There’s a quiet maturity and feeling of restraint to the Octavia’s cabin but equally you’re left in no doubt that this is the sporting flagship of the range.
It starts with the seats, which are modular and bolstered such that they grip you assertively the moment you slide aboard. There’s also a good deal of a cotton-esque technical fabric, used for the seats and dashboard. It isn’t especially premium in feel, but add in the contrast stitching, a carbon-effect element spanning the width of the cockpit plus the firm, perforated-leather steering wheel and aluminium pedals and you have the basis of something that feels decidedly ‘hot hatch’, albeit with that quiet maturity, which makes the vRS straightforward, pleasant company.
Just don’t expect too much in the way of luxury: what’s adjustable is manually so, and while the textures and finishes are decently varied and not without interest, there is inevitably a bit of a ‘built to a cost’ atmosphere.
Elsewhere there’s a new 13in touchscreen that is considerably more intuitive that the old, smaller unit and slickly adopts Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There are, however, still some physical controls above the central vents, and the three-spoke steering wheel has useful scrollers and proper buttons, rather than the haptic touchpads you will find in a Golf GTI.
It’s also extremely easy to turn off the speed limit recognition and lane keeping – one click brings up a menu in the digital instrument binnacle and another turns the system off. Such ease only adds to the Octavia vRS’s faint sense of old-world and uncomplicated charm.
That said, the ‘Smart Dial’ controls introduced on the new Kodiaq and Superb (which control the air conditioning, volume and more) haven’t been included, and we do rather like those.And space? There’s plenty. Both for passengers and luggage, especially in the estate, with its 640 litres – 25 litres more than even a Mercedes E-Class estate has.
