Skoda Octavia vRS Estate (2013-2020) - Interior & comfort

The vRS Estate comes with sports suspension, which is stiffer than the setup in the normal Octavia Estate. As a result, you do feel bumps in the road a little more. It’s still surprisingly comfortable for a car that offers such speed, though. The interior quality is excellent, not far at all behind the high standards of the Volkswagen Golf. The sports seats look and feel great, too.

The vRS Estate is available with optional 19-inch alloy wheels, but these make the ride noticeably firmer and a little too jittery. Tyre noise with these wheels is annoyingly intrusive at motorway speeds, too.

Skoda Octavia vRS Estate dashboard

The outside of the Octavia vRS is relatively understated and the low-key theme continues once you’re inside. High-backed sports seats, vRS-specific badging and graphics for the instruments, plus a chunky three-spoke steering wheel set the car apart from the standard Octavia, but in almost every other way, the interior looks like the normal car.

That’s no bad thing, though, as the dashboard layout is easy to use and the decent-quality materials all feel well put together. You get all the essential gadgets, too, including a Bluetooth phone connection, DAB digital radio and climate control. There’s also the option to upgrade to leather-trimmed and heated seats if you want more luxury.

Equipment

The Octavia vRS Estate comes with plenty of standard equipment, including 18-inch alloy wheels, bright LED headlights, LED rear lights, sports suspension, cruise control, lane-keeping assistance and front foglights. Distinction is added by a subtle bodykit, heated power-adjustable leather seats and a lap timer, as well as front and rear parking sensors.

A new infotainment system was added during the latest round of updates, including a glass 9.2-inch screen and the ability to recognise pinch-to-zoom gestures. It offers sat nav and a wi-fi hotspot, but we find it a little tricky in use, with too few physical buttons to instinctively navigate the menus while on the road.

Options

Options include the Black Design Pack Plus, which consists of 19-inch alloy wheels, ‘sunset’ glass, a colour trip computer screen and black touches for the outside of the car. A panoramic sunroof is also available, as are parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, an upgraded sound system, keyless entry, heated steering wheel and parking assistance. If you want more information on the move, Skoda's £450 Virtual Cockpit replaces analogue instruments with a digital cluster, providing five choices of layout. This can display everything from your speed to maps and route guidance.

You can also specify neat optional extras features such as an umbrella stowed under the front passenger seat and a iPad holder that attaches to the back of the front headrest. A feature called Phonebox is also available allowing you to charge your compatible smartphone by dropping it into a cubby in the centre console. It'll also wirelessly connect your phone to the car's aerial, boosting phone and data signals.