SKODA OCTAVIA RS 245

Forty-five lakhs for a Skoda Octavia, you must be joking, right? Not really, the Octa-via RS245 is expensive, but special in its own way.

- Vivek Venugopal

These are completely built units from Germany and that explains partly why it costs so much. Only 200 cars had reached the Indian shores, and the whole lot was sold out in a matter of weeks. So, quite far from the useful consumer advice we normally give in this column; now I really am wasting your time telling you about a very expensive car that you can’t buy any more.

But if you decided to read on, you are an enthusiast and you already know about the RS range and what it means to Skoda. The Octavia RS245 is the ultimate version of the RS range. The Octavia RS is the faster, sportier offering in the Octavia range, much like the Volkswagen Golf GTI, which it is based upon. This genre of cars is quite popular in Europe where it is seen as a family sports car. You get the performance of a sports car without compromising on the practicality of a sedan or hatch. This particular generation of the Octavia is on its way out and India’s import taxes weren’t doing it any favours in the pricing department, but enthusiasts in our country knew what they were getting for their money and got their checkbooks out immediately. Before you knew it, the whole lot was sold out. Not even Skoda India or any of its dealers have a car kept aside for themselves. Two months of being stuck at home and I was dying to drive some new cars, so when a friend of ours who bought one offered a drive, I couldn’t say no. This was after all, one of 12 cars in Kerala and I knew an opportunity like that is hard to come by.