| Performance
is an odd word to club with diesel and estate, but somehow, it works In
the Scandinavian gloom.
 Listen.
Driving on the right is terrifying. It starts with left-hand drive, where
everything is suddenly unfamiliar, everything that’s become instinctive
is now gone. You have to remember where the clutch is, remember to downshift
when you brake, remember that for fifth, you have to push, not pull the
gearlever. But even that wouldn’t have been so bad – I’ve
driven LHD in India, and it was fine. But crossing junctions and going
to the far side, taking roundabouts from the right, trying to figure out
whether that BMW honking himself crazy behind is trying to get to the
next exit or trying to pass you from the wrong side – that’s
hell.
All right, the initial, buttock-clenching terror fades after a while,
but there’s always this nagging dread that I’m going to screw
up big time and either cause a 40-car pileup or land up in jail, eating
pickled herring for the rest of my life.
And there’s one more problem: in Denmark and Sweden, where we were
taken for a test drive, the speed limit is 110kph. Speed cameras everywhere.
Five clicks above that and you’re just about ok; ten and you’re
paying a thousand Euro fine. Hot damn!
All in all, not a great way to get my hands on Skoda’s latest. I
doubt I did more than scratch the Laura RS TD PD’s surface. It’s
a very interesting concept, a performance diesel: there’s the torque
you’d want for anytime acceleration, and at least in this car, there’s
170bhp, which is definitely good enough for a car of this size. Now, Skoda
is known for economical but not-too-refined diesels – case in point
is the Octavia diesel we get here – and the RS is much like that.
There’s plenty of torque – a 350Nm max at 1800rpm –
so acceleration is great, and you don’t need to get close to the
redline to keep your momentum, which is good because it does sound a little
grumpy at the top of the rev-band.
Unsurprisingly, it’s more civilised than the older Octavia, more
refined and subtle. It doesn’t feel quite as hardcore as the Octy
RS we get here: it’s not as stiff, not as low, and confident rather
than furious in a corner; it rides much better than the bone-breaking
Octy, though, which is a vast improvement. Unfortunately, it has a similar
clutch/throttle jerkiness, which doesn’t help when you’re
already struggling with holding the steering wheel in your untrained left
hand.
I don’t actually get the VW group’s fetish for performance
estates – I mean, couldn’t you afford a blow-dryer for your
dog? It still moves very stably along the 180-degree highway exits, and
would of course be more practical if you wanted to make a hurried weekend
trip somewhere. But never mind, it’s the engine that interests me.
When, oh great gods of Skodaland, are we going to get this one in India?
RS looks, Laura quality, and diesel? I think I could take to it. Provided,
of course, the wheel is on the correct side.
 2.0
PD RS
We say: Absolutely delicious engine that is sure to make
the grin go wider be the estate or hatch
Price: Rs 18 lakh (est)
Performance: 0-100kph in 8.5secs, 225kph max speed,
kpl NA Tech: 1968cc 4cyl, 170bhp, FWD, 350Nm, kg NA
|
October
2006