Skoda Octavia Estate
New load-lugger picks up where its predecessor left off, with a whopping boot and a more sophisticated interior On sale Now Price from £23,370
SKODA HAS CARVED itself out a nice little niche over the past couple of decades. Its bargainbasement days are long behind it and the Czech firm now has an enviable reputation for sensible, comfortable cars that are generally far more capacious than their direct competitors.
That brings us neatly to the Octavia, a mainstay of the Skoda line-up and the one that did the most to lift the company’s image in the 1990s. But it isn’t just a familiar face; it’s also Skoda’s biggest seller, so the arrival of a new generation is something of a big deal.
The Octavia Mk4 – which comes in hatchback and estate guises, as before – sticks to the nowfamiliar formula of taking the underpinnings of the Volkswagen Golf and stretching the distance between the front and rear axles to liberate more interior space. It’s a bit longer than the outgoing car, but that’s so it can accommodate extra safety and driver aids, rather than to make it even roomier.
Initially, you’ll have a choice of three engines in the Octavia: a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol with 148bhp and 2.0-litre diesels in 113bhp and 148bhp guises. The petrol engine and lowerpowered diesel are paired with a six-speed manual gearbox, while the top-spec diesel is available with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic only. In the next few months, the engine range will grow to incorporate a 1.0-litre petrol at the bottom of the range, plus mild and plug-in hybrids.
Despite having the same power output as before, the 148bhp diesel fitted to our Octavia Estate test car has been heavily revised, with improved CO2 emissions and fuel economy. Performance is strong, with acceleration feeling a fair bit brisker than the claimed 8.8sec 0-62mph time. It helps that there’s plenty of low-down torque, so you don’t have to thrash the engine to get a decent uplift in pace.
The automatic gearbox sometimes hesitates for a moment or two before responding to presses of the accelerator, but the rest of the time there’s little to complain about, with shifts performed swiftly yet smoothly as it quickly gets into the highest gear possible to maximise efficiency. Lift off the accelerator pedal and the Octavia can even ‘coast’ out of gear to further save fuel.
It certainly seems to do the job; according to the trip computer, we averaged more than 50mpg on a mixture of roads, including plenty of motorway driving, and 60mpg was possible at a steady cruise with a light right foot.
Refinement has been improved, with the latest diesel engine sounding less coarse than
before, both when you put your foot down and at a cruise. There’s more wind and road noise than you’d find in a Ford Focus Estate, though, and the Octavia’s stop-start system can cut the engine a bit too soon and take a moment or two longer than is ideal to fire back up again, something that can frustrate when you’re driving around town.
The motorway seems to be this car’s natural habitat, with the softly sprung suspension allowing the car to waft pleasantly down the road for mile after mile of relaxed cruising. On a more demanding stretch of undulating road, the Octavia can feel rather floaty over crests, while you can hear the suspension working away over broken surfaces and potholes. But apart from the occasional thud, the Octavia rides more comfortably than its direct rivals. Some might prefer the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports’ tighter control of body movements, though.
Despite the softness of its suspension, the Octavia is perfectly capable when it comes to corners, too. The precise steering has plenty of reassuring weight and gives a good sense of connection to the front tyres through the leather-wrapped wheel. There’s a bit of body lean in corners, yet the Octavia grips tenaciously and evenly front to rear. That lean means the Octavia doesn’t feel as initially agile or willing to scythe through an S-bend as the Focus Estate or Corolla Touring Sports, but it’s still stable and secure.
Inside, the rather dowdy interior of the old car has been replaced with something that looks far more contemporary. Quality is impressive, with lots of squidgy plastics around the dash and on the armrests on the doors, plus attractive trims such as chrome detailing. Even the harder plastics are pleasingly textured, and the whole interior feels solidly put together.
Entry-level SE First Edition models come with an 8.25in infotainment touchscreen with