2024 Skoda Octavia vRS Review: Jack Of All Trades, Master Of One

It wouldn’t be a fresh, unexpected or at-all controversial take to say that the Skoda Octavia vRS has long been the defacto choice if you just want a bit of everything from a car.

Need something reasonably quick? It’s always been punchy enough. Got kids? There’s always been a decent bit of space in the back. How about a dog? Well, you’ve been able to have an estate since the Mk2 – and every one of them has been absolutely massive.

None of that really changed when the current-generation Mk4 arrived in 2019. Here was a car offering Volkswagen Golf GTI performance (or a hybrid and diesel, if you felt so inclined), practicality still punching well above its price tag and in a well-equipped, well-built package. Really, its only downfall was a lack of proper excitement, although exactly the same can be said for the GTI…

So, with this new mid-life facelift, we hope you’re not expecting some dramatic departure from any of that. To absolutely no surprise to us or anyone reading this, it’s still a very good car.

We could leave it at that, but in the interests of journalism, entertaining you, our esteemed readers and pleasing the Google algorithm with a significantly higher word count than this, there’s much more we’d like to talk about.

For a start, it’s what this ‘Mk4.5’ (not what Skoda officially calls it, but we will) changes over the outgoing car. The biggest comes under the bonnet, with the vRS now only available with a 2.0-litre petrol engine.

We won’t complain about that, as it was the one you should’ve had anyway, and it hasn’t been left untouched. The long-lived EA888 is now producing 261bhp – a 19bhp increase – although torque remains the same at 273lb ft. That power continues to be sent to the front axle through a seven-speed DSG gearbox.

It’s the most powerful Octavia to date, in theory making it the most thrilling, right? Well, probably yes but that’s not exactly its selling point. That increase in power is welcome and noticeable, and in the real world, this is a quick car still.

It doesn’t really get your emotions racing, nor does it sound particularly wild – even with a switch to a sports exhaust system in place of a synthesised amplifier hidden in the cabin now.

Not that it really matters too much because again, compared with the base Mk8.5 VW Golf GTI we soon have a review coming from, it’s pretty much on par. It’s enough to have some fun with on occasion, but no more than you really need. Oh, and it’ll crack 40mpg no problem if you’re taking it easy.

That extra power is contained within the same chassis as before, though. It inspires enough confidence when you’re pushing on but steering is just as numb as before, and understeer is a little too easy to induce for our liking. There’s no extra mass to note though, so those carry-over brakes continue to do a well-enough job.

It could be a more exciting package, and there is an argument for some of the GTI Clubsport’s differential tuning to be applied here, but then you have to wonder if anyone buying an Octavia vRS really cares about that.

What they will care about is the compliance of the ride which, at least on a car equipped with the adaptive dampers of the Dynamic Chassis Control option, is good. It’s never too soft to throw the car around, but it doesn’t ride harshly either – not even in Sport mode. We weren’t able to try a car on passive dampers to compare directly, but our gut feeling is DCC is a must-have option.

There are some visual tweaks for this Mk4.5 in the form of restyled bumpers and headlights, which do freshen things up nicely, but the biggest non-mechanical change comes inside.

That’s the gigantic 13-inch infotainment screen now – and it’s just too much for this size of car to be honest. The software is a lot smoother than the outgoing model but it’s hard not to get distracted by the sheer scale of the screen. There’s also the fact it’s tilted slightly towards the passenger seat in right-hand drive cars which is something that will irritate you forever from the moment you notice it.

Welcome quality-of-life updates do come though, including a switch to USB-C throughout and a now-standard electric tailgate opening.

That lands us neatly on the thing the Skoda Octavia vRS still does best, sheer space. It’s still offering a gargantuan 600 litres of boot capacity in the hatchback and in the estate (the one you really should have) that rises to 640 litres. Drop the rear seats back, and you’ll easily get a small wardrobe in there.

Plus when you don’t, your passengers in the back will thank you for going for a car that’s offering shedloads of leg- and headroom. In a world of reverse-Tardis crossovers, the packaging of the Octavia is something to still be commended.

In isolation, the near-£40,000 might be a tricky one to take but then it’s a few hundred quid cheaper than a Golf GTI, and with a bit more equipment. Oh, and you can’t have that as an estate.

So yeah, if you go for a vRS, it’s still a car that does a bit of everything well and absolutely excels in practicality. A jack of all trades, and master of one.