Hi all,

 

So I've done about 6000km with my new TSI VRS combi, which was delivered end of September.  I think it's about time I write down my thoughts so potential buyers have some more info to base their choice on. 

 

Positives:

• great looking car, outside and inside, although the wheels are placed too far inside the arches, especially at the rear. Can be solved with spacers (but haven't done so yet).
• very practical, as expected. The boot is huge, rear leg room excellent, lots of storage space,... 
• very budget friendly, at least here in Belgium. A similarly specced Audi A4 would be 10k euro more expensive. 
• powerful and flexible engine, as expected from 220bhp and 350nm. 
• the engine has very low inertia making rev-matching a very pleasing experience, although it's hard to do while braking (see negatives)
• great Xenon lights, turning into corners.  This is an eye-opener for me, even though my previous car also had Xenon lights, the difference is day-and-night. 
• Steering in corners is very accurate, requiring few mid-bend corrections.  The variable rack is also very nice, as even 90 degree bends can most of the time be taken without moving hands.
• Brakes are strong, though a bit over-assisted.

Negatives:

• the engine doesn't feel very eager on light throttle, not even in sport. I never find myself driving faster than I thought I was. Rather the opposite. This is also related to the next point:
• I'm not fond at all of the sound/vibration characteristics of the engine. It sounds and feels like an agricultural 4-cylinder. At least you can use the sound generator to drown the real engine sound. Then again, it does sound fake. My Vauxhall 2.0 turbo was much closer to the smoothness and creamy sound of a 6-cylinder, without any sound engineering.
• Fuel consumption is not impressive. I average about 8.5l/100km on the long term, which isn't bad, but it's not better than my previous 200bhp/1300kg car, which was 12 years old. 
• Brake and throttle are too far apart for easy heel-and-toe.
• Motorway stability is poor. If the tarmac is perfectly flat, it's not so bad, but when the camber varies or some wind is blowing from the side, constant correction is required.
• Sound insulation is very poor. The engine itself is rather quiet, so that's good, but when you pass lorries or you drive at higher speeds, the noise penetration is rather high. I'd say it's comfortable up to 120-130km/h. It's definitely not a car to spend hours at +160km/h in.
• Traction is not very impressive, though this may be related to the Conti 2's, which are no longer state-of-the-art. XDS doesn't seem very effective: I can easily spin the inside front wheel coming out of tight turns. I also experience strong wheel hop when ASR is disabled. 
• Sound system (Canton) is mediocre. It improved with time, but it still doesn't sound like a quality hi-fi system. 

So I can only conclude that at this point, I'm not in love with the car yet. The low price keeps my head happy, but my heart may need more time and/or the car more miles to properly bed in. 

Edited 17 December, 201411 yr by GatorLinearFade

I agree with lack of grip of the tyres, can't wait for them to wear out.which shouldn't be long......

Try upgrading the engine, it seems that this version of the engine offers high tuning capabilities, lots of companies offer power upgrade to 300PS or so.

I agree with almost all. I've done around 5,000km now and as the new car "glow" has worn off I've realised I don't love the car (the idea of loving a car is foreign to many, but I'm guessing I don't have to explain to members of a car forum!). I'd also add cabin build quality to the negatives. I've got lots of small rattles and the faux leather is not wearing well.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a fantastic car, the best I've owned at balancing practicality/value/performance. But I don't get the pleasure from driving (or thinking about driving...) it as I did from my previous two cars - Audi S4 & STi Forester (both 2004). But I'm ok with that, neither of those cars came close to the "all-rounder-ness" of the vRS.

I've seriously considered a remap, but I don't think lack of power is the issue. The car's just not that great at getting the power to the road. That could be my driving I guess.

All in all I believe I can solve my concerns with two simple words: Track. Car. [emoji5]

Edited 18 December, 201411 yr by kitset

You guys are asking too much of octavia, its not a sports car, never was.

 

cabin build quality is the same across all range, vrs or not.

 

could be worse.. I am stuck with 2.0 TDI which I dont need now (my own fault), and I would gladly take VRS TSI + remap somewhere to cure my demons :P

Being your neighbor to the north, I enjoy the comfort of very much the same sort of roads and weather conditions. Mine is a diesel version, but my two cents:

 

 

 

Positives:

• great looking car, outside and inside, although the wheels are placed too far inside the arches, especially at the rear. Can be solved with spacers (but haven't done so yet).

I think it's pretty, yes, but not as pretty as say a new 3-series F10, the rear. But for a Skoda, high marks in the beauty department.

• very practical, as expected. The boot is huge, rear leg room excellent, lots of storage space,... 

No argument there :-)

• very budget friendly, at least here in Belgium. A similarly specced Audi A4 would be 10k euro more expensive. 

That is true, but the company car taxation here is quite high, I only have to pay my employer 25/month for private use, but the government charges me another 450/month.

• powerful and flexible engine, as expected from 220bhp and 350nm. 

Powerful yes, though being a diesel mine has a lower revs and relies more on torque. The sound generator is a necessity to drown out the diesel clatter.

• the engine has very low inertia making rev-matching a very pleasing experience, although it's hard to do while braking (see negatives)

Same here, revs like no other diesel I've driven before.

• great Xenon lights, turning into corners.  This is an eye-opener for me, even though my previous car also had Xenon lights, the difference is day-and-night. 

Haven't spotted that yet.

• Steering in corners is very accurate, requiring few mid-bend corrections.  The variable rack is also very nice, as even 90 degree bends can most of the time be taken without moving hands.

Yes, it's stable in corners but will lose grip slightly faster due to a heavier nose.

• Brakes are strong, though a bit over-assisted.

Haven't noticed that, yes they are strong and grippy, precisely how I like them.

 

 

Negatives:

• the engine doesn't feel very eager on light throttle, not even in sport. I never find myself driving faster than I thought I was. Rather the opposite. This is also related to the next point:

I regularly drive faster than allowed, first and second gear do seem to hold back a bit, mostly due to ESP being turned on. It's very easy to break speed limits without noticing, especially around town. 

• I'm not fond at all of the sound/vibration characteristics of the engine. It sounds and feels like an agricultural 4-cylinder. At least you can use the sound generator to drown the real engine sound. Then again, it does sound fake. My Vauxhall 2.0 turbo was much closer to the smoothness and creamy sound of a 6-cylinder, without any sound engineering.

True, but then again, it's not meant as a true sports car, it's a fast(ish) estate and I view it as such. I'm used to driving diesel and this is the best sounding one so far.

• Fuel consumption is not impressive. I average about 8.5l/100km on the long term, which isn't bad, but it's not better than my previous 200bhp/1300kg car, which was 12 years old. 

I'm hovering between 6 and 7 liters every 100 kilometers on average, depending on the weight of my right foot. It's certainly worse than my previous 320d E90, which would do better even when floored.

• Brake and throttle are too far apart for easy heel-and-toe.

I've never mastered (or even tried to!) that technique. I do blip the throttle to facilitate downshifting, but never while braking at the same time (sounds more like something you need to squeeze every last second out of a track/lap time).

• Motorway stability is poor. If the tarmac is perfectly flat, it's not so bad, but when the camber varies or some wind is blowing from the side, constant correction is required.

Haven't experienced that so far, at least not more or less than the BMW did (so I wouldn't know if it's worse or better). I think it's very stable, even at high speeds.

• Sound insulation is very poor. The engine itself is rather quiet, so that's good, but when you pass lorries or you drive at higher speeds, the noise penetration is rather high. I'd say it's comfortable up to 120-130km/h. It's definitely not a car to spend hours at +160km/h in.

Fair point, and one I anticipated, so I have the doors and boot lined with Dynamat insulation from the get-go. It gives the door a nice full 'thump' when closing them and helps bring down cabin noise levels at higher speeds. 

Too bad my lease company fitted me ****ty winter tires that completely negate the gains here, so I'm hoping winter will end soon so I can trade my Conti 5's back.

• Traction is not very impressive, though this may be related to the Conti 2's, which are no longer state-of-the-art. XDS doesn't seem very effective: I can easily spin the inside front wheel coming out of tight turns. I also experience strong wheel hop when ASR is disabled. 

Given the nature of the car (FWD) I think it's ok, I've had far better (again with the E90, sorry) on Michelins, but i'm not too un-impressed. Corners are a problem, though again I suspect this will improve with the summer tires fitted.

I do feel XDS working when cornering very tight (or when nearing understeer). The car will jerk inwards and pull it back onto the desired line. 

• Sound system (Canton) is mediocre. It improved with time, but it still doesn't sound like a quality hi-fi system. 

Same here. It did improve in the first few weeks, but as with the sound insulation it's a point I anticipated, having heard the Canton in the Seat Leon ST before on a short test drive I opted to have a different sub mounted right from the start, replacing the stock one.

This did cost me my spare wheel slot but I now have enough thump to rattle the windows, boot contents and my spine.

 

 

 

So I can only conclude that at this point, I'm not in love with the car yet. The low price keeps my head happy, but my heart may need more time and/or the car more miles to properly bed in. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm doing my miles quite happy because you know what? I have enough horsepower to pit myself against any fast car out there, short from the really expensive (60.000+ ones) despite having spent 20k less. 

Add to that it's a true family car so there is always enough space to undertake anything we throw at it and more so, it's special. You will see a ton of greenlines out there and the odd 2.0TDI version, but I have yet to spot my first Dutch vRS MK3 (though I have spotted a Belgian and a German one so far).  I have colleagues coming in the office saying 'whose RS is that outside?' or 'wow, that's something else, how does it drive?'. Of course there are always people of the opinion that it "isn't a Merc/BMW/Audi" (no, I know that, that why I bought it!) and that feel they had the better deal. Thing is, I got to buy all the options that were out of reach for their cars due to budget constraints, while I was _under_ budget and got almost everything I wished for. 

 

They way this is going, I can see myself opt for a 4x4 version of the same car once the lease is over :-).

You guys are asking too much of octavia, its not a sports car, never was.

I know it's not a sports car, I don't expect it to be. I loved my yellow '83 Honda civic and it drove like a asthmatic walrus. It's about emotional attachment. I don't get it from the Octy (yet). Actually, it's probably a good thing, in the end it is just a car!

The wheel hop issue on a lot of modern cars is down to the high compliance track control arm bushes, On the rear of the lower wishbones. These bushes are great for reducing crashing through the front suspension as they allow the wheel some forward and backwards movement. Its this movement that creates the bouncing effect as you gain and loose grip.

If you slap some polyurethane bushes on the lower arms it will pretty much stop all wheel hop, worked great on my passat, however like all things this comes at the expense of comfort

I quite like the lack of attachment. I loved my old Fabia vRS. Totally. But then I felt it needed a brake upgrade as I had no faith in the feel of the original ones. Then it needed a suspension upgrade as it wallowed like an old barge, it needed a rear antiroll bar to be stable in corners.

 

Yes, I loved that car and had an attachment I don't have with the current vRS (yet). But the Octavia is a 'good car' just as it is. The only thing it needs is a good wash every fortnight (unfortunately). Just because I don't have 'that' feeling about it doesn't mean it's a bad car or that I don't like it. It's still the best car I've owned - but maybe that's why I'm not so hard on it as other people are?

As others have said, the Octy is a good all-round car but it won't set your pants alight.

 

Take it for what it is and you will not be disappointed.  It's a comfy, load-lugging, family-friendly barge which has a fair bit of poke and goes round bends OK. 

I've had a MKI Octavia Vrs, 2 Fabia MKI Vrs, 2 Octavia MKII Vrs, one a Deisel, one a petrol DSG which was a FL, a Fabia MKII Vrs and now I have a MKIII Octavia Vrs Tdi

 

The best Vrs I ever owned was the MKI Fabia. The MKIII Vrs is nicer than the MKII. but I miss the Fabia.  Hopefully there will be a MKIII Fabia Vrs 

The best Vrs I ever owned was the MKI Fabia. 

 

+1.  Like a go-kart.....  really fun little car, but a growing family meant going bigger.

I simply love the car. i had Mitsu Outlander 2008 before Octy for 5 years. It was a great car, really enjoyed owning it but i never got attached to it. It was just a good car for me. With Octy i got back the feeling of attachment to a car. I find myself going to the garage in the evening just to see it:) Yes i know i am a bit sick but let's face it is better the alcoholism. 

 

Yes the car is not the quietest, my golf 7 is much quieter car in summer on summer tires, but when i changed to winters i would say Octy is as quiet as Golf. Octy now has friction tires and Golf spiked. Power delivery is very pleasant, although my car is mapped with Revo. When i stick it into sport mode it feels very eager at any reves. Feels a bit like someone with bipolar disorder. In eco mode quite boring and depressed in sports like someone with few liters of adrenalin pumping through veins. So i would say i am in love again but then i am very strange:) Just hoping that it will be as reliable as Mitsu.

Interesting thread.  My `Octy' is six months old - a VRS estate (wagon) and I too have significant reservations about it.  Its UK bought - so its not cheap.  £25k gets you into 3 series BMW territory here.  But my concerns at this stage include:

• Too many cabin rattles.  The worst being from the seatbelt mounting housings - probably - on both sides in the front.  I have never had this in any car before and the dealer has not been able to fix it.  Any advice here would be welcome - its slowly driving me mad.
• Minor paint defects - including a clamp mark on a window strut beneath the laquer coat.  Again dealer useless here.
• Appalling wheel design.  I have had 3 seperate repairs carried out already.  The allow rims project out beyond the edge fo the tyre - an Audi design according to my local bodyshop - which means road debris, potholes and kerbs are all going to cause problems.
• The Canton Sound System.  Isn`t.  Its a total waste of money.
• Fuel costs higher than expected.  I traded in a 3 year old VRS estate for this one.  Despite the last model being heavier, it was way cheaper to run, and better built.  In the 2 years I had it, not a squeak or rattle from any trim or ill-fitting component.

On the plus side my car is big, fast and a comfortable mile-muncher.  Its in Black and when clean and with wheels repaired, it also looks really good.  But its my third Octy, and my last.  I`ll trade it for a big Ford or 1 year old Merc in 12-18 months time.

It is just an estate with 220 PS and a Kerb Weight near 1,400 kg,

and it is a good bit heavier than that when you weigh it.

 

I take it you run it on 100 ron petrol to get the best you can from it?

Edited 21 December, 201411 yr by goneoffSKi

....  But its my third Octy, and my last.  I`ll trade it for a big Ford or 1 year old Merc in 12-18 months time.

I'm with you on that, this is my 4th new Skoda, and the first that I've had to turn to SUK in the hope of some good will to upgrade the suspension to current MY15 components as in my opinion, mine was built before they sorted the damping settings out properly, but they have blown me out, so probably going to try a nearly new premium marque such as a Merc E350 CDI, BMW 530d or Jag 3.0D, all of which can be had with low miles under 2 years old for new Skoda money.

I've done over 5k in mine now and love it.

Quality wise I would say everything about it is better than my friends pre facelift mk2 vrs, doesn't quite match up to my old Passat interior for quality but its definitely more modern

It drives much better than the mk2 pre facelift both in ride quality and handling, its also pretty nippy

The boot doesn't seem as cavernous as the Passat but I've had a whole cherry tree in the back easily.

Fuel wise mine averages 35mpg which is only 10 less than my diesel Passat so I think that's pretty damn good

The car's just not that great at getting the power to the road [emoji5]

 

Agree. Due to the same reason I've even started considering to hand the keys of VRS to my wife and look for a used Megane RS or WRX STI for my self...

 

Edited 28 December, 201411 yr by Widzia

It is just an estate with 220 PS and a Kerb Weight near 1,400 kg,

and it is a good bit heavier than that when you weigh it.

 

I take it you run it on 100 ron petrol to get the best you can from it?

I think the weight of most manufacturers cars are dependant on spec, they have to quote a base weight to start with, however if you add things like pano roofs and extras then the weight will obviously increase,...one of the reasons why I kept my spec low and know that my hatch comes in just over 1,370kg.

I have to say that I totally disagree with all the negatives posted here.

 

I've had my VRS hatch for 22k miles so feel I'm in a good place to offer a balanced review.

 

For an all in car that can tick many boxes, be fast, well built, fit me and all my kids in plus loads of shopping too, handle well, return good mpg,......they've nailed it (and that's after driving for over 25 years of various makes including Mercs, BMW's, Volvo's etc etc).

 

Best return I've see on a long journey ( I use my TSI for work too -  do 20k+ miles per annum),..I achieved a staggering 50.3mpg and can regularly achieve 44+. Even when pressing on I can still get over 35.

 

Canton does everything a system upgrade should do and has put many a high end upgrade I've had on previous cars to shame, put it this way, good spread of capability and can be a good old base thump type system if you want it to be.

 

Stability on long runs, high winds/rain etc, perfect, feels well planted and safe - all I could ever ask it to. Good tyres help improve things, I've got Goodyears ASY F1's for summer and Wintrac Extremes S's for winter.

 

Handling is more than adequate when I need to push on, after all, if I wanted to drive like I was on the track every day, then surely you'd need a different car, however for pushing on at speed and holding the road in all conditions, I have to say well done to Skoda on this one.

 

Trouble is, so many people want so much from their cars, expect them to do so much and still carry the kids around and return diesel like mpg while being built like a tank and able to beat a Megane RS around the ring.

 

For me the car does a lot of things right and exceeds in many areas too, after 22k miles, I still enjoy jumping in and driving this car, whereas before in many other cars, I haven't felt the same and had been yearning for a change.

 

In a nut shell, this car is a keeper, for the long run - it does of course help that it's now running over 330bhp and 368flbt     

I took it to the forest today. An hour's drive of snow, ice, slush and the aforementioned mixed with a generous amount of mud (an no tarmac!).

I have to say, I am impressed. She pulled through mounds of slush and mud with no issues at all. 

 

Even when evading branches, taking corners and giving the throttle a bit more leeway I encountered no handling problems or unexpected behavior. 

 

Of course, a 4x4 version would have been even easier, but this gave me a lot of confidence! I could even drive out of my heavily iced-in parking spot at home like there was no ice or snow at all.

Have to say it also depends where your coming from. Having had nearly 18 months with a faulty Elegance, that had numerous trim rattles, a notchy gear change and steering wobble / vibration,  I would say this VRS is a great car!

 

I do actually love driving it!. No trim rattles yet, unless you count my sunglasses rattling in the holder. I am actually impressed with the Canton Sound system, it give a wonderfully balanced, clean and dare I say it..Hifi sound. It's certainly better than the stock system.  I love the fact that the car is smooth, composed and quiet when driving sensibly, then has the ability to turn into a bit of a monster when you decide to push it and have a bit of fun.

 

Only negative so far is that one of the alloy rims is already starting to show signs of corrosion under the laquer.