Octavia vRS Estate Mk1

[Max M4X WW]

My wife has been running 2k 'daily' cars for a few years and more recently has leased a couple of very cheap (~£120pm) Citroen Cactus' for a few years. Last year we decided to go back to the 2k car game after the second lease car went back.

The brief was sub 2k, estate (house renovation in progress), petrol, probably VAG, likely 1.8T and good history. We were looking at B5 A4's, Passats, C5 A6's and I one day remembered about the Mk1 vRS Estate. One popped up locally with a good story and I literally rang the seller about 10 times and sent a couple of emails without response - finally we got through and learnt that his grandchildren had broken his phone.

We viewed, drove, left a deposit and collected the car a couple of days later.

The main headlines were:

2003, 120k miles, 1.8T 20v, Reasonably FSH, Recent bills totalling £1.5k (including clutch, bushes, tyres, remap, air filter etc)

Since buying I have only washed it, changed the brakes (since these photos), fitted OEM xenon headlights, new plates and changed the badges for the newer style ones. I also fitted solid gear linkage bushings and that is about it. I have a few other minor changes planned but otherwise, it needs an oil change which I plan to do soon.

A few photos, making it look remarkably clean (it isn't, with marks on every panel but looks OK from 10ft!)















Overall, we love the car. It does about 35mpg, made 200bhp at Surrey Rolling Road, makes some good turbo noises (with the open cone filter) and generally looks rather unassuming. The interior is nice enough, not much in the way of soft-touch plastics but it is fairly solid.

Thanks for reading.

[Max M4X WW]

Thanks all for the replies!

Glosphil said:

If it makes 200hp it must be mapped?

Yep, can't remember exactly which map it it is. 'Shark' possibly.. Should make a bit more power I'm told but its fine for now.

deadtom said:

yours looks very lovely, although I must admit silver wouldn't be my first choice of colour

Nor me, but unfortunately it just came up and this was the colour. Red or Yellow would be best. Annoyingly my E39 525i Sport & 325ti are also silver!

was8v said:

How is it doing for rust?

From what I have seen during MOT's and general nosing around - not bad. The tailgate is going a bit under the glass but nothing too crazy (yet).

[Max M4X WW]

was8v said:

Max M4X WW said:

From what I have seen during MOT's and general nosing around - not bad. The tailgate is going a bit under the glass but nothing too crazy (yet).

Great, I have half an eye open for one, but theres lots of rusty ones when checking MOT histories. I think the first outward sign is as you say on the tailgate under the glass. Keep an eye on the sills - might be a good idea if its a keeper to get some cavity wax sprayed in and waxoyl applied.

Really liked them when new, enormous load capacity yet still agile - newer ones are lardier.

The main problem with ours is one (or possibly both) sills are dented from poor jack usage. I nearly walked away but it doesn't really affect the usage of the car and it was mechanically sound so bought it anyway.

[Max M4X WW]

Passeyfier said:

These really are a below the radar gem. Whilst they may not excel at anything in particular, as an all-rounder I'd say they're hard to beat. Sure, buying/leasing a modern estate will offer more in return but where's the fun in that? I've had mine for 4 years now, it's never let me down and even though I've spent quite a lot on it I love it. I wouldn't sell it for the world, certainly so now the handling is heaps better with KW Coilovers, SuperPro bushings all-round and uprated ARBs front and rear.

You've made a great choice!

Good to hear and yours looks great a bit lower and on the Pro Race wheels!

Ours does handle fairly badly - I assume the shocks and bushes need a refresh but nothing feels off, but the handling just isn't there.

[Max M4X WW]

Time for an update, we still have the car, and apart from a cambelt a few months ago, we haven't really done anything to it as it's been largely sat on the drive due to my wife being on maternity leave, C19 and working from home. It's obviously done a few tip runs, though!

We thought it was fairly pointless buying a replacement when we are both sat at home working the majority of the time, so I decided to give the car a minor overhaul of jobs which were fairly overdue, including:

• Koni/H&R Shocks & Springs (-20mm)
• 17" Spider Wheels with Goodyear Asy5's (from 205/55/16 on 6.5J wheels to 225/45/17 (popular upgrade, factory size is 205/50/17 on 7J wheels)
• New top-mounts front and rear
• New bump stops and dust covers front and round
• Fabia vRS Rear Beam Bushes
• Front brake hoses
• Original V grille badge to get rid of the more modern one, which I hated

The handling seems transformed, and I'm going to poly bush the front ARB to see if I can improve things a bit further (it had a new bar and bushes in 2018 just before we got it, but the bushes already look a bit 'gappy').

That's about it, 20k covered in our ownership, and I'm hoping the next few thousand miles will be more enjoyable due to the above. Some photos showing its slightly improved 'stance'.

[Max M4X WW]

ahenners said:

Looks fantastic and clean! I have a real soft spot for the Octavia VRS having owned a MK2 facelift and now a MK3 pre-facelift over the past 7 years. Great workhorse all rounders.

Thanks, it's a 10ft car really but looks ok for the age/mileage.

Our family car is a Superb 280 Hatch which I've bought since we got this, it wasn't intentional to have another Skoda but the rear seat space and big boot are useful for the kid seat and stuff!

[Max M4X WW]

sutts said:

Such a well-proportioned shape, and looks great on the 17” wheels. I never really understood why they fitted 16’s to the Mk 1 estate.

I have fond memories of my two Mark 1 vRS hatches, and Mark 2.5 estate. Had Jabba and Shark remaps on them respectively which gave no problems at all.

Thanks, it's weird as it's a fairly boring looking car with very minor tweaks over the non-vRS but I do like it!

This one also has a Shark map, it only made 200bhp but following this, I put a new MAF on it, which seems to have made a massive difference, so I need to rerun it.

[Max M4X WW]

Thanks all, I've just had the front tracking done, and the combination of this, better tyres, and the new suspension has really helped to put the power down. (The car had been on Champiro GT Radial budgets, which the previous owner kindly provided, but I was reluctant to change them as they were new).

[Max M4X WW]

Zlat502 said:

Any chance we could get a couple of shots of the boot space and perhaps with the seats down?

Only if convenient

How cavernous are these?

Its pretty big, stock image here:



Issues are a lack of flat load space (unless optioned or I thin L&K models had it factory fit) and the seats are the type that you have to remove or flip forward the bases before folding the backrest but this is easily done.