Just been trying out the new vRS though still not sure what I make of it. Glad to say the interior looked much better to me than it did in the photos. I thought the bit of aluminium plastic round the central instruments worked well and I didn't dislike the three colour seats as much as I expected.

The engine is tuned for fairly rapid everyday driving with lots of midrange torque. Its not an engine that feels it would rev itself to bits given the chance and by the time the rev-limiter cuts in it feels its given all it’s going to give. Hit the red line and the limiter just holds the revs gently rather than giving that feeling of throwing on the anchors you might get in some cars.

The handling is fine for a family saloon but despite the lowered suspension still felt a bit floaty for what is being sold as a sports saloon. More of a problem was the amount of noise from the 17” wheels. Noticed it most at about 40ish and I think would be a real problem on a long journey. Was also more than average wind-noise. The controls are all fine except for the handbrake that was badly obstructed by the fairly pointless box/armrest thingy that's barely big enough for a sarnie.

What puzzles me a bit is what sort of customer the car is aimed at. It’s based on a very conservatively designed family car so won’t have the same street-cred for boy-racers of the favoured hot hatches. I’d probably compare it with the Volvo S40/V50 with performance between the 2.4i and T5. But then you wouldn’t find those 3 colour seats in the Volvo or any pretence at being a hot-hatch. The vRS seems more confused about it’s identity.

I’d have thought people without kids would want a pukka hot-hatch while for those needing the slightly larger size for a fast family car it doesn’t seem to quite work. Those seats for a start, great in a Type R hatch but kids, sticky fingers and pale grey suede inserts just don’t mix. The other problem I had with the seats was that the lumbar support was far too low and just the thing for backaches.

And then there’s the price. Add in the optional rear electric windows, standard on most of the range, and the price is around £4000 more than the Ambiente 2.0. As there are big discounts available on the Ambiente but not as yet on the vRS that difference becomes even greater. The worthwhile bits on the vRS are the extra power from the turbo and the ESP. The changes to the suspension don’t make a huge difference to the handling yet give a less good ride so it’s not something I want to pay much for. The other bits and bobs are mainly decoration only and to my eye a tad pretentious. It's not a hot-hatch so why pretend?

Would I buy one? Definitely not if I wanted a hatch. There are better options around at a similar price. As an estate it’s more tempting. It’s the right size for me and there aren’t that many estates with a reasonable performance around unless you move up a price band to Audi A4, BMW 3 series territory. The Passat will soon be available with the same engine as the vRS but it’s big. Big discounts on the Passat put it within a whisker of the current price of the vRS and it will probably have better residules. The vRS still seems way too much of a premium over the rest of the Octavia range given the big discounts now available on them. To make the vRS estate really tempting I’d want a mega discount and there probably won’t be anything worth having for a while yet. VW charge a premium of just £1400 for the 2.0T over the 2.0 FSI engine so even more tempting would be an Ambiente with the turbo engine for a similar premium. Say £2000 for a the turbo plus ESP and traction control. That would be a cheap fast car and I’d have some of that like a shot.

But on the vRS I’m open to persuasion.

Interesting review.

My feeling is that there is a market for such a car, but not at the price.

Good review Flynn. I won't be buying one at the price though.....

I have no restraints on size of car - I don't need to carry big loads and I don't have kids.

I have purchased the new vRS because I like the look of it, and because I can get a better spec of car than if I say bought the Golf GTi. I have also previously owned the Mk1 vRS and was delighted with that car and the service I received from the dealers. That said Skoda UK are rapidly making a big foul up of the launch of the vRS - it has become obvious that they have had a good year and didnt need the additional sales of the vRS -- so delayed it from December untill end of Jan - Fine,but why not tell the dealers and prospective customers -- like Audi did with the RS4 - should have been out last Oct - now won't be here untill the end of March.But at least the full details are available.

Trouble with the Golf GTi is there's a long wait for delivery and only small discounts on offer. On the other hand, brokers are offering

Ok, but you can't compare broker price for the A3 with list for the vRS....Drive the Deal are listing the vRS at

Agreed. I hadn't seen that price. For the vRS estate (which I need) they quote £18350, i.e £150 over list. The only price worth comparing is the one you pay. If they're forced to big discounts for the estate would look a better proposition to me.

Just been trying out the new vRS though still not sure what I make of it. Glad to say the interior looked much better to me than it did in the photos. I thought the bit of aluminium plastic round the central instruments worked well and I didn't dislike the three colour seats as much as I expected.

The engine is tuned for fairly rapid everyday driving with lots of midrange torque. Its not an engine that feels it would rev itself to bits given the chance and by the time the rev-limiter cuts in it feels its given all it

What are Skoda playing at?

I'd guess the marketing men were in charge and perhaps didn't want it to compete against VW/Audi.

An Ambiente or Elegance estate plus

Drive the Deal are listing the vRS at

Drive the Deal are listing the vRS at £16351.

That works out around 23,826.73 EUR, I wonder what the price is in ireland without VAT & VRT.

In the UK what kinda taxes do you guys pay ?

From http://www.skoda-auto.ie/newcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=Details&vehicle_id=732238220051122&strSpecs=SSCIRL2002 Our Charges: VRT (30%) and VAT (21%), I think the VRT is calculated on the price + VAT which means we get hit twice.

Seems a lot of people are on the same wave length hear regarding prices etc of the new vrs. My thoughts are that the new vrs has lost the "wolf in sheeps clothing" image which the old one had. It has also lost the "value for money tag" that the old machine had. I also see Flynn has mentioned about the marketing men getting their hands on it - this is a bit like the big new dealerships and the dealerships attitude. Lets hope that the "to big for their boots" scenario doesn't happen and the car is success. - I've got a bit of a rant building but this is the wrong thread !!!

The Drive the deal price is an on the road price including VAT (I presume at 17.5%), delivery, registration charge (

Have just checked drive the deal and no discount is available on the ST making it over £1750 more than the vRS (at £16350)

£16351 plus options £3500 see other thread about the new vrs is a gnats **** off £20k. If your buying a car at £20k then it's very close to the like of the golf GTi, focus st, vauxhall thingy and if your spending £20k why not spend £24k on a R32. What I'm trying to say is that yes it is good value for money but the prices are steadily creeping towards the Audi/VW levels and the huge difference that there used to be are gradually been reduced

PS still think my wife's 4x4 is good value for money as there's no direct competitor out there - well not for £16k

Sorry but have to disagree;

Skoda with all the stuff listed and metallic is listed at

Admittedly the car looks very nice but I still think it's expensive. OK you get a 2 litre engine, an extra 20bhp, tyre pressure monitor and side airbags plus the car is bigger. Seems to have gone up a class though into the next bracket. But I'll reserve judgement until I've driven one.

derek

Just out of interest what are drive the deal like on part exchanges

I suppose that's the catch. They recommend you sell privately to get the best price.

Remember though that when you buy through drive the deal you will be buying from a UK Skoda dealer, they contact you once the order has been placed. I suppose most would offer a bottom book price if discounting the car so heavily.

Anyone have any experience?

That works out around 23' date='826.73 EUR, I wonder what the price is in ireland without VAT & VRT.

In the UK what kinda taxes do you guys pay ?

From http://www.skoda-auto.ie/newcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=Details&vehicle_id=732238220051122&strSpecs=SSCIRL2002 Our Charges: VRT (30%) and VAT (21%), I think the VRT is calculated on the price + VAT which means we get hit twice.

Further to the above

All this talk of how dear the New vRS is in the UK got me thinking !!! How much would an Irish one cost to bring into the UK (also shows us how much the Irish Government are robbing us blind of.)

Here goes, the Basic car retails here for around the 32300-32500 mark, less Cash price = around the 30,000 Euro Mark (give or take a couple of hunderd quid depending on dealer)

Here's the interesting part,

Irish VRT = Euro 8,600

Irish VAT = Euro 4,000

Total = Euro 12,500 :eek: (No wonder Bertie is on more money than Tony Blair )

30,000 - 12,500 = Euro 17,500

UK VAT is 17.5% I'm told so add this on and it comes in at approx. 20,600 Euros

From www.xe.com

20,600.00 Euro = 14,195.35 GBP

I dunno how much you guys can get off for Cash but that

I don't think that the vRS is partcularly poor value for money compared to the rest of the Octy II range when considering other relative VAG products. Personally I think people are jumping on the bandwagon just because of the rear elec windows.

Take this as consideration.....

Golf GT 2.0FSi =

I don't think that the vRS is partcularly poor value for money compared to the rest of the Octy II range when considering other relative VAG products. Personally I think people are jumping on the bandwagon just because of the rear elec windows.

Take this as consideration.....

Golf GT 2.0FSi =