Inside is the place a lot of the main adjustments have taken place, centered on new 13.0in infotainment touchscreen.
A price choice on the usual Octavia, it is a main quality-of-life improve, particularly over the earlier automotive’s outdated show, and instantly provides a extra premium end to the automotive.
The brand new display screen is responsive and clear, with the primary capabilities (equivalent to media and maps) provided through fast tabs. Wi-fi Android Auto and Apple CarPlay additionally work effectively, and the primary infotainment controls and settings are straightforward to entry whereas these are in use.
Sadly, the three ‘Good Dial’ controls launched on the brand new Kodiaq and Very good (which management the air-con, quantity and extra) have not been included, with local weather settings as a substitute accessed via the touchscreen.
The facelift does, nevertheless, add a number of USB-C ports and a wi-fi smartphone charging pad with cooling.
Elsewhere, it is a acquainted affair, with numerous racy design cues. Heat Alcantara with crimson stitching adorn a lot of the cabin. The multifunction steering wheel, with its quantity rollers and lots of bodily buttons, is, as with different Skoda fashions, good and straightforward to make use of.
What hits you is the notion of house. In its dimensions, this Octativa vRS is just fractionally bigger than its forebear, however the transfer to shift-by-wire for the stubby new gear selector has uncluttered the transmission tunnel.
The extra organically formed panels additionally make the cabin really feel much less austere and, to some extent, much less poky. It’s soothing in right here.
Nonetheless, whereas the black headlining and aluminium pedals give the vRS an efficient sporting carry, there stay some uncovered poor plastics, and the plastic-chrome controls are merely not sturdy sufficient both in look or really feel to persuade you this Octavia is the actually premium product that Skoda is clearly aiming for.
The thuggishly bolstered and decently snug modular sports activities seats, with their built-in headrests, are snug for lengthy journeys and the seating place remains to be wonderful, including to the expertise.
The Octavia once more provides a class-leading boot, sprawling leg room for rear-seat passengers and beneficiant tools. And that’s a part of the attraction: behind the vRS badges stays an exceptionally effectively conceived household automotive.
