The new Skoda Octavia vRS is the most powerful and fastest yet. It’s a high-performance all-rounder.
Verdict
The fourth-generation Skoda Octavia vRS facelift is one of our favorite high-performance hatchbacks. It has more power and a superior interior. It’s not the fastest or the most exciting, but it has more than enough speed and control for anyone who wants to drive it on the road. It’s a fantastic, fast family car, strong in all departments and notably weak in none.
A Skoda Octavia vRS is a Skoda Octavia vRS. You know what you’re getting with one of these cars. They’ve been flying off the shelves in the UK for years. With almost 46,000 examples of the rapid Czech motor sold in the UK across the previous three Octavia generations and the pre-facelift Mk4 too, its appealing blend of practicality, easy-going manners and admirable on-road pace has made it a big hit for Skoda since it first appeared in 2001.
The company has wisely chosen not to make drastic changes to this updated version of the fourth-generation car. However, the changes Skoda has made are worthwhile and have only made this already excellent performance car even better.
The vRS now has revised exterior looks, just like any other Octavia. As the flagship model, it gains LED Matrix headlights with “Crystallinium” signatures. In other words, fancy, angular daytime running lights are now standard.
The vRS is also defined by its meatier bumpers, black body detailing, model-specific badges, and a set of attractive 19-inch “Elias” alloy wheels.
The vRS is available in both hatchback and estate car bodies, and it looks good in almost every way. The only slight grumble we have is with the small, round “real” tailpipes at the back, which are visible in the big rhomboid exit finishers.
The interior features a new and improved 13-inch infotainment system. Skoda has also spruced up all the interior trims and the upholstery, while further fitting a 15-watt wireless smartphone charging pad and a snazzier 10-inch digital driver’s display.
The Octavia’s legendary interior space is on full display here. There’s plenty of room for legs and heads in the vRS, while the trunks are massive—600 liters in the hatch and 640 in the estate. It’s a far superior passenger compartment to any Golf GTI. This is embarrassing for VW, don’t you think?
The main technical update for the Octavia facelift is that its 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine is now in line with the Golf GTI ‘8.5’. This brings the vRS up to 261bhp.
Torque remains at 370 Nm, and the only transmission choice is the DSG twin-clutch seven-speed automatic, driving the front wheels via an electronically controlled limited-slip differential. The new Octavia vRS is faster than ever. It can go from 0 to 62 mph in just 6.4 seconds, and the estate version is right behind it at 6.5 seconds.
Despite the output boost, the Octavia vRS is slower than the Golf. This is mainly due to the fact that the Octavia vRS weighs more in either format, as it has a physically larger body. But as is always the case with on-paper stat battles, they are irrelevant because the real test is in the details.
The Octavia’s stretched shell gives it a 45mm longer wheelbase than the GTI. Coupled with the 15mm lower sports suspension and the increased mass of the car, this makes for a driving experience that is, quite simply, superior in the Skoda.
It’s true that it remains a little buttoned-down dynamically at the absolute limit. And while it’s not the fastest hot hatch you’ll ever drive, it’s more than swift enough to have a few moments where the traction of the front wheels is interrupted.
The Octavia vRS is a wonderful, involving, and rewarding performance car. Its tautly controlled yet comfortable ride, supple body and wheel control, deeply pleasing and informative steering, and the effortless access the driver has to the engine’s reserves of power and torque all add up to this result.
You can option up 15-mode Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) adjustable dampers for a chunky £1,185 if you must, but having briefly sampled a standard-suspension vRS hatchback back-to-back with our DCC-equipped estate, we can say with confidence that the tech is not strictly necessary.
The updated Skoda Octavia vRS is the finest combination of cultured everyday comfort and absorbing dynamic talents you can get in this class right now, fixed-rate dampers or not. And yes, we’re including the VW Golf GTI when we make that assertion.
