[predatorwheelz]

Congratulations! The way you've detailed the ownership report and the pics, your love for the car is obvious. Wish you many happy miles with it.

The Octy vRS wasn't a cheap car to maintain in the long run. Would be hooked to your thread to see how the Laura vRS pans out over the years. Keep updating!

[46TheDoctor]

Welcome to the world of vRS and congratulations for the fantastic choice that you have made. As you spend your time with the vRS, you will start appreciating it even more than 3, C, A4 for it's practically usable performance at relatively affordable costs. vRS are the best performance cars below 40L mark for self driven owners in india.

[madnish30]

That's one very hot ride you got! Loved the pictures - the common touch on VW family cars is very evident on this one too!
Congrats, drive safe.

[Santoshbhat]

Congratulations on the Laura RS. (For some reason Skoda India calls it just RS and not vRS unlike its Euorpean counterparts.) True petrolheads are a rarity these days and cars like the RS are like an oasis in the desert for petrolheads in the country today.

The 1.8 TSI is a real gem and pretty reliable too. But I wish Skoda had gone the full distance and brought the 2.0 TSI for this car with bigger 17" wheels and lowered stance. That would have been something! Of course the car would have lost some of its practicality in the process, but hey nobody is going to buy this car for 'practicality'.

Enjoy the car and drive safe.

PS. Your tyres are begging for wider rims

[vb-saan]

Congratulations Avinash! Thanks for the review, and the beautiful pictures.

Originally Posted by avinash_clt

• The chunky 3 spoke steering wheel with smaller radii. Gives better grip and looks better than the one in ambition.
• The black and brushed aluminium finish feels more premium than the beige (personal choice).

In my opinion, that small meaty steering wheel and all black interiors are good enough reasons to choose the vRS over the Ambition trim. I prefer this steering wheel than the 4-spoke ones available on other Skoda cars. Infact, in this case I will say that the steering mounted audio controls are a nice omission

And yes, for me the brushed aluminum trim on the Amibition (and vRS) looks more pleasing than the glossy wood-lining is Elegance and L&K. Different definitions of luxury

Drive safe!

[avinash_clt]

Originally Posted by Alive2Drive

Congrats on your new ride! I am sure its a fun to drive, revv happy engine. Hope you crunch lot of kms under your belt. !!!!

Happy mile crunching!!

Thanks , I sure hope to take her for many long drives. Once planned a 320km sunday drive, but she was so brilliant that it ended up being 610km

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Congratulations! The way you've detailed the ownership report and the pics, your love for the car is obvious. Wish you many happy miles with it.

The Octy vRS wasn't a cheap car to maintain in the long run. Would be hooked to your thread to see how the Laura vRS pans out over the years. Keep updating!

Yup, truly in love with the car now. Have read numerous Tsi threads in tbhp before, i believe she wouldn't be that troublesome to maintain. Will keep updating.

Originally Posted by 46TheDoctor

Welcome to the world of vRS and congratulations for the fantastic choice that you have made. As you spend your time with the vRS, you will start appreciating it even more than 3, C, A4 for it's practically usable performance at relatively affordable costs. vRS are the best performance cars below 40L mark for self driven owners in india.

Thanks. Yes practicality is a big bonus with the vRS. A Stage1 remap is all it takes to take the fight to bigger german cousins, but still remaining a comfortable family car.

Originally Posted by madnish30

That's one very hot ride you got! Loved the pictures - the common touch on VW family cars is very evident on this one too!
Congrats, drive safe.

Thanks, i didn't want to put up a ownership until I got some nice clicks of the car and hence a little late.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Congratulations on the Laura RS. (For some reason Skoda India calls it just RS and not vRS unlike its Euorpean counterparts.) True petrolheads are a rarity these days and cars like the RS are like an oasis in the desert for petrolheads in the country today.

The 1.8 TSI is a real gem and pretty reliable too. But I wish Skoda had gone the full distance and brought the 2.0 TSI for this car with bigger 17" wheels and lowered stance. That would have been something! Of course the car would have lost some of its practicality in the process, but hey nobody is going to buy this car for 'practicality'.

Enjoy the car and drive safe.

PS. Your tyres are begging for wider rims

Thanks. Yup they mention even in the website as RS. But have vRS badged everywhere on the car. Yup skoda could have gone full distance with the 2.0 litre engine and 17" wheels. But dont think I would've been able to afford it then. This RS is a more practical one i would say. It would give a harsh thud nor would it scrape any speedbreakers and at the same time giving decent thrills. Also the fuel quality issues with 2.0l tsi engine. Better they could have given a remap for the Tsi engine like in the new 2012 A4 producing 170hp and 320Nm.

Indeed i knew when i was upgrading to 225s that the tyres would stick out of the rims like that. Budget couldnt be stretched further for 17" rims, thus had to stick to the stock size. Both yeti and superb have wider rims (7Jx16 instead of 6.5Jx16 in laura). It isn't as bad as seen in the pics and the PS3s have been an excellent choice, silent , grippy and much more feel at the steering than the stock tyres.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Congratulations Avinash! Thanks for the review, and the beautiful pictures.
[/list]In my opinion, that small meaty steering wheel and all black interiors are good enough reasons to choose the vRS over the Ambition trim. I prefer this steering wheel than the 4-spoke ones available on other Skoda cars. Infact, in this case I will say that the steering mounted audio controls are a nice omission

And yes, for me the brushed aluminum trim on the Amibition (and vRS) looks more pleasing than the glossy wood-lining is Elegance and L&K. Different definitions of luxury

Drive safe!

Thanks. Spot on! Black and brushed aluminium feels more luxurious to me too. Good to know that someone else also shares my opinion that the additional kit on vRS is worth the money. Yup the steering would look and do good without steering controls, it's just that changing tracks or doing anything on that full touch unit means one has to take his eyes away from the road. The new Superb ambition also has a three spoke steering i believe, dont know whether it's the same chunky one as in the vRS.

[anandpadhye]

Absolutely.
Wood in a car should please senior citizens, brushed aluminium is just perfect for enthusiasts like us.

And I also agree on the steering - it's not a place for audio controls. I would not like to drive a home theater...


BTW, is the RS steering smaller in size/radius than the regular TSi one? If so, that would be just perfect. I would prefer just a tad smaller steering than what I have on my Feb 2010 TSi.


Congrats Avinash - on a fantastic car.

[avinash_clt]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Absolutely.
Wood in a car should please senior citizens, brushed aluminium is just perfect for enthusiasts like us.

And I also agree on the steering - it's not a place for audio controls. I would not like to drive a home theater...


BTW, is the RS steering smaller in size/radius than the regular TSi one? If so, that would be just perfect. I would prefer just a tad smaller steering than what I have on my Feb 2010 TSi.


Congrats Avinash - on a fantastic car.

Thanks. Yes i believe the steering is tad smaller and lot more chunkier than the regular 4spoke one.

[WhiteKnight]

Congrats on your new acquisition. I really like Black color on Laura.

One suggestion. Please get the chrome outer grill done in black color. You'd be amazed by the change in looks. In my opinion, chrome is a bit out of place for a car of this character. Anyway, your call

[avinash_clt]

Originally Posted by WhiteKnight

Congrats on your new acquisition. I really like Black color on Laura.

One suggestion. Please get the chrome outer grill done in black color. You'd be amazed by the change in looks. In my opinion, chrome is a bit out of place for a car of this character. Anyway, your call

Thanks. I agree that shiny chrome is a little out of place. I've seen them with black grills. Mostly Pete'd ones. Even the alloys are too shiny and they look better with some brake dust. Was thinking about giving the mirrors and grill that brushed aluminium look, like the ORVMs on the Audi S4.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by avinash_clt

Yup skoda could have gone full distance with the 2.0 litre engine and 17" wheels. Better they could have given a remap for the Tsi engine like in the new 2012 A4 producing 170hp and 320Nm.
.

Yeah, expecting the 2.0 TSI for a one off model is wishful thinking . We should be grateful that Skoda has brought the 1.8 TSI to India unlike VW with their 1.4 TSI in the Jetta.

BTW have you tried Speed 97 in your car? I tried it a few times in my TSI . A couple of times the car did feel like it was on steroids but then again after a couple of other tank fills I felt no difference. The thing is that the ECU adapts to the regular 91 octane fuel and takes time to readapt to the high octane fuel for us to feel the incremental benefit. Besides, I don't trust these pumps. With such a huge price gap between regular fuel and the high octane one, they have a lot of incentive to mix regular fuel with it.

[avinash_clt]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

BTW have you tried Speed 97 in your car? I tried it a few times in my TSI . A couple of times the car did feel like it was on steroids but then again after a couple of other tank fills I felt no difference. The thing is that the ECU adapts to the regular 91 octane fuel and takes time to readapt to the high octane fuel for us to feel the incremental benefit. Besides, I don't trust these pumps. With such a huge price gap between regular fuel and the high octane one, they have a lot of incentive to mix regular fuel with it.

No I'vent tried speed97. I wanted to but it isn't available anywhere near to my place. Nearest would be Bangalore I bet. I tried for speed93, but think they don't supply it anymore. True it's hard to trust these pumps when you're paying a heavy premium over the regular fuel. Look for company owned and operated petrol pumps. There's a similiar BP pump nearby my place but they dont stock speed97 and when i asked they were like 97what??

[ashish22]

Hey Avinash thanks for the lovely pictures and the write up and off course many congratulations for the new acquisition. No wonders its one hell of a car and you must be enjoying her to the hilt!
Keep us updated with the Ownership!

[ecenandu]

Nice and crisp review . Wishing you a lot of happy miles with her.

[Akshay1234]

Congrats and great review. About time you put it up. I wish I had got those PS3s when I got my car, but at 11k a tire and with me not using the car so much it didn't make sense. Does the car still wheelspin if you put your foot down in first gear?

True about the steering controls, that and bluetooth is missed.