2017 Skoda Octavia vRS: 23,000 kms completed

[Nikhilb2008]

Originally Posted by Col Mehta

....

Thanks Col Mehta!

Originally Posted by lovetorque

Congrats Nikhil

Thank you!

Originally Posted by karan561

Congratulations Nikhil

Thanks Karan!

Originally Posted by GTO

Man, that was quick! From the purchase to the delivery to the ownership thread - I think you've set a new record. Heartiest congratulations on a sexy, sexy car . Love the colour of your vRS (although my favourite is the red).

It's a well-priced ride for the performance on tap, not to mention the extra stuff you get. We're planning to call for it sometime in September for a Team-BHP review. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to high-revving it.

Wish you years of driving & modifying pleasure .

Hahahaha! I dont know about the record and all, but I've been waiting to update this asap!

Originally Posted by venom_op

Congratulations again, man! Wish you many happy miles and mods to come!

Thanks venom_op!

Originally Posted by rageshgr

Wow! Nikhil! Many congrats on the most enviable purchase this side of a BMW 328i! Was waiting for your review

After having modded the Civic, you are in a good position to judge this car! More than just poetic praises, it was good to read your review cover how to actually live with such a car.

Modern automobile engineering has advanced so much as the cars get faster, they also become twice as better in masking speeds and in providing the passengers a silent and comfy ride. That leaves us enthusiasts like us feeling a void as we can't feel the drama! Of course I will know you will take care of it by remapping, exhaust, in-take and what not?

Btw, regarding the DSG, I have read that the limit of DQ250 is 400 Nm, so I guess you have some room for mods

Also, reg 7-Speed, the DQ200 has a limit of 250 Nm, so ya, there is no way they would have used it in the vRS.

Thanks Ragesh. The torque limit is something that's been discussed endlessly. I am not too concerned though since I dont plan on any mods anytime soon.

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

Congrats Nikhil, thats one hell of a replacement for your mad civic. I really like the design of current gen octavia, specially the quad headlamp setup on the front.

You will be first person to buy a european car to replace an unreliable japanese car, that too a skoda

Teins on your civic were very comfortable indeed. Hope to get a ride in the vRS soon

Thanks Rahul! Yes, I bought a Skoda to replace a somewhat unreliable Japanese! But then, keep in mind the Japanese was perfectly reliable till I started modding it! . The Teins are totally in a different class compared to the stock vRS suspension. It had the best of both worlds, especially since the suspension rebuild last month.

Originally Posted by stanjohn123

Congrats Nikhil. Sorry that even I forgot to wish. Guess we are all dazed by your VRs.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by rahulb22

Congratulations Nikhil!! The car just looks absolutely stunning!!!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by d_payne

Congratulations Nikhil! I saw this on Facebook and missed commenting there. I also hope to have some news super soon on team-bhp, it's time to get back to motoring!

Thanks Joe! Hope to see your post soon as well!

Originally Posted by Storm2.0

Congratulations sir. How is the exhaust note of the car on the outside, does it growl or is it heavily muted.
Do you plan to get the exhaust system upgraded?

The exhaust system is silent but a bit more bassy than I remember the 1.8 TSI. It also has the DSG fart when I upshift at higher revs while going full throttle. Overall, I would say it's very muted.

Originally Posted by rk_sans

Congratulations Nikhil. Blue looks stunning. Looking forward to see it in flesh. Happy munching miles !!

Thanks Santosh!

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Congrats Nikhil! That's one great buy! Enjoy your ride and be sure to chart your drive course wisely; with a laden ground clearance of 'just' 103mm you can't even go over an elevated man hole cover; guess those stiff springs will see you through. Keep us posted. Enjoy your honeymoon with Race Blue vRS!

Thanks buddy. But as I said, I think the car will manage just fine. Dont go with the 103 mm as gospel. If you compare a lot of modern sports/luxury sedans with the vRS, I think they will all be the same. Do remember that the ARAI regulations have changed recently and all cars have had their ground clearance numbers reduced.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Congrats Nikhil! That's one great buy! Enjoy your ride and be sure to chart your drive course wisely; with a laden ground clearance of 'just' 103mm you can't even go over an elevated man hole cover; guess those stiff springs will see you through. Keep us posted. Enjoy your honeymoon with Race Blue vRS!

Glad you managed to sort out the ride quality. Ironic that YOU did not verify the tyre pressures at the very outset (just joking!)

In terms of ground clearance, the correct comparison (using the original unladen weights) is 155 mm for the Octavia and 141 mm for the RS. If the RS compresses down to 103 mm (under full load as per new ARAI norms) with its stiffer springs + 17" tyres, the 'normal' models will not be very far behind given the springs are softer + 16" tyres.

Happy motoring!

[Shekhar2509]

Congratulations on the acquisition of this gorgeous car Nikhil! I have seen it in flesh, and was completely floored by the looks! It is, no doubt, an eye candy, especially in the race blue.
The vRS, no doubt, is ought to be a great performer!
And it was a pleasure reading your crisp, detailed, and to the point report accompanied by those pics to drool at! I scrolled through the entire report just to look at the pics over and over again when I visited the thread the first time!
Wish you many happy and safe miles!
Cheers!

[RajaTaurus]

Congratulations on your VRS. Your feelings on conclusion are pretty much the same that I had when I moved to Jetta TSI from Cedia. Steering exactly felt the same. But the instant pick up of 2.0 L Cedia was more fun compared to the turbolag of Jetta. I still miss my Cedia by light years.
Had Jetta been discontinued last year itself, my next choice would have been this beast.
Wishing you thousands of safe miles.

[Suraj25]

Congratulations again, Nikhil!

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

The only disappointment I have is that the car doesnt feel fast. This is probably just a stupid feeling that I have now as I've always enjoyed the Civic's feel. My guess is that as I drive more in the vRS, I will start to appreciate the mega mile munching capabilities, the refinement, the suspension and the brakes. And at that point, I may not care too much about the fact that the car isolates you from the speed and the experience.

Totally agree with this. Though I haven't driven the VRS, this is exactly how I felt when I took a long TD of the 1.8 TSI. It was fast, but didn't feel fast! There was no drama that I usually experience with the Abarth. The TSI just shot forward when I floored the pedal. In the Abarth I have to fight with the steering to make sure that the car is going straight, especially in 1st and 2nd. Though a pain in traffic, it is pure joy on those late night drives..
That said, the 2.0 TSI must be a different beast altogether and will put any car even double its price to shame(barring the 330i). Can't wait to see her in action during the next Bangalore meet!

[AMG Power]

Congrats and wish you a great ownership experience!

30psi would be severely compromising the load curve / safety levels during high speed / long distance driving. Use 34 on long drives and 32 for city at the minimum for 2 people travelling.

[mjumrani]

Congrats Nikhil. Let's plan a drive sometime next week, will get my blue car.

[Fullrevs]

Congratulations nikhil! That was extremely quick. Looks like you had your mind made up and was just waiting for the launch and delivery.

Which showroom did you buy it from? Anything updates (cosmetic or mechanical) planned?

[jacs]

Nikhil - A pride to own she is and that too with another turbo petrol sharing the garage makes it envious. And she is stunner in blue. Wishing you a fun-filled but peaceful ownership of the vRS.

Your practical comparisons with the Civic is certainly interesting and gives a different perspective than normal German car ownership threads. How does it fare in terms of the ground clearance practically on Bangalore roads compared to civic?

Those seats are more than awesome. I am concerned you find the side support bit difficult for your size and more than happy to offer stock seats if you would ever trade them off .

TSIs return very good FE average if driven on light foot. My 1.8TSI MT returns as less as 8KMPL and as high as 11KMPL on same roads under same traffic conditions but different driving styles. I was surprised to see 14.x KMPL figures for such a beast with quite wide rubbers and free-flow exhaust when driven on 6th gear.

Still can't digest the new facia as the previous gen was too elegant to let it go. But may be its matter of few months while more cars hit the roads and we may change the opinion.

Also the stock alloys looks very Korean as you already mentioned. An all black/dark gray alloys will significantly compliment beauty of the blue vRS. Not sure why Skoda is not looking back at the Spider alloys on first gen Octavia vRS while designing new ones.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

Conclusion

The only disappointment I have is that the car doesnt feel fast. This is probably just a stupid feeling that I have now as I've always enjoyed the Civic's feel. My guess is that as I drive more in the vRS, I will start to appreciate the mega mile munching capabilities, the refinement, the suspension and the brakes. And at that point, I may not care too much about the fact that the car isolates you from the speed and the experience.

Congrats Nikhil! I guess it's one of those purchases with no head vs heart battle!

Trust me, speed masking is the best feature ever! You'll get to your destination without any fatigue- especially useful for business trips! Also long distance cruising becomes a far more comfortable thing- won't be surprised if you do 600-700 kms in one sitting!

The best part? Nobody would bother looking into the speedo when the needles are on the wrong side of the dial.

The downside? Velocitization!

[TheTeacher]

Congrats, Nikhil, happy for you!

Can't wait to see your car when I drop by next!

[Jaggu]

Sweet car and a sexy color that is. I really like the shade on the car. I can uderstand your comparison of the civi with the Vrs, but trust me the car will grow on you. Once you start doing longer drives, the way in which these european designs cocoon you in comfort while giving the thrill is something the japs are yet to learn.

So what is the first modification?

Once again Congratulations and happy mile munching..

[iliketurtles]

Amazing car in an amazing colour. If anything in the Rs. 30 lakh ball park is drool worthy, it is this, so congrats on it.

On a side note, surely you won't be able to resist modifying it at some point!

[ku69rd]

Acknowledge that am being late to reading your crisp ownership review, very neutral and to the point. Wishing you miles of happiness with your new ride.

The blue color is very addictive to say the least and am sure you will maintain it best.

So now Chennai is just 2 1/2 hours away in your car?

[bb8778]

Congratulations Nikhilji on your sexy blue RS!

Thanks a lot for coming up with the crisp review in record time like GTO said. Wishing you a lot many miles behind that wheel.

Aside, during delivery did you by any chance see the Steel Grey colour of the RS in the showroom? If yes, how do you find the colour?

Have only seen the SG in pics and not in the flesh and I'm not really convinced on the colour yet. Had to book mine in SG colour as no other option was available. Hoping to get it changed to white as I'd given white as second option.