For U.S. residents, the Skoda brand is utterly unknown. Originally founded in the Czech Republic back in the 19th century, the brand is mostly known and beloved in Europe, having a long tradition behind it. However, it didn’t really grow in terms of sales and popularity until the Volkswagen group bought it. Now, the Octavia is one of the best-selling cars on the old continent. Furthermore, they even develop their own sport line under the RS badge.
The Octavia RS is basically a Golf GTI with a different body style. It uses a lot of its underpinnings and the same 2-liter petrol engine with over 200 HP in stock guise. What we have here though is no ordinary Skoda Octavia RS though.
According to the people over at Autocar India, the Skoda lining up at the starting line is tuned to make about 400 HP. That’s nearly double the power it came with from the factory. Will that be enough to beat its rival here over the standing 1/4 mile race?
On the other side of the track we have the new plug-in hybrid choice in the BMW 7 Series range. This is the BMW 745Le model which is the long wheelbase version. That makes it considerably heavier than the Skoda, tipping the scales at over 2 tons, while the Octavia doesn’t go much over 1,600 kilos.
Nevertheless, the BMW has other tricks up its sleeve. It has a 3-liter straight six engine under the hood and an electric motor to help out. Furthermore, it has all-wheel drive to help launch all of it.
Overall, the BMW can rely on 394 HP and 600 Nm (442 lb-ft) of torque and will do 62 mph from standstill in just over 5 seconds. That will prove instrumental, as you’re about to see. The BMW predictably wins the 1/4 mile race but by a smidge.
Off the line it was obviously faster, helped by AWD and the electric torque. However, the lighter Skoda was catching up towards the end and, if this was a 1/2 mile race, it would’ve won.
