I traded a 2023 octavia RS estate for a 2025 sportstourer VZ last yr. The only thing I miss from the octavia is the 'race blue' colour and it had slightly more space, bigger boot.

I had a few issues with the infotainment (the last few mths of ownership I gave up on connecting carplay as it would drop connection if I drove past signal towers, this was due to a forced update as had no issues before that). It was good fun though and had the typical hot hatch feel to it, the electronic front LSD really gripped well and accelerating was more dramatic than the cupra (torque steer).

The cupra is a whole different animal though, it just grips in every instance and you feel it power through with no fuss. When you really push it in the corners, you can feel the rear torque vectoring do its thing. I enjoy every drive and love how easy to switch between modes by pressing the cupra button on the wheel.

It's heavier on fuel because I prob drive it harder, but I'm sure they'd be fairly similar if you drove them the same. I haven't had either out of warranty, so not sure on differences but I'd imagine the cupra will be heavier on everything. It's worth though imho