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Skoda Octavia

PITCHING UP AN OCTAVE (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Skoda's fourth generation Octavia sharpens up its act. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 72

A Skoda Octavia was once the least sophisticated of all the Volkswagen Group's family hatchback products. Not any more. Almost nothing has been held back for this fourth generation version. It's still bigger and better value than most of its rivals, a Mondeo-sized medium range hatch for the price of a Focus-sized one. The difference now though, is that it's clever enough, once again, to change the way you think about Skoda.

Backgroundword count: 217

You can trace the Skoda success story of the last few decades back to the original launch of one model: this one - the Octavia. Right from its very first appearance in 1996, this has been a car that's always super-sized its value proposition, offering more space than the class norm. For first and second generation versions, that class saw competition amongst Focus and Astra-class family hatches. The MK3 model of 2012 took a step up in the world, virtually big enough to compete with Mondeos and Insignias in the larger medium range segment and this fourth generation version continues to offer that kind of proposition. This Octavia though, is more sophisticated than ever before - and cleverer too - as it has to be to distance itself from the simpler, but not much smaller Scala model that hit the market in the Spring of 2019, not long before this car arrived. The Scala is the car to choose for Skoda motoring as it used to be, light on frills and cutting-edge technology but solid, reliable, value-laden and built to last. This Octavia, in contrast, is more a signpost to a direction the Czech brand wants to go in the future: one that shares the very latest technology with more luxurious brands in the Volkswagen Group stable.

Driving Experienceword count: 231

The powerplant range here has a familiar look if you're familiar with Skoda's borrowed Wolfsburg-sourced engineware. Volume sales are based around the brand's usual 1.5 TSI EVO 150PS petrol powerplant, which gets the brand's 'e-TECH'-branded 48-volt mild hybrid engine tech when mated to DSG auto transmission. Below that, there's an entry-level 1.0-litre three cylinder 110PS petrol unit, which in DSG auto form, also gets that mild hybrid technology. There's also a 2.0-litre TDI 150PS diesel engine, only available in DSG auto form. The top vRS sporting model offers two conventional units, a 245PS 2.0-litre TSI petrol powerplant and a 200PS version of that 2.0 TDI diesel. Like its predecessor, this MK4 Octavia uses the Volkswagen Group's MQB front wheel drive and All-Wheel Drive platform, but in this case the revised version of it that recently debuted on the new-era MK8 Volkswagen Golf. Whatever flavour of Octavia you happen to prefer, it'll come with a fresh generation of drive assist technology. Previously, the optional 'ACC' 'Adaptive Cruise Control' system (now standard) merely braked and accelerated the car based around a pre-set speed. Now, it uses the car's front camera system, GPS data and a host of sensors to drive the car predictively. So when 'ACC' is set, the car knows in advance about bends, roundabouts and upcoming traffic flow, plus this Skoda will adapt itself to speed limits as you enter them.

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Pictures (high res disabled)

Statistics (subset of data only)

Min

Max

Price:

£20,000.00

£35,000.00

Max Speed (mph):

135

0-62 mph (s):

8.5

Combined Mpg:

65

Boot Capacity (l):

590

Scoring (subset of scores)

Category: Spacious Family Cars

Performance
60%
Handling
50%
Comfort
70%
Space
80%
Styling, Build, Value, Equipment, Depreciation, Handling, Insurance and Total scores are available with our full data feed.

This is an excerpt from our full review.
To access the full content library please contact us on 0330 0020 227 or click here

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