Abt reveals performance upgrade for Skoda Octavia vRS

German tuner Abt has continued its tuning proliferation around the Volkswagen group, now offering a new powertrain and chassis upgrade for the current Octavia vRS. The current Octavia vRS liftback and estate may be nearing the end of their life-cycles, but both remain attractive real-world performance bargains, offering 95 per cent of a Golf GTI’s performance and capability in a larger body for less money.

Abt’s engine upgrade is based around a relatively simple software update, lifting power from the current model’s 242bhp to a much more reasonable 286bhp. Torque has been lifted too, from 273 to 303lb ft. These uprated figures are courtesy of an ECU upgrade on the standard vRS’s EA888 2-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged engine, the numbers matching other VW group hot hatchbacks such as the Golf GTI TCR.

> Click here for our review of the Golf GTI TCR

Abt has also paid attention to the standard vRS’s chassis, with a new suspension kit featuring a 25mm drop in ride height, stiffer springs and new anti-roll bars, reducing body movement during hard cornering.

Abt’s usual range of wheels and badges are also available to give the vRS a bit of extra visual impact, but overall the Octavia remains a subtle, unassuming beast, even in Skoda’s surprisingly varied colour palette.

Available now through Abt’s UK stockists, both the chassis and powertrain upgrades are also able to be fitted to lesser Octavia models, if you really want to. Or one might want to wait and see what Skoda has in store with the all-new Octavia, due later this year, and its inevitable vRS performance versions.