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You tend to see a predominance of Mercedes and Porsches in Stuttgart. They define the look of the town as much as the TV tower, the opera house and, well, the liberal sprinkling of Audis and VWs and the fine dusting of just about every other car you can think of. It’s a true mix; the initially noticeable bias ceases to seem unusual after a couple of hours. Home town advantages apply just as much to BMW in Munich, Audi in Ingolstadt and VW in Wolfsburg.

But Mladá Boleslav, an hour’s dr...Read the full article

My Octavia vRS estate, also in race blue, exhibits fantastic throttle response from all road speeds.  The only, yes only, slight negatives I have is that the (optional) 18" alloys tend to provide a slightly harsh ride when driving over rough surfaces and there is a slight increase in road noise, exacerbated by the fact that it is an estate car. The advantage, though, is more involving handling and even greater visual appeal. Everything else is top drawer, with accelleration to shame many cars costing twice as much. Even the specification - 6 speed box, half leather, climate, 4 x electric windows, reverse park, xenons etc would push a similarly equipped Audi (and that, underneath, is what this car is) into 25k territory. The people who disparage the Skoda marque are truely ignorant, many of whom would not even identify my race blue machine as a lowly Skoda as they wait alongside me at the traffic lights in their more expensive, humdrum rep-mobiles.  Thinking that, come the green light, they are about to trounce a 'removal van' albeit a somewhat attractive one, they are astonished to get a glimpse of a Skoda badge fading away over the horizon.  How sweet the feeling..........

Wacko, totally agree, having had the first generation vRS and having it remapped by JABBA Sport can only tell you the amount of people who first laughed and then either copied me or went away with tails between legs.

I remember the look on the face of a guy in his Boxster S on the M6. He must have wondered what was wrong with his £30K + car.

The biggest problem though are badge snobs. People in their 330's will never admit that the vRS is a real alternative in terms of space (cabin and boot), performance, footprint, kit count and the handling while not being quite as good is alot closer than they would like to admit.

Put it another way, if the badge on the front read BMW and the sticker price was £25K, I'll bet you would see three times as many as you do now on Britains roads!!!!!!!

 The mad thing about all this is if you look at the components used throughout the car and bother to read what's stamped on them (Audi 4 rings and VW) many people have paid several thousand pounds more for the same components in cars such as TT's, A3, A4, Passats, Golfs etc.

 

Jon, another thing I like about my vRs is that you don't see one on every corner (unlike BMW).  Do you still own a first generation vRS?  I had one (hatch) and traded it in for my current one. I have no experience of re-mapping. My mark 1, although quick, suffered from a bit of turbo lag so I can understand your JABBA job). Unsure what difference a JABBA job would make to my mark 2.

Wackojacko:

Jon, another thing I like about my vRs is that you don't see one on every corner (unlike BMW).  Do you still own a first generation vRS?  I had one (hatch) and traded it in for my current one. I have no experience of re-mapping. My mark 1, although quick, suffered from a bit of turbo lag so I can understand your JABBA job). Unsure what difference a JABBA job would make to my mark 2.

Wacko, no I no longer have my MK1 it was a company car and went back to the lease company with over 150,000 miles on it. never missed a beat and was still in excellent condition.

 Regarding getting your MK2 remapped, look at the jabbasport website, they can take it from 200 ish to approx. 260. Believe me it does make a real difference, but economy does not suffer. The main dealer I took delivery from could not detect mine had been done but I told them and they no problem with it.