New Skoda Octavia vRS hatch & estate revealed

The 2013 Skoda Octavia vRS has been revealed (vRS hatch pictured)

The Skoda Octavia vRS – the latest version of Skoda’s quick and appealing take on the VW Golf GTI – has been unveiled ahead of its debut at the Goodwood FoS in July, and it looks a cracker.

Available as either a hatchback or estate – and as a diesel or a petrol – the Octavia vRS manages to repackage the Golf GTI and Golf GTD in to one Skoda, offering good performance (the vRS is a bit slower than the GTI to 62mph at 6.8 seconds but has a 2mph higher top speed), good looks and the promise of prices starting not much above £20k.

The petrol vRS gets the Golf GTI’s 217bhp 2.0 litre TSI and the diesel vRS the 181bhp 2.0 litre TFI from the Golf GTD, both with a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard and a six-speed DSG as option, sports suspension, XDS differential, quicker steering and multi-link rear suspension.

Clothing the new vRS is a butch bodykit to mark it out from its lesser siblings, vRS badges, new bumpers front and back, new front grill, honeycomb air intakes, rear diffuser, LEDs and bi-xenons, a back spoiler, new alloys (17″, 18″ and 19″) and a pair of impressive looking chrome tail pipes.

Inside the new vRS gets sports seats, leather steering wheel, a vRS instrument panel and stainless steel for the pedals and sill plates.

The new Skoda Octavia vRS – Estate and Hatchback – will go on sale in August after its public debut at the FoS.

By Cars UK