MK3 Octavia VRS owners

[JackReacher]

I'm considering a new or nearly new petrol estate, to do a 70 mile a day mostly motorway commute and for DIY duties and kids are on the horizon.

It seems like a sensible choice with a bit of performance, just keen to know how owners on here rate them, and things to be aware of etc. Ive driven a 2016 vrs230 with the more fancy diff and it was a good drive, but the ride on 19's was on the firm side, so think I'll stick to the standard vrs model. Aware that the facelift has 230bhp but not the fancy diff.

Its likely to be a car to keep for a while, does anyone regret the purchase? Is 35-40mpg realistic on a motorway cruise?

Opinions on DSG verses manual? I'm a bit indifferent on that at the moment. Race blue seems to be the colour to have.

[JackReacher]

Thanks, interesting about getting the power down and this axle tramp, but presumably this will affect most FWD powerful cars. The reviews of the mk 7 gti don't seem to mention this, is that suspension setup very different?

I'd expect traction issues in the damp, but it sounds like a bit of a problem. Maybe I should try one in the wet. I didn't really notice a problem in my old mk5gti with similar power.

The superb is nice, but it's just a bit big for what I want. The ubiquitous golf r estate presumably has none of these traction issues but it's too much money.

[JackReacher]

Thanks, maybe it's just an inherent issue with powerfull FWD rather than anything specific to the Octavia. Although, having said that, I tried a m240i yesterday and that also struggled for traction. I think I need the practicality of the VRS estate though.