vRS! It is a badge that holds emotions; It is a badge that holds thrills; It is a badge that holds power! You will be a very proud owner if your Skoda car has that vRS badge on it. We have seen the famous Octavia wearing a vRS badge with exhilarating performance and tuned mechanics like suspension. The combination overall made it a better handler as well. However, it has been a while now and we haven’t seen a vRS Skoda off-lately. Even the Octavia is discontinued with no confirmed news of the Globally unveiled Octavia vRS (plug-in) coming to India. In such a case, what if we get the vRS version of the current Skoda sedan, the Slavia? In our view, the Skoda Slavia vRS could just fill the gap of the Octavia vRS and keep us Indians excited.
Skoda Slavia vRS – Performance and Tuning
Let’s talk about performance first as afterall vRS is all about performance. The Octavia vRS got a huge bump in the power compared to the regular version. The Slavia itself comes with two turbocharged engines. One is the 1.0-litre turbo petrol that produces 113bhp & 178Nm of torque. The other option is the 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine and that’s what excites us. The engine produces 148bhp & 250Nm of peak torque. It comes mated to a 6-speed manual and a 7-speed DSG gearbox.
The engine holds a great power but is not the most powerful if compared to Verna’s 1.5-litre turbo petrol. However, Skoda can tune the engine to extract more power out of this unit and go miles ahead of its competition. To revive the league of vRS, 170bhp-180bhp should be the ideal power output of the Slavia vRS. It can be mated to the 6-speed manual and a 7-speed DSG transmissions. The manual is always fun but even the DSG unit of Skoda is no less.
To handle all the power Skoda will need to heavily tune the Slavia. The suspension setup might be stiffened up for better handling. Even the tyres could wear fatter rubber to offer enough grip and confidence to that enthusiast driver. The bumpers could also get an aggressive treatment with larger air dams to cool down the powerhouse under the hood. All these changes will surely take care of the driving dynamics. But how will the vRS Slavia differentiate itself from the regular version?
Skoda Slavia vRS – Exteriors
Skoda Slavia vRS could be inspired from the vRS Octavia in terms of aesthetics. The result, you will see piano black elements used instead of chrome. A subtle rear spoiler and blacked out alloy wheels will also help to add on the sportiness of the sedan. Yellow or red brake callipers would add to the touch of sportiness. Even the bumper design could be tweaked slightly to make it look aggressive. And most importantly, the vRS badge will sit proudly on the front grille and on the boot. Skoda can even introduce some exclusive colour options with the Slavia vRS. It would be interesting to see this hot sedan in Skoda’s Grey shade. Adding to all these would be the screaming dual exhaust at the rear.
Interiors
Skoda Slavia already comes with a simple layout for the dashboard. It follows Skoda’s simplicity design with clutter-less elements. So with the similar interiors, we can expect an all black theme instead of beige and black interiors of the current model. To enhance the sportiness of the interiors, the Slavia vRS could get some subtle red inserts on the inside. It might get red stitching on the seats, seat belts, and the steering wheel. The steering wheel itself will possibly be redesigned with a flat-bottom unit. Rest, the Slavia vRS would carry all the bells and whistles the regular Slavia has.
Will it launch? And what would be the pricing?
The Skoda Slavia vRS is just a speculation as of now and a dream car of every enthusiast. However, Skoda might even think of launching one in future. Currently, the Slavia comes at a starting price of Rs 13.43 lakh (on-road, Mumbai) and goes all the way up to Rs 22.12 lakh (on-road, Mumbai). With the vRS version of the Slavia, we could expect a hike of around Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh!
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