Skoda Octavia vRS

Breadcrumbs

Car details navigation

Skoda Octavia vRS overall verdict

Additional Info

Police use these because they don’t look fast enough to catch a cold. That’s cheating
Our buying tip

The petrol vRS is the better, more surprising car. And that’s what the vRS is all about; surprise

Basically an Octavia with a VW Golf GTI engine and transmission in it’s original form, though there‘s now a vRS with a 2.0-litre diesel called the ‘CR‘ vRS. Fast, competent and not flash. It’s a surprise they’re not more popular.

Comfort

The Octavia is a pretty big car, so it rides well, looks after your 4th and 5th vertebrae and still manages to get a spurt on when it needs to. The seats are nicely sporting without being uncomy-for-distance racer’s chairs, and the engines settle back to a muted thrumble when you hit the motorway. The suspension also manages it’s control without the usual trade-off of a thumpy town ride. We like.
Performance

The 2.0-litre Fsi petrol uses a turbo and delivers 200bhp, 207lb ft of torque and 0-62mph in 7.3 with a top end of a fraction under 150mph. Stick that in yer pipe and smoke it - suddenly the Police pursuit cars don’t look so silly now do they? The diesel version is a little bit slower; at 8.4 seconds to 62mph and 140mph top end, but beware it on the motorway - it may only have 168bhp, but that’s backed up by 258lb ft of torque - so in-gear acceleration is brisk.
Cool

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Ish. Kind of. If you like that sort of thing.
Quality

Solid and splendid from Skoda. Not flashy or even that interesting, but the vRS gets some nice added bits to let you know you’re in the fast one.
Handling

Very tidy, if a little safe for fun’s sake. The front-wheel-drive chassis is supremely well-sorted in this latest generation and there’s a distinct lack of drama when pressing on. The vRS looks after you in a way that many quick cars don’t - it’ll be faster in the end.
Practicality

Brilliantly practical - which is presumably why the cops love ‘em. The boot holds 560-litres seats up - which believe us is plenty, and there’s room for five with change.
Running costs

The petrol vRS emits 190g/km and gets hit for 26-percent tax, but the insurance group is a very reasonable 15. The diesel drops an insurance group to 14, emits 150g/km and gets an 18-percent tax bashing - so that’s the one to go for on the company car scheme. Residuals are so-so.