This is the new Skoda Octavia vRS

This is all a bit weird. On the day police were given increased powers to punish dangerous drivers on the road comes news of Skoda's fastest ever Octavia vRS, long a favourite for the boys in blue.

Coincidence, or the universe revealing itself? You decide. All we can tell you is this new Octavia vRS is a pretty tasty bit of kit. As mentioned, it's the fastest one yet, available with either a 217bhp 2.0-litre TSI petrol engine, or a 2.0-litre 180bhp diesel. It's front-wheel-drive, naturally, and if you plump for the petrol engine with the six-speed manual gearbox, you will be able to record - where permitted, officer - a 0-62mph time of 6.8 seconds and top speed of 154mph.

See more pics of the new Skoda Octavia vRS

The diesel will hit the 62mph marker in 8.1 seconds and top out at 144mph, but both vRSs come with a 12mm lower ride height, a multi-link rear axle, an electronic differential integrated into the stability control, and electro-mechanical ‘progressive steering'. We're told this allows the driver to make smaller wheel inputs. Handy for hunting down motorway tailgaters...

It's got a clean, cool look about it too, with a front grille sporting that vRS badge, honeycomb air intakes, a new front bumper and fog lights, red brake calipers, 17in, 18in or 19in light alloy wheels in a new design, and a black diffuser at the back.

The Octavia is the first hot MQB car to be available in estate form, which means plenty of space inside to store things like shopping, spare tyres, hig-vis jackets, motorway cones, tazers and batons, too. The estate gets a 610 litre boot, while the saloon version packs 20 litres less bootspace.

Skoda has also packed in some nannies, too: you get an emergency braking assistant, lane assistant, a driver fatigue sensor, nine airbags, an adaptive cruise assistant, park assistant and a road sign detector. Any more and all you'd have to do is sit down and turn it on.

Prices have yet be confirmed, but the old one cost just over £20k. It'll make its debut at the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed. Like it?

See more pics of the new Skoda Octavia vRS