Skoda Octavia RS-P Australian concept
August 26, 2009 by Paul Maric
While the contingent of motoring journalists were enjoying the Skoda Octavia RS launch at Camden Airport, Volkswagen’s Thomas Wacker rolled out in an Australian designed race version of the Octavia RS, called the RS-P.
Thomas told CarAdvice that the Octavia RS-P concept features a raft of performance changes, including 14-way adjustable suspension (dampening and rebound), three-inch exhaust system and carbon fibre airbox.
The serious modifications start with the four-piston, 345mm C-cut rotors on the front and mono-piston 310mm rotors on the rear.
In addition to the brakes, the RS-P features a full front and crossed rear suspension braces. Then there are the seriously slick tyres – pardon the pun. The Yokohama A048 semi-slick race tyres are 225/50R18 all round in dimension and provide absolutely remarkable stopping power.
Boot space becomes totally unusable (unless you use triangular suitcases), but the modifictions are totally worth it.
Taken for a hot lap around the track straight after countless laps in the regular Octavia RS, I couldn’t believe just how much of an improvement the modifications made.
First of all, there was NO understeer. The grip was staggering, as was the stopping power. We were able to wipe off 180km/h in a matter of moments, and I’ve got the marks on my neck from the seatbelt to prove it!
Then there was the noise, the three-inch exhaust helps the car get the attitude it really deserves. There was also absolutely no body roll, giving it the edge in and out of corners.
While Skoda won’t be releasing the RS-P concept, it goes to show what can be conjured in just one week’s time.
Thomas said that with the exhaust modifications, the car was expected to gain around 8kW, bringing it up to 155kW. The race car like snarl between gear shifts was addictive, showing what an exhaust modification can do to improve the engine note of the RS.
Fans of the race track can also be confident their Octavia RS is capable of turning into a feral maniac with just a few modifications.
Let us know what you think of the RS-P concept and we’ll forward your comments onto Skoda. You never know what could happen!
Tags: skoda octavia rs-p
Instead of a whole new model, why not make the upgrades available to existing RS owners? Just without the rear strut-braces though…
Well that’s all well and good, but what the hell is the point if they’re not going to release it? If it improves it so much then all this car really does is make the regular RS look a bit stupid and underdeveloped.
Is there any particular reason why they can’t release it? Skoda are going to need to find themselves a niche in Australia soon because they aren’t as cheap as they originally said they would be, so why not become known for making hardcore hatches?
They should make these mods options on the RS so that if you wanted that extra something you could just pay for it.
Woah, was I the only one who had to look twice at this? It nearly looked like a Mercedes-Benz…
Keep fishing, InAler….whatever. Either keep it constructive or don’t contribute.
As the owner of an rs i understand where there coming from .
This is the building of of a brand , subtle enhancements to create the image , good , but maybe an ecu upgrade to 188 kw would suit , and push the envelope a bit more .
This is what is happening in the uk and the rs has quite a reputation there as a Q car .
This looks fantastic, and Skoda should put this in a couple of ads to show them what they are capable of. And if this is forwarded to Skoda, can I just say that your cars are fantastic, but they need a halo model like this to lift the entire brand’s image. Can’t wait for the Yeti and Fabia!
How is doing aftermarket performance modifications to a stock factory production car any different to what the numerous sports performance tuning shops can do to any other car on the market?
Brand building?….I dont buy into that or understand the point if it’s not factory supported and cant be optioned or purchased that way.
You could do the same modifications on any car…right!!!
My brother has a 350Z tuned to the hilt (6 piston brakes, roll cage, adjustable racing suspention etc) with added NOS system producing 320KW at the rear wheels….You should see it in action when he takes it to Eastern Creek/Wakefield Park. Good Fun guaranteed.
Regarding my previous comment, I meant that in a good way. I think this looks really pretty good. The white on black wheels is fantastic too, my favourite colour combo for cars.
CA, if you guys delete a comment that other people have responded to, can you delete the responses too? Neither mine nor Pete’s comment make sense anymore.
It looks AMAZING but i imagine those modifications arent cheap, considering its only a 40k car to start with. Im thinking it may end up around 60k… but if they boosted power to about 190kW, then 60k would be perfectly feasible as far as im concerned. Just get rid of those odd braces in the boot OR try to integrate them a bit.
Very. VERY. Nice car. Now Skoda has to market it. They’re marketing has been crazy in Australia, but it hasn’t worked… I wonder whats wrong? Maybe they shouldnt have invested so much and hit us so hard, blending into VW dealers slowly would have been much wiser.
Tom, you can boost this car to 190kw with a stage 1 tune for less than $1000. Given that the car already has a 3″ exhaust, you bypass stage 1 and go straight to stage 2, giving you over 200kw.
All the mods – brakes, suspension, tune, exhaust would cost quite a bit less than $20,000. More like $10,000.
Tom writes:
They’re marketing has been crazy in Australia, but it hasn’t worked… I wonder whats wrong? Maybe they shouldnt have invested so much and hit us so hard, blending into VW dealers slowly would have been much wiser.
Agree Skoda marketing is a basketcase: “Eat My Hat” campaign what the hell are they thinking…no wonder they struggled to shift less than 80 cars Nationally last month.
Sack the marketing idiots and start again with a clear strategy and establish some brand equity. I’ts not rocket science.
I agree that their marketing could be improved but the salesmen and distribution network is the key problem for me.
My wife and I were interested in a RS Wagon. We were told no demos were available and we could not test drive one (not even a RS sedan).
Then when we asked about servicing and warranty we were told that the Skoda is a premium brand and expect premium servicing costs. I mentioned that Skoda is not considered premium in markets like the UK and the salesman just looked blankly. It’s like he had never heard of the internet.
Furthermore we were told that the warranty would be void if we did not get the car serviced at the dealer. The dealer is in a most inconvenient location to us. So the wife made the choice easy and simply said no.
For us there were too many problems and caveats associated with buying a Skoda.
Stu:
Federal legislation phohibits the enforcing of that kind of service momopoly that the Salesman was trying to pull over your eyes…You can service any new vehicle under warranty from any licensed repairer and the manufacture of the car cannot refuse or void the warranty so long as either original/comparable parts are used.
I would have walked away as well..you can fool some of the people some of the time but you cant fool all the people all the time.
This wagon looks and would drive awesome.
If released, I’d buy it in a heart beat. I was an inch away from buying the last model RS, and now the new updated shape has addressed the ugly spots that made me shy away. Having driven one, it’s always on my mind as my next purchase with an ECU upgrade to give it 191kw. What a weapon it could be!!
Am facing a similar dealer problems as Stu.
Am so sick of dealer crap.
I want to buy a RS Wagon, and the dealers keep saying they have no stock for me to TD.
The morons I have encountered at Skoda head office here don’t know their product line up either.
I understand part of the Skoda problem here is the promotion and advertising is controlled by VW whom might be concerned the Skoda would divert sales from the VW badged cars – but even if that’s true there is staggering lack of knowledge I have come up against.
I am going to try a car broker next.
I agree with the comments earlier – the pricing is high for the “economical” arm of VW brands. Perhaps this has to do with VW Australia wanting to hang on to VW badged customers???
Good to see a ‘honeycomb’ grill on the front of the RS-P. The regular RS needs to have something like this because the vertical grill just does not look right with the lower ‘honeycomb’ grill on the face lifted car.