Brought home a used Octavia RS done 1L km: My ownership experience

The car is an absolute head turner. I the people on the road haven't noticed, the loud enough DSG farts and wheelspins will grab their attention.

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This review has been in my draft for a while now, and after three plus months of owning a used VRS, here goes.

Using the i20 Active SX(O) for 7 years, I constantly found myself trying out other powerful cars to feel the adrenaline rush. There was a phase wherein I took cars for rent just to drive. Although I live just 10kms away from work, I would drive 40-50kms per day and on the days when I feel down, it'll be 100+ kms. I go crazy for cars and this craze is what unites us at Team-BHP right?

Since the Hyundai has been with us for such a long time we couldn't let it go. It had been my partner for a lot of trips, solo and group, and I have almost clocked 90k kms in it.

I began to passively search for new cars within 20L to add to the garage with the i20 Active. I had a slight inclination towards the sedan segment as they're really stable in highways and the body rolls are well contained. So naturally, the search resulted in Volkswagen Virtus GT. I ruled out Slavia since I'm not at all a fan of their two-spoke steering wheel. I will be driving a lot and I surely don't want to look at that steering wheel for thousands of kilometers. Same goes for the Hyundai Verna too. I began to research about the Virtus, read and watched a lot of reviews and, even listed out a couple of mods that I'd do to the car which would not break the warranty. In terms of features, it did not seem like a big step-up from the i20 Active apart from the ventilated seats and wireless android auto.

This is when one of my friends bought a BMW 320d (F30) from the used car market which had only 36k kms in the odo. The condition was superior, considering that it's a 12 year old car and no accident history. It was a Delhi registered car, so he had to re-register it to Kerala. After a couple of mods and a Stage-2 tuning, the total amount for the car was 22 Lakhs, which seemed like a pretty good deal. The car churns out 250 horses with a manly roar.

I was always skeptical about owning a used car, until I drove this F30. The way that you're pushed into the seats when you floor the gas pedal was really a first time experience for me. Apart from some uneven panel gaps, the car looked amazing especially with it's colour changed to Nardo Gray. This is when I realized I needed to expand my search to used cars since I didn't want to miss out gems like this F30.

There began my search for used cars around the price range of the Virtus. After a couple of research, I realized that looking for a used car opened up my opportunities to drive cars that I used to oggle on during my teenage days. This is when I realized I can add the VRS to my list too. After going through a lot of reviews I realized that the VRS was way out of my reach for a couple of reasons - one, it was hard to find one in Kerala and two, due to its limited stock while it was in the market normal depreciation doesn't apply to the VRS and hence, higher price range.I still searched for the VRS on used car markets almost all the days.

Fast-forward few months, I woke up from bed and searched for the car again on Olx, and to my surprise there was an ad posted one hour ago. Yes, it was nearby too! I quickly messaged him asking for some more pics of the car and asked if I could drop by to check it out. He agreed and I went to have a look with a friend and, my brother.

VRS enters the chat:

The car had already clocked 1,06,000 kms when I went to checkout the car. The car looked absolutely stunning. To be really honest, I've never seen a VRS up this close. It was always from a few feet away on roads. I took a quick stroll round the car to quickly inspect for imperfections in the body. Apart from some minor dents, which is quiet normal for a car that has this much miles on the odo, the car looked completely fine. And the car was completely STOCK! VRS owners rarely keep their car stock, considering that a simple Stage 1 tune can make the car produce atleast 40 more horses.

Without a delay, I asked for a test drive. The initial pull of the car seemed to be completely sedated, no quicker accelerations, no thrust-backs into the seat, no aggressions etc. The engine also felt silent. I approached a corner and decided to floor the pedal a little bit more. The car exited out of the corner quickly with a loud roar and the DSG farts kicked in. That's when I realized this car had more than what meets the eye, and sure enough I was in love it with it. The test drive concluded with a wide grin on my face, which was pretty evident. It felt like a very well maintained car and I didn't feel like low balling the previous Owner - Jiji. I had assured him that I'd quickly be back with a solid response. I was a bit worried about the financials, but I was pretty sure that if I let this go now, I will be regretting this for a long time, especially since this is pretty hard to get your hands on.

Within a week, I had my finances sorted (with a cancellation of few holidays and a whooping EMI) and quickly phoned Jiji telling him the news. I didn't have the patience to get delivery of the car to drive it again, so I dropped by at Jiji's to take a drive again and it made me want the car even more.

Finally, the day arrived - 17 March, 2024 - the day I take the VRS home. I took my parents and my brother with me and had a couple of friends join me for this big ocassion. My parents were fascinated on how good the car looks despite it being 6 Years old. Jiji had done a great work in taking care of the car while the time he had owned it. He also ensured to get the car super cleaned before handing over the keys. I was thrilled with joy when I got the keys.

I hopped into the vehicle and drove it out of the garage. I felt a huge change since I last drove it - I owned it. My first car! We had a fleet of cars to take the VRS home. It was hard to contain my excitement and was pretty evident on my face.

Enjoy some shots of the vehicle:

After three (and a half) months:

I had dailyed it for the month of April and saw an steep increase in the petrol bill, mostly because the car drinks XP95 a lot. My daily commute is around 30-40kms, and I rarely go easy on the throttle. I have fun with the paddle shift ocassionally and shift to sports mode once in a while since it is not suited for city traffics. The shifts are smooth and you can barely feel it.

The car is an absolute head turner. I the people on the road haven't noticed, the loud enough DSG farts and wheelspins will grab their attention. This really is a sleeper car and can smoke most of the cars on the road. I've noticed some people on the road notice it and try to race me which I don't encourage much. Please, let me just be at peace.

After a couple of months here are a few pros and cons of the car that I jotted down for this review.

Pros:

• Power: This is obviously the first great thing about the VRS.
• Looks: The headlights look a lot meaner when it's in the rear view mirror. The car is a bit longer than the Indian version of Octavia.
• The VRS is really comfortable on long drives even in higher speeds. I managed to do a Trivandrum - Kochi - Trivandrum travel on the same day with zero signs of exhaustion.
• The 360 degree parking sensors are a boon. I feel this is enough over the 360 degree camera.
• The car can park itself! But I don't trust it since it has almost tried to wreck the rear bumper. Thank god, the Automatic parking breaks kicked in and saved me from a hefty bill.
• When taking manual control over the gears, the car let's me rev all the way upto the redline and does not automatically upshift.

Cons:

• The car drinks XP95 a lot. It averages around 6-7kmpl in city and 10-11kmpl in highways.
• A simple service will easily cost you 12k.
• The lower ground clearance means you will have to be (extra) careful over speed bumps, and pretty much over any gutters.
• The AC vents, all four of them, are broken. Apparently it's quite common with VAG cars and long-time owners don't recommend the car to be parked on direct sunlight.
• There are a bit of rattling noises that emerge from the front of the car. Will have to get it inspected, probably worn out control arms?
• The spare parts have a long waiting period and burns a big hole in the pocket.
• No ventilated seats!! I know I'm nit-picking but the L&K gets them. Maybe if it was manufactured in India, they'd have added it.
• Personally, I felt the sound systems in my i20 Active to be a bit more superior than the VRS.
• The car seems to misfire at higher RPMs. The fuel pumps need an upgrade.

I found the car was consuming quite a lot of Coolant so had the car inspected. The culprit turned out to be a faulty Water pump. Yep, it was anticipated. It had come up in my initial recon of the VRS before owning it.

Along with the main water pump, an auxiliary water pump and a couple of coolant hoses were found to be faulty. The repairs would set me back a whooping 65k, including labour. As I'm writing this review, I am waiting for one of the hoses to come.

Experiencing the VRS:

I met the other VRS owners around Trivandrum over social media and we went on a drive to Thenmala. This was the only road I could find till now in which I could unleash the VRS to it's full potential. Sports mode was meant to be used in this road. It's not just a straight road, it had a lot of curves, plus if you start out early in the morning, you'll be able to drive through some fog descending down from the mountains.

The car stood planted on all the curves in this route, even at higher speeds. The drive surely did include a lot of breaking so the average economy returned by the car was around 5-6kmpl. But the drive was totally worth it as I understood what the car is capable of.

The Red VRS is running an APR Stage 1 tune and the White VRS is running an APR Stage 2 tune. I drove the Red VRS which had 58k on the ODO and here are a couple of differences I felt from mine:

• The car was smooth and did not vibrate when accelerating. This is when I suspected a worn Engine mount in mine. I had a friend as passenger and he could feel the difference too.
• The difference in tyres was pretty evident. Mine was running on Vredestein and this one was running Michelin PS4. The Michelin grips onto the road with less wheelspins.
• Small gutters on the road did not make much sound.
• The power felt almost the same in lower speeds but was very noticeable in higher speeds.

This is a VAG car and there are some repairs that I have to anticipate. There are a couple of changes I'd like to have in this car to improve the looks and driving experience:

• The engine mounts and transmission mounts seems to be in average condition. They need to be changed.
• The tyres. The PS4 rubbers is much suited for this power machine.
• The clutch seems ok now, but I do expect a replacement in 15k-20k kms.
• Maybe a tune to push out a few more horses.
• To make the car look a tad bit sportier, I was looking to change the seatbelts to red colour. I always wanted to have a red seat belt ever since I saw them in an AMG.

The VRS is a fun to drive car and it was a huge leap coming from the i20 Active. Enjoying it in the weekends as a therapy is where you truly appreciate the power and the excitement it gives you. If I feel down, I take the VRS for a drive and it surely cures me. Ofcourse, it comes at a price. After all, smiles per gallon is all I am looking for.

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