2001 Skoda Octavia RS from UK and Ireland - Comments

So far nothing, but only had it for under 2 months. Some wear on driver seat, but it was an ex-demonstrator.

After my last car, I wanted something which was quick, comfortable and had plenty of extras on it, so after looking at several cars I eventually found a black Octavia RS which had everything I was after.

Performance is excellent and sprints to 60 in under 8 seconds using the same 180bhp lump found in the Audi TT. I've had some fun in this car at traffic lights and on the motorway.

The spec is excellent with 17" alloys, climate, leather, ABS , traction control, power steering, trip computer and electric windows/mirrors all standard. The boots also huge. Scorpion alarm was an optional extra, but I got it fitted as part of the deal :-)

Here's another good thing to note about this car - it's fuel consumption. I have managed to hit 46 MPG on a 400 mile round trip to Birmingham. That's excellent for a performance car. Although if you have a heavy right foot it will start to drink the juice, but it's worth it for the fun factor you get.

Overall handling of the car could be a bit better as the steering is not that responsive, but there's little to no body roll.

The final positive feature of this car is it's price. There's not many cars that give you so much for such little outlay. The only big price you pay with this car is the insurance as it's a group 16 - ouch!.

If your after a reliable, well built and seriously quick car then look no further. So it's a Skoda. Do you think I care?

Excellent review - this will be my next car I hope - but please give us an update - whats it like after 2 years or so.

With regard to the previous comment. I bought a brand new Octavia vRS in August 2002. I have now covered 33000 miles of trouble free motoring and can quite happily say that this is the best car I have ever owned. The only problem I have had was a slight rattle from inside of the drivers door, this was fixed under warranty during a service. At the last service the dealer also replaced all four ignition coils as a precaution, as there is a occasional fault with some coils that were fitted to the 1.8 turbo engine.

I can only echo the comments of the review. The Octavia vRS is quick, excellent to drive, practical, good to look at and very economical for a performance car. As for insurance, shop around, my premium was about £650 from Skoda insurance. The cheapest any other insurance company could quote was about £850 up-to about £1500.

Buy one, you won't be disappointed!

I bought a Skoda Octavia VRS in October 2003 and have been absolutely thrilled with it. The performance is excellent, very quick indeed, the look of the car is sporty and several people have looked twice at it, firstly unsure of what it is and secondly in disbelief that it is a Skoda! I am quite smug about it now, especially as I see other drivers (particularly BMW drivers) faces in my rear mirror as I pass them! I would recommend this car to anyone, the VW element shows through in the solid clunk as you close the door and lock the car and the boot space is phenomenal!

Huge amount of car for the money!

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!!

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.

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.

I bought a 2002 VRs two months ago and have tried my best to find a fault with it, but can only come up with the fact that it is sometimes too much fun to drive.

Before buying the car I looked at other alternatives, but nothing else could match the skoda's performance and practicality. OK it is insurance group 16 but I would rather pay £100 a year more on insurance than £4000 more on a car that I might keep for less than 2 years.

The car handles well and even my wife likes it although I won't let her drive it. I just hope I continue to get as much fun out of it for the next couple of years as I have the last few months.

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 left foot and boom! you have a sports car. So far no problems at all. This is a superb vehicle.

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.

Surely the person who wrote the earlier comment of putting the left foot down should try the right foot as this would result in better performance?

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.

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!!!

Back again. The original reviewer and guess what - I still have my VRS, now with 67k on it. Now that's testament to how good it is. Still going well and the only other prob I've had was warning lights came on to indcate a coolant problem in the winter (had the sensor cleaned and now OK) and an air leak with the turbo, but had this reset and not bothered me anymore. Just moved house a few weeks back and this came into it's own once again being able to haul a lot of my stuff to the new house. I'm looking at the new VRS now, but to be honest it's only 20BHP more so why bother?

Oh one word of warning. Watch out for low curbs when parking. I almost took the front bumper off then it latched over a low curb in a motorway services.

The price of 2nd hand one is now low so anyone considering it can get a bargain. Maybe I'll buy another one for the missus :-)

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...