Skoda Octavia vRS review

The phrase ‘best car in the world’ is thrown about with whim, but it often describes something do-it-all rather than the latest Koenigsani HyperThrust. It’s usually applied to a Range Rover, or a Mercedes S-Class – speed, luxury, tech and enough seating for most families.

Truth is, the Range Rover or S-Class most of us can afford has solar-orbit mileage and a dozen mysterious switches that don’t tangibly operate anything. So what’s the best car in the real world, with all sorts of boring common sense and Normal People pragmatism thrown into the equation?

This Skoda Octavia vRS, which recently received a mid-cycle refresh, is in with a good shout. Now in its fourth generation (the Mk1 arrived back in 2001) – don’t we feel old – the vRS remains, as ever, a Golf GTI with a longer body, more boot space and the option of an estate.

Any notable design changes with the facelift?

There’s a restyled front bumper, grille surround and headlight signatures, with smaller triangular fog lamp clusters now sitting at each corner. Captivating stuff, huh? It’s a similar story out back, with a sharper new diffuser and taillights, and would you check out those shiny shoes? They’re 19in anthracite alloys.

There’s a sportier exhaust too which ditches the annoying synthetic note for way more natural sound. This was one of our biggest peeves with the pre-facelift car, so it’s a welcome change.

What power are we talking?

That refresh has upped the 2.0-litre four-pot from the stock Mk8 GTI to 262bhp (19 more than before) while maintaining 273lb ft of torque and a top speed of 155mph. The power bump has cut the 0-62mph time down a few tenths too: 6.4 seconds for the hatchaloon and 6.5s for the estate.

You get a seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox with front-wheel drive as standard: the six-speed manual has been ditched. Don’t stress, it’s a responsive, neat transmission that does the sporty stuff just as well as the casual.

You do however get voice control, with the onboard assistant able to handle tasks such as adjusting the aircon/heating, though some might find this a pain too. Still, both hatch and estate are longer and wider than ever before, with plenty of passenger space and a gargantuan boot space. More over on the Interior tab.

How much does it cost?

Prices start at £38,670 for the hatch and a smidge shy of £40k for the estate – well over twice what you paid for the original 178bhp Octavia vRS, which “broke a price barrier for the brand” when it launched at £15,535 back in 2001. You can barely buy a base-spec Fabia for that nowadays. That Mk1 Octavia vRS went rallying, too, with a WRC version that won bugger all but looked flame-spittingly phenomenal doing so.

It won't thrill you like a Type R, make you giggle like an i30N, or have you signing up to any and every local track evening like a Megane RS. It's not that kind of hot hatchback, and nor has it ever tried to be. Instead it'll swallow more bags, bikes and kids seats than seems plausible while riding almost as comfily as a regular Octavia.

There's a decent – if not jaw dropping – turn of pace and some sweet handling thrown in for good measure, ensuring the freshly restyled vRS badges truly belong on the grille and bootlid. If you can resist the allure of the SUV world, this is as complete as real world cars get.