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By
EWAN KENNEDY
3 November 2008
Not
so many years ago the concept of a high-performance diesel engine
would have seemed laughable. Then Audi surprised us all when it
got into the Le Mans 24-hour race with high-torque turbo-diesel
engines – and won. And has now done so for the last three years
in what is arguably the world’s toughest road race. In doing so
it has pulled Peugeot into the fray, with the French marque also
now building diesel racers.
Yet
until now the car companies have been reluctant to build
high-performance road cars with turbo-diesel engines. No doubt
still feeling that the motoring public tends to associated diesels
with economy and not performance. All that has changed because
Skoda has just introduced the Octavia RS to Australia and it’s
powered by a turbo-diesel engine.
Note
that Skoda comes under the same Volkswagen Group banner as Audi,
so it seems likely that engineers are talking to one another on
this project. Though when questioned Skoda said that Audi tended
to focus on the big diesels and VW/Skoda concentrated on the
smaller ones.
In
any case, this new turbo-diesel Octavia RS is an enjoyable machine
to drive. Its 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine produces a very handy
125 kW of power, with top torque all the way up at 350 Newton
metres. The latter is spread over a useful area of the rev band,
not in a peaky fashion as is often the way with petrol engines.
Thus the Octavia RS is pulling at its strongest from a low 1750
rpm to 2500 rpm, with a decent output above those numbers. But not
a lot below 1750.
While
the engine is happy enough cruising at lower revs, it’s on the
dull side when you want to accelerate hard in high gears. Turbo
lag is inevitable in an engine of this type and you really need to
have the engine buzzing at reasonably high revs before you hit the
loud pedal. Those who like fast throttle response should probably
tick the ‘petrol’ box when ordering their high-performance
Skoda.
That
is unless you want an RS with automatic transmission, because the
petrol is only being offered as a manual at this stage (a DSG auto
will be coming next year). On the other hand, the turbo-diesel
Octavia RS can be bought right now in both six-speed manual and
six-speed DSG format.
Fuel
economy is what diesels are all about and on easy paced motorway
running we saw an overall figure of just 5.4 litres per hundred
kilometres during our test drives at the car’s introduction.
This rose considerably during track testing at the Wakefield Park
circuit, but even there the hard-worked engine was seldom using
more than about 12 litres per hundred kilometres, a petrol unit
would probably have been about 20 to 30 per cent thirstier.
Of
course there's a lot more to a sporty car than simply engine and
transmission performance. We were most impressed with the
compromise opted for in the way of handling and comfort. Octavia
is already a pleasant car on the road in its standard format, with
tweaks to the suspension the RS it’s a real delight. The
steering and ride have been firmed up to give the feeling of
complete control that drivers love. Yet on smooth and moderately
rough surfaces it retains good comfort and composure.
Only
on rough surfaces does the hot Skoda RS betray its sporting
nature. The suspension becomes on the harsh side and can bottom
out at times on sudden dips. Then again, you can make this sort of
comment about most sports models and buyers in this class
understand the compromises involved.
Braking
is superb, the big red-painted calipers are a neat styling point
and while the brakes got pretty hot at the end of Wakefield
Park’s long straight they hauled the speed down very promptly
under all hard-driving circumstances.
Cleverly,
Skoda has given the Octavia RS turbo-diesel exactly the same
appearance as its petrol brother. There isn’t even a TDI, or
similar, badge on its rump. The company presumably feels there's
still a stigma in driving a diesel in a sporting manner.
In
typical Skoda fashion the Octavia RS is well priced, being several
thousand dollars below the cost of similar European competitors:
RS 2.0 TDI 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-door sedan: $39,490
(manual), $41,790 (DSG)
RS 2.0 TFSI 2.0-litre petrol four-door sedan: $37,490 (manual)
RS 2.0 TDI 2.0-litre turbo-diesel five-door wagon: $41,490
(manual), $43,790 (DSG)
RS 2.0 TFSI 2.0-litre petrol five-door wagon: $39,490 (manual)
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Marque Publishing Company
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