Had a good run on my own in the new Octy vRS on Friday.

What did I think? A bloody good car.

Having turned up in a 55-plate Audi A3 (work car) the interior didn't feel at all low-rent - there are no quality issues inside at all. The car was well specced as standard and looked much better in the metal than it does in photos.

Once on the road the torquiness was the first thing that struck me. Whilst it didn't have the outright grunt of the 2.0 Tdi, it was pretty close - the 2.0Turo FSi was happy to wheelspin on the move at 3000rpm. The esp wasn't overly intrusive even when being silly and the car quickly hit ban-territory once on the open road.

Handling wasn't out and out sporty, but was good (on a par with the original if not better) and the car held the road well.

What really impressed me was the in gear performance - this engine is massively better than the 1.8T to drive, and you don't need to abuse it to go fast. I can see many diesel drivers moving back to petrol for this one.

This car was a different animal to the Golf and IMHO a better one. Reports about the car sounding rubbish and muted are absolute crap - it sounds pretty good.

I'm going to get one soon I reckon

I like the idea of quick and understated.

Think I have grown out of in your face cars.Think I prefer it subtle compared to my current MkI ( although it still looks great clean!)