Wednesday 26th October 2016

Skoda Octavia vRS 230 Estate: PH Fleet

Track days, tip runs, three Le Mans trips and more; farewell Octavia vRS, it's been fun!

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When it arrived back in April with just 56 miles on the clock we knew we'd be keeping KY16 HLC busy, but nobody was expecting it to cover quite so much ground. With Skoda now having collected the car, it's time to look back on the Octavia's adventures over the past six months and 15,000 miles.

Meteor Grey paint a popular option

After the expected new car excitement when it arrived, I was initially a little disappointed with the vRS. This wasn't because the car turned up in with the wrong options on it; we'd been allowed to specify the car exactly how we liked, albeit with a £30K limit to prevent anything too extravagant being added. No, to start with the car was just a bit underwhelming because it was neither fast nor economical. It was scoring top marks for practicality with regular trips to the tip being taken in its stride, but even as we nudged past 1,500 miles things hadn't improved. So we did what any PHer would do; we went on atrack day, which ended up being the first of many!

Following this the car was transformed, and for the remainder of its time with us it continued to impress with its mix of comfort, practicality and performance. It wasn't just us either, with the car drawing a surprising amount of attention both on the forums and at Sunday Services.

Given the attributes mentioned above, the car was always going to be central to our activities at Le Mans and we certainly capitalised on it. After kitting it out with a roof box and Velospace cycle carrier courtesy of Thule and decal kit from Wrap Cube, the car was ready and proved to be an ideal companion. In the end the car made three separate trips to France, which helps explain our impressive mileage tally!

By this point the Skoda had really started to endear itself to me. I guess that I'd just spent such an extreme amount of time behind the wheel that I felt absolutely at home in the car. Here at PH we're lucky enough to get time in a wide and varied range of fast cars, but despite this I never once felt like I'd drawn the short straw with the Octavia.

Interior has stood up well to hard use

Despite all of this praise, it wasn't all plain sailing for the car during its time with us. First of all, from the very first time I drove the car quickly I felt that the VAQ 'diff' wasn't working as effectively as I'd experienced in other cars with the same hardware. We eventually found out from Skoda that the hardware was identical to that found in cars such as the Golf GTI Performance Pack and SEAT Leon Cupra, so we arranged to take them all along to a suitably drenched Donington Park. Ultimately it seems that the calibration is just a bit less aggressive in the Skoda, perhaps reflecting the car's nature or - the cynical view - to maintain the brand pecking order by keeping its wings clipped a tad. Tuning companies such as Revo are working on ECU upgrades for the VAQ system, which is something that should make a massive impact on performance driving without affecting everyday use. After all, what's the point of a switchable electronic system if it's not possible to have the best of both worlds and extreme settings at each end of the scale?

At about the same time the car's battery went flat after it had been left parked up for 10 days. Hilarity ensued when we couldn't unlock the deadlocked passenger door and therefore couldn't open the bonnet to jump start it either. Luckily a nice man called Paul from the AA saved the day, but it did leave us scratching our heads both as to how Skoda had made such an oversight and why the car had gone flat in the first place. After this the car had a a few warnings lights popping up sporadically, so the car went back to Skoda as a precaution. After completing a full inspection no reason for the battery going flat was ever found, and we never had any other issues. Very strange, but the bonus was that Skoda fitted a new pair of front tyres which were looking tired after 11,000 miles and several track days.

Practical, fast and good value? Perfect PH wagon!

This service and health check also did a great job of preparing the Skoda for an epic European road trip that we'd been planning since the car had arrived. The plan was to load the car up with camping equipment and bikes, head to Italy to do some riding and watch the UCI Mountain Bike DH World Championships. Six days and over 2,000 miles later I was in no doubt that the Skoda was perfectly suited to this type of journey, with a great mix of comfort, practicality, economy and - most importantly from a PH perspective - fun when the Autobahns turned into mountain passes.

Clearly it was more than just us convinced by the Skoda's abilities over the past six months, as several of you have told us that you have taken the plunge and bought one for yourself. But after all that time and all those miles, would I change anything? Well, yes. Aside from the calibration of the VAQ system there are some options which I'd choose differently. The first being the heated rear passenger seats which at £200 I specified in error, mistaking them for heated front seats (which are fitted as standard). This was a waste of money as only my dog ever got use out of them, and the money could have been put towards the upgraded Canton sound system. OK, it is £1,000, but after a while the standard speakers got a bit crackly and it started to limit the available music volume. Aside from these minor things, I don't really have any criticisms.

After six months, 15,000 miles and numerous adventures, road trips, commutes and track days, I really enjoyed driving the car and am certainly going to miss it. I even grew to like the controversial 'Extreme' 19-inch alloy wheels. There, I said it.

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FACT SHEET
Car: 2016 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 Estate
Run by: James
On fleet since: April 2016
Mileage: 15,xxx 
List price new: £29,910 (Basic list of £27,800 plus £550 for tow bar, £765 for Adaptive Cruise Control, Crew Protection Assist for £150, Heated seats for £200, Simply Clever package for £85 and Meteor Grey paint for £360)
Last month at a glance: There's an Octavia sized whole in James's life as the vRS departs

Previous reports: 
Yes, really, a grey Skoda estate on the PH Fleet
Practical family estate into track car does go!
Two trips to Le Mans down, another one to go...
Octavia gets down to some hard graft
Diff explorations, DIY and a flat battery
Continental road trip for the vRS

Images: Ben Lowden

 

[W124]

What I really like about them is that you can see the metal of the window frames inside. Old school style. Red bonnet - red doors. This appeals to the middle-class spartan in me on some deep level.