[HarshD]

Forum,
I took a long test drive today. Tried the car for about 25 kms in a mix of traffic, city/highway/ open stretch over broken surfaces/smooth roads and pavered roads, in D/M and S mode. The car performed with flying colors with 4 occupants on board.
Booked mine in steel grey. A gentleman's rev happy steed.
Regards,
Harsh.

[Mtv]

Originally Posted by HarshD

Forum,
I took a long test drive today. Tried the car for about 25 kms in a mix of traffic, city/highway/ open stretch over broken surfaces/smooth roads and pavered roads, in D/M and S mode. The car performed with flying colors with 4 occupants on board.
Booked mine in steel grey. A gentleman's rev happy steed.
Regards,
Harsh.

Congratulations!

Can you tell us about the sound of the exhaust in S mode?. In the international vRS, the exhaust sounds raspy and it makes a popping sound when you shift gears.

[HarshD]

It goes baaaaarp.

[petrolhead_neel]

Originally Posted by HarshD

Forum,
I took a long test drive today. Tried the car for about 25 kms in a mix of traffic, city/highway/ open stretch over broken surfaces/smooth roads and pavered roads, in D/M and S mode. .

Are paddle shifters standard?

Also, congrats! When do you get your hands on her? Do share the OTR price and please, an ownership report after you have driven her a bit.

Regards,
Neel

[HarshD]

Hi Neel,
Paddle shifters are standard.
Her otr is just below 30 lakhs for an individual in Mumbai.
The delivery is on Dasara.
Regards,
Harsh.

[R2D2]

Notwithstanding Skoda's nightmarish dealerships and after sales, I really, really like this car! And it resulted in a twinkle in my eyes. An expression that got the wifey asking me 'What are you up to now?!' LOL! Enough said!

One of the Big 3 or an Octavia vRS? Only time will tell. I shall wait.

Congratulations to those who booked this car. Have fun and drive safe.

[lancer_rit]

Great move by Skoda to give the vRS 230 with the 2.0TSI engine, and good pricing as well DCC option would have been really great though.

vRS GC is reduced to 141mm (unladen) and 103mm (laden).
Scraping maybe a major concern due to lowered GC ? Not only is the car 15mm lower than regular Octavia (and 16mm than the 3 series), the front (903mm) and rear overhangs (1106mm) are more than 1.8 TSI. 3 series front overhang is 779mm, and rear is 1044mm in comparison!

Please see the following diagram (from official brochure data)

Originally Posted by HarshD

Forum,
I took a long test drive today. Tried the car for about 25 kms in a mix of traffic, city/highway/ open stretch over broken surfaces/smooth roads and pavered roads, in D/M and S mode. The car performed with flying colors with 4 occupants on board.

Harsh.

Many Congrats. Did you also negotiate some speedbreakers in your test drive ? Is the suspension much stiffer than the regular 1.8TSI ?

[HarshD]

Hi,
The speed breakers were a particular concern. So we took on the largest speed breakers with 4 occupants in the test drive. No scraping. She is not a Civic.
The suspension is nice and taut but no bone jarring rides.
Tested the rough road package by going through the rough stuff which is available in plenty in the monsoons.
I am very clear, I have bought the car for a sporty drive and too much gc is going to spoil that. I drive alone to office everyday so I am not confronted by a GC of 103 mm which is achieved after loading the car by 500 kg.
I have a Scorpio to haul 7 people along with their luggage and that too with adequate GC.
The 2.0 TSI is a gem of an engine and the vrs has the chassis to match. It is a real pleasure to drive the car.
The car comes with a manufacturer warranty of 4 years/ 1 lakh km and 4 years maintenance package of 40k.
I have friends and colleagues who have the BMW's and they are wondering what is the point of putting 1.5 times the money in a BMW for the same performance and astronomically high maintenance costs except for the vanity of the badge ?
Best Regards,
Harsh.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by lancer_rit

vRS GC is reduced to 141mm (unladen) and 103mm (laden).
Scraping maybe a major concern due to lowered GC ? Not only is the car 15mm lower than regular Octavia (and 16mm than the 3 series), the front (903mm) and rear overhangs (1106mm) are more than 1.8 TSI. 3 series front overhang is 779mm, and rear is 1044mm in comparison!

Increased overhangs shouldn't be a problem unless you are looking at great approach and departure angles!

If you are concerned about GC, then what you should be worried about is the wheelbase. If the wheelbase is more, then you are more likely to scrape. Generally FWD cars typically have more front overhang than RWD cars. The F30 3 series wheelbase is 2810mm as against 2679mm for the VRS. The 3 is more likely to scrape than the VRS for sure. Global sedans generally struggle on our roads. That is a sad reality.

[Nikhilb2008]

Guys,

I got delivery of my Race Blue Octavia VRS yesterday at Tafe.

A full ownership review will be up soon.

I've covered 340 kms in less than 24 hours and I can safely say that this is maximum any VRS (outside of Skoda) would have been driven.

The suspension is quite compliant but definitely on the firm side. There are far more thuds and bumps making their way into the passenger cabin.

The steering seems quite nice and weighs up nicely at speed.

The DSG is quite fast and can go down 2-3 gears at a time if the situation requires it.

The engine. Oh man! What an engine! It has power and torque everywhere for you. On Demand. And when it revs, it flies! The car picks up speed so fast, it's unreal.



Disappointments:

The ride can get tiresome. It is pretty harsh. My Civic had such a supple and smooth ride while being easy to handle at very high speeds. Of course, I assume that the vRS is far more capable, but I doubt I will ever use everything the car has to offer.

The engine feels flat. It is not. It is insanely fast, but it's not what I call fun unless you're observing the speedo.

I might be a bit too used to the "Built not Bought" type of fun where you can hear the turbo whining, the air whooshing and then the sudden onslaught of power! The vRS is just insanely fast but without too much drama.

The interior is very nice and reeks of quality, but man! It's boring compared to the Civic's! It has a lot of toys and the onboard computer is very useful, but the Civic makes you feel special!

The dealer, TAFE, filled the tyres with Slime or an equivalent product. It's an anti-puncture fluid but they should have asked me before messing around with the car. Thankfully the guy handing the car over to me yesterday told me about it and this morning, I wasted an hour removing all 4 tyres, cleaning it with water, drying it and reinstalling it. And then of course, had to get it Road Force Balanced and everything.





A total waste of my time.


Other random images below for your viewing pleasure.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Here are few pics of a blue VRS for you I got on whatsapp..the owner sure is a lucky fella

That lucky fellow should be Nikhil

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

Guys,
I got delivery of my Race Blue Octavia VRS yesterday at Tafe.

Congrats on getting the first vRS on Team BHP How long the car would be stock?

[Arjun Reddy]

Congratulations Nikhil. It just really looks mean and awesome in Race Blue. Noticed the mileage at 11.2 kmpl, that's extremely good for this power.

Looking forward to your ownership review. Wishing you miles of smiles.

They really did a pathetic job of putting that slime into your tyres. Frustrati.

[Nikhilb2008]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Congrats on getting the first vRS on Team BHP How long the car would be stock?

Or at least till warranty expires. Whichever comes first!

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Increased overhangs shouldn't be a problem unless you are looking at great approach and departure angles!

If you are concerned about GC, then what you should be worried about is the wheelbase. If the wheelbase is more, then you are more likely to scrape. Generally FWD cars typically have more front overhang than RWD cars. The F30 3 series wheelbase is 2810mm as against 2679mm for the VRS. The 3 is more likely to scrape than the VRS for sure. Global sedans generally struggle on our roads. That is a sad reality.

Yes the bottoming out between the front and rear wheels will definitely be more of an issue in the 3 series, but the scraping of bumper while negotiating BLR potholes (and the odd mountain speedbreaker) will be more problematic in the vRS. Just yesterday I scrapped the underside of the front bumper in my Lancer at crawling speed when turning through a water filled pothole on ORR (GC of 187mm, though softer suspension ...), so probably my ask is influenced by that!

@Harsh, thanks for the inputs. Ideal fit to you use scenario

@Nikhilb, congrats - Race Blue looks super. Did you use RON91 or RON97 for your trip ? And when is the tyre swap ?

[Arjun Reddy]

A half baked report from autocar. Why do they even waste their time ?

http://www.autocarindia.com/car-revi...t-drive-405844