DRIVE a Porsche for long and you'll be overtaken by an idiot out to prove his humble daily transport is quicker than your car, even with a bend and lorry approaching fast from the other direction.

Most Skoda drivers don't have that problem. They might be fine cars but they are not the sort of machines that act as a motorised red rag to a bull - until now.

The driver of a well used VW Passat estate obviously thought this particular Skoda needed teaching a lesson in humility and put his life on the line to prove it.

A mile later he signalled (late) and turned right, having gained a couple of car lengths and, presumably, a sense of misplaced satisfaction. Silly man.

And you have to say the object of his attentions - the £26,150 Octavia vRS 230 - does look a bit special, kitted out in very bright white paint, glossy black grille, door mirrors, spoiler and exhaust trim and big black alloy wheels.

It also happens to be the fastest Skoda Octavia ever - capable of 154mph on an unrestricted autobahn and fitted, for the first time, with an electronic differential that hands out power to the front wheel most able to cope - handy in tight corners or when really pressing on, for instance.

A free flow exhaust with proper sporting tones and a turbocharger that blows a bit harder than the £2,520 cheaper vRS produces another ten horsepower over the standard 2.0-litre turbo and lets it carry the 230 tag with pride on the sides.

Power may be up but fuel consumption stays costant with an official figure of 45.6mpg and emissions of142g/km.

Big 19-inch alloys and red brake callipers pump up the visual sportiness, although the suspension itself is unchanged from the set up fitted to the (slightly) slower standard Octavia vRS.

That's a good thing; Skoda resisting making things simply too stiff to be bearable on our awful road surfaces. Instead, here is a car that feels nicely attached to the road without punishing you for choosing something more suited to a race track.

This nod to everyday practicality continues inside this special edition, where bottom-hugging leather sports front seats have natty red stitching and electric adjustment and heating, along with satellite navigation, park assist and - wait for it - a lap timer.

Very useful to clock how long it takes to get through the traffic on the way to work, presumably. Or, less likely, on a race track.

Added practicality is available in an estate version, costing another £1,200 and producing a car with a vast load area. Should you not want to change gears yourself, an automatic vRS 230 is offered for £1,390 more.

In the world of high performance cars - even ones you'd happily use every day - fractions of a second count against the stopwatch. The vRS 230 takes a tenth of a second off the car's 0-62mph time, now 6.8 seconds, but a touch slower than a quick VW Golf GTI.

So the Skoda is very slightly less of a pub talk bragger than the closely related but lighter VW, but on the road it comes over as plenty quick enough, thank you.

There is also still the sort of real world honesty you always enjoy in a Skoda. Here is a car built to take the hassle out of everyday motoring, except this one's a bit quick too.