My favourite type of car, especially the estate. Doesn't shout but carries a big stick. The perfect dailly driver.

I had an 04 reg vrs from 4 years old, black magic, loved it bits, got home from work after 4 years of owning it and found it gone off my driveway. Gypsies had broken into my house and taken the keys and obviously the car. I still miss it, amazing car.

This type of thing is why I have a huge respect for the way Volkswagen run their business (dieselgate not withstanding). They take over a marque like Skoda or Seat, allow them to use the family platform and raid the parts bin, but allow them to put their own stamp on it so you end up with something that is VW but also not VW. They also have no problem with their marques competing against each other in some areas too. It's this way of working that is why I wish, and have said before, that MG Rover had been taken over by VW and not by BMW.

Had the facelifted RS as a company car in 2007. 0 to banned very quickly if you weren't paying attention. Phenomenally quick motor. Served me well, 110,000 in less than 3 years. Sadly the Golf I "upgraded" to was nowhere near as good.

just a stage 1 remap away from being a completely different car it wakes it up

There was never a saloon version. Only wagon and hatch/lift back. Never heard about a saloon...

Used these in the Police back in early 2000s. Cracking car. Handled like a roller skate and the 1.8 turbo engine loved to be revved. Had many a good pursuit around the West Midlands. 👍

It was the best car on the PQ34 platform, most space, cheap, lots of bang for your bucks. Steering wheel, light/window/mirror switches, climate control, stalks and lots of other stuff is from the Mk4 Golf. It's a Golf in drag. The 1.8 20VT is one of the best modern VAG engines, very reliable and easy to tune. These are rare nowadays, haven't seen one in years. I serviced quite a few of these back in the day. Great video Matt, thanks!

This was the best generation of the Octavia. In fact, I learned to drive on Octavia from the same year (2005) but with the 1.9 TDI engine. In my country the VRS from this generation are very rare to find.

A lad on the next street to mine owes one of these - in red as well. A very smart looking car with some lovely alloys on it. He's a mechanic and it looks immaculate. Really under-rated cars, and very quick in their day

Love my 2007 MK2 VRS here on New Zealand roads. I've had it from brand new, do all the maintenance myself. Only 92,000km on the clock, I don't see myself ever selling it. Easy parts and upgrades from the GTI mk5 community should keep it going for quite some time yet.

I have just brought one of these as a cheap daily driver that I can have a bit of fun in when the mood takes, the previous owner had done 50k in 3 years with a couple of Nurburgring trips thrown in and had zero issues ! They are really good value and tick an awful lot of boxes. Mine has a uprated rear roll bar which transforms the handling and I would highly recommend it 👍🏻

Those Sparco foot pedals aren't standard. They did have metal items from factory though but not those. Having owned a silver 51 plate vrs for 7 years I can confirm they are a great car. I can also confirm you can fit a standard bath in one!!😁😁

There was a sat nav option that took away the space under the radio. There was a 6 speed version too. Dual zone climate never made it to UK. Even factory fitted LPG was available even in the VRS

I told my new boss to get one for his company car. He was going out with the Skoda Dealers daughter when all is said and done. Even when he "graduated" to big Diesel BMWs he said he missed the Skoda VRS. It got handed down to two other 'owners' in the company and they loved it too. And it was reliable. It was a real "Q" car if ever there was one. That one is in beautiful condition.

I used to work at a Skoda dealership and got to drive these and the later Octavia VRs. I always preferred the petrol version but locally at least the diesel was more popular. One customer who lived locally to me had the later 2006/7 petrol VRs estate. His car had been remapped and that was a quick car, a real sleeper.

So glad you have done this. I bought a 2004 Octavia VRS two weeks ago.... Mine has been 'played' with a bit. Carpet is a pain to keep clean. Gear change is lovely.

Love these Skodas, especially from that period; we had a 2002 Fabia estate with which we have had so much fun, it could do anything even rallying over forrest roads

I feel obliged to be a Skoda geek here and make a few observations. There was no Octavia saloon. The vRS was available in estate or hatch. Above the vRS you had the Elegance and the L&K. Those pedals are aftermarket. The tow bar was an option, but not standard. And clearly, I know far too much about Skodas! Great review though. I'll share it with the Skoda Owners Club. :)

What a beautiful car. My auntie used to have one as her taxi. It wasn’t in this beautiful red. It was in the Brighton taxi colours lol. She loved driving it.

I daily a 150bhp 2.0i L&K Octavia. It's never let me down at 170k. I had an earlier vrs, Saabs, Volvo's... I found the Achilles heel of all these motors was the turbo. So I thought I'd try the normally aspirated version and I'm glad I did. It's fully loaded, vrs alloys, cream leather interior, debadged at dealers, xenon's etc... Limited tuning options but I've jazzed it up a bit with the usual, custom intake, stainless exhaust, it sounds great, looks great and still puts a smile on my face. And hyper miling on long runs will still return high 30's which I can live with. But most importantly to me, no turbo failure to look forward to!

I had the pleasure of owning the Autocar press test car when it was a year old and the press were done with it. Y81RVV, was a little controversial as it managed a 6.7 second 0-60 in Autocar's test. That test probably sold a lot of extra cars! Copies of the test were being given out by your local Skoda dealer. It was rumoured that the car had a 225 bhp 1.8T engine, as used in the Audi TT. In fact it just seemed to be a very good example of the 180 bhp AUQ engine. I had a rolling road test done where it made 207 bhp on a day when other standard vRSs were making 180-185. Miss that car. It's reverse snobbery value was huge. In the early days people really did refuse to believe it was a Skoda. Time has made me forgive the coilpack issues...

Absolutely loved my Y reg vRS, so much fun and a great Q car. Correction for you: the Octavia was only available in liftback and estate.

Just love Skoda VRS cars. So understated, I owned the Mark 1 Fabia VRS, which was probably the first exclusively diesel hot hatch ever made. I currently own the Mark 2, Fabia VRS estate, a small hot estate car, another niche, within a niche.

I had a Mk1 Octavia L&K Estate, basically top of the range, had Cruise Control, Sun Roof and Xenon lamps, heated leather seats etc. Was awesome with the PD130 1.9TDI with the 6 speed box. Overall great car, only thing which drove me crazy was the Door lock modules and Electric Window controller. They are common on the Mk4 platform along with window regulators. I literally moved from Chatham to Sheffield and also slept in the back camping in my Octavia Estate. Loved it, certainly up there in my list of best cars ive owned!

Never really gave much thought to skoda, but you did a good job selling it too me ,you certainly were impressed by its sharpness and response.

Had a vrs for 4 years and loved it. It was all things to all men. We used to joke it had a 3 body boot.

The fog lights in headlights are actually very good.. You'd never know there were there from the inside. Own 2001 skoda octavia Elegance.

Great video, Matt. Lovely car. Very interesting to see cars we did not get in Canada, too. This might even be a front wheel drive I could enjoy.

4x4 version is my favorite. Uses the rear diff from audi tt. I got one ;)

Great vid as always mat !! Had a nearly new one in silver back in the day, really wish I had it now. Got to be one of Skoda’s best ever cars, brilliant!

I was working for a Škoda showroom selling these new, a huge portion of the buyers were police officers who drove them on the job and wanted one at home. Also you mention the value, during the phase out of the model after the MK2 Octavia had launched we were selling MK1 vRS run out models with xenons and ESP for under £12,000!

Thanks for doing this video Matt. Had the same car in red 03 reg, I bought it brand new in the day and loved the car to death all but the white bits always cleaning them 😂. Only sold it when the Fabia VRS come out. Many thanks Richard..

It´s 3 on inlet, 2 on outlet on all cylinders

Had a black VRS and drove it for 170k miles. Never let me down until the clutch went. Such a good Q car. Fast, practical and surprisingly economical on a long run. Replaced it with another one in the same red as the review car. Not such a Q car in that colour as I got pulled over by police twice in the first month I had it. They're getting rare but 80k miles later I still have mine.

Just two remarks about another perfect video - the Octavia was always a hatchback (i.e. liftback) - it never came as a standard booted saloon, unlike the Mondeo Mk.I or the Vectras. Skoda would later confuse everyone with the Mk.II Superb, which came with split tailgate - you oculd open it just like a saloon or the whole tailgate with the window - depended just on you. And the foglights were always integrated into the main lamp. I wondered myself if I ever saw Octavia with front fog lights until recently, when I got to drive my friends work car - the 2003 Octavia SDi (interestingly it is a UK import converted to left hand drive). I turned the fogs just out of curiosity and was very surprised 😁 As for the car itself - the Octavia (Mk.I and II) got now itself a lot of young and youngish costumers and was always popular past 2000 with them, so with this and the other more powerful Octavias (aswell the Fabias) Skoda made a huge leap from "old and sensible, or family" customers to a young population aswell (which for example Rover failed to do despite they tried since the mid 80's to achieve that). I never liked it that much (I'm a 90's kid and they were everywhere, it was the definition of a car), but now I got to drive it quite often (that mentioned SDi) and I got quite fond of it. It has nice steering, the simple paltform can handle quite a lot of speed cornering that the new Hyundai driver can only watch as they are no match (though the diesel gives just 75HP). I myslef own a Lancia Lybra and compared to that, the Octavia is less comfortable and less stylish and of course, it is no match for the passive steering multilink, but compared to other basic cars (even the Golf), it is another os the Surprising Skodas. And tve vRS was much faster than a Golf GTi of the time (I think Clarkson once toob the basic Octavia MK. II TDi and humuliated the Golf GTi with it). Also some onteresting story about the design - it was originally designed by Gugiaro and when it was done in about 1993 or 94, it was shown to then Czech prime minister Klaus (who later became president too), because by then, Czech republic was still the largest share holder of Skoda in the mid 90's. But Klaus didn't like it, saying it was "too italian looking for the Czechs" (as if they weren't buying the Italian styled Favorit back then 😀). Ferdinand Piech, then boss of VW was also at the presentation and the Skoda people expected him to tell Klaus to shut up, but he stoned everyone by actually agreeing with Klaus and he ordered Skoda to do a complete quick new redesign, which was eventually done inhouse by Skoda people. Gugiaro must have beed really fed up, because this was the third time he was asked to design a Skoda (Skoda 720 in the late 60's - a Czech Alfa like excellent looking car - and the Skoda 760 in the 70's - that was awful) and third time it was not gonna go to production. Eventually his design was not to be wasted, because it saw the life as the Seat Toledo Mk. II.

The Seat Toledo 20VT was similar in concept, but had 6 speed gearbox. One of only 2 cars I loved, the other was a V6 Mondeo.

Excellent video, my mother in law had one of these many years ago, when I was courting my wife.... Was well impressed she had a vRS just a shame she never drove it like a vRS should have been!! Left a impression on me so much so I bought it's little brother the diesel Fabia vRS The one and only car I regret selling. Quite interesting to note my current mark 3 Fabia family estate is near enough the same size as this car. Like the sparco pedals will last longer than the alloy pedals it came with. Corrida red is the best colour for a vRS

Skoda always wanted to call it the RS - in fact i think they did in other parts of Europe - but I have a feeling Ford Complained n UK so they had to stick a v at the front. It went from being a Rally Sport to a Victory Rally Sport. I don't think it was ever a range topper though. I'm sure it was based on mid spec Ambiente trim with some toys added whereas the Elegance and L&K specs were plusher. The L&K is a great thing if you find one. I love these. Enough performance to make you smile but so easy to live with day to day. The boot is like a small country. I actually preferred the more angular style of the MK1 to later Octavias. You've got to search out a Mk1 Fabia vRS next. So much fun.

Great video , I had a dark green Vrs back in 2006/7 . Drove from West Sussex to Paris and back on 1 tank of fuel , not bad eh. Sadly though written off 6 months later by a white van man ! I really miss it Superb car.

I love the VRS I have a Mrk3 and love it. Thank you for doing a review on one especially a mrk 1 I'm trying to presude my wife that I need a fleet and one of these is first on my list. Thank you for your videos kept me saine during shielding.

Had a skoda Fabia vRS mk1 remapped to 170bhp.... Fast, fun and average mpg was 55mpg. On a track day it would still do 30mpg !! Sold it after 9 years and 150000 miles, was still going strong. I miss that car.

These original Octavias had an identity, I really liked them. £15.5 k for this in 2005 sounds like a good price. As nice as the vRS is, I'd like a go in a misery spec 1.9 SDi!

It's quite telling seeing how many positive things people have to say about Skoda.

Hello from the Czech Republic. Nice video. Few comments: the 1.8 turbo engine has three intake and two exhaust valves. The bars in the trunk are for the (v)RS liftback model specifically to increase the rigidity of the chassis. And they really improve handling characterstics of the car. Octavia (v)RS was the first Skoda which could have ESP as an option. (v)RS also received bigger front brakes and as the only Mk1 Octavia also rear ventilated disks breakes.

I've got a 2006 Vrs and it's as quick as needed for most situations and so much more practical than my golf V5 was.

I had the 1.6 SLX from 1999 to 2007. Great car. No issues at all. Bought new and drove it for 180.tkm.

I've had myself a yellow one of these for 3 years now. Absolutely love it! Though I wish I could go more than a month without the eml coming on 🤣

I loved my vrs, It only went to make room for a Golf mk2 gti and the fact that it was mapped so 21 mpg was a bit galling in return for 205bhp.

i remember seeing these all the time as police forces seemed to love them

I've owned my 2001/Y since 2006. Great cars, huge boot and parts cheap. Great engines and the stage 1 remap is all you need.

I had an 04 plate silver vRS estate from new and it was excellent. I preferred it to the Leon Cupra it replaced from a driving perspective. It was my first vRS out of three I've owned (all estates) and they were all excellent cars.

I used to drive an Octavia of this generation and it was in this colour! Sadly, it was the pre-facelift 1.6 estate model with only 100 bhp, so it was very unexciting indeed, but I always wanted to try a faster one like this...

All sedans was technically liftbacks. They referred to them as "liftback sedans", as they had the shape of a sedan, and the convenience of a liftback :) Just like the older Citroen C5, Citroen Xantia and the Daihatsu Applause

My dad used to have a 2003 Octavia 1.9 TDI. Fantastic car!!

Bought one of these high mileage of 167k. It was faultless. All it needed were an MOT. Was a fantastic car. Yet another I shouldn’t have sold

I had one of those for a couple of years, same colour too. Not a perfect car as it was abit old. Never let me down though! Sounded great with a few modifications. I miss it tbh.

I haven’t even watched it yet and I know it’s gonna be a great one!!!!!

Hi Matt, great review of this Octavia VRs, it does go well and space inside is brilliant.VW parts still a top car to drive.

I have never loved skodas, and today i love them less than 10 yrs ago... But i have always respected the VRs octavia and the fabia mk1 (with the 1.9 130 hp). Great test of a rare car

Always liked these. Someday I’ll drive one!

7.9 to 60mph? Mine felt a lot quicker than that... These were very good cars and I loved mine, plus at the time the police used them so they were good in the outside lane of a motorway coz everyone would move out of the way. There was also a nice triple gauge kit with oil temp, boost and volts that you could get that would fit into that cubby under the radio. Also I put a golf R32 wheel in mine for that extra chunkyness and the airbag just swapped from the Skoda wheel straight into the golf wheel.

This car blends into traffic so well that he almost forgot what it was called at the beginning of the video.

That 1.8T engine was a gem, used in many of VW groups cars and was always lauded.

Own a MK2, absolutely love the car. Hope you get as much enjoyment out your mk1!

Lovely Jubbly, just needs the drivers seat leather restoring, looks a keeper.

05 plate, that must be one of the last, the mk2 was out in standard versions in 2004. I always thought it was great they took the engine out of an Audi TT and put it in a Skoda. It trumped what the VW brand were doing performance wise in those years. Although I have always been surprised when reviews say it’s based on the golf platform. It puts it against the A3, Leon and of course Golf. But the size of the car to be puts it in the class above. Against the A4 and Passat. Making the Octavia excellent value whatever the age. As it’s still based on a Golf platform.

Car looks like brand new and a friend of mine had one like this and hope you are staying safe and well and are you going to keep it or sell it

These were great when launched!

Yes, a brilliant buy if you want something that is really quick and practical with it. Badge snobs may look down on it as a classic sporty family car, let them I say. It keeps the second hand market a good place for shrewd punters who want some fun!

My work mate has a diesel version, her and her husband love it. The only issue they have is that the windows keep going wet on the inside(winter time). Most of the time I’m driving out of the works car park, I can see her wiping the inside of the windscreen 😂. Must be a leaky seal somewhere

Well done in finding probably the only space in the U.K where there is nobody else around

Thanks for the video, Matt. Let’s see...VW engine, transmission, switches, climate control, mirrors, steering wheel... yeah, I guess it would feel like a VW. Sort of a big Jetta that cures the pitiful rear seat accommodation problem. Love the hatch back utility. Looks great. I wish we had them in the USA.

I've a Mk3 diesel 184. Got it remapped to 227 and 490nm alot of fun to drive.. Petrol 245 next tho I think.

I had a 1.6 estate for a while, and although it was very comfy and practical, I almost died in it from boredom. It had a lot of little faults too. Within 2 years I went back to my favourite Italian cars and never went back 😁🇮🇹

This was quite a car back then. A fast and cheap saloon.

Fabia-lous! 😂 Love this generation of Skoda. I have a low millage 2002 Fabia estate 1.4 16v and it has a lot of the qualities you mention. It isn't the most exciting thing but VAG have this gift of building 'all the car you ever need.' At 20 years old it is still great and I just can't justify changing it. Wish they would have put the 1.8 in the Fabia. 😁

Fantastic video review of a underrated car

Our family has an estate version of the MK1 vRS, it's on around 213k miles. I'd love to use it but I've got a MK1 Fabia vRS as a daily driver.

One of the few channels that I give a the thumbs up before it starts

Maybe you could do a review of a old rear engined skoda from the 1980s.

Octavia has never been available as a 4 dr saloon, only 5dr or estate. No side skirts on the mk1 vRS either, those are standard sill pressings on all MK1 models. No towbars fitted as standard either! Love your videos but some facts are way off with this one

I have a petrol 1.4 hatch 150 hp and i was reluctant to buy at first, but its a really brilliant car. I will probably go for a used vrs next unless i get boring and go electric.

Great car, but the engine is hyper sensitive to oil changes. If you planing to buy one, buy from someone you know, if you cant, make sure you take a VAG specialist with you to check the car, not just some mechanic. Pop the oil filler cap and look inside. If there is sludge, walk away. Trust me, if the engine goes, it is a VERY expensive party to swap the engine. You looking at 1500-1700 quid, assuming you can find a good condition engine on ebay or wherever else. Calipers also love to stick, and they are super expensive again, you are looking at 210 quid just for parts. Its easy to change if you do it yourself, but if you are not mechanically comfortable, then labour as well. Leaving it sticking is not good, you ruin a set of front brakes, and its around 300 again if you are buying name brand like brembo. So these cars are not a walk in the park like all the other 1.9tdis are, but it makes up for it in driving feel, and they are very comfortable for long journeys as well not to mention despite all the power the 1.8T can be pretty economical if you arent stomping it at every red light :D

Were the 2nd/3rd versions as responsive/nice and this first VRS?

Thanks for the entertainment Matt, great car!. Any updates and videos on your Volvo coming up soon?.

There was also a combi version of the vRS :)

Getting this car today, a silver wagon with heated seats. Great car.

Superb video! Talking of regular sensible cars made sporty, do you like the Fiat Panda 100hp? I used to own one and it was epic!

Very good ..... I love the cut of your jib ....... Skinned badgers .... Classic !!

Love my mk2 vrs estate fun when you want it and Practical as well

It's even in go-fast red.A very nice Skoda.

I love your reviews, but I’m an American (have been all my life) and I’ve never used the word “roadable ,” nor have I ever heard anyone else use it. That’s a new one to me.

I Owned a 1.8 turbo petrol estate in the same colour in 2002 ,it was very understated, the only giveaway the alloys. John

MP3 had allready taken over when this car was built. Not when it was introduced though. I remember my brother in law asking me if it was possible to convert theirs to MP3.

These cars are awesome. Timeless design, strong engine and good build quality.

Great cars. Better made than Golf IVs, just as many thrills & more practical.

My dad has one of these, except in black, also for some reason, after a while, in these cars the window motor and door lock stops working.

my dad would pick me up from school in his "work place" owned vrs octavia, it was tuned for high speed police pursuits (early 00s) and it was a saloon. Very very fast, even with the extra weight of bullet proof cladding in door shells etc (we lived in N.I back then) Didnt they come in 4wd too Matt?

Are these forged alloys? Or they are cast ones? Can anyone confirm please?