First. Car. LIVE! #15: [Škoda Octavia vRS Estate 4x4] Rate it in the comments below.

11 Aug 2019

Intro: I thought i’d have something still cool, but more practical this time. So what’s practical and cool? A performance station wagon, of course.

Specs

It’s powered by a 1.8L 4-cyl 20-valve turbocharged engine, making it one of the few regular cars that have 5 valves per cylinder.

Description

You may ask, but how is this possible? The vRS didn’t come as Estate. But the thing is, that it doesn’t need to. The Estate came with the 1.8T 20V engine, but tuned to have less HP.
The code for it’s engine is AUM/ARZ/AGU/ARX and it has the same K03-S turbo as the AUQ, when talking about AUM or ARX. ARZ and AGU have the K03 turbo.
Anyway, when it was released back in 1996 it was a huge success for the VAG group. It seemed like the popularity of the Golf 4 rubbed onto the Octavia too, basically having the same engines and haldex setup. Just like the Golf 4, it was bulletproof, since these cars usually don’t ever break. (Except a two engine models, AXR and BAD.)

Mods

First thing that would need to be pulled out would be the engine. It makes no difference, because the AUM and AUQ can be tuned to the same HP, but better have all the original vRS parts. Especially that AUQ engines are quite cheap nowadays due to Golf 4’s and Octavia’s massive success.
Next up on the list would be getting all the vRS visual upgrades. The interior items, including the door sills, brakes, rims, bumpers and, finally, badges. The engine cover would most likely come with the new engine.
Since we didn’t spend too much money so far, because we’ll obviously sell the old engine, since it’s still a Golf 4 GTI engine afterall and the demand for those is still pretty big, we’ll go to a tuning shop and get this car remapped.
After a good chiptune, coupled with a good exhaust and intake, it should have 230HP and 300NM.

Budget

Shouldn’t go past 3000€ depending on how cheap you can find it and the visual upgrades.

Conclusion

It should make up for a pretty fun project you could do with your friends. And the car is very good overall anyway.
It’s extremelly reliable, it has all the trunk space you’ll ever need and it’s AWD to bring you the best traction and safety in all weather conditions.