Yesterday’s Daily with the under 2000cc category was New England. So I took the Skoda for a spin. Your description that “it has a good habit of knowing what you are trying to do and gracefully going along with it” is perfect for this car. In DiRT Rally The First, the only cars I drove that fit that description were the Lancia Delta S4 (well, only to a degree, since it’s still a Group B monster that can still get out of your control), and the Ford Fiesta.
The Skoda kind of takes that to the next level though, there’s something magical about the handling.