The 2013 Skoda Octavia has been launched in Europe. The vRS version is expected to be launched later next year but photographs have been found on the Skoda UK website. The legendary performance version of the first Octavia created quite a lot of buzz in the Indian market in the last decade followed by the vRS version of the Laura, and this is most probably what we will be seeing when the new Octavia will be launched on our shores next year.
This amazing car gets lot of improvements over the standard Skoda Octavia on the exterior as well as under the hood. As this car shares lots of its parts and technology with the Volkswagen Golf GTi, it is expected that the same 2.0-litre turbo-charged 4-cylinder TSI engine will be found in the Octavia. This engine produces 217 HP of power and 350 Nm of torque. There will be two gearbox options, a 6-speed manual and a 7-speed DSG automatic gearbox. Like the base car, the vRS too will be front wheel drive but will have a limited slip differential.
On the exterior it gets lot of sporty cosmetic upgrades. The front bumper is sportier with bigger honeycomb grills and a vRS badge. The headlights have daytime running LED’s and blackened out borders. There are new horizontal fog lamps with grills under them. Viewing the car in profile, we see side skirts and black ORVM’s and black door trims. At the rear there is a bigger bumper with sporty red inserts. The boot lid gets a spoiler and twin huge trapezoidal exhaust pipes. The vRS gets a set of sporty new alloys with the brake calipers painted red! Skoda will also bring out a diesel vRS of the new Octavia in 2013, which will be powered by the 2.0-litre TDI diesel engine.
