My stepson's Octavia vRS has recently suffered a catastrophic timing chain failure. We are awaiting a full garage report but they have confirmed the problem and that a new engine will be required. Their estimate for this is around £6K, and Skoda have offered a contribution of 20%. The car was first registered on December 2009 and is thus (just) within the 6-year period specified by the Sale Of Goods Act. It has now covered approx. 60,000 miles. The car has been regularly serviced and, being mainly used by his wife, has been neither 'raced nor rallied'. According to a Skoda forum my stepson has visited, this is not a unique problem, some 40 other similar cases having been reported.