BBC Top Gear Magazine

Skoda’s greatest hits

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01 Skoda 110 R Coupe

From behind the Iron Curtain in the Seventies, Skoda developed this glorious rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive coupe that would go on to spawn a number of rally and race car derivative­s. Style and substance.

02 Skoda Octavia WRC

Loosely based on the first ever Octavia vRS and debuted at the 1999 Monte Carlo Rally, the Octavia WRC was far from Skoda’s most successful rally car. But just look at it. It’s an infinitely cool thing.

03 Skoda Fabia vRS (2003)

The MkI Fabia vRS was the world’s first diesel-only hot hatch, equipped with a 1.9-litre turbodiese­l that made 128bhp. That may not sound like much, but you also got 229lb ft of torque from 1,900rpm. Proper grunt.

04 Skoda 1100 OHC Spider

Isn’t that just one of the prettiest two-seater sports cars you’ve ever laid eyes upon? If we didn’t tell you that the 1957 1100 OHC was a Skoda, you could almost mistake it for something from Maranello.

05 Skoda Yeti

As a general rule, we’re not that keen on crossovers here at TG. The Yeti – our 2009 Family Car of the Year – was different. Boxy, practical and no-nonsense, it was everything a proper Skoda should be.

06 Skoda 130 RS

Based on the road-going 110 R, the 130 RS was dubbed ‘the Porsche of the East’ thanks to its rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout and its success in both rallying and touring cars in the late Seventies and early Eighties.

07 Skoda Superb Estate V6

Bit of a niche one this, but when Skoda decided to give the second-gen Superb the legendary 3.6-litre VR6 engine and four-wheel drive, it inadverten­tly created perhaps the ultimate sleeper estate. We’ll take ours in brown.

08 Skoda Enyaq

The Czech take on the ID.4 (and Skoda’s first ever purpose-built EV) is not just better than the Volkswagen it’s based on, it beats the £8,000 more expensive Audi Q4 e-tron too. A practical EV that’ll do 300 miles on a charge. Lovely.

09 Fabia R5

Skoda has sold over 400 examples of its Rally2-spec R5 since it went on sale back in 2015. No car has been more successful in its class since then either, with the Fabia amassing almost 1,400 victories across the globe.

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