As well as being good value for money, residual values have remained pretty strong, helped by Skoda’s ever growing reputation. Insurance costs are very reasonable given the performance at group 14 for the TDI model and group 15 for the petrol version. The diesel model is more expensive to buy, but will retain a premium at resale time and is also very economical.

Skoda servicing and parts are good value and its dealers have an excellent reputation for looking after their customers. Skoda regularly tops customer satisfaction surveys.

Considering it’s a hot hatch, the Octavia vRS is pretty green. Even the petrol model manages 36mpg while emitting 190g/km of CO2. Obviously it’s the diesel which is cleaner thanks to CO2 emissions of 157g/km and economy of 49mpg. The newer common rail version is even better with 150g/km of CO2 and economy of 50mpg.

Skoda has a superb reputation for quality and reliability. The brand regularly tops reliability surveys and the Octavia has performed well in owners satisfaction surveys. The vRS uses engines that have been well proven in Volkswagen models and we’ve heard of no problems.