By Classic Yorkshire contributor Tony Lofthouse
Twenty-five years ago an Eastern European performance car was born to rival the iconic Golf GTI.
The Skoda Octavia was the product of the Czech carmakers tie-up with Volkswagen and offered reliability, affordability and a degree of understated style!
Amongst the Skoda range, the five-door Octavia vRS would be a ‘game changer’ for the business. The vRS adopted the 1.8 litre turbocharged 180bhp engine from the Mk4 Golf GTI. It also shared the Golf’s platform and five-speed transmission.
The result. A car that could match the powerful German hatch and at a price – a touch over £15,000 – that generated big sales.
Skoda was so confident about the impact of the vRS they entered it in the World Rally Championships and released a Candy White WRS limited edition model.
In a naming quirk, Skoda added a lowercase ‘v’ to the RS name in the UK to avoid getting into a wrangle with Ford who owned the RS naming rights.
A small letter apart, Skoda had a brand winner. The Octavia vRS ran for five years and sold 6,483 examples in the UK. They even added an estate vRS in 2003.
It’s fair to say it was a car that was raced, modified and, too often, wrapped around street furniture.
The Octavia might be now in its fourth generation but it’s a car that’s made its mark. Decent low mileage original Mk1 vRSs are hard to find, but prices start from around £2,500 for a well maintained example.