Skoda Octavia RS: Pleasure drives to Sporty capers

How much is 200bhp? Never try to quantify the figure by driving the new Octavia RS. For, the engineers at Skoda have spent many lives tuning and fine-tuning the seemingly slight four-cylinder engine of the Octavia to generate an overwhelming dose of power from their latest 2 L turbo baby. Step on it first for a deceptively gentle thrust – soon to be thrown off guard as you push your luck a wee bit harder to unleash the 280 Nm of turbo-torque that has you roaring at 100 km/h in 7.3 sec.

Despite the meticulously timed gearshifts from the DSG transmission (Direct Shift Gearbox), the Octavia RS gives the pleasure of driving a manual car. What I liked about the RS is the way it grips the road. On its 18” alloys, it doesn’t get swept away by a sharp cornering feat or an accidental wheel spin. Sport enthusiasts who expect a hard drive aligned with smooth handling will not be disappointed. At this point, if your thoughts turn to a Golf GTI, think about this – you can lean back more in an Octavia RS with nearly ten grand left in your pocket!

Sporty in every sense, it offers a playful interlude of carefree juvenile pleasure in the humdrum of mature family life...

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Extended Warranty now comes as Standard!

While various automobile brands have been trying to play one-up by offering a longer Warranty and Service than their competitors, the government has just leveled the playground for all. NOW, ALL CARS SOLD IN THE UAE WILL COME WITH A MANDATORY 5-YEAR WARRANTY! This will make a car-buyer in the UAE one of the world’s most reassured automobile customers.

In the last couple of years, various car brands have been competing with each other to allure customers by throwing in an extra year of warranty or introducing free service as part of the contract. For upcoming brands, it was a handy tool to gain the confidence of cautious players and for premium brands, a reassuring gesture to deal with the perception of being expensive to maintain. While Hyundai led the trend in the former category with a 7-year warranty of sorts, Audi is one of the prominent brands that benefited in the second category. The premium icon’s 5-year service contract helped in converting hundreds of hesitant Audi fans.

Well, October 1, when the rule is supposed to come into force, is still almost 3 months away. In the meanwhile, Ramadan offers will still rely heavily on limited period warranty and service deals. The fact is that the automobile dealership in the UAE has just lost a potent differentiator for promotions post October. As for car owners, now why should anyone buy your old car from you, if buying it from a dealer can give them never-before peace-of-mind?

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