It was a problem raised with James's long-term vRS and doesn't seem to have been rectified here: even in the more aggressive of its two modes, there's more wheelspin from the inside tyre and less confidence in the front axle than with similarly equipped products. The 458 would escape the sand without needing a tow. The vRS hatch has a huge 590-litre boot and the £1200 pricier estate’s is technically only 20 litres bigger with the seats up, but we went for the wagon anyway because it’s more usefully shaped, not least for my dog. Space saver?! Skoda has offered a choice of diesel or petrol power in the Octavia vRS for years but with the recent facelift of the third-generation car (characterised by some uglier but more distinctive headlights) it’s now introduced a higher-power petrol option for the first time: the vRS 245. 4.3 out of 5 4. Push the Octavia hard through some tight turns, particularly on track, and it’s a real help delivering the 242bhp (245ps) to the front wheels. Somewhat distinctive headlights aside, you've probably noticed that the latest Skoda Octavia vRS facelift doesn't comprise all that much. Skoda Octavia vRS 245 DSG 2017 review; Skoda Octavia vRS 245 DSG 2017 review . Voluminous? Read the full TG review here. No spare. Available as a practical five-door hatchback and an incredibly capacious estate, it’s car for those who need something big enough for family duties, but without sacrificing driver enjoyment. Skoda Octavia vRS 245 Road Test Review: vRS A-OK Car Reviews 11 July 4, 2018 by Andrew Evans. Ultimately it's not that the vRS 245 isn't a great package, because it is. Follow us on 1 st Dec 2020 12:00 pm. A Ferrari engineer once told me that during 458 testing if ever a car landed in the gravel they would just grab the laptop from the passenger seat and tell its e-diff to lock solid. VAT no 918 5617 01 Recommended Skoda Octavia vRS Estate cars. I didn’t have a laptop to hack the Skoda’s ECU but, if I kept the wheels straight and barely touched the throttle, the differential made sure both wheels turned together instead of spinning power away, and I managed to claw my way past several other floundering open-diff cars up steep snow-covered hills (‘Sorry, I’m sure help is on the way!’). No longer will it change up at the slightest hint of wheelspin, or change down at inopportune moments. 1 /28 . Vast? We’ve come to the end of our four glorious months in this Skoda Octavia vRS 230 Estate and regular readers will know that means it’s time to swap into the green vRS 245 pictured above. The last thing we need is five stationary hours before we’ve even set off. Instead, it's positioned to the right-hand side on the driveshaft. No get-me-home skinny space saver, either. Month 3 of our Skoda Octavia vRS 245 long-term test review: puncture! All registered in England and Wales. That's not to say the vRS is bad on track; far from it. 845898), Skoda Octavia vRS 245: e-diff means traction's actually rather good, This is what happens when you don't have a spare wheel. After … That's what we've been chewing over during the last six months. In fact we'd go as far as to say that a standard vRS is one of the most sorted, best value cars on sale today. Octavia vRS (2013 - 2017) Octavia Scout (2014 - 2020) Skoda Octavia review. So if you can find someone who'll do a pre-facelift-Octavia nose-job on this vRS 245 Estate, then what you'll have here is a genuine, honest-to-goodness five-star car. 8 / 10. I flip the boot carpet. Small detail. And if potholes don’t get them, kerbs will. Company Number: LP003328 Registered Office: Academic House, 24-28 Oval Road, London, NW1 7DT. 8 / 10. Here’s another benefit: the Octavia’s Pirelli P Zero rubber is terrible in snow and slippery, low-traction conditions – but the e-diff brings some compensation. As well as the power, the wheels, exhaust, brakes and black trim, the vRS 245 is equipped with the Volkswagen Group’s VAQ electronically limited slip differential. Curious. Facebook; Twitter; Google+; WhatsApp; Mailto; Copy link ; Full screen. New Skoda Octavia vRS 2020 ride review; New Skoda Octavia Estate 2020 review; Those figures are punchy enough to match those of the Mk8 Golf GTI. Skoda Octavia vRS 245 Estate long-term test review (2018), Skoda Octavia vRS Estate diesel (2015) long-term test review. Read the definitive Skoda Octavia vRS 2020 review from the expert What Car? Similar, yet different: the volume controls flip from left to right, Skoda to Audi. Skoda Octavia Estate (2017 - ) review The Skoda Octavia estate majors on luggage space and practicality but it’s also a tough, well-built car that’s comfortable to rack up the miles in – … Facebook ; Twitter; Google+; WhatsApp; Mailto; Copy link; Full screen. Like the idea of a Golf GTI but can't live with the lack of load space? Compared with its closest rivals, the Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0 TSI 245 is competitively priced, undercutting cars such as the Volkswagen Golf GTI … My old Audi Q5’s same-sized rims featured pudgy muffin-top sidewalls that kept the rims unscathed. The five-hour fiasco meant the day was a total loss instead of the 10-minute inconvenience it would have been 20 years ago, when full-size wheels were still the norm. And finally, if you choose the optional DSG ’box over the six-speed manual, you get seven ratios instead of the ordinary vRS’s six. The legendary Octavia RS, in its newest avatar, packs in stonking performance and corners like a dream. We picked out Meteor Grey, which is a £380 option and has been around for a while, but still looks very cool and hides winter grime well. CAR magazine lives with a Skoda Octavia vRS Diesel Estate. Shame it isn’t more fun to drive, though. The vRS version of the Skoda Octavia hatchback might be swamped with hot hatch rivals, but the vRS estate occupies a less competitive area of the market. An electric pump supplies the VAQ unit with varying degrees of pressurised hydraulic fluid; this oil operat… It’s fair to say it has got so far under my skin that I considered calling the whole thing off and asking whether I could just buy the blue car. That’s 15 more horses than the last model and there’s a few more updates too. Four-wheel drive, 65bhp stronger and one of our favourite wagons, it's available for £80 less than the 245. From £24,095 8. And the adaptive dampers definitely helped take the sting out of the harsh ride on those big 19-inch rims. That lot makes this a £37k car – not bad for the spec, quality and performance, but far removed from the £25k a basic vRS hatch costs. A fairly ordinary initial drive acts as a worthwhile reminder of what the Octavia is good at: the 2.0-litre EA888 is punchy and willing (useful when Italian slip roads turn out to be more like junctions), the car is really refined at motorway speeds and those DCC dampers do an admirable job of keeping the natty 19-inch wheels and the big estate body in check. It’s Saturday morning, first day of the school holidays. Still, with a brief chance to prove itself the vRS makes more than a good fist of the whole fast estate thing. Klang! There's never a point that it feels slow and, let's be honest here, this is still a large family bus: the composure and ability it has on track are easily good enough. The unusual Meteor Grey paint has met with wider approval than I’d expected. We’ve long been fans of the Skoda Octavia vRS’s no-nonsense approach to fast family motoring, but the new 245 model is demonstrably the best … Skoda Octavia RS 245 Review - We find out in our Skoda Octavia RS 245 review if the ageing sedan in a new sporty avatar is still worth the extra buck. Stick with us and we’ll find out. So where does that leave the Octavia vRS? RS-badged performance cars typically cost more than the average Singaporean can afford - think the Audi RS3, RS4 and RS5, the Ford Focus RS, the … Stylish Skoda has acres of room and bags of tech, vRS adds fun Enlarge 1 videos Enlarge 52 photos. When it comes to what the ‘v’ in ‘vRS’ stands for, all of those words apply to our new Skoda Octavia 245, but none is actually correct. However it's a car that's always popular on PH, that we know well from our long-termer and, to be frank, you don't decline invites to drive Vallelunga. Price £29,930As tested £36,850 Engine 1984cc 16v turbo 4-cyl, 242bhp @ 5000rpm, 273lb ft @ 1600rpm  Transmission 7-speed auto, front-wheel drive  Performance 6.5sec 0-62mph, 156mph, 146g/km CO2 Miles this month 282Total 12408Our mpg 29.4mpg  Official mpg 44.1mpg Fuel this month £57.17Extra costs None. Kind of where it was before in fact, albeit with a nicer interior. Not sure about those wheels though. Then, there was just one engine, a 78bhp petrol, one body style, a five-door hatch, and you got front-wheel drive and a five-speed manual whether you liked it or not. If those sound like expensive ponies then consider you also get lower, stiffer suspension and an electronically controlled limited-slip diff that’s exclusive to the 245 and might come in handy because the only four-wheel-drive vRS is the diesel. If you want a new Golf GTI in load-hauling form, this is about as close as you’ll get. However, there's a problem. n/a. In concept it’s very similar to the Performance Pack option you can tick when ordering a VW Golf GTi. More on that later, but a quick refresh of the vRS 245 first. A seven-hour drive to Granny’s beckons. I’m kicking myself for not ticking the £105 space-saver option. We review the Skoda 245 VRS hatch to find out just what exactly is it trying to be? In fact, with such a small weight penalty, the estate doesn't appear to lose anything compared to the hatch down a country road. Versatile? But the car we’ve got here is a little more ‘v’ than the rest. On the flipside, the Skoda’s low sidewalls and generous contact patch are great for steering precision and traction. For what it's worth the seven-speed DSG is a significant improvement over the old dual-clutch gearbox, both on track and road. So we wait while he disappears to a tyre retailer in Plymouth to get our wheel wrapped in new Pirelli P Zero. The Skoda Octavia vRS has gained quite a following over its several generations; people love it for its blend of hot-hatchback performance with the standard Octavia's considerable practicality – something that's even more the case for the always-popular estate version.. Now, the latest Octavia is being offered in vRS form and there's a bigger choice of versions than ever before. That sounds like damning it with faint praise, when it really shouldn't: the Skoda remains fast, comfortable, practical, good value and decent to drive. Whatever you choose to do, if you do decide to purchase an Octavia vRS 245, then you'll have a storming performance machine. Mentioned in the same breath as Lada just 30 years ago, it’s now thought of as a marque that brings almost premium car quality at more mainstream budgets. 1 /12 . You get a seven-speed DSG on the 245 as opposed to the six you get on the standard vRS with its optional DSG 'box, and on this evidence I'd stick with the slick manual and save a few quid. The initially snatchy brakes are better with bigger inputs, the dampers offer a very good control and comfort compromise and you're soon hustling along a large, hearse-spec Skoda estate rather fast. Skoda Octavia vRS Estate (2013-2020) "The Skoda Octavia vRS Estate is a fantastic all-rounder, thanks to its seamless blend of practicality and performance, along with a well built interior" Like the updated. The Octavia might share its platform and running gear with other VW Group companies, but it’s interesting to note how different VW Group cars can be in the details. Sadly the issue doesn't disappear on track. Do you like the 19in alloys on our Skoda Octavia vRS 245 Estate? Share review. 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