Skoda has announced for a new special edition Octavia for the Australian market, called the RS 230.
This comes in as the most powerful Octavia production car ever, featuring a 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol engine producing, you guessed it, 230hp. In metric speak that’s 169kW, which is on par with VW’s Golf GTI Performance.
Across the 0-100km/h sprint the Octavia RS 230 is done and dusted in 6.7 seconds, making it slightly slower than the Subaru Levorg competitor (6.6). To make sure the power is put securely to the tarmac the special edition is fitted with an electronic diff lock and a “front axle inter-wheel lock” (VAQ). The VAQ system is the first Skoda to be fitted with such a device.
It works like torque vectoring, with the on-board computers able to send 100 per cent of the engine’s power to one front wheel. For example, around a corner the power can be sent completely to the outside wheel to help the car rotate around.
On the styling front, the Octavia RS 230 comes with 19-inch ‘Xtreme’ alloy wheels in black, with matching black door mirrors, rear spoiler, front grille, and exhaust tip.
Inside, passengers are treated to leather sports seats with red stitching, while the driver gets a three-spoke sports steering wheel and stainless steel foot pedals. There’s also bespoke door sill strips, and a unique lap timer function within the car’s multifunction display.
Skoda Australia says just 70 examples of the special edition will be available in Australia, in both sedan and wagon format with a manual transmission only. Starting prices are as follows:
2016 Skoda Octavia RS 230 manual sedan – $41,490
2016 Skoda Octavia RS 230 manual wagon – $43,490
