vRS long-term test on the CAR website updated yesterday (below):

By the CAR road test team

Long Term Tests

01 January 2015 11:08

Month 6 running a Skoda Octavia vRS: Greenline vs green vRS

Can you really mix performance with parsimony? That’s at the heart of our extended test of the Skoda Octavia vRS Estate in diesel DSG trim. Skoda claims an average appetite of 57mpg and 129g/km of CO2, which is usefully cleaner than a similarly gearboxed 217bhp petrol vRS (44mpg, 149g/km). But how different is it from the squeaky-clean Octavia Greenline eco specialist?

To find out, we booked one in for a week and tested the two back-to-back. Would the Greenline’s stellar gearing, faired-off aero and eco rubber save us money in the real world? We averaged a best of 57mpg and a low of 52mpg in our time together (against a staggering 88mpg/85g/km claim). The vRS hovered around the 44mpg mark, suggesting that ultimate fuel misers may still prefer the Greenline eco special.

Our sportier diesel feels markedly quicker, its 73bhp horsepower advantage paying off, and it out-handles and brakes its sandal-shod cousin. But we preferred the more relaxed gait of the Greenline, its balloon-like eco tyres cushioning us from craters.

No poop Sherlock, you’re probably thinking. You’d expect the Greenline version to be cleaner than a vRS, and it is. But if you want something fleet of foot, with muscle as well as miserliness, the dual-role diesel vRS is the more rounded car.

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Drives/Search-Results/Long-term-tests/Skoda-Octavia-vRS-Estate-diesel-2014-long-term-test-review/

I can see little point in comparing these two models as they are aimed at very different markets.

 

As a company car driver I look at how much it will cost me personally. The comparison below is from the What Car company car tax calculator. I've used a manual hatch in both cases.

 

 

The vRS will cost £687 more than the Greenline in the first year (tax payable at 40%), plus if you pay your own private mileage the difference covering 10k miles a year the vRS will cost you £1300 against the Greenline £1100 (0.13p/mile and 0.11p/mile as of 1st December 2014) so £200.

 

I am aware the company car tax and private mileage figures will change in years two and three, but just taking the above figures for the three years I have to keep my company car as a comparison the vRS will cost me personally £2661 over the Greenline.

 

That's the choice you have to make if you choose a company car, and I know lots of vRS's are company cars. Some will be willing to bear the cost, others won't.

 

No doubt the vRS is a fantastic car, as is the Greenline, but for very different reasons.

Edited 2 January, 201511 yr by cnc

Not sure why he went to Dover if he was catching the EuroTunnel since it's in Folkestone. Might explain the bumpy roads he's banging on about though as I only made that journey to the EuroTunnel Christmas Eve and all the passengers commented on how smooth the ride was.