Is the Skoda Octavia RS more trouble than it's worth? | ReDriven used car review

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We delve into the intricacies of owning a used Skoda Octavia RS, dissecting its performance, reliability, and overall value proposition. Through comprehensive analysis and real-world anecdotes with the amazing owners groups, we weigh the allure of its trusted brand with its potential maintenance challenges and ownership costs.

Whether you're an automotive enthusiast considering this dynamic model or simply curious about its practicality, join us as we uncover whether the Skoda Octavia RS truly lives up to its reputation or presents more challenges than rewards on the road ahead.

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Skip ahead:
00:00​​​​​​​ - Intro
00:35 - What is it?
04:40 - How's the interior?
08:28 - Tech, features & safety?
10:30 - What's it like to drive?
14:10 - Pricing, fuel use & warranty
14:55 - What goes wrong?
21:03 - Should you buy it?

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At ReDriven, we’ll be taking you through the pros and cons of a huge range of used cars to see how well they’re going now that they’re a few years old, have thousands of kilometres on the clock, and are coming toward the end of their warranty, or maybe don’t have one at all.

Plus, thanks to our resident mechanic, Jim, you’ll find out what commonly goes wrong with them and what might need to be fixed.

Most importantly, we want to make ReDriven a voice for the most in-the-know used car experts there are...you guys.. See, you’re the ones that actually buy, live with, love and sometimes unfortunately hate the cars we’ll be reviewing.

So we want to hear your thoughts. Hit us up in the comments, or on Instagram and Facebook.

We’d love nothing more than for you to give us as much feedback as possible, so we can make this channel the best it can be.

Find us on:

[goran]

Skoda is an absolute work horse in Europe from what I heard ( currently renting one in Croatia and I love it ). Struggling to understand why more Aussies don’t t drive wagons not to mention Škodas…

[nathanrunciman]

My 2011 Octavia RS has nearly 260, 000km now. Gets driven hard fairly often but serviced every 6 months/10, 000km. Been a very reliable thing.

[willienelsongonzalez]

In the UK, the Skoda Octavia vRS was used by emergency services, especially the ambulance service or fast response medical teams. Some police forces also had the estate vRS as part of their line up. The vehicles are solid, were cheaper than the competition, handling is brilliant and they go ridiculously fast!

[Encom]

Went to a VW dealer back in 2004 to buy a TDi Golf, ended up buying a Fabia VRs - still have it, still love it. Only problem is it seems to have bred, we now have 7 Skodas.

[Rielyjones]

Owned a 2015 RS in wagon guise with a manual. Absolutely loved it, sold it due to a change in job. Bought it with 50000km on it and sold it with 110000km on in it. Never had a single issue and miss driving it every day.

[HonzaKuranda]

Guys, as czech owning toyotas I am so pleased to see Škoda in your review even with czech voice :) You would see A LOT of Octavias here, and yeah also lots of services repairing them. But believe it or not, people buy new ones after they use their old ones. It says something. I think they are not bad at all.

[_Eudaimonia_]

Got RS162 sedan, apart from that the same year, same engine, same rims and almost identical mileage (81000) like in this video. Bought it nearly 5 years ago with 37kkm on the clock, and since then:
- Replaced waterpump, more as a precaution, but no mechanical or electric issues whatsoever, with regular servicing every 10kkm + DSG oil change (twice). Never on the track, though.
- No rattles at all, interior holds quite well given 3yo kid
- Unitronic Stage 1 makes this car devil indeed, had tried various tyres until I settled down on Michelin Pilot Sport 4 – in my opinion, the best you can get for this car
- Unitronic DSG tune made DSG gearbox way more sensible, tuned up D mode and tuned down S mode so both are very sensible, never had any complaints about it
- Practicality is amazing, given small family
- Fun factor 10/10. Owned Audis, BMWs, Volvos etc before, this is my favourite car when it comes to fun/entertainment factor and price to value ratio.
- Complaints? The ride is firm, perhaps a bit too firm. Poor standard audio. Plastics look and feel cheap.

Great car. Feels like replacement is due, but I'm seriously hesitant selling it.

[gje]

I purchased a 2020 RS245 facelift wagon 3 years ago exactly and I use it every day as my business vehicle and I love it. It’s spacious, refined, seats are pretty comfortable, has great power being the 245 BHP ( 180 KW) model, the DSG gearbox is brilliant and the drive is awesome.
The one thing also I will say is the boot, it’s huge to say the least one of the biggest in its class and it truly shows.
I’d say from what feedback I’ve had from people there’s more issues with Mercs than these things and I’m certainly looking forward to the new updated MK 4 RS next year.
Pretty much though I go by this, 75% of what you see, 25% of what you hear, take one out for yourself drive it slow, and rag it rotten in both instances you’ll be pretty happy with the result. Hell, it only took me 15 minutes and I’ve ended up with the best car I’ve ever owned.

[jamyshaw]

I've been waiting for this video Redriven! Whoop! Bloody love my 2018 Skoda Octavia. So nice to drive no matter if you’re (sensibly) hooning or going on a road trip with the family. Gutted I missed out on the online car forum chats; I would have flicked you heaps of info. Oh well.

Tips I have for other Octi owners though if anyone's interested :) ....

- The traction control is over-aggressive. There's a setting to turn that off in the menu of the car pretty easily but be warned if you do the suspension will hop leading to some horrendous bang bang bang noises. However, if you modulate correctly this is definitely the quickest way off the mark. It does disable some stability safety features though so use with caution.
- As a side note on the above, the factory rubber sucks. I replaced these with Michelin Pilot Sports 5s and wow what a difference. The traction control is far less agressive as you're *actually* sticking to the road. So definitely recommend binning those factory threads as soon as you can and going from some softer compound. Also helps with road noise.
- Suspension is a bit soft I find. I would love to know what coil-overs this owner got please Redriven? Please please do tell! On long road trips though, I get it as you always arrive at your destination way more refreshed than say I did in my 2007 Mazda 6, but yea it'd be good if it was a little less vague sometimes. Wife's VW Polo is nicer if you want to be sporty, but you'd be shattered after 6 hrs at the wheel in the Polo, so I get it Skoda.
- Don't buy genuine wipers. Get the Wipertech ones that reDriven advertise. They don't make that God-awful noise on the back windscreen like the genuines do.
- I was unlucky enough to have a slipping clutch (dry cluth version) that sounded like a little squeak when the DSG changed up. Full credit to Skoda they did a full clutch replacement and software upgrade for free after which it was perfect. So watch out for that as best to get it done under waranty otherwise about $3000NZD to get fixed.
- Start/Stop if not deactivated will actually stop the engine just before you've come to a complete stop. WTH Skoda?! My wife's Polo doesn't, you come to a complete stop and then it kills the engine, as you'd expect. Not Skoda, and for this reason you might lose your engine and all power assist when cruzing up to a pedesterian crossing or roundabout. Pretty dangerous, so I hit that disable button every single drive.
- D mode kinda sucks. S mode engaged every time I drive the car. If you want full fuel economy then sure D is your friend, but if you like driving normally (or what I would count as normal) enagage the sports mode!
- I get what you mean Redriven about the steering. It's fairly good, but I wouldn't say it has quite as good a feel as my wife's VW Polo actually. But I think most people won't notice tbh, it's just slightly more easy steering.
- For a family this car is epic. Chuck a roof box on and luggage space anxiety is a thing of the past. We run a Thule roof box on one side, bike on the other side of the roof and 3 bike rack on the back. Can still overtake no worries, it's just awesome. Only thing we have found is because of slightly softer suspension with fully laden car and used to have 4 bikes on the back, the front becomes fairly light. So with soft suspension setup, weight distrubution is key and safer.
- 90, 000km on the clock and always do regular servicing and never had any other issues so far. Wife's VW Polo we had the coolant leaks from cracked plastic at a very early 50000km. I guess it's a known and I'm not really too concerned. I still reckon Redriven you might be over-emphasising the reliability thing on the videos imo. Like even with a few thousand of repairs here and there, these cars end up way cheaper than a Toyota Corolla in NZ at least. For what you get Toyotas are super expensive, so you definitely seem to pay for that reliability ya know. In NZ at least.
- Don't get any rattles at all that I can think of.
- Got a creak from the front suspension going over judder bumps. This was easily solved by application of the correct grease in the correct place by a garage that knew these cars and what they were doing. Regular mechanic I used before coudn't fix it, so make sure you go to a mechanic that knows the cars as the VAG brand has some very specific procedures for issues they have.
- Bloody great car overall though, when that turbo kicks in the grins follow. Motorway on-ramps are definitely a smile space with this car :)

[chrisbates]

We've a 2012 Skoda Superb 103TDi wagon. Truly wonderful car. 180, 000km, some of it towing a caravan. No dsg issues. No rattles. No oil consumption between services.

The only issue we've ever had is an intermittent interior fan.

[iandwyer]

2015 RS manual wagon owner here. 193, 000kms on it and yes it has had some of the niggles mentioned but it has been so worth it. Water pump went at 50k, aftermarket one still going. Steering wheel rollers cracked in half, fuel line under the driver's seat rattles but easily fixed. But to any current or potential owner...for the love of god make sure you clean out the AC drain line. Mine backed up and leaked over the airbag computer that is stupidly placed right under the AC. Not cheap. But I'd do it all again. And given I'm about to swap out for a Golf R wagon I probably will!!

[CaiandtheMoose]

I had a 2014 RS 162tsi DSG since new until 2023. I just replaced it with a Subaru Outback XT as I'm doing lots of kms on dirt roads now. I have to say I definitely miss some aspects of the Octavia. The packaging was excellent for the size of the car, all the storage spots were perfectly sized and accessible. I absolutely loved the engine and DSG combination, every drive was enjoyable. Contrary to this video, I actually really enjoyed the steering feel, perfectly weighted and a good level of feedback. The boot is also massive at almost 600L, it's larger than the Outback by almost 100L. I didn't have any issues with electronics, except the electric gas struts did start to play up from time to time after 9 years. I had no oil consumption issues that get reported a lot. I would definitely buy one again if I needed a second car.

[MrTD]

I have a 2020(series 3) Vrs 2.0tdi 4x4 combi with dsg. In Spain the 4x4 tdi was only available with dsg..which I don't mind. I absolutely love it. It's spacious...3 teenagers and a German Shepherd. Goes like the clappers for a diesel, but I don't have traction issues probably because it's 4x4. I frequently tow a 1500kg caravan with it without problems. They really are a Swiss army knife car. Sadly, they have stopped selling Vrs diesels here and 4x4, although they're still available in other countries. A sign of things to come I'm afraid. I'm not using it as a daily driver and plan to keep it for years. In Europe the fun is disappearing from motoring and manufacturers are reducing their offering of fun models considerably so it's enjoy enjoy while we can!

[AlphonsoTimmins]

I was waiting for this review to come up!

I had a 2016 Octavia RS wagon for ~3 years. Over that time it did have a boot strut go wrong and I got the front ball joints regreased as they were squeaking their head off in cold weather. Other than that, no issues at all. No squeaks, rattles etc. The DSG was definitely clunky on downshifts but this gave it character IMO - you couldn't just disengage from the drive. 6.5L/100km on trips, huge boot, comfortable and with heated rear seats (can't find this on many other VAG products in this range) make this a consummate all-rounder.

I replaced mine with a MK7 Golf R wagon (since sold) and other than the 5% of time you can take advantage of the speed/power, the Skoda was a better car 95% of the time. I miss it and wouldn't hesitate to buy another provided its been serviced well

[davidflck]

Out of all the cars I have had this is by far my favourite and first ever car I bought new. Black Octavia VRS MY23. Lookbackability 9.8/10

[sunsetgarage]

My 2008 Octavia VRS manual wagon daily hack is still faultless @ 252, 000 kms & 200+KW. I don’t plan on getting rid of it anytime soon as it’s too damn reliable. I’d only consider replacing with a sunroofless RS230 wagon or RS245 wagon which is the veritable unicorn. No other wagon sold in Australia offers the space, performance, practicality & affordability in a manual (for the small number of us who still like changing gears properly)

Nice to see Jim not go crazy with the problems for once!

[mri]

I was a holden v8 boy through and through. I was curious and test drove a 2016 rs162. I was hooked. The ride is sublime, i like the steering feel. I HATE the wrx type noise when you push the vrs button (normal mode for me). Done the water pump at 70, 000 after bying the car at 63000. The best part, if your a petrol head...there is a plentiful supply of performance parts. Bloody great car. ** you forgot to mention the brilliant fold away shopping bag hooks in the wagon 👍

[neilmarshment]

I have just bought a 2013 superb wagon with DSG. Great car, heaps of space (passenger and luggage) and loads of equipment - a relaxed long distance cruiser. Issues… drivers seat is comfy then uncomfy (maybe just my ageing back), daytime running light with a mind of its own and oil consumption (4000 km and 2.5 litres used). Driving, whilst smooth and handles well - pushing it into a tight corners is not what it enjoys. All that aside it is a keeper, great single car garage and the Superb owners group is a friendly and supportive community.

[avarosegardener]

Rapt you're finally doing the skoda! Can't make up my mind between the rs or the superb sport line.

[screwge]

We’ve got the same model with APR stage 1 engine tune and transmission tune. We’ve had it for a few years and had no issues except for a wee creak behind the dash, just regular servicing. The DSG is almost perfect but it is tuned so I can’t comment about stock. I haven’t heard of electrical gremlins in this model but I know the current model is riddled with them. I had a 2016 SQ5 for a brief period, but the Skoda was far more practical (much bigger boot), felt more rapid, and was more modern inside with the bigger touch screen and Apple Car Play; we decided to sell the Audi and keep the Skoda. Something he didn’t mention is that these have Golf R brakes up front as standard so they pull up on a dime. I still smile ear to ear driving this thing and my wife won’t part with it!