Let’s face it, a standard Skoda vRS 220 is a pretty rapid estate car. And then there’s the vRS 230 which comes with a very clever electronic differential, which is quicker still. So let’s take a sensible if rapid vehicle and more than double the horsepower. What do we have then?

Revo Technik have been running since 2002, and have a good reputation for tuning work, often on vehicles in the VW stable. Like Skoda. They can sell you a gentle range of tuning kits for your Skoda but then they went and got all full-house about the whole thing and made this slightly deranged Revo Technik version.

First thoughts would be that they’d have made the car either undrivable or unreliable because that’s a monstrous amount of horsepower. With 410bhp and 380lb ft of torque, this is so far from a standard car that it seems ridiculous. Then you drive it.

If you go easy on the go-pedal then it drives remarkably like a standard car. At steady running it doesn’t even suffer worse fuel consumption. Revo have put a lot of work into making the changes seem benign at normal speeds. It has torque management on the first two gears, and there is even the ECO mode so that long-distance running is as economical as possible.

That’s impressive, you really can drive this thing like a normal family estate. Then you put your foot down harder.

The turbocharger comes from a Golf R. There are new inlets and exhausts and software and all manner of cleverness. All with the express aim of making this family estate car go exceedingly quickly. This Octavia estate accelerates like a supercar. Does that sound unbelievable? Then try this: it can accelerate from 100kph to 200kph in nine seconds. That’s the same as a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.

Performance is fairly staggering, but perhaps the most surprising thing is how well the whole package performs. The dual-clutch DSG transmission holds everything in the sweet spot for much of the time, while the handling and braking all cope remarkably well, although they have been upgraded of course.

We tried the test mule, which has had 13,000 very hard miles put on it and it drives beautifully. The engineering is to a high standard.

Should you feel the need for a Jekyll and Hyde estate car, then this is it, personified.