Skoda Laura Ambiente 2.0 TDI CR AT - Design Review

Petrol prices are shooting through the roof! And expectedly, petrol cars now only contribute to twenty percent of the new car sales (during the time of writing this review). What this means is that the niche market of performance petrol cars has grown even smaller. In fact, affordable performance icons like the Fiesta 1.6S have been killed by its maker. The new Fiesta produces so little horsepower that even a Swift diesel can give it a run for it's money. Open stretches of tarmac, the country side roads, the twisties around the mountains – these used to echo the sound of the high revving engines when the petrolheads came out on their weekend getaways. But today, these roads either lie deserted or are covered in a cloud of diesel smoke. So in times like these, when a car decides to put together all the goodies that it has, aspiring to be the ultimate performance car in its segment – it sounds like a stupid idea. Or does it? Enter the Skoda Laura vRS!

Let us begin with how it differentiates itself from the stock Laura.

Design

The clothes that the Laura wears for the vRS guise completely set it apart from the stock Laura TSI that you seldom see on the road. Up front, you get the same swept-back headlights, the chrome-lined grille and the same bonnet with the prominent crease running into the Skoda badge. However, the vRS version gets a much beefier front bumper. It gets an integrated lip-spoiler, a much bigger air dam, redesigned fog-lights and the distinctive LED parking lamps that seem to be inspired by the daytime running lights (DRLs) that you get on bigger German cars.

At the back the vRS gets a meatier bumper that adds substance to the otherwise elegant butt of the stock Laura. The chrome-plated twin tailpipes further help the cause. The most significant add-on though, is the spoiler. These days it seems to be a necessity for a vehicle to have one, if it claims to be a performance car. What this spoiler also does, is bring back the memories of the legendary Octavia vRS which had become a rage for many enthusiasts. 

The side profile of the Skoda Laura vRS is to die for. The typical three-box proportions, the long and aerodynamic front-end, the spoiler sticking out at the back and the low-slung stance, will plaster a wide smile on any tuner-car enthusiast’s face. The design of the alloys is a little disappointing though – probably because the ‘spider’ alloys on the Octavia vRS looked way too cooler. 

Compared to the stock Laura, the vRS looks like a true blue sports sedan and can even give the likes the Chevrolet Cruze a run for their money, when it comes to posing with a sporty stance.

Also Read:

Skoda Laura vRS User Experiecne Review

Skoda Laura vRS Performance Review