The guardian gave the vRS Estate a good review today:

[ link ]

Either that, or it's their annual april fool story... :drive1:

Is that really written by a car journalist? It seems like a whole

lot of waffle! The following quote made me suspicious though:

at which point both you and the dog get arrested and quite possibly imprisoned.

Someone from here freelancing?

Rob.

Have seen it in red (6/10), silver (8/10) and clean black (10/10) - there's my reviews !

Could have had a new black one but chose the 'Used-4x4-estate-and-up-spec-the-engine-etc' route !

I wonder how long it will be before I can get a vRS estate interior from a scrappy !?

That article is the biggest load of c**p I have read for a long time! Nuff said, and don't expect to see it included in our web links.

Time to have a serious talk with the dog to find out why she's upset today ........

Looks like one of those tests that were written after walking around the car, then reading the press pack. I can't believe he actually drove it.

A friend of mine used to work in the car press, and you'll be amazed how many so called "test drives" never actually take place! Let's be honest, when faced with yet another facelifted French diesel hatchback, who needs to drive it to produce a couple of hundred words? Good economy blah blah cheap plastics blah blah compliant suspension blah blah

Done!

Phil:drive1: -definitely testing this smiley....

Their motor reviews are always like that. Not terribly 'serious'.

He seemed to like it though, high praise from the tree huggers bible. And maybe it's just us who are paranoid about those 16" wheels?

Bit of a bizarre road test in terms of style :silly: but actually I thought it covered most of the relevant areas and actually gave a pretty good impression of its functionality, speed and value. Bloke is obviously not a big fan of estates but some people will never change on that.

Dennis - guess the references to "Sink the accelerator and watch that labrador hit the back window" :shocked: and "wardrobes" were the death knell for you!

Dennis - guess the references to "Sink the accelerator and watch that labrador hit the back window" and "wardrobes" were the death knell for you!

My black Staffie can out-accelerate a vRS any day of the week! And wardrobes fit on top not inside...

An extra 30bhp from a chip tweak, a few extra wheelspokes, and extra bits of plastic front and back really don't set the vRS Estate that far ahead of the other 1.8T Estates - 4X4 or otherwise - except in the wild imagination of journalists and others who should know better (but are currently not logged in)!

Even the dog is upset by that article.......

As above, due to this road test's health warning, I've just rushed out and bought the Octavia dog guard to stop the Wolfhound being hurled against the climatronic controls when I get the 4x4 ECU remapped...

Dennis - to be honest I don't actually know the complete list of differences is between the vRS mechanically compared to the SLXI or 4x4 or whatever other variant of Octavia. Ignoring the superficial power and looks difference, is the engine completely the same in both (i.e. same for all internal parts) is there a difference in brakes, suspension, gearbox, chassis stiffening? :confused:

Anyway, stock journalists will always talk about a car as it is out of the box (not chipped or modded in any way) since that is the way that general joe public thinks of it as well.

Having read the article it strikes me the writer in question has no knowledge of cars full stop.

Has he never heard of the Volvo T/R 5? or the AMG Mercs? both come in estate form.

It looks like a total crap article used simply to fill a space, with the author attemtping some Clarkson vomit, trying to sound authoratative.

Someone tell him it doesnt, and suggest he actually learn to do things with a little more professionalism.

Cheers

ps I have seen 2 vRS estates and both looked very sexy.