Octavia iV vrs PHEV vs sportline PHEV (non-UK)

[timster]

1 hour ago, mcdeli said:

Well, I had the vRS PHEV for an hour last night to compare to the Sportline I had over the weekend.

 

Both had DCC and I think both had 18” rims. Both also had the same... everything else. The seats were the same. The vRS had the red stitching and dash fabric. But same seats and very similar material.

 

The electric engine, same. 

 

Even though I love the vRS badge, it is impossible for me to justify the 3k extra for the vRS when the only significant difference is the petrol engine remap.

 

And IMHO, that power difference is heavily masked in real world use because of the way the electric engine boost interacts with the ICE when you rapidly accelerate in hybrid mode. That kinda jerky delay you get as the electric boost comes in before the ICE power means the extra power is not responsive. My guess is 99/100 people could not pick out the difference between these in a blind test.

 

In the end I am a bit confused why these are do close in price yet so far apart. Is the Sportline overpriced (like the Volvo R you pay to dechrome) or is it the vRS that is overpriced (it’s a lot of extra cash on top of ICE vRS pricing to not have the 2.0 litre engine)...?

Oh the sportline has DCC? Nice to get to test it finally.

 

Did you try the Sport mode on the RS iV? I believe that's the only way to see the difference. I'm not sure if the 245hp is available only on sport mode.

At least i noticed quite easily the difference between kickdown with the iV versus RS iV, at least when joining from a ramp.

 

Electric boost is instant, but the issue is with the gearbox. Electric motor still uses the same gearbox as the ICE. So when you kickdown with hybrid, it still changes gears and at that time the ICE is ready to kick in. I did notice this, but it's not that often i need to race away. I now have a 7 speed DSG and i think its faster than the PHEV's 6 speed.

 

Sportline iV might be close with the price since it is quite same externally. 

 

But i think that if you're thinking between the two, go with the sportline perhaps. the RS iV does not offer that much more. I took it mainly because i want the (leather/) alcantara seats and mamba green.

[mcdeli]

36 minutes ago, timster said:

Oh the sportline has DCC? Nice to get to test it finally.

 

Did you try the Sport mode on the RS iV? I believe that's the only way to see the difference. I'm not sure if the 245hp is available only on sport mode.

At least i noticed quite easily the difference between kickdown with the iV versus RS iV, at least when joining from a ramp.

 

Electric boost is instant, but the issue is with the gearbox. Electric motor still uses the same gearbox as the ICE. So when you kickdown with hybrid, it still changes gears and at that time the ICE is ready to kick in. I did notice this, but it's not that often i need to race away. I now have a 7 speed DSG and i think its faster than the PHEV's 6 speed.

 

Sportline iV might be close with the price since it is quite same externally. 

 

But i think that if you're thinking between the two, go with the sportline perhaps. the RS iV does not offer that much more. I took it mainly because i want the (leather/) alcantara seats and mamba green.

DCC is an option on the Sportline - and an option on the vRS.
Both have Sport mode.

The vRS is rated at 180kw, the Sportline 150kw - the difference in power is in engine tuning - not in mode selection or any different hardware.*
*I am waiting for answer on the brakes. They are painted red on the vRS - I don't know if they are different spec.

vRS 180 kw / 245hp / 225kmh / 7.0s 0-100km

Sportline 150 kw / 200hp / 220kmh 7.5s 1-100km

There is a difference in power available and a difference on paper in the acceleration and top speed, but I think it is not noticeable - unless you do some extreme tests - it is not noticeable because of the way the electric boost and ICE combine during acceleration. At least that's my impression.

I'm still playing devil's advocate here as I'm hoping someone will chime in with a significant difference or justification to help me choose the vRS!
 

Edited 27 October, 2021 by mcdeli

[mcdeli]

Ironically the Finnish site says that DCC is "Adaptive chassis adjustment and Performance Mode Selection - RS driving setting selection"... this seems like a bit of marketing though... as the Sportline can be ordered with DCC and the vRS can be ordered without DCC! Go figure!

 

The UK site just calls DCC, "DCC". Hmm.

[timster]

3 hours ago, mcdeli said:

DCC is an option on the Sportline - and an option on the vRS.
Both have Sport mode.

The vRS is rated at 180kw, the Sportline 150kw - the difference in power is in engine tuning - not in mode selection or any different hardware.*
*I am waiting for answer on the brakes. They are painted red on the vRS - I don't know if they are different spec.


There is a difference in power available and a difference on paper in the acceleration and top speed, but I think it is not noticeable - unless you do some extreme tests - it is not noticeable because of the way the electric boost and ICE combine during acceleration. At least that's my impression.

I'm still playing devil's advocate here as I'm hoping someone will chime in with a significant difference or justification to help me choose the vRS!
 

I ment, did your test drive sportline have DCC?

Yes, both have Sport mode, but perhaps Sport in RS iV makes noticeable difference?

 

Finnish specs say that Sportline PHEV is 7.7s from 0-100km/h. Imo the about 40hp and plenty of more torque should be noticeable

[mcdeli]

14 hours ago, timster said:

I ment, did your test drive sportline have DCC?

Yes, both have Sport mode, but perhaps Sport in RS iV makes noticeable difference?

 

Finnish specs say that Sportline PHEV is 7.7s from 0-100km/h. Imo the about 40hp and plenty of more torque should be noticeable

The Finnish specs I looked at said 7,5s for the Sportline. But I think this 7 point something is a negligible difference.

 

Yes, the ”red one” had DCC. I tried the different modes but I am not an experienced enough test driver to notice any difference driving on Porvoontie in comfort vs sport vs eco with DCC on or off. For me getting the seat in the right place is the biggest factor!!!

[timster]

6 hours ago, mcdeli said:

The Finnish specs I looked at said 7,5s for the Sportline. But I think this 7 point something is a negligible difference.

 

Yes, the ”red one” had DCC. I tried the different modes but I am not an experienced enough test driver to notice any difference driving on Porvoontie in comfort vs sport vs eco with DCC on or off. For me getting the seat in the right place is the biggest factor!!!

I did a "compare" on the configurator for sportline iV and 1.5TSI and there was that the iV version is 7.7s  Some youtube video shows that the RS iV is 7s. Not much difference there. But i believe its more noticeable in 80-120km/h. I believe it was the same or faster than 2.0 TSI RS.

 

Oh nice to get to test the DCC. Remember that DCC is active damping. You can choose from comfort to sport, which dont have superior difference. You can still feel it when you wiggle the car in lower speeds.

 

But the active part is that it works with the road. It should work actively when braking, accelerating and cornering. Also when the ESP kicks in it sets the dampers on sport (or equivalent).

I mainly wanted the DCC for the 19" wheels. Not sure if i even want 40 profile tires, but i hope the DCC's comfort will help me abit. Also since the RS iV is quite high, i hope the sport wil help on that too.

[mcdeli]

17 minutes ago, timster said:

I did a "compare" on the configurator for sportline iV and 1.5TSI and there was that the iV version is 7.7s  Some youtube video shows that the RS iV is 7s. Not much difference there. But i believe its more noticeable in 80-120km/h. I believe it was the same or faster than 2.0 TSI RS.

 

Oh nice to get to test the DCC. Remember that DCC is active damping. You can choose from comfort to sport, which dont have superior difference. You can still feel it when you wiggle the car in lower speeds.

 

But the active part is that it works with the road. It should work actively when braking, accelerating and cornering. Also when the ESP kicks in it sets the dampers on sport (or equivalent).

I mainly wanted the DCC for the 19" wheels. Not sure if i even want 40 profile tires, but i hope the DCC's comfort will help me abit. Also since the RS iV is quite high, i hope the sport wil help on that too.

 

Well, I am not so sure that Skoda know how fast the cars are... you say 7,7, the configurator I am looking at says 7,8, and the Finnish technical data sheet says 7,5

https://web.skoda.fi/lataukset/uusi-octavia/uusi-octavia/Uusi-SKODA-OCTAVIA-tekniset-tiedot.pdf

[timster]

On 29/10/2021 at 00:04, mcdeli said:

 

Well, I am not so sure that Skoda know how fast the cars are... you say 7,7, the configurator I am looking at says 7,8, and the Finnish technical data sheet says 7,5

https://web.skoda.fi/lataukset/uusi-octavia/uusi-octavia/Uusi-SKODA-OCTAVIA-tekniset-tiedot.pdf

Heh. Dunno where the difference comes from. Perhaps it has something to do with the added options. Could think that sportline is heavier than normal Style with all the extra plastic

 

But some news. I drove the sportline you had. First impression: At first i was sure there was a loose tire.. what the heck is going on with the front wheels. After a while of driving the car reported loss of tire pressure. Corrected the pressures (front had less than rear) which made the car a bit more stable. Also i noticed that it had 17" winter tires already. That made the car alot worse after 18" / lower profile. If that would have been my first testdrive, i'd perhaps skipped octavia because of bad driving experience.

 

 

DCC, it was definetely noticeable. On 80-100km/h speeds, the stiff settings brought all the small holes and un eveness of the road to my seat. With comfort, they were almost gone. Agreed by my GF and sister  

 

Also tried at mannerheimintie's rocky (cobblestone) road which had the most impact. Even my GF noticed a clear difference. From that test i'm pretty happy that i'm getting DCC with the 19" wheels.

 

Funny things. After 10minutes of driving i had to call the dealer that does it really NOT have navigation. And yes. that's an option on sportline. Would think that'd be selected

[mcdeli]

Good points and great idea with the cobblestone test!

 

After some thinking time, I am leaning towards the Sportline as I feel it getting ”everything but the remap” for 3k less. The only thing I don’t like is the Sportline badge!

 

One small issue is my head has been turned by the Volvo V60 T8;) uh oh

[SC03OTT]

Not quite sure how we’ve made the leap from Octavia Sportline to V60 T8 but hey ho 🤷🏻‍♂️

[timster]

13 hours ago, mcdeli said:

Good points and great idea with the cobblestone test!

 

After some thinking time, I am leaning towards the Sportline as I feel it getting ”everything but the remap” for 3k less. The only thing I don’t like is the Sportline badge!

 

One small issue is my head has been turned by the Volvo V60 T8;) uh oh

Sure, the sportline is not a bad choise. It's still a sportier PHEV. 

 

Not sure how could the V60 T8 be cheaper