2013 Skoda Octavia RS unveiled

The 2013 Skoda Octavia RS has been unveiled a month ahead of its official debut at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. The third generation RS is a sportier version of the standard Octavia that was unveiled in September last year and features both sportier design as well more powerful engines. 

The car, when launched will be offered with both petrol and diesel engines as well as two body styles; sedan and combi (estate). It uses parent company Volkswagen’s MQB platform that underpins a host vehicles including the seventh generation Golf hatchback, Audi A3 and the Seat Leon.  

The next generation RS can be had with either a 220PS TSI 2.0-litre petrol mill or an 185PS 2.0-litre diesel mill. Both engines have been mated to a six-speed manual or an optional six-speed DSG.  While the petrol RS does 0-100kmph in 6.8 seconds and then to a top speed of 248kmph, the oil burner achieves the same feat in 8.1 seconds and will go on to hit a top speed of 232kmph.

Skoda has fitted the Octavia RS with a sports suspension and has lowered the ride height. It has also included an electronic differential lock as a part of the stability control programme for better handling. In terms of design, the Octavia RS gets same front grille but with a RS badge, honeycomb air intakes as well as special a front bumper and LED fog lamps. The rear is dominated by a black diffuser, dual trapezoidal exhausts, LED tail lamps as well as a roof spoiler for the combi and boot mounted unit for the sedan.  The car is being offered with four different designs for the alloy wheels along with ‘standard across all variants’ red brake callipers.

Inside, the Octavia RS along with the features of the standard car gets sports seats, stainless sill plates and pedals as well as leather wrapped steering and gear knob. The interior has also been given a splattering of RS logos all over. We can expect that Skoda will bring the Octavia RS sedan a few months after launching the standard car here in the Indian market. This expected to be in mid 2014.