Published:
26 February 2021Despite its implied status as the least athletic and exciting of the Octavia vRS brood, the TDI is not the one-dimensional clodhopper you might expect it to be.
The diesel engine is, of course, heavier than the petrol, but it doesn’t make the car feel noticeably nose-heavy by comparison, which has sometimes been the case in the past. Aided by the Skoda Octavia’s unusually long wheelbase for the class, the balance is also more neutral than you might expect, and direction changes are neat via the light but direct and pleasingly gritty steering.
It therefore isn’t hard to establish an enjoyable flow in the vRS TDI, not least because the spring and damper set-up is taut but still permits a calculated degree of heave.
Which is perhaps why there’s little doubt this car is at its best when driven at no more than a ‘committed canter’. Were you to pitch it into battle with more driver-centric front-driven hatches – such as the new BMW 128ti or Renault Mégane RS – the Skoda would find itself exposed painfully early on.
The faint slack in the suspension that makes the car such easy-going company when driven at lukewarm pace undoes the handling somewhat if you really throw the thing down an interesting B-road. Of course, optioning the DCC dampers – relatively cheap at £945 – would help, but even this would not overcome the greatest barrier Skoda has itself erected for the car, which is (again) the lack of any LSD-type hardware.
