Skoda Octavia RS 2025 review: Australian first drive

The facelifted 2025 Skoda Octavia RS gets new front and rear bumpers and LED headlights along with 19-inch Elias aero-look alloy wheels and sporty black exhaust tips.

Inside, the touchscreen swells by 3.0 inches to become a 13.0-inch item, there’s a new steering wheel design and carbon effect trim. And that’s about it for visual tweaks.

Under the bonnet is the latest iteration of the ubiquitous EA888 2.0L turbo-petrol four-cylinder, with revisions to the crankcase and crankshaft, taking power up to 195kW with that peak now spread from 5250-6500 rpm, matching what you’ll find in the new Volkswagen Mk 8.5 Golf GTI.

Torque is unchanged at 370Nm but is available from 1600-4500rpm (an extra 200 rpm) and the Octavia continues to drive its front wheels through a seven-speed ‘wet’ dual-clutch automatic and electronically-controlled limited-slip differential.

The resulting 0-100k/h claim is two tenths faster, at 6.4 seconds for the sedan or 6.5 for the wagon.

If you’re sitting there thinking that changes are fairly minor, you’re right on the money. But Skoda didn’t need to improve on a recipe this good.

The Octavia RS isn’t going to garner the same attention as a Porsche 911, yet it’s cut from a similar cloth in being an everyday sporty car that doesn’t shout about its athleticism — except maybe in Mamba Green.

The only real snag is that the crisper looking Octavia RS is now $6000 dearer than before, starting from $62,990 in liftback sedan, or $64,490 (both national driveaway prices) in long-roofed wagon guise.

Look a little deeper and, Skoda will tell you there’s good reason. Over 80 percent of buyers chose the Octavia’s $6600 premium pack, which is now standard as a result.

Equipment includes 15-stage adaptive dampers, a solid Canton sound system, a head-up display, power-adjust massage seats with Suedia and leatherette upholstery, memory mirrors, tri-zone climate control and metallic paint.

For now, the Octavia flies in an exclusive club.

With the Volkswagen Passat gone from Australia, there isn’t really another sporty wagon option, though the Hyundai i30 Sedan N ($52,000) has the liftback Octavia RS in its sights. Cupra — the VW Group’s sporty Spanish brand — will launch a hotted-up Leon VZx Sportstourer wagon with AWD later this year.

Inside, the Octavia is a familiar place to be. The now-standard Suedia upholstery is much nicer than the base cloth, though power-adjust gets in the way of getting the hugging bucket seats quite low enough.

The new multimedia touchscreen is bigger and more mature in its control layout, keeping key climate functions permanently on the bottom edges.

There’s also more customisation, with a Favourites tab up the top you can select most-used functions, including recirculate air and drive mode settings, along with three shortcuts down the bottom.

Ahead of the driver is still a 10.25-inch digital driver’s display with mapping and various screens, all of which are legible and useful.

Outright cabin storage is the only area Octavia loses to similarly-priced SUVs with two small cup holders and space for 600mL bottles in the doors. It hits back with Skoda’s list of Simply Clever features, like the classic door umbrellas, small clip-in bins for the doors, parking ticket holder on the windscreen, and more.

Plastic quality starts to fall below the belt-line in the Octavia’s front cabin but, even though they’re not soft, nice texturing saves the day. The main touchpoints — sturdy stubby gear shift, perforated leather steering wheel, sleek door pulls — are highlights.

The back seat is ample for those under 180cm, though if you opt for the sunroof headroom becomes a little pinched for those over 180 centimetres. The wagon, especially, has nice big side windows for a good view out.

There’s a removable caddy on the floor with pop-out cup stabilisers, a pair of USB-C charge ports, rear air vents, separate climate zone and heating for the outboard seats. The Octavia has Isofix anchors and three top tether clips, along with included smart device holders for the back of the chairs.

An absolute highlight of any Skoda product is the boot and the Octavia is no exception.

Building on huge space (600L sedan, 640L wagon) are myriad practicalities: the cargo cover doubles as wet storage for umbrellas, there’s a blanket, cargo netting and cargo dividers. All things for which dealers typically charge extra.

Then the usual goodies are present, including 60/40 split-fold rear seats with remote pulls, ski-port pass-through, 12-volt socket and a space saver spare beneath the floor.

Our drive in the Octavia RS started in Bendigo, Victoria, heading east through flat, pastoral roads.

Long straights and coarse chip surfacing quickly highlighted one of the Octavia RS’s few flaws, its road noise. Not incessant or a deal-breaker, it’s just that little more intrusive than a Golf GTI, especially in wagon form.

Even with adaptive dampers, the Octavia RS has a firm ride. Most bumps are dispatched easily, and it isn’t fidgety, however the dampers stumble over repeated stutter bumps in both Normal and Comfort. It’s missing the last five percent of fluidity found in a Golf GTI.

These are nitpicks, though, and quickly forgotten at the crest of Chum Creek Road, where we descend to Healesville.

Customisable Individual mode set with steering and engine amped to Sport and the 15-stage adaptive dampers just on the firm side of Normal, the Octavia RS facelift is primed for the twisty challenge ahead.

Approaching the first well-cambered corner, holding the firm, confident brake pedal and flicking the plastic shift paddle twice elicits some new — admittedly subdued — pops from the exhaust on downshifts as the RS settles, its nose primed for turn-in.

The crisp, 2.5-turn lock-to-lock electric power-assisted rack weights up naturally as grip levels fluctuate and the Octavia’s bum wriggles just a little across damp, craggy tarmac.

The rear-steer is not alarming at all, it helps point the nose in and the long wheelbase and multi-link rear suspension keep everything in check.

With that bit more punch from the engine, you’ve got to wait a little longer before squeezing the throttle, but when it’s ready the front limited-slip differential makes sure you fire out the other side neatly. Upshifts are a little crisper, too.

Precise, planted and rewarding. What family SUV comes close?

That’s the party piece of Skoda’s flagship Octavia. Of course, the Hyundai i30 Sedan N has similar levels of cabin space and a little more all-out talent, yet it loses when it comes to refinement and packaging smarts. You’ll know in the first 50 metres which is for you.

The Golf GTI is the other obvious contender, but with less cabin space and higher $58,990 (before on-road costs) price, the Octavia RS, by comparison, settles into its own lovely niche.

It’s even fuel efficient, for the pace. The combined ADR rating for the RS is 7.0L/100km and we saw 7.1L/100km on the trip computer after a spirited country drive. The Octavia RS requires 95-octane premium unleaded petrol.

Safety is assured thanks to the Octavia’s five-star ANCAP rating (2022 datestamped). Features such as auto emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist and more are all standard. The calibration of said aids was good on test.

Skoda backs the Octavia RS — and all its products — with a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is due annually, or every 15,000km and Skoda sells pre-paid packs for up to seven years, costing $4400. That isn’t cheap servicing, at around $630 per year.

The only thing a driving enthusiast might find missing is a shade more aural drama.

Skoda says it’s tweaked the exhaust and mapping for more pops and bangs but the Octavia RS is still subdued and that suits it well. Conversely, road-trippers may wish for more peace and quiet on coarse chip.

Octavia’s biggest challenge is the wealth of options from within the VW Group. Something equally sporting with daring SUV looks? The Cupra Formentor might be your bag.

Want a more in-your-face wagon? Cupra, again, this time with the Leon VZx Sportstourer. Perhaps you’re after a whisker more luxury and rear-end adjustability? Consider a Golf GTI.

The Octavia RS wagon, though, keeps the market of flatpack enthusiasts, push-bike riders and dog owners who like to go fast, well and truly cornered. There really is nothing out there quite as practical as a proper wagon. And the sedan’s power-lift tailgate barely hurts space.

In pre-facelift guise, Octavia won the inaugural Chasing Cars Car of the Year award for good reason. Not much has changed, and not much needed to. It is still one of the very best and remains peerless in this price bracket… at least for now.