26th Aug 2004, 16:45

I have owned a 2001 RS for the past 18 months. 17,000 miles when I bought it - now covered 55,000. At end-of-warranty check, the CD stacker and the frayed passenger seat cover both needed replacing (drivers seat cover replaced after 20,000 - material clearly not up to the job). Have found it very reliable, comfortable and well-spec'd (worst thing is the poor CD player!). Also very quick. Better built than the Golf I had before. I suspect the worst thing about the Skoda badge will be trying to sell the car soon! Oh... and beware the cost of spark plugs - around £14 (yes £14) each!!

29th Aug 2004, 17:05

I wrote the original review over 2 years ago and I still have my VRS. Still going well and now has 45000 on the clock. Have had only 1 failure and that was a faulty fuel pump which was replaced under warranty. It's large boot came in very handy when I was doing up my house. It carried plaster board sheets, bags of plaster, tiles, all sorts of large items which I couldn't have done with a smaller car.

I went to a car show a few weeks ago and cars costing 30k+ didn't have the same quality or features that I have in my Octavia. This makes me smile even more :-) Still love this car and it'll still be with me for a while yet as I haven't seen anything that can better it at a decent price. Maybe I'll just get another one in a different color. Still highly recommended and you can pick these up nearly new for under 10k now. Bargain.

13th Oct 2004, 09:28

I bought a new Skoda Octavia VRS in March 2002 and have also been thrilled with it. After having some teething trouble with the electrics, which turned out to be an installation fault with the aftermarket alarm system, everything has been fine. I have now covered 36000 miles without any bother and the car has proved to be a great workhorse. My wife gave birth to our first child last year and it can carry everything, including the travel cot and pram, which in hindsight was a godsend. I can't stand the thought of driving an SUV! I can only echo the sentiments said by others and highly recommended it.

21st Mar 2005, 15:23

I have now had my Octavia vRS for almost a year, and am thoroughly satisfied. It really is two cars. Keep the revs down and you have an ordinary saloon, very economical and normal. A bit more pressure with the right foot and boom! you have a sports car. So far no problems at all. This is a superb vehicle.

4th Jul 2005, 17:33

As to owning the Octavia VRS, I can beat the lot of you. I have had mine for the passed 4 years. It was an ex demo with 5k on the clock. Since then I have done over 65k. It's been an extremely reliable car, apart from a couple of coils going, but they were replaced under warranty. It's the only car I've owned that I haven't got bored with. Normally after 2 years I've felt I wanted something new. But not with the Octavia. I would suggest that if you intend to keep it over the 3 years you take out the Skoda extended warranty, which covers AA home-start and mechanical breakedown. I had a sensor fail, which cost over £400, but was replaced under the extended warranty. I'm looking forward to see what the new VRS looks like, when it's announced later on this year. If it's as good as this one, Skoda are onto a winner. Even Police forces have realised the potential power of these cars. Nobody is ever going to admit they were pulled up for speeding by a Skoda!! A great car and great value for money.

14th Jan 2006, 14:02

I'm an 18 year old driver starting university this year and my dad has insured me on his Octavia RS. I've driven various Civics, Fiestas, even a 2.2 Vectra SRi, but now I'm driving this and... wow. It is just so impressive in every way- the smooth, but potent acceleration is nothing short of stunning. My friend's heavily modified Focus, which has a claimed 150 bhp according to him, just vanishes in my mirror every time I go for it. It even handles well, and it looks sporty enough to impress the college ladies, too. My dad has owned it since 2001 and he has done almost 90000 miles with next to no troubles. My friends used to mock Skodas when they assembled in the car parks with their tuned motors, but when I just turn up in this and show off it's 180 bhp with some wheelspins, they now admire it jealously. What a seriously great car.

28th Mar 2006, 14:34

I am hoping to purchase a second hand Octavia vRS in the next few weeks. Can anyone give me anything they think I should look out for, as all of these reviews are positive it sounds like I haven't. Plus could anyone give me a rough round the town light footed MPG total they get??? Many thanks!!!

20th Nov 2008, 03:16

I drive a vRS for work - yes - it's a marked police patrol car and goes like stink, I am quite happy to say I also just bought a 2001 1.8T 4x4, which I think is as good as the vRS.

You seriously can't beat these cars, we punish them something rotten at work and they keep going. Only issue we have is the ground clearance over speedramps at high speed leads to several sumps being taken out - But that's driver related and not a fault of the car.

My other issue is that the other half keeps stealing my car and leaves her Clio for me... NOT HAPPY about that...