Shed of the Week: Skoda Octavia vRS
High performance, low cost and maximum subtlety - what more does the family Shedman need?
While we're in Connery mode, it seems only right to remind ourselves of how far Shkoda has come in a short time. Not so very long ago, 'jokes' like "what's the difference between a Skoda and a Jehovah's Witness?" "You can shut the door on a Jehovah's Witness" and "what do you call a Skoda with twin exhausts?" "A wheelbarrow" were splitting sides all over the UK. Sort of.
Dodgy screenwash pipes here will ruin your shopping
Not many folk realise that VW was fighting against Renault for the right to link up with Skoda back in 1991. Renault lost out because they saw Skoda as a kind of bread-basket operation for their cheap and small motors, whereas VW promised to include the Czech operation in its higher-value manufacturing plans.
And so it transpired. The VW tie-up kicked off a new era of 'proper' Skodas, the Octavia of 1996 being one of them. 2001's vRS was the first performance Skoda to announce itself as such.
It was a front-driver, but that didn't stop journos (or traffic police) raving about it. £15,100 was a pure bargain for a torquey, 7.6 seconds to 60, 147mph hatchback with the capacity to take five people and their luggage somewhere far away in speed and comfort. The only minor negative was the absence of a sixth gear.
Pretty fresh inside for 130K
Well, a decade after all the plaudits, we know a little more about the 20-valve 1.8 turbo engine. Air mass sensors and turbo dump valves can fail, and design flaws like the famously fragile plastic water pump impellers on early engines (like this one) cause catastrophic damage when they crumble because the timing belt gets thrown off at the same time. Changing the belts and pumps (every 60K miles if you know what's good for you) isn't an especially quick job.
This particular car is from the 2001-02 era when one or more of the four ignition coils on this car could be expected to go south. That wasn't a Skoda exclusive. There was a huge coils hoo-hah between the wider VW group and its crestfallen supplier, and an even bigger one among the poor sods who, for a time, were tearing their hair out in a fruitless search for working replacements.
And there's an MOT until December too
Shed isn't sure about this vRS but many of the Octavias he has driven have had a peculiar quirk in the speedometer design wherein the gaps between the speed increments reduced in size the faster you went. Only Skoda does this. Why? Who knows.
Outside this car is a bright as a button with factory-fresh shutlines and mint alloys. The cabin looks just as sweet. Two owners, one nice long MOT and there's even a towbar to drag your Rapid to the local banger race, though possibly not back again.
Given the risks, £850 seems a fair price. You might be lucky. And if you are, you will be very lucky. Good cars, these.
Red, 2 owners, Next MOT due 14/12/2016, Climate Control, Alloy Wheels (17in), Computer, Electric Windows (Front/Rear), In Car Entertainment (Radio/Cassette/CD Autochanger), Upholstery Cloth/Leather, Airbags, Alarm, Alloy wheels, CD Player. 5 seats, This car was taken in part exchange by us at Trade Price Cars. Not Mechanically checked or Inspected however we will always give you an accurate description of the car before you travel. CALL 07977223024 FOR ANY QUESTIONS, RAC Dealer, Competitive Prices 24/7, UK Delivery, 12 Months MOT & Breakdown, Warranty, Part Exchange, £850
1.8 vRS 5dr
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And then it started to go wrong, even skoda told us trying to fault find was a hopeless task. I consider myself to be fairly competent a fixing most things, but countless hours of fiddling and swapping out sensors, hoses etc yielded nothing. I cheered when it was written off in a minor accident.
I'll never have another car from VAG.
Still got the fozzy though...
Never had a single problem with mine, wish I'd kept it and I'm now considering a MK2 VRs to replace my FN2 Type R that I just can't get on with.
I'm from the time when they were crap cars for very poor people. It was better to have a bus pass than tell people you drove a Skoda. These days they make very sensible cars for thrifty types, but the brand and badge is still forever tainted in my mind.
That, and they've never designed a car i've even vaguely liked the styling of. But I suppose that is not the point.
And then it started to go wrong, even skoda told us trying to fault find was a hopeless task. I consider myself to be fairly competent a fixing most things, but countless hours of fiddling and swapping out sensors, hoses etc yielded nothing. I cheered when it was written off in a minor accident.
I'll never have another car from VAG.
Still got the fozzy though...
Whilst components were shared between the VW and Audi, you could see much of the Skoda pieces looked similar but were different (almost 'Eastern' copies). Had a run of switchgear & trim type issues, suspension/spring issues on both Fabias plus many other silly little things.
The most surprising thing about them was the quality of paintwork behind the, often removed, interior trim.
Saying that, I did look at an Octy VRS as a shed between cars for a while but found it a little underwhelming, would prefer it's Leon cousin.
Don't Saab do the closer gaps on the top end of the speedo too?
eta - laughing at the above thrifty owner image - do you know my ex, display constantly on mpg?
They don't drive particularly well and feel quite flimsy for such a solid looking family saloon.
Cheap car at £850 though but I wouldn't trust it to be reliable at all.
I'm from the time when they were crap cars for very poor people. It was better to have a bus pass than tell people you drove a Skoda. These days they make very sensible cars for thrifty types, but the brand and badge is still forever tainted in my mind.
This SOTW doesn't particularly excite me but it looks to be a really decent car for the money. With a bit of haggle you could buy the car and tax it for a year all for under £1000.
I had a Toledo which I think is based on the same platform? Few niggles but a pretty decent car for the money.
This SOTW doesn't particularly excite me but it looks to be a really decent car for the money. With a bit of haggle you could buy the car and tax it for a year all for under £1000.
How old are you? Maybe that's it. When I was growing up, this was your typical joke of a skoda
I still see that when I see a Fabia.
They look like a good proposition and every now and then I think hmmm that looks nice, but then I remember that like most cars, the day to day reality is far away from the exterior glitz.
I'm from the time when they were crap cars for very poor people. It was better to have a bus pass than tell people you drove a Skoda.
Skoda is cheap HP at its finest.
This SOTW doesn't particularly excite me but it looks to be a really decent car for the money. With a bit of haggle you could buy the car and tax it for a year all for under £1000.
How old are you? Maybe that's it. When I was growing up, this was your typical joke of a skoda
I still see that when I see a Fabia.
I'm sure a DS3 or VXR is a far better car than any Skoda
I remember (when I was growing up) Citroen where French tat and Vauxhall made cheap built to a price cars....how times have changed!
Great shed by the way, 220Bhp easily achievable for little money and a few mods to make usre the 1.8T keeps running well, over 130k wouldn't bother me
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