starbank Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 The warranty on the Loop runs out in March next year and I'm thinking of changing for something with all the fun but bigger. I read in Evo last week that the Octavia VRs is now just £13,900 NEW - that's 180bhp 1.8turbo for less than the new Golf 1.6FSI! So I went for a test drive on Saturday - what can I say, absolutely tremendous motor! Drove it down the A1 for about 10 miles so had a chance to use the 180bhp and it flew - in any gear! The 1.8T VW unit is a real gem as we all know, but the power really surprised me! It felt well built, there were no squeaks/rattles and the quality of the leather seats, dashboard and plastics were much better than I thought they would be. Really impressed. Enough to swap it in March? - ABSOLUTELY!! As for the Loop, still love it to bits. Picking up some Uniroyal Rainsport 1's this week - £35.95 a pop from Scott Tyres in Broxburn near Edinburgh. I've managed 35,000 miles on the Dunlop's, but was quoted £105 each for replacements which is a downright outrage for such an average tyre! Downsizing to the Uniroyal 195's obviously. By the way, the Skoda dealer (who was excellent!) gave us the trade in price for the Loop and I nearly fell off my chair - read and weep - £6,200! They would put it on the forecourt for £8,195. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerko Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 dads got a vrs estate. awesome and im insured for it since its a company car heh. 3rd gear is just ace pulling from 30 to over 100mph..... bmw drivers dont like it much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baj Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 QUOTE(starbank)By the way, the Skoda dealer (who was excellent!) gave us the trade in price for the Loop and I nearly fell off my chair - read and weep - £6,200! They would put it on the forecourt for £8,195.Nice motor's them VRS Octavia's! style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />Know how you feel about insulting trade in values ... I was offered £5'800 a couple of week back from VW. There was another same spec as mine but 11 months newer, 20k less miles for £10,000 on the forecourt!That's right Mr VW Stealer .... i'm gonna agree to that :roll:Private sale is the way to go im afraid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 for £14K you could have that engine in the seat cupra, better handling, better brakes, nicer to look at IMO and a better power to weight ratio. Petrol or diesel both with around 180bhp. Tried the previous version skoda RS, was quick but felt more like a cruiser than a hot hatch and to similar to all the taxis up here. Bargain for such a large car though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris260 Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 I looked at the Octavia VRS before i bought my loop as they're such good value for money! The only thing that scared me off was the resale on them (the one i was looking at was yellow which probably wouldn't be easiest to sell!!) and the running costs compared to the lupo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 This is still the original vRS tho isnt it? They're reducing the price to sell them off. Good gdeal as far as I'm concerned!Isnt the estate 4WD as well?I liked the skoda dealership in Aberdeen when I was in, much MUCH nicer people than the VW `middle-class` wannabes. And when I was in the Seat garage last year, the salesman was so much of an arragant tosser that I refuse to deal with them again!I was recently told over phone to only expect 5.3k as trade in for my Lupo GTI ('51, black, 26k miles, great condition) - that was from Motorpoint tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starbank Posted November 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 I've already had a look at the Ibiza Cupra and was also impressed. But to be honest I thought the general quality feel of the VRS was better than the Cupra. That's what surprised me the most! If they put the 1.8T in the Fabia VRS I would have to have a serious look -just not convinced by the diesels for pure driving thrills - call me an old petrol head! JonB, I assume you have a Fabia VRS? How do you find it? I was going to consider a second hand Audi S3 with the same engine but then looked at the prices - `2-3` year old for over £15K! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 the new octavia is a nicly built car and has some very MK4 golf like trim which is probably nicer than the new golfs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starbank Posted November 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 Skoda will not be releasing a VRS version of the new Octavia until mid 2006 - but they've still dropped the price of all Octavias including the VRS by 10%. Having sat in a standard one at the weekend the quality is easily as good as the new Golf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 was speaking to the boss of a taxi firm, he gets £5K off the price of the new ones which explains some of the second hand prices. Reliable and they love the unlimited milage warrenty though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyW Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 Good car, bargin too. The only thing I didn't like is the seat trim, but other than that its a hell of a lot of car for the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy Posted November 22, 2004 Report Share Posted November 22, 2004 QUOTE(starbank)I've managed 35,000 miles on the Dunlop's :shock: I managed 7000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted November 23, 2004 Report Share Posted November 23, 2004 LOL, yeah - I got something similair out of the fronts!Erm, the S3 is the more tweaked version of the engine wth 225 (maybe the older ones are 210?) bhp. And Quattro, beautiful recaros, BOSE, etc... think the prices were circa 27k at some point before euro imports swept in. I still want one style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />Buuuuut.... I LOVE the idea of annoying crap out of middle class wannabe's in a Skoda!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy Posted November 23, 2004 Report Share Posted November 23, 2004 Yeah, S3 is a sweet car, chippable to 270bhp out the box (only 210bhp from the Skoda 180bhp engine without physical mods), and quattro, just flies all the way from a standing start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Posted November 23, 2004 Report Share Posted November 23, 2004 Black Octavia VRS with graphite alloys, probably the best 'Q' car at the moment. We had a 1.8T Octavia for a while and it went like crap off a shovel and looked so inconspucuous doing so.Go for the VRS or the estate version! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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