Just seen a vRS estate at the dealer and seriously thinking about one. Lets see what the Subaru p/ex is like at the moment (?!?)

Having been used to 4wd and looked at the Octavia 4x4, the only concern I have is buying a vRS estate, chipping it to 220bhp (AS YOU DO) and then finding that it wheelspins all the time.

Your views please -

.. or I may have to try funding the Impreza and a chipped Fabia 100PD for the sensible times.

Originally posted by Fabpreza

Having been used to 4wd and looked at the Octavia 4x4, the only concern I have is buying a vRS estate, chipping it to 220bhp (AS YOU DO) and then finding that it wheelspins all the time.

It does come with some form of traction control, so this shouldn't

happen really...

Or you could try being more gentle with your right foot!

Rob.

I love not having to be gentle!

Actually, on oil at traffic lights, I deliberately booted it and had all four wheels spinning for a second before heat=traction and launched off. Silly silly childish fun! I quite like "angry" use of the throttle turning out of side roads also, pushing the tail out slightly. Again, childish fun.

Please note the above offers no advantage to performance, but puts a smile on my face. FWD wheelspin (for me) has no "smile" element, 4WD wheelspin does.

Originally posted by Fabpreza

Having been used to 4wd and looked at the Octavia 4x4, the only concern I have is buying a vRS estate, chipping it to 220bhp (AS YOU DO) and then finding that it wheelspins all the time.

I know, and I absolutely dislike (coming close to hate!) the sound of traction control at full fledge. And you will still understeer unless you trick the suspension (right, Jon? ).

So you could do what I have done (see my sig).

I'm also switching over from Subaru and have grown attached to AWD over the years, hence my decision to slightly tweek a 4x4 to look like an RS - oh well, close enough at least - and have it perform like one as well - oh well, close enough at least.

I did think about the 4x4 saloon (I could never bring myself to buy an estate car), but the fact that I got more power without needing to chip, and the slightly-flashier-but-still-understated exterior/interior and bigger alloys sold the vRS to me.

Chipping is an option, but you never know which dealers are going to be funny about the warranty. It's also hard to justify the extra cost to "her indoors" when you've already spent 15K.

Now if they did a 4x4 vRS, that would be a different matter...

Rob,

I agree that in Britain there are three major arguments against going, well, Dutch4x4.

First is price: Holland has a unique situation in Europe with the standard 4x4 actually being cheaper by GBP 850 than the standard RS. Second is warranty: in Holland, warranty is not revoked if you deal with the importer-approved chip suppliers, i.e. Oettinger and Wetterauer. They will also help out with lowering the car. Third is package: here, the RS interior is available as a factory option for GBP 290.

Then again, I think it is still possible to go to a Dutch dealer and order a RHD car. Not being a Dutch citizen you needn't pay the serious amounts of Dutch luxury tax and VAT, giving you the financial room for covering the importing costs, type approval and UK VAT.

We had British customers raiding the showrooms sometime ago but it has become quieter recently. Does anyone know whether this lucrative EU detour has been closed off now? If not, then it is still a very viable option worth looking into.

I think the import thing has gone quieter now following some recent price cuts here in the uk, also some car supermarkets have taken the hassle out of imports by doing it for you.

Regarding the RS Estate, had some pics sent to me yesterday. they can be seen here.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jotero/galleries/rscombidealer.htm

of by following the links to the red RS gallery.

The vRS combi certainly doesnt look as purposeful as the vRS hatch..

I see what everyone means about those alloys.

The ride height seems higher than the hatch too.

Still a good looking machine though.

Manny

The RS estate at the dealer looks very nice , but yet again those wheels let it down , bigtime! Its a shame because I happen to think the Octy estate is one of the nicest looking estate cars around , especially in the top spec ie 4x4 or L&K. Now if only they did a 4X4 Tdi PD 130 6 speed manual L&K estate in this country , id be on my way to having my first estate car out of 16 cars owned so far!

Is there any difference in the front brakes between the RS hatch and RS estate? Thought I'd read the hatch had 312mm discs, but would 312 discs fit inside 16 inch wheels.

Are the front brakes on the RS difference to the 4x4 150T?

Are Skoda about to bring out the Octavia with 130PD TDI? Only Auto-Express says it's going to be availble from April 1st but my local dealer knows nothing about it & no mention on Skodas site.

As a previous poster also mentioned 130PD 4x4 add me to that wish list. VAG are doing it in the Passat, so why not the O.

Cheers, MH.

Originally posted by FabiaTDi

The vRS combi certainly doesnt look as purposeful as the vRS hatch..

I see what everyone means about those alloys.

The ride height seems higher than the hatch too.

Originally posted by Dmac1969vRS

The RS estate at the dealer looks very nice , but yet again those wheels let it down , bigtime! Its a shame because I happen to think the Octy estate is one of the nicest looking estate cars around , especially in the top spec ie 4x4 or L&K.

I fully agree, but I think there are two things here:

- the RS Combi (as we call it over here) would look good on any other type of 16" alloys, methinks. It's just that the RS alloys don't really work as 16".

- IMHO, contrary to the hatchback, that looks very aggressive in red, that colour doesn't particularly suit the estate. Red makes the car look too big and cumbersome, so I would like to see it in silver or black, which would visually slim it down a bit. The silver RS Combi in my RS brochure certainly looks the part!

vr6yorks, welcome to Briskoda. We're a helpful and friendly bunch in the main, with a healthy if irreverent respect for each others' tastes in Skodas.

There isn't much info at large about the vRS Estate, but at least one member has one so hopefully your queries will be answered soon.

Time to walk the dog........

VR6, the 312mm fronts do fit under 16s. The original RSs when they came into the country had 16s and the same size brakes.

Brakes on all the others are little, sorry, smaller than the RS, but take the same pads.

Hi Dutch 4x4,

Can you point me towards any Dutch dealers that are RHD friendly?

Cheers,

Martin H.

VR6

Yes , both the hatch and estate vRS brakes are the same size.

Originally posted by vr6yorks

Can you point me towards any Dutch dealers that are RHD friendly?

Martin,

Well, I wouldn't know one off-hand, but your best bet would be one of the bigger importer-supported ones. Not many of those around, I'm afraid, but a couple of them are low-margin high-volume companies that possibly would not object to going through the extra trouble of ordering a RHD car for you.

There are some snags, of course:

a. It won't be as easy as buying a RHD Honda or Nissan here, that is, the cars that are being built in Swindon and Newcastle (?). In my time as a Honda driver I've seen Dutch orders of RHD Hondas that never left Britain... Very convenient! With Skoda, you'll need to take a trailer and bring the car to the UK yourself, so you'd better pick a dealer near a harbour, so Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam (Hoek van Holland) or Vlissingen.

b. If you want to have your car chipped by the dealer, I doubt that the warranty will hold when exporting the car. This goes for all aftermarket extras. You are better off having these things done back home. However, you will get a good deal on all the factory options, like the sports interior for a 4x4.

So what dealer? Go to the Dutch Skoda site, select Dealers and check out the following provinces: Noord-Holland (Amsterdam - S-Point is the biggest Dutch dealer), Zuid-Holland (The Hague - Ron Duindam, Rotterdam - RijnWoud), or Zeeland (Vlissingen - Vrijburg).

If you are interested in prices, select Modellen, pick the car of your choice (i.e. the Octavia), choose Hatchback or Combi (Estate) and click on Prijslijst. You will see five rows of numbers. You will be interested in the first one: net price excluding VAT (euros of course, where 1 pound is 1,45 euros). The others are net price incl. VAT, the luxury tax, the Dutch consumer price (i.e. net price incl. VAT and luxury tax) and car weight (kgs).

Then again, all of this all depends on the willingness of dealers to sell a RHD car to Dutch prices and Dutch added specs...

Oh, I just love driving my LHD car in Britain. Especially in left-hand corners