Shed Of The Week: Skoda Octavia vRS
A rare treat for Shed this week as the first fast Skoda nips in on budget
'Lightning' scrubs up alright by the look of it
With all this in mind, today is a day for celebration, because it marks the up to now very rare Shed appearance of another car that was quite rightly highly regarded when new, and that is now being slowly drawn into our greedy grasp: the Skoda Octavia vRS.
Shed recalls many trips in these estimable motors. Two stand out. One was on a shoot in the Lake District. The Lake District is well named as you often get lakes on the roads as well as where they're supposed to be. Predictably, it persisted it down for three days solid. The poor snapper entasked to get some decent pics of the vRS was crying into his beer every night, but as far as Shed was concerned the beer was good and the Skoda was an impressive and reassuring partner in appalling conditions. That shoot was one of those occasions when you were glad to have front-wheel drive to pull you out of bother.
No amount of driven wheels would have saved the poor scribbler-to-be who found himself behind the wheel of a vRS, having been tossed the keys by Shed on a magazine convoy in Surrey. He was a work experience kid who'd never driven anything quite that fast. He was handling everything OK until he completely failed to notice a T-junction. Literally went straight on at unabated speed, the bated speed up to that point having been on the medium side of high.
Recent cambelt, new tyres, long MOT - good to go!
Strong performance too. 180hp might not seem a lot nowadays, but it's more than enough to put the wind up most skirts. When the Mk2 was released in 2004, Skoda didn't feel the need to boost vRS output by more than 20hp. A roomy cabin, massive boot and (unseen T-junctions apart) progressive and predictable handling that made it at least a match for the Golf on which it was based was a good start. Add a grunty engine too and you've got a handy candidate for the thinking family man's more than fast enough five door fast hatch until I can get that TVR I've always promised myself type of thing.
The vendor of this one has sensibly had the popular sump mod done, and with a small garage load of major mech and consumable parts renewed in the last 12 months, this vRS looks nicely set up to give plenty more quick service to the next owner. Just four custodians in 13 years indicates a goodly amount of owner satisfaction having already been provided by this fella (as the vendor keeps referring to 'him'). Hailstone marks of course fall firmly into the 'meh' category for the Shedman, who can in the pub claim that they were the result of a daring dash across some sort of no man's land, the Gaza strip or some such.
Miles high but it's been looked after
Unlikely, tbh. Obviously you'll be open to some of the VW Group foibles of the time, which you all know as well as anybody - plastic water pump impellers, catastrophic engine meltdowns when the timing belts snap at 70K, pop-off rear washer pipes - so let's not get into that now. Model specifically, the 1.8 20v had the odd air mass sensor problem, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle with faulty coils on '01-'02 cars. But this is all in the past.
Now, a 13 year-old Octavia vRS is even more of a bargain at less than £1K that it was when it was new at less than £16K. And it was a bargain then. Steam in.
Up for sale is my 52 reg Skoda Octavia VRS 1.8 20VT affectionately known as 'Lightning'. MOT'd till November 2015 but will not come with tax as per new rules.
In the last 12 months he's had...
Timing belt, water pump and service.
New coil packs.
New handbrake cables.
Pads & discs all round.
Calipers repainted.
New Clutch & flywheel.
4 new Goodyear tyres.
Full set of 25mm lowering springs due to one of the original front springs snapping, these were fitted with new top mount bushes and bearings.
The sump has been removed, cleaned out and a new genuine oil pick up pipe fitted as precaution (to prevent 'blocked oil pipe syndrome'!!
He's done 153k miles with some history and most (I think!) of the old MOTS but drives like he's done 53k, everything nice and tight with no knocks or rattles.
I've been using him for work and general commuting and he's not missed a beat, it's trouble free motoring for someone, if you're looking for a cheap family hatch with a bit of poke then look no further.
Only downside (as with any used car) the central locking doesn't work on the drivers rear door and there's hail stone marks on the roof and bonnet, apart from that he cleans up well and the body is straight.
If someone drives him, they'll buy him, I'm confident of that, so he's priced to sell at £1000.
Either text or call me on 07974 657586
Mirrors are supposed to be red - wonder what the story is there? Really can't complain at a grand though.
One downside of them, particularly at this age will be the interior. White carpet and seats will no doubt be showing their ages.
Steve
A old neighbour used to have one of these and it annihilated my 147 2.0TS.
And then he had it re-mapped! The thing was a beast!
Quite a nice place to be on a long drive as well.
If I didn't need (and already have) a diesel, I'd be seriously tempted. Can't believe they're this cheap!
Good points:
Its very anonymous. Nobody races you, you can leave it anywhere. But at the same time it isn't a slow car.
Cheap insurance.
Not bad MPG, I average 40+ on a motorway, mixed commute is 34+
Comfy
Good driving position
For a car of its size, with good tyres, it isn't a bad steer.
Bad Points:
Niggly electrical issues. My Engine Management light has been on for over a year. We have gone through the thing but it just wont go off. Car yet to explode. Similarly I have a pad warning light on. Pads are fine.
Tyres are expensive.
Right, the boot is huge, il grant it that. But you cant put say a very big item in their because there are these little metal bars behind the seats (I think they are strut braces type things) that when you fold the seats down get in the way!
No rear leg room
What the f
k were they thinking with the white cloth bits on the seats?! Really?!Constantly blows side lights. I get through 3-4 a year. weird.
Mine wasn't, in my first year of ownership, that reliable. Had the alternator go, the whole waste gate assembly and bits of the turbo go wrong, various electrical issues. Some wear and tear stuff like steering arms and bits also.
Overall it isn't a bad car at all, but I just don't love it. If someone wrote it off, long as I and they were ok, I just wouldn't be fussed!
Mine has had no mods, no sump thing done or anything. And bar the electrical bits, just continues to plod along. At one point according to the dipstick with no oil in it. Which is pretty remarkable!
Simon
Great car for the money, these can do mega mileages, go to any town and there is a fleet of 400k plus white diesels dragging their carcasses round day after day.
Might get something like this as a daily when I get the new Mustang as will have to sell the other cars to put towards it.
Shed is on top form this year, so far, its early days, plenty of time to drop an Ambassador or something into the mix.
Tyres are expensive.
Right, the boot is huge, il grant it that. But you cant put say a very big item in their because there are these little metal bars behind the seats (I think they are strut braces type things) that when you fold the seats down get in the way!
No rear leg room
What the f
k were they thinking with the white cloth bits on the seats?! Really?!Constantly blows side lights. I get through 3-4 a year. weird.
Mine wasn't, in my first year of ownership, that reliable. Had the alternator go, the whole waste gate assembly and bits of the turbo go wrong, various electrical issues. Some wear and tear stuff like steering arms and bits also.
Metal bars could be removed but I've never had them get in the way. Have had 3 people + gear to Le Mans in mine and me and a mate with two bikes in the boot.
Rear leg room is a bit pants but probably just the same as a Golf/Bora of the same age.
White carpet and seats is a bit of a pain. My seats clean up well with interior spray every 6-12 months and look a lot better than their 123k miles would suggest. Lots of them have grubby interiors and knackered bolsters though.
Never had mine blow a side light - only one headlight in 3.5 years. Odd!
Turbo problems could happen to any turbo car really. Mine is still on the original turbo I believe.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff