SKODA OCTAVIA VRS

The Octavia RS is back now with a generous 265bhp, but its also made a switch from being a people's champion to an ultra-exclusive cult-icon. Read on to find out whether it lives up to the lore

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It is fair to say that when the first-generation Octavia RS arrived, it kicked down the door of the sensible executive-sedan segment, and announced, loudly and with turbocharged conviction, that practicality and performance did not have to exist in mutually exclusive universes.

In much the same way that M cars and AMGs once redefined fast, usable cars for Europe, the RS rewrote the Indian manual. It was the thinking enthusiast's express: discreet, devastatingly quick for its time, and refreshingly unpretentious.

India has been fortunate, too. We've seen almost every generation of the RS on our roads, right from the original Mki to the recent past, skipping only one chapter in between. That kind of continuity is rare in a market that usually treats enthusiast cars like seasonal experiments. And through all of it, the RS remained something special — not because it was rare, but because it was attainable. It was, quite unapologetically, the people's champion.

Which makes this latest version... complicated. Because in 2025, the RS returns to India not as a mass-market hero, but as a 100-unit, fully imported limited run. Exclusive. Covetable. Already sold out. And suddenly, the question writes itself: can a people's champion still wear the crown when the people are mostly locked out?

Visually, the 2025 Octavia RS delivers. Based on the 2024 facelifted Octavia, the RS wears its aggression lightly: new headlamps and DRLs that flow into the bumper set the tone, while RS-specific details — a blacked-out grille with RS badge, a sharper front bumper, twin exhausts, and 19-inch wheels — sharpen the stance.