Skoda Octavia VRS
Would we change anything?
MILEAGE 5460
WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT
We had a diesel VRS for three months. Now it’s a petrol VRS for three months. Which makes the better buy?
Acouple of weeks ago, I said of the Octavia VRS 245 that I could think of no realistic, actionable way in which it could be improved. With a little more space here, I want to revisit that statement because, on face value, it sounds rather a lot like I was saying the VRS is a perfect car. Which it categorically isn’t.
For one thing, there are several minor but still irritating things about it that Skoda could, and should, put right for this car’s replacement. The navigation system, for instance, is no match for a little local knowledge when it comes to skirting around traffic, never mind those uncannily clever mobile apps like Waze and Google Maps. I can slash chunks out of an estimated arrival time simply by ducking down a shortcut the navigation system hasn’t spotted.
Another minor niggle is the windscreen washer fluid alert, which flashes on and off every few minutes when the fluid reaches a particular level. You either put up with hearing the warning bong and seeing the light blink every few miles, or you hold back the right-hand stalk for 10 or 20 seconds just to drain the reservoir and spare yourself further alerts.
Neither of those things would really make the 245 an appreciably better car, though. Similarly, you might say it would benefit from a touch more steering feel, a more lively chassis balance, perhaps even a more vocal exhaust note, but given that it is an estate car with quite tangential sporting pretensions, I cannot agree that any of those things would really improve it.
Of course, the 245 would be a vastly better car if it was fitted with a 6.0-litre normally aspirated V12 and was at the same time capable of 75mpg, but neither of those things is realistic or actionable.
The long and short of it, I suppose, is that the VRS is one of those uncommon but not fantastically rare cars that is just brilliantly judged and cleverly executed. So much so that in order to improve on it, its maker would have to start all over again with an entirely new model. Another is the Volkswagen Golf GTI, a car this Octavia VRS shares so much with and one that performs the role of grown-up, everyday hot hatch so expertly that it really doesn’t need to be messed with.
There is one caveat to all of this, but I hesitate to mention it here because I have already brought it up so many times that I have long since grown bored of writing it. I’m certain you are bored of reading it too. That is, this car really does need the optional adaptive dampers, not fitted here, to settle the at times firm and tough ride quality.
The 5000-mile point has come and gone and, in that time, the Skoda hasn’t missed a single beat. It has been impeccably reliable and it hasn’t had a penny spent on it. That absolutely should be the case for a brand-new car in 2018, of course, but quite often it simply isn’t. Yep, all is well. A pity my time with the 245 will soon be coming to an end.