Skoda Octavia (2004 - To Date)
0T petrol,1.9, 2.0 diesel [Classic, Ambiente, Elegance, LaurinandKlement, 4x4, Sport, vRS]
BY ANDY ENRIGHT
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Existing Skoda customers dont seem to have minded paying a little more for a manifestly superior product and new customers have viewed the higher prices as an indicator of quality. As a used buy the Octavia makes a lot of sense, offering rugged durability with no-nonsense affordability. Heres what to look for.
Youd be excused for thinking the latest car is merely a facelift of the previous version. Skoda and their customers were happy with the styling of the outgoing model and despite the MK2 car being all-new from the ground up, the lines are evolutionary. The grille is that little bit more pronounced and the wheelarches look more architecturally sculpted but otherwise you wont need to clock the badge on its behind to figure out that its an Octavia. Rather unsurprisingly given its Volkswagen Group parentage, the Octavia runs on the MK5 Golf chassis, opting for a more comfort-oriented bias in keeping with its target market.
Given that Skoda buyers tend to be a little more mature than those who favour Volkswagen and Audi products, that made a lot of sense. The conservative styling and the high quality but low key interior also appeal to those who no longer feel the need to be the centre of attention. The rear overhang was extended a little further to give the Octavia more of a three box profile. Like its predecessor, it boasts a practical hatchback rather than the boot its stub-tailed lines may suggest.
The old Octavia was renowned for possessing one of the biggest payloads in class and the current car comprehensively trumps it, available capacity going up by 36 litres to 560 litres with the rear seats in place. Bear in mind that this dwarfs whats on offer from a BMW 5 Series, a Jaguar S-TYPE, a Mercedes E Class or a Volvo S80 and youll get some idea how huge it is back there. The Golf doesnt even compare. Fold the rear seats flat and youll then get a yawning 1,350 litres of available room.
Not a car for the agoraphobic in other words and if you opt for the estate, that seats folded capacity increases to 1,620 litres. Passenger room is similarly generous and thats important since the prodigious luggage space of the original Octavia required rear seat passengers to pay in kind. The wheelbase of this model was teased out by another 66mm, endowing it with admirable rear legroom even when the front seats are occupied by long limbed adults. Rear headroom is better than the swooping roofline would suggest, helped in no small part by a slightly more generous seat back recline than in many such cars.
The fascia wont surprise too many, again being a development of the old cars styling themes. The Venetian blind air vents and the no nonsense switchgear are recurrent themes but the quality was improved still further. Whereas the old Octavias dash was very well screwed together but made of noticeably cheaper materials than the Golf, the expensively slush-moulded finishes of the current Octavia bear comparison with the best in class. True, theres no soft touch damping in the grab handles but even Volkswagen and Skoda brand managers need something to get all protective and bickery over.
You wont need much more than £7,200 to get your hands on an 04 plated Octavia 1.4-litre Classic although many would feel that it was money well spent to cough up another £600 and land a 1.6-litre model instead. The 1.
6-litre FSI-engined model opens at £9,100 in Ambiente trim on an 04 plate with an estate weighing in at £10,800 on a 54 registration. The 1.9-litre TDI represents a workable diesel option which prices starting at £8,700 for a Classic hatch and rising to £11,800 for an 04-plated Elegance, but the 2.0-litre diesel is so much better its worth holding out.
These are available from £11,000 in Ambiente trim on an 04 plate. The racy vRS is still in very short supply and it may be worth waiting a while to take advantage of wider choice.
Ask a Skoda dealer what goes wrong with Octavias and youre likely to have a short, if slightly dull, conversation. In the words of one dealer, Octavias are bulletproof. Certainly, theyre every bit as well put together as a VW Polo or a Golf a fact confirmed by VW Group in-house surveys. Still, check for wear to loading floors on the estate models and make sure that servicing has been properly carried out.
(Estimated prices, based on a 2005 Octavia Ambiente 1.6) An alternator is a big ticket item at around £450, while a clutch assembly is around £215, making these parts of the Skoda ownership experience as upmarket as Volkswagen claim. Front brake pads are a reassuring £40 a pair, whilst somebody must have employed a pre-VW Skoda accountant when radiators were priced at £90. A starter motor is around £135, whilst a replacement headlamp is just over £100.
The Octavia drives pretty much as youd expect assured, comfortable but nothing too sporting. The vRS is the anomaly a sporty hatch that handles almost as well as a Golf GTI and the almost is crucially important to Volkswagen Group brand managers. These days, even the more comfort biased chassis are so competent that it takes a genuinely ham-fisted development to result in a car thats no fun to drive. The latest Octavia benefits from Volkswagens quest to endow the Golf chassis with Ford Focus-style driving manners.
Even with the wick turned down a good few notches, it cant help but feel extremely capable when stitching a series of bends together. The steering feels like a good hydraulically assisted set-up but is in fact electro-mechanically assisted. Many of the early versions of this steering set-up felt unacceptably artificial but the Octavias helm feels meaty and rewarding at speed, reverting to fingertip light at parking speeds. Impressive stuff.
The gearchange is light and positive and the multi-link rear suspension keeps the sort of bump and thump that often afflicts cars with more rudimentary torsion beam setups at bay. Engine-wise, prepare to be faced with a 75bhp 1.4-litre, a 115bhp 1.6-litre FSI, a 150bhp 2.
0-litre FSI and the 200bhp 2.0-litre turbo powerplant found in the vRS if you choose petrol power. Opt for diesel and theres a 105bhp 1.9-litre entry-level TDI with a torquey 140bhp TDI acting as the flagship diesel engine.
If you prefer your Octavia to be the bit nimbler, the 115bhp 1.6-litre FSI engine represents probably the best balance between poise and power. The 2.0-litre TDI diesel is the car that many will be drawn to as it also offers a version of the VW Groups fantastic DSG dual clutch gearbox, albeit without the F1-style paddle shift.
Another option is the 4x4 Octavia Estate, models of which give improved traction without sacrificing interior space.
If youre comfortable with your self image such that you dont need an ego-boosting badge to prop it up, you should find something in the Octavia line up to your liking. The 1.6-litre FSI and the 2.0-litre diesel remain the standout models but there are some interesting alternative options such as the 4x4 estate and the punchy vRS.
