I picked up my 230RS on 22nd December and thought I'd post my experiences of it as well as the options I ticked. Those contemplating buying one may find this useful and those that have one as well can share their experience.

Fuel consumption and range. You will not get anywhere near the stated figures. My long term average is 9l/100km (31mpg) and on a good run I get 7l/100km (40mpg). So far 70% motorway (at 130-140km/h), 25% town, 5% extraurban. The ambiente temperature has been mostly -7C to +5C so I am hoping the poor results will improve in summer and the engine will be run in as well. The fuel tank is about 54 litres and you can fill up 41litres at the point the amber warning light comes on...so the tank is well and truly microscopic. My superb had a 65 litre tank and range of around 1000km. This has a range of around 550km...which is frankly s***.

Handling - absolutely brilliant! Cronering is fabulous and the diff is excellent. Havent used it to full potential as roads are quite icy over here.

Chassis and suspension - very hard, but not at all uncomfortable. I like it a lot

Engine - wow!!! I was tempted by a Leon Cupra with 300hp, but why would anyone need it goodness knows. If anything even 230hp is too much.

Interior - well made, no squeeks, no bangs....nice. Some cheap plastic, but overall a very nice place to be. Seats are comfy, back seems spacious though I haven't sat there yet Boot huge as always.

DSG box - very good! I didnt think id like an auto, but now wouldnt go back to a manual. The flappy paddles are brilliant and thetr ate many settings you can play around with. You can flick the box into neutral when youre approaching roundabouts etc and flick back into drive again without having to press the brake pedal. I havent experienced that in any orher auto before.

Options...

Kessy...love hate relationship. Bad if you need to get out and open a gate for example...the car will turn off if you get out. You can open the boit keyless but cant close it keyless. Best part is when getting in and driving off...no faffing about with key, just open door, get in, press start and offyou go.

Canton - absolutely awesome! I didnt plan on getting it but did and its probably the best option i ticked. Im not a massive music connoiseur, but i teslly fo appreciate it.

Light assist - waste of money, bon't bother. The auto main beam works very poorly. Increfibly late response, often dazzles drivers, often switches off when no oncoming traffic. My dad has this in his 2011 e-class amd that works X times better!

Lane assist - incredibly pointless! I havent worked out the point of this. I assumed its if you fall asleep at the wheel, but let me explain.If you let go of the wheel the assistant takes over for about 10 seconds. Then a very very quiet chime rings once and s messagr pops up on the display asking you to take hold of the wheel. If you dozed off there is no way you would hear tje chime and of course you wouldnt see the display. After these 'warnings' the lane assist switches off - and lets you crash. So there is no point of it whatsoever.

Adaptive cruise - great in traffic jams, pain in the arse on motorways as it picks up cars far in front...and starts breaking far too soon in my opinion.

Heatef seats - great! Skoda have done away with millions of heat settings and there are now 3.

Heated front windscreen and washer jets - very useful especially if you live in a cold winter climate. The windscreen melts ice very quickly comapred with my Superb.

Overall - very nice car and beautiful to drive.

If I was to buy it again...would not tick many of the options and may possibly go back to manaul. All the driver aids are more party tricks than actually being of any use.

I would possibly pick a diesel 4x4 because of fuel economy as i do a lot of motorway miles. Thankfully i dobt pay for my fuel (company does) but even so this bothers me). And whoevet thought a 50l tank is big enough should immediately get fired from Skoda. I have 5 year GAP insurance...os if someone steals it i'll get a diesel

Heart says petrol, brain said diesel....the petrol engine is fabulous!!!! But id o mean fabulous!!! The power delivery, response, sound, lack of vibrtions....wow!!!

Good little write up, thanks for sharing.

I had toyed with a standard vRS diesel but opted for well spec'd Superb in the end. So still get ACC etc.

I test drove the new superb and the driver aids in that work a lot better than the Octavia. I think the three years age difference in the models is the key factor and the engineers have obviously tweaked them.

Appologies for the typos in original post...I'm using my phone and its a little cumbersome

Thanks for writing that, its great to read your experiences with the car. When you say you can't close boot with kessy, what do you mean?

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Thanks for writing that, its great to read your experiences with the car. When you say you can't close boot with kessy, what do you mean?

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

The driver and passenger doors have a spot on the door handle which allows you to lock the car by simply placing your hand over the spot. There is no such spot on the boot whoch would allow you to lock it. Therefore, if you were getting something out of the boot, youd have to either return to the front door afterwards, or press the lock button on your key fob. I appreciate that using a key fob isnt a problem, but having picked Kessy, it would be a nice feature on the boot. Would be especially useful on ocasions when your hand are filled with shopping

Ah I understand now, thanks for explaining

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

My normal get-out-of-the-car procedure is:

- turn of engine on the start button

- open boot with button in center console

- get out of car, swipe handle to lock car

- pick bag from boot, close boot using the button on the boot itself

My normal get-out-of-the-car procedure is:

- turn of engine on the start button

- open boot with button in center console

- get out of car, swipe handle to lock car

- pick bag from boot, close boot using the button on the boot itself

That works. KESSY knows if the key has been accidentally left in the boot and won't lock the vehicle

The driver and passenger doors have a spot on the door handle which allows you to lock the car by simply placing your hand over the spot. There is no such spot on the boot whoch would allow you to lock it. Therefore, if you were getting something out of the boot, youd have to either return to the front door afterwards, or press the lock button on your key fob. I appreciate that using a key fob isnt a problem, but having picked Kessy, it would be a nice feature on the boot. Would be especially useful on ocasions when your hand are filled with shopping

On my Mk7 Golf I can open and close the boot without using the key.

If the car is locked pulling the boot open lever causes the car to look for the key and it opens..the indicators flashing to confirm. When you shut the boot the indicators flash again to confirm the car is secure.

What is also v nice indeed...if you happen to leave the key in the car or in the boot, the car will not secure itself until the key has been removed. Ive shut the key in the boot a few times now with the car otherwise locked and am still able tl open the tailgate.

Id be surprised if the Octavia is any different in that regard.

I do really like it, mostly for not having to have a bunch of keya hanging from the ignition slot as there isnt one but its annoying if you have people with you as its much more convenient to press the keyfob to open the car than have everyone waiting for you to get to the door and wrap your hand around the handle.

Also when the handles are wet it can be occasionally a little hit and miss whether it opens or locks on the first attempt. It also hammers the remote battery something crazy...equivalent of 4 button presses (going by the LED flashing) for every interaction with the car.

One of those things I do really like having but I dont think id purposefully pay extra for it. Keyless Go rather than full Keyless is probably enough for me TBH.

I picked up my 230RS on 22nd December and thought I'd post my experiences of it as well as the options I ticked. Those contemplating buying one may find this useful and those that have one as well can share their experience.

DSG box - very good! I didnt think id like an auto, but now wouldnt go back to a manual. The flappy paddles are brilliant and thetr ate many settings you can play around with. You can flick the box into neutral when youre approaching roundabouts etc and flick back into drive again without having to press the brake pedal. I havent experienced that in any orher auto before.

"You can flick the box into neutral when you're approaching roundabouts etc. and flick back into drive again " - why would you want to do this!!!

"You can flick the box into neutral when you're approaching roundabouts etc. and flick back into drive again " - why would you want to do this!!!

+1, don't get this at all!! Your vehicle will be coasting, which is a fail in a driving test if I'm not mistaken!

Re the ACC and early breaking. Have you set the distance sensor to its lowest setting? I find that breaking works well on that or the next setting.

Wouldn't the "flicking into neutral" just be the freewheeling function of the DSG Eco mode?

 

I'm sorry but I just have to say this: "braking" is the action slowing the vehicle and "breaking" is the action of hitting it with a hammer. My OCD side is happy now

Wouldn't the "flicking into neutral" just be the freewheeling function of the DSG Eco mode?

 

Exactly Jerry but, nobody buys a vRS to drive around in Eco, its just not cricket ole chap

 

Sorry didn't mean to mention the cricket to those from down under whom seem to have forgotten how to play the game

 

BTW. its CDO cos OCD is in the WRONG ORDER !!!!

Obviously this is all subjective but when you say for engine "but why would anyone need it goodness knows" (I'm coming from the 220 point of view, but whats 10hp)

I'm sure this is already obvious, apologies, but I have to say its subjective.

 

For me having also recently joined the TFSI fold it just doesn't "feel" that fast in such a smooth car personally ?

(maybe a positive reflection of how put together and refined and quiet it is, but also they went a bit overboard with exhaust deadening).

Then again, having ridden bikes that just have far better power/weight ratio I would struggle to really get that same feel of speed anyway !

 

- I think a different car or stage1+ remap for many, would not make it some kind of pipe dream, just meeting expectations for them personally.

So I have to beg to differ can very much understand what for some is the pinnacle of performance, for others is just a hint of what is possible and will always want more.

 

Very nicely done getting the vRS 230, I can only imagine how much better it is with the diff, I had a bit of a slide recently on power on roundabout that the 220 has enough power for its chassis - in this sense I tend to agree though with your point, but in terms of limitation of the standard setup. Anything above the standard power on the standard 220 without further handling improvements must be bonkers IMO (unless just for straight line speed)

I'm confused - the first part of your review says

"DSG box - very good! I didnt think id like an auto, but now wouldnt go back to a manual"

And then later say

"If I was to buy it again...would not tick many of the options and may possibly go back to manaul."

:-) :-)

Fuel consumption and range. You will not get anywhere near the stated figures. My long term average is 9l/100km (31mpg) and on a good run I get 7l/100km (40mpg). So far 70% motorway (at 130-140km/h), 25% town, 5% extraurban. The ambiente temperature has been mostly -7C to +5C so I am hoping the poor results will improve in summer and the engine will be run in as well. The fuel tank is about 54 litres and you can fill up 41litres at the point the amber warning light comes on...so the tank is well and truly microscopic. My superb had a 65 litre tank and range of around 1000km. This has a range of around 550km...which is frankly s***.

That's pretty good. My Scirocco 2.0L with 200bhp is after 50000km on an average between 10-11, good runs between 7-8. So they have made a bit of progress on that engine. Or you are too nice to yours.

True about the tank. There are quite a few threads on here about it. I find that the fuel low warning comes on too early (it's too conservative, as even if I have 15km left I never fill up more than 44L, so that leaves another 6 in the tank, which is nearly 100km more.)

 

Light assist - waste of money, bon't bother. The auto main beam works very poorly. Increfibly late response, often dazzles drivers, often switches off when no oncoming traffic. My dad has this in his 2011 e-class amd that works X times better!

I find it pretty good (haven't tried a Merc yet). The reason it sometimes switches off is that it tends to interprete some lights as rearlights from cars (for example if you drive along a railway, whose signals are red lights over here). That's unfortunately just a reason, no solution.

 

Adaptive cruise - great in traffic jams, pain in the arse on motorways as it picks up cars far in front...and starts breaking far too soon in my opinion.

You know that you can change how far ahead it "looks". You can set the distance between yours and the car in front. I find that in sportsmode with lowest distance it brakes really late and then slams on the brake (even later than I would). The problem is more that after you change lanes or the car in front moves out of the way it accelerates  too slowy (So I need to help it out by pressing the accelerator). And this has nothing to do with it being a diesel VRS as it accelerates fine when I do it, the system is just more patient.

 

Anyway have fun with the car

+1, don't get this at all!! Your vehicle will be coasting, which is a fail in a driving test if I'm not mistaken!

It may be a fail, but many people coast when approaching roundabouts, etc.  Perhaps its not by the book, but does that matter?  I had a driving instructor when I was doing my B+E and he was of the same opinion as me.  I don't know of anybody to have had their brakes fail on a modern car.  Anyway, the eco-mode on the DSG does exactly the same thing.

I'm confused - the first part of your review says

"DSG box - very good! I didnt think id like an auto, but now wouldnt go back to a manual"

And then later say

"If I was to buy it again...would not tick many of the options and may possibly go back to manaul."

:-) :-)

Yes, the DSG is a love-hate thing for me.  I wouldn't want to go back to a manual in terms of comfort and easiness, but the manual makes me feel more in control.  But well spotted!  And the DSG is more expensive...so if I was to leave out many options I'd probably give the DSG a miss too.

That's pretty good. My Scirocco 2.0L with 200bhp is after 50000km on an average between 10-11, good runs between 7-8. So they have made a bit of progress on that engine. Or you are too nice to yours.

True about the tank. There are quite a few threads on here about it. I find that the fuel low warning comes on too early (it's too conservative, as even if I have 15km left I never fill up more than 44L, so that leaves another 6 in the tank, which is nearly 100km more.)

 

I find it pretty good (haven't tried a Merc yet). The reason it sometimes switches off is that it tends to interprete some lights as rearlights from cars (for example if you drive along a railway, whose signals are red lights over here). That's unfortunately just a reason, no solution.

 

You know that you can change how far ahead it "looks". You can set the distance between yours and the car in front. I find that in sportsmode with lowest distance it brakes really late and then slams on the brake (even later than I would). The problem is more that after you change lanes or the car in front moves out of the way it accelerates  too slowy (So I need to help it out by pressing the accelerator). And this has nothing to do with it being a diesel VRS as it accelerates fine when I do it, the system is just more patient.

 

Anyway have fun with the car

 

I've just come home from a 850km business trip and I filled up with a different brand of fuel (though still not a premium fuel like VPower) and I have average 7.4l/100km, which is not bad going at all.  I think I could have improved on this as the conditions were far from ideal.  Ambient temperature was mostly -8C to -5C and didn't creep over -3C once.  At least 400km of those were on snow/ice so had to go very slowly at times. Average speed was only 60kmh, though thats also because I drove through some towns.  I think the fuel economy could possibly reach 6.5-7l quite easily in Spring - petrol stations will have switched away from their winter mix, I'll have my summer tyres on and the temperature will be lower.

 

I have been playing about with the light assist and I have realised it tends to be more responsive when driving over 60kmh, but this may be just an incorrect observation.  Dad's Merc seems better at differentiating between car headlights/taillights and other light sources, I have no idea why, perhaps it is more sensitive to different wavelengths of lights and colours.

 

Regarding the ACC I had it switched to the lowest distance setting.  I will have to try it in VRS mode as I think you are probably right that it will have an effect.  I've only tried it in eco mode and driving mode thus far.  

 

Regarding eco-mode and driving mode, I find I get better fuel consumption in driving mode when travelling anywhere else than in the city.  For the city eco-mode seems best.  I don't have any 'proof' but its just what I seem to get.

Obviously this is all subjective but when you say for engine "but why would anyone need it goodness knows" (I'm coming from the 220 point of view, but whats 10hp)

I'm sure this is already obvious, apologies, but I have to say its subjective.

 

For me having also recently joined the TFSI fold it just doesn't "feel" that fast in such a smooth car personally ?

(maybe a positive reflection of how put together and refined and quiet it is, but also they went a bit overboard with exhaust deadening).

Then again, having ridden bikes that just have far better power/weight ratio I would struggle to really get that same feel of speed anyway !

 

- I think a different car or stage1+ remap for many, would not make it some kind of pipe dream, just meeting expectations for them personally.

So I have to beg to differ can very much understand what for some is the pinnacle of performance, for others is just a hint of what is possible and will always want more.

 

Very nicely done getting the vRS 230, I can only imagine how much better it is with the diff, I had a bit of a slide recently on power on roundabout that the 220 has enough power for its chassis - in this sense I tend to agree though with your point, but in terms of limitation of the standard setup. Anything above the standard power on the standard 220 without further handling improvements must be bonkers IMO (unless just for straight line speed)

You are absolutely right.  I was relating the 230hp to the Octavia, as with it you'd never get the same handling as say in a Ferrari where 500hp is a necessity (subjective of course).  As lovely as a 230RS is, you'd never thrash it like a sports car and therefore wouldn't really need more that 230hp.  The octavia RS is underneath still a family hatch and is a practical alternative to a thoroughbred sports car, where I believe you can find a lot of the same excitement yet have an extremely practical car at the same time.

 

The diff is excellent, though I need the roads to dry up and weather to warm up before I try it a little more.  I had a MK2 VRS and the 230 is a lot sharper.

I thrash the bejesus out of my vRS TDi.... If I upgrade it'll get a real hammering

Re.: coasting - in a modern car, doesn't this burn slightly more petrol than simply lifting off? I only use lift and coast if I'm trying to do a one stopper on a long journey..............

30mpg on normal and 40mpg on extra-urban are about what I get on my vRS 220, I wouldn't expect much more as you won't get it.  Also agree about the small tank, if I try I can get 400miles on a tank but has to be on the motorway.

 

As for going to N then D, doesn't make sense.  As has been mentioned before, eco mode would de-clutch when you're coasting and use 0 fuel, plus with stop/start that has to be better than going from N to D.  If you are in D or S it won't de-clutch and coast so you will use fuel.  Same for the TDi model.

 

Good write up though and glad you're enjoying it although I'm looking forward to a report after you've driven it a bit harder.

I thrash the bejesus out of my vRS TDi.... If I upgrade it'll get a real hammering

Re.: coasting - in a modern car, doesn't this burn slightly more petrol than simply lifting off? I only use lift and coast if I'm trying to do a one stopper on a long journey..............

 

Coasting in neutral, or with clutch disengaged (as recommended by VW fuel saving guide), or in eco mode with a DSG is only beneficial for economy in a limited number of circumstances.

My Australian low spec Mk 3 estate has the 140hp 1.4tsi without stop/start. When stationary with no 'conveniences' (a/c) engaged the consumption is 0.4 to 0.5 L/hour. This means if I am coasting 'with drive disengaged' at just 30 kph then I am still achieving better than 60 km/Litre

If you press the throttle to maintain revs at say 2500 rpm when stationary then consumption increases to near 2 L/hour. So if I am going down a long hill (with a suitable gradient) at say 110 kph (which corresponds to about 2500rpm in 6th gear in my car I have the choice of maintaining the speed in gear with sufficient throttle giving me a consumption of around 50 km/L, OR coasting and maintaining speed and achieving around 200 km/L.

 

While that is a very specific example there are other circumstances where coasting helps economy but most people are just better off using engine braking (and zero consumption) to achieve some sort of economy especially with a car like a vRS

 

All this will be totally alien to TMWNA who is just jealous the OP is getting better fuel consumption in his 230 vRS than he is in his 1.4  

Edited 22 January, 201610 yr by Gerrycan

The driver and passenger doors have a spot on the door handle which allows you to lock the car by simply placing your hand over the spot. There is no such spot on the boot whoch would allow you to lock it. Therefore, if you were getting something out of the boot, youd have to either return to the front door afterwards, or press the lock button on your key fob. I appreciate that using a key fob isnt a problem, but having picked Kessy, it would be a nice feature on the boot. Would be especially useful on ocasions when your hand are filled with shopping

 

 

I have KESSY on my Yeti, and doors  / boot work as follows.

 

 - Lock car by just soft touching indent on driver / Passenger door handle, or use key fob.( holding lock button on keyfob folds in wing mirrors)

 - Unlock by just sliding hand between handle and door recess.on either driver or passenger door ( must open one of these within 5--6 second or car automatically re locks itself.)

 

With the car still locked we can walk up to the rear of the car & press boot handle and the car will deacitvate alarm & open the boot, we can load up, then close the boot & the car will re lock & activate alarm again. i.e. indicator blink and blip that it has done. We do this when shopping so we dont have to got one of the front doors to unlock the whole car to access just the boot.  Very useful if you have left SWMBO in a shop & you just want to drop a couple of things off then go back.

 

I would be VERY surprised of the Octy 3 didnt work the same way, if it doesn't I would be back to dealer to see if there is a setting in ECU not on.

 

We have also found that if the driver is out of the car with door closed while passenger is still getting out, the driver can soft touch the door handle to lock, and when passenger closes their door the car fully locks. Seems to be the same if passenger is quicker than driver.

If you want to be 100% sure the car is locked, then a quick attempt to open a rear passneger door can confirm if the car has locked or not.

Edited 22 January, 201610 yr by lfc958