Skoda Octavia vRS 230 Estate: PH Fleet

Domestic chores and track days - back to business as usual for the PH Octavia vRS!

The more I use the Skoda, the more I've come to rely on it - and enjoy it. There are other cars that'll match or surpass its performance and engagement. But the Octavia's practicality remains an absolute trump card.

Should this mode be doing more? James thinks so

In the past few weeks alone it's swallowed 3m lengths of wood for a garden project and the roof rails readily accommodated a large piece of furniture. It's so useful I've actually got complacent, thinking all cars will swallow as much stuff. Anyone who saw me trying to pack an Octavia's worth of kit into a Golf after our recent PH VW Golf GTI Open day will know how that can trip a man up...

Enough load lugging though - this is PH and I need to talk about more exciting stuff! As previously discussed I can't help thinking the VAQ 'diff' that sets the 230 apart from the regular vRS doesn't seem to have as much impact as I'd hoped. Previous experience in other VW products suggested a much more convincing impression of a conventional locking differential and Skoda confirmed the hardware is the same, meaning it must be down to calibration. Or is it the Octavia's longer wheelbase? To the race track!

Specifically a return visit to Donington, once again courtesy of Bookatrack and once again the Skoda looking a little out of place among race cars and track day specials. But it had company this time in the form of the SEAT Leon ST Cupra that so enthralled Dan on the same day. The wet conditions were certainly ideal for putting my theory to the test and I'll be reporting back on this in more detail soon.

At Donington, AKA the Skoda's second home

To offer a taste though I started in the SEAT and you could tell a difference before even exiting the pits. In the Skoda you have a choice of Eco, Normal and Sport modes for the VAQ but SEAT has its own Cupra mode over and above these. And within just a few corners the influence was obvious, understeer successfully neutralised with the front axle hooking up and pulling the nose to the apex under power.

Which left me frustrated. After all, what's the point of offering variable modes on the Skoda's front axle when even the most aggressive setting doesn't seem to do much? If the hardware is the same surely you could tweak the settings and keep this as a 'track only' mode, accepting you might get the odd tug at the wheel like you would with a mechanical diff. But let's look to the positive. If it is a 'mapping' issue hopefully somebody in the aftermarket will crack the codes and offer more aggressive VAQ settings for those who want them. I reckon it would be more effective than the more obvious temptation of more power.

Back in the real world the Octavia's heavy workload is beginning to show, although the most obvious symptom actually showed after a 10-day lay-up in the car park. So flat was the battery it wouldn't even unlock. No problem, I thought, I'll use the emergency key, open the bonnet and jump it. Only you can't access the bonnet release with the passenger door closed and the battery was so flat it wouldn't unlock. And there's no emergency keyhole on the passenger door of right-hand drive cars. We had a problem even Skoda couldn't solve, so I called the AA.

Thanks for your help Paul!

Cue further head scratching, calls to their internal helpline and no solution. Incredible when you consider how many cars there are on the road based on the same MQB platform and which could have, potentially, the same issue.

Eventually our AA man Paul came up with a plan - by using his ECU reader to power the 12V system we had just enough power to unlock the car, open the passenger door, access the bonnet release and jump it. The cause of the flattened battery is still a mystery and apart from a few sporadic warnings about seemingly unrelated system faults the car has worked as usual since. Probably worth checking out though, especially as I've got a continental road trip planned as a last hurrah before the Octavia returns to Skoda.

FACT SHEET
Car: 2016 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 Estate
Run by: James
On fleet since: April 2016
Mileage: 10,450
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: Diff explorations, DIY and a flat battery

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