Skoda Octavia vRS: 'I test drove the new Skoda Octavia which is loved by police forces'

The Tour de France has hybrid and electric support vehicles reducing pollution along the 2,075-mile circuitous route from Lille to Paris.

Most of them will be the plug-in hybrid Superb estate car and fully electric Skoda Enyaq SUV supplied by Skoda but watch out for Cadillac’s LYRIQ, its electric SUV which is hauling kit for one team.

Skoda is a familiar car at bike races. It has been the main Tour de France vehicle partner for most of this century. Its connection is more than just promotional.

Laurin and Klement, two Czech cycling enthusiasts, started making velocipedes 130 years ago, followed by motorised bikes and cars.

In 1924 L&K merged with the engineers Skoda and in 1929 came the first Skoda car.

In 1991 Volkswagen started investing in Skoda and the 1997 Octavia, based on VW’s Golf, was the outcome. Prices were low and the boot was huge. We all got the message.

Here was a much cheaper way of owning a Golf and it was bigger.

In the last 25 years the Czech brand has prospered under full VW control. The Octavia alone sold 445,000 in 2016. Its sales have fallen in the move to SUVs but it remains a best seller.

The fourth gen Octavia arrived in 2020. Last year it had a fairly rigorous revision.

There was a new grille, bumpers, headlights and rear lights, wheel designs, sustainable upholstery materials, new graphics in the instruments, updates to the multimedia system and more power for the high performance vRS.

Police forces like Octavias. You’ll pay £27,610 for the cheapest hatchback and £28,590 for the estate.

We were sent the vRS hatch in an eye-catching, traffic-stopping colour called Hyper Green, which is included in the price of the standard vRS, at £39,965 (estate £41,070). Calmer colours are available.

Hyper Green is sure to get you noticed and makes it easy to find in car parks. My first grown-up bike with drop handlebars was a similar colour with white panels, a London-built Claud Butler.

And now too many years later I am loving this bile green Skoda, powered for speed, built to enjoy driving. In that screaming green it is crouched on its lowered suspension with 19-inch alloys and fat tyres and black body detailing and red brake calipers, an air-spoiler on the tailgate lip and below, exhaust pipes wrapped in oval finishers.

Out of sight there is an electronically managed limited slip differential to control the front wheels if you explore the performance, of which there is enough.

The engine is a 2-litre petrol turbo, familiar in various tune in Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, Cupra and Skoda models. In the vRS it has 261 brake horse power and lashings of torque.

It uses the group’s slick seven-speed twin clutch automatic gearbox.

The pace is exhilarating, with 60mph coming up in around six seconds and a potential of 155mph. The real joy is the engine’s response, with a torque peak of 273 lb ft. Have no doubt, this is a high performance car — and it carries some aural baggage.

I ran the vRS in Normal mode rather than Eco, Comfort or Sport. The engine revs through a buzzy period but the real irritant could be the howl from tyres - Bridgestone Potenza on 19-inch alloys. The suspension is firm, as you expect, so too the bump interference.

But then it was no louder or worse than a more modestly powered Golf on a similar set of tyres. They have the same chassis platform.

The Octavia is right-sized. The extra length in the cabin brings more luggage space and rear leg room but the centre spot has a hump in the floor, topped with an optional oddments tray in this vRS. The boot is 40 inches wide, with 10-inch alcoves with detachable sides, and is 44 inches deep.

The seats fold forward with a pull on latches to extend the deck to 66 inches (matching a Volvo estate), albeit with a slight step and slope. There is room under the boot for an 18-inch space-saver spare wheel and jack, worth its £200.

The vRS is otherwise fully outfitted. It has the recent upgrade’s full LED matrix adaptive beam headlights. It has heated front seats. It has navigation on a large central screen which with other displays can be integrated into the digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel.

The combination of the touch screen and Hey Laura voice control and physical tabs and touch apps and switches on the steering wheel were easy to understand and use.

Gears are selected with a stub between the seats but there are shift paddles behind the steering wheel for the enthusiast.

The decor is restrained, flecks of red highlights in the seat trimming, relief patterning in the door panels.

I really would have liked to take this car on a really long drive where speed limits were really not needed but then life’s no longer really like that and it was really thirsty.

So, getting really real, I’d choose one of the quick-enough and fuel friendly and cheaper 148bhp petrol or diesel Octavia estates.

Full circle: Skoda electric bicycles are available through its car dealers.

Skoda Octavia vRS hatch tested: £40,055; Petrol turbo 2-litre engine; 261 bhp; Torque 273 lb/ft; 7-speed DSG automatic transmission; Top speed 155 mph; 0-62mph 6.4 seconds; 40 mpg (30mpg in testing); 11 gallons (50 litres) tank; CO2 emissions 160g/km; Length 185 inches (4.7m); Braked towing limit 1800 kg; skoda.co.uk