Skoda Octavia vRS hatchback - Reliability & safety (2013-2021)

Skoda has an excellent reputation for reliability and safety. The standard Octavia has a five-star Euro NCAP crash-test rating, as well as very good scores in our Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, and these ratings can comfortable be applied to the Octavia vRS performance model, too.

Skoda Octavia vRS reliability

The Skoda Octavia was rated highly for reliability in our 2019 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey of cars currently on sale in the UK, finishing 28th overall, while Skoda itself finished fifth. Of the owners who responded, 12.4% reported experiencing a problem with their car at least once, with the transmission the most common cause.

So you can rest easy when it comes to reliability, especially as lots of the performance parts on the vRS are also used on the Volkswagen Golf GTI and SEAT Leon Cupra. Long-term reliability of the diesel car will be improved if you regularly take it on long journeys, as this gives the exhaust filters a chance to clear. If you tend to do more short journeys, the petrol-engined version could be a better bet.

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Safety

A five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP means the Octavia is an extremely safe car. It gets impressive features including seven airbags, brakes that lock on after a crash to make it less likely the car will be involved in a secondary collision and electronic stability control – all of which are also offered on the Octavia vRS.

The vRS also gets more powerful brakes than the rest of the range and has added grip thanks to its wide tyres, so if anything it’s even safer and more confidence-inspiring than the standard Octavia.

All Skodas get a tyre-pressure warning system, which alerts you when the car suffers a puncture (or is just about to). Optional safety equipment includes a lane-departure warning system that alerts you if you drift out of your lane on the motorway.

The 2017 facelift introduced more safety technology, including blind-spot monitoring and a system called Crew Protect Assist, which rapidly shuts any open windows (including the sunroof) and tightens seatbelts before a crash, better protecting occupants.