didn't find it wanting, although being a DSG version, the software probably designed to keep it on boost at all times with its shift patterns.

 

I'm sure the 1.4 will never make the mpg figures of the 2.0TDI on a run although on shorter journeys I'd expect the petrol to win due to the shorter warm up time.  Add in the price difference of the fuel - well, it depends on how you have to stack the figures up.  For me, it's a company car, so get the BIK tax bill of the purchase cost.  I have a fuel card, but pay back private mileage at 14p/mile to avoid the tax burden of that - same rate as the 2.0TDI as the 1.4 petrol (1.4 being the cutoff).  So only have to look at the raw BIK value in terms of my tax burden.  The 3% loading of diesels currently makes the petrol a winner but that's being dropped in 2 years time, I think?

 

I prefer petrols like pipsyp - so the 1.4 DSG (I also prefer autos for commuting) is the automatic choice for me.

As a company car quite honestly a base spec 2.0 TDi Elegance manual would make the most financial sense.

Low list price and lowest emissions. Easily as fast as the 1.4, not alot slower than the vRS and good base spec.

I personally dont see the point of getting an Elegance, spec'ing the ass out of it then having to hand HMRC more money for the privilege but we're all different, your money your choice. Bare in mind to get DSG on An Elegance and have paddles youre looking at £1400; that'll all be taxable.

As I am self employed, BIK does not matter, I don't pay it,   in fact having the VRS (Calculated by my accountant) will reduce my tax bill by £900 per year

 

Main reasons for me getting an Octy 3 Combi is for the space inside (Snowboarder and Golfer, both of which need space in the boot) and the fact it has DSG which I want, had DSG on previous car and realise after 12 months that I miss not changing gear!

 

Had a chat with the Lease company this morning and the 1.4TSI is a non starter due to GFV (Future value), depreciation makes petrol more expensive than the Diesel VRS, my other option is 2.0TDI elegance which I considered, but after a night thinking about it, I think the VRS is what I want deep down.............

Edited 7 February, 201412 yr by tamkyo101

Phil, test drive both the 1.4 TSI and the 2.0 TDI and see for yourself I did, chalk and cheese although, a lot on here comment the DSG doesn't work well with the TDI, I found the TSI was just too smooth for me to ignor.  Something I also found that maybe of interest to you http://www.diesel-performance.co.uk/vehicle-skoda_octavia_iii-1.4tsi-140ps and the latest figures for it on page 9 post 259 of this thread http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/294284-weve-started-having-tinker-with-the-20tdi-184ps/page-9

 

Still, its upto you.

 

Regards

T

Im not anti TSi by an stretch but the new gen CR engines are a revelation compared to what came before them.

I test drove the CR 150 expecting to be massively disappointed (and probably deciding to make the choice to keep the vRS Blackline) but it was simply fantastic.

Power delivery whilst still CR smooth was considerably more punchy with no flat spots or weak initial delivery that IMHO afflict the earlier CRs....it also likes to rev which makes a change for a diesel.

Its frankly a bit of a mild Q car, nothing much to look at but on the road it would definitely keep pace with most modern small/medium warm hatches in a straight line. I like that about it and same goes for the 1.4, they have performance but dont shout about it, the vRS shouts but I dont think it ultimately has the go to back up its image.

All a matter of opinion though.

I've only tried one TDI DSG - a previous model Golf 140PS and that really didn't suit it IMHO.

 

I think I need to keep an open mind and maybe go to the dark side after all...  I like the instant response of the twincharger engines in both my Fabia and my previous steed (Scirocco 1.4TSI 160PS - also with DSG) - I don't like something which spends a short while deciding "I'll start spooling the turbo up" or "hang on, I need to drop a couple of gears first".

 

I'm still a petrolhead though - last diesel I had was an old Omega 2.5TD which had the off-boost capacity to cope (just) although you could feel it decide to wake up when it felt like it!  That was rather old tech compared to the modern CR's though.

I've only tried one TDI DSG - a previous model Golf 140PS and that really didn't suit it IMHO.

I think I need to keep an open mind and maybe go to the dark side after all... I like the instant response of the twincharger engines in both my Fabia and my previous steed (Scirocco 1.4TSI 160PS - also with DSG) - I don't like something which spends a short while deciding "I'll start spooling the turbo up" or "hang on, I need to drop a couple of gears first".

I'm still a petrolhead though - last diesel I had was an old Omega 2.5TD which had the off-boost capacity to cope (just) although you could feel it decide to wake up when it felt like it! That was rather old tech compared to the modern CR's though.

The new diesels are honesty much much better than the previous gen. I had a Mk6 Golf GT TDi CR 140 doe about 2.5 years and frankly in most conditions didnt feel a great deal quicker than the Mk5 1.9 PD 105 Bluemotion I had prior.....felt miles slower than a Mk5 2.0 TDi 140 GT Sport my wife had for a while.

My current CR 170 vRS Blackline doesnt feel a great deal quicker than the Golf GT, it is of course but its power delivery and response is rather flat and makes it quite dull to drive.....I also find myself at times avoiding certain overtakes because its power delivery doesnt IMHO inspire safe quick overtaking.....v much press the accelerator, wait for it....then its an "is that it" feeling. Hard to explain but guess you catch my drift.

The O3 150 TDi feels PD punchy but with the smoothness of the CR and its v light weight (1272kg vs 1406kg vRS TDi) must really help. Again the diesel is about 70kgs heavier than the 1.4 so I expect most if not all its 10hp advantage gets wiped out by the extra weight.

TDi definitely worth a look, you'll probably still prefer the TSi but unless you hate diesels its really difficult not to have praise for it.

Edit - also not like it hardly makes a difference but despite the weight advantage the diesel just edges the power to weight battle....by one whole hp haha 118hp/ton v 117 for the manual estates. Pretty healthy when you think a MK2 vRS estate TDi manual has a power to weight of 122hp/ton or so with 170hp.

Edited 7 February, 201412 yr by pipsyp

 My understanding is that the waiting/lead time for the VRS is approx 5-6 months currently and I have thought of going for an Elegance instead. 

 

 

Our 2.0 TDI elegance estate was ordered on the 24th January '14 with a few add ons, and we have just been allocated BW 9, for delivery to dealer at end of March.

 

Fingers crossed.