Ive only bought my 2018 vrs octavia and have to say im dissapointed in how it handles. 

 

Coming up to a roundabout the other day in second gear, gave it plenty of gas as it was clear and the car snaked around a gentle bend to the left. Ive even noticed going round basic corners at any sort of speed feels dangerous

 

Was convinced something must be wrong but spoken to a friend who has a Superb says his is the same

 

Is this common across Skodas? 

My Vrs estate used to handle real well on the road and even round the ring no scary moments as you describe.. as does my superb. Superb was defo softer than the octy but running koni special actives and H&R 40mm springs makes a huge difference 

No such issues with my '18 vRS. It has plenty of grip and feedback...

 

I'd suggest having the tracking and suspension checked for anything obvious.

 

Other than that, what tyres and pressures are you running?

24 minutes ago, aidy55 said:

Ive only bought my 2018 vrs octavia and have to say im dissapointed in how it handles. 

 

Coming up to a roundabout the other day in second gear, gave it plenty of gas as it was clear and the car snaked around a gentle bend to the left. Ive even noticed going round basic corners at any sort of speed feels dangerous

 

Was convinced something must be wrong but spoken to a friend who has a Superb says his is the same

 

Is this common across Skodas? 

What tyres do you have?

What condition are they in?

Was it wet?

Has your vehicle been modified?

What was your previous vehicle that the vRS compares unfavourably to? What tyres did you have on that vehicle?

^^^ This,

& what pressures have you set the tyres at since you got the car? 

That doesn’t sound right. I’d think something’s awry. My 2015 vRS always felt well planted. Agree with all the previous comments and questions.

 

I had a big (2.5 V6) Superb immediately before the vRS - they're not really comparable, the Octavia being far more nimble (relatively) IMO.

 

Gaz

Edited 25 June, 20232 yr by Gaz

@aidy55

Just checking.  

This is FWD 2.0 TDI manual hatch you have and not an AWD one? 

3 hours ago, aidy55 said:

Ive only bought my 2018 vrs octavia and have to say im dissapointed in how it handles. 

 

Coming up to a roundabout the other day in second gear, gave it plenty of gas as it was clear and the car snaked around a gentle bend to the left. Ive even noticed going round basic corners at any sort of speed feels dangerous

 

Was convinced something must be wrong but spoken to a friend who has a Superb says his is the same

 

Is this common across Skodas? 

Putting the boot in while turning can tend to induce oversteer in all vehicles - even at the pinnacle of F1. Your quote 'gave it plenty of gas' perhaps suggests this was a little too much.

In a FWD vehicle? I think not.

 

My reaction to the comment was the same as yours though, these vehicles but for the electronickery are way too heavy and powerfull for FWD, were the OP have done the same with the systems inactive it would have taught him a valuable lesson.

 

It's a shame that new drivers are getting into computer controlled rocket ships instead of learning how to control a vehicle and what the results are of unconsidered control inputs by driving a wheezy ratty RWD vehicle with drum brakes and skinny tyres, if they did they might look at the road a bit more to judge the conditions and less at their phones.

Edited 25 June, 20232 yr by J.R.

My 2014 tsi vrs handles great. Can take roundabouts and corners at hight speed. 

I am on stock suspension and 17 inch eaglr asymmetric 5's

 

You should check your wheels alignment and suspension condition 

My 2013 Vrs was starting to feel a little loose lately, and it's normally really solid on corners (if driven within it's limits!) Found the lower control arm bushes were starting to tear, replaced the arms, all back to tight and solid again. It's on 160k miles, so not surprising really. 

My 178 VRS estate has all the grip I will ever need if its dry.  And my other cars include an Elise, Lotus 7 & 205 GTi.

Something is wrong with yours so would benefit  from a good set up

12 hours ago, aidy55 said:

something must be wrong but spoken to a friend who has a Superb says his is the same

 

Is this common across Skodas? 

 

I'm always surprised how well my mkII Superb handles considering it's the size of a barge!

 

 

Edited 25 June, 20232 yr by bigjohn

I third the tyre question.

 

My previous car (100 hp, fwd) came with diabolical budget tyres, they would wheelspin in the dry and had about as much grip as silicone grease on anything. Transformed by simply changing the tyres to a decent brand (not expensive!).

 

If they're the Michelin Energy Saver nonsense that was on my Octavia when I bought it, then also get rid. They weren't as bad as the previous ones, but still did not feel planted. Perfectly acceptable for a small hatchback round town, I wouldn't have recommended for a car the size of an Octy used anywhere. 

Edited 25 June, 20232 yr by micro

Sorry for my lack of feedback. My tyre inflator broke and had to get a new one. My 2018 vrs is FWD and the tyres were sitting at 39 psi, maybe a tad high. Ive reduced to 2.4 bar, about 35 psi. Nobody else in the car but me and few tools in the boot

 

They are new tyres, dealer obviously put cheap ones on, (Davanti). Never heard of them. 

 

I drove a subaru xv AWD with goodyears for a couple of years so maybe just to accustomed to the AWD, you can floor the subaru in 1st gear with no wheel spin, no resistance. You just can't do that in my octavia but its obviously just down the awd

 

Will def be getting a set of goodyears on it for the winter

The Subaru XV is a pretty well "idiot proof" car to drive with mediocre power outputs and an effective awd system.

Transitioning to an Octavia vRS with vastly more low down torque applied only to the front wheels is going to require far more considered driving on public roads irrespective of what tyres are fitted.

 

I'm pretty confidant that changing the tyres to a more recognised brand will make a noticeable improvement but if you buy summer biased tyres for winter then you will be back on here making exactly the same comments in the cold weather. Try looking in Briskoda's tyre section for some background on the benefits of appropriate all-season tyres especially if you are likely to experience some snow (Ireland so probably not).

 

Also when your new tyres are fitted avoid the temptation to see how good they are for at least 100km to allow for them to bed in and also scrub off that slippery new surface.

 

Read some reviews of the Davanti tyres and they are amusing to say the least. They vary from "would race on tracks with them" to "they nearly killed me" so you can assume, as with many low cost tyres, that quality control is more a concept than reality.

Edited 9 August, 20232 yr by Gerrycan

6 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

 

Read some reviews of the Davanti tyres and they are amusing to say the least. They vary from "would race on tracks with them" to "they nearly killed me" so you can assume, as with many low cost tyres, that quality control is more a concept than reality.

 

Or that people who buy them have no concept of what a good tyre is. I certainly didn't on my first car until I nearly hit someone in torrential rain when my cheapo tyres just seemed to run out of grip. Never skimped on tyres again when buying them.

 

Or a bit of both!

9 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

Read some reviews of the Davanti tyres and they are amusing to say the least. They vary from "would race on tracks with them" to "they nearly killed me" so you can assume, as with many low cost tyres, that quality control is more a concept than reality.

 

No I cannot and will not assume that so no point telling me to, industry in the 21st century has moved on from people throwing buckets of unlabelled compounds into the mixing cauldron over a fire. I doubt that many drivers would feel the difference between the same tyres at either end of the manufacturing tolerances or even rejects well beyond that

 

I would attribute the variation in comments to the variety of life, different people having different perceptions, different biases and agendas.

 

I cant recall the exact analogy from when I was studying QC for an MBA so I am paraphrasing, a chocolate teapot or a cup with a hole in the bottom can both be perfect quality products, as perfect as a china teapot or a cup that holds water, quality is defined as conformity to a defined standard, a tyre that grips better or lasts longer in no higher a quality product than one that has little grip or short life.

Edited 9 August, 20232 yr by J.R.

On 25/06/2023 at 09:25, aidy55 said:

Ive only bought my 2018 vrs octavia and have to say im dissapointed in how it handles. 

 

Coming up to a roundabout the other day in second gear, gave it plenty of gas as it was clear and the car snaked around a gentle bend to the left. Ive even noticed going round basic corners at any sort of speed feels dangerous

 

Was convinced something must be wrong but spoken to a friend who has a Superb says his is the same

 

Is this common across Skodas? 

 

If it feels dangerous on a basic  corner (whatever that is) at any speed then what did you expect would happen giving it plenty of gas in 2nd gear on a roundabout?

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

No I cannot and will not assume that so no point telling me to, industry in the 21st century has moved on from people throwing buckets of unlabelled compounds into the mixing cauldron over a fire. I doubt that many drivers would feel the difference between the same tyres at either end of the manufacturing tolerances or even rejects well beyond that

 

I would attribute the variation in comments to the variety of life, different people having different perceptions, different biases and agendas.

 

I cant recall the exact analogy from when I was studying QC for an MBA so I am paraphrasing, a chocolate teapot or a cup with a hole in the bottom can both be perfect quality products, as perfect as a china teapot or a cup that holds water, quality is defined as conformity to a defined standard, a tyre that grips better or lasts longer in no higher a quality product than one that has little grip or short life.

I'm sorry but I'm not sure I fully understand paragaraphs 1 and 3?? But I agree with your comment in paragraph 2