Skoda Octavia review: still one of the best family cars ever
Normally, when a manufacturer tells us about the new paint colours that are part of a mid-life facelift, it’s a bad sign. If the colour chart is the headline news, five will get you 10 that there isn’t much else of novelty.
So the news that the latest Skoda Octavia is offered in a pair of rather violent paint schemes has come as a bit of a concern. After all, this is one of our favourite family cars, a pleasingly down-to-earth riposte to SUV alternatives – both metaphorically and physically.
Unfortunately for fans of lurid colour schemes, neither the eye-watering Hyper Green nor the searing Phoenix Orange will be available in the UK, for the foreseeable at least. Hmm.
So what else is new? Has Skoda brought enough tweaks to the party to keep the Octavia fresh? Has it done what it needs to to keep this family favourite at the head of the pack?
Pros
Huge boot
Extremely comfortable
Plush interior
Cons
Petrol engines can feel weak
Fiddly touchscreen
Best versions don’t come cheap
Colour blind
The most obvious tweak is to the front, although “obvious” is being generous. Look hard and you will find a little kink where the lower edge of the headlights flicks down to blend into the grille. That’s the extent of the changes.
At the back, the cosmetic tweaks are even more minor, if that’s possible; there are new lights with whizzy scrolling indicators as an optional extra. Inside, meanwhile, the central touchscreen is larger and there’s a smattering of new, more sustainable materials.
Under the bonnet, a bit of sad news: entry-level models now get a de-tuned 115bhp version of the slightly lacklustre 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine instead of the zippy 1.0-litre three-cylinder unit we knew and loved.
There’s also a 148bhp 1.5-litre with a manual gearbox. If you want an auto, you can spec the same pair of engines with the same power outputs, albeit with a mild hybrid set-up bolted on.
Interestingly, there’s no new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) option for the time being. The handful of buyers that still choose diesels, however, are well catered for with a 2.0-litre unit with 115 or 148bhp, the former with a manual gearbox and the latter with an auto.
At the top of the range, meanwhile, will sit the sporty vRS, whose 2.0-litre petrol turbo will get a boost to 261bhp when it turns up later this year.
Touch sensitive
From the driver’s seat you will notice that the Octavia’s one notable bugbear remains: the touchscreen. Yes, the system has had myriad improvements since its disastrous launch a few years ago, but it still feels laborious to use at times.
And having the climate control settings displayed permanently on a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, while a sensible alternative to Volkswagen’s irksome (and, until recently, unilluminated) sliders, is no substitute for physical climate control buttons. Indeed, we were rather hoping the Octavia would adopt the larger Superb’s rotary “smart dials”, which permit easier adjustment with less distraction, but no.
This is, however, but one blot on an otherwise impressive copybook. The Octavia remains warm and welcoming, thanks largely to the sweep of upholstery which spans the dashboard, adding a tactility and a softness you don’t get in most of its rivals – the supposedly more upmarket VW Golf included.
High-quality plastics and comfortable seats with plenty of adjustment add to the general sense of wellbeing. In the rear, meanwhile, the Octavia’s reputation for plentiful space remains – though it has to be said that it no longer feels head and shoulders above the competition. Rivals such as the Golf, Seat Leon and Honda Civic offer similar amounts of room.
Where they can’t match the Octavia is in the boot. The vast, 600-litre luggage compartment of the hatchback bests any car of this size and type, while the boot of the estate version offers a whopping 640 litres; to put that in context, the boot of the outgoing Superb estate, itself one of the largest around, had only 20 litres more.
A case for diesel
My first test car has the more powerful of the two diesel engines. This unit is quite gruff, but its broad spread of low-down torque suits the Octavia. Given diesel’s fall from grace, though, it’s likely few will choose it, plumping instead for one of the petrol engines.
These are generally quieter while cruising, although we’ve found all Volkswagen Group cars with this engine tend to get boomy and coarse when they’re extended, and the Octavia is no exception.
In manual cars, this trait is more noticeable because of a relative lack of low-down urge, which means you have to hold it in gear or change down and rev it to get meaningful acceleration, especially when heavily laden.
The 148bhp mild hybrid is better, in part because of the boost from the 48-volt starter-generator lower down the rev range – but mostly because the automatic gearbox does the gear-changing for you.
As a result, you notice that torque trough far less; it’s more relaxing, as you don’t have to row through the gears yourself every time you need anything more than glacial acceleration.
That makes it the engine and gearbox combination of choice if you can’t bring yourself to choose the diesel. Trouble is, it also works out quite costly; for about ￡1,000 less, Toyota will sell you a similarly equipped full hybrid Corolla that will feel more lively, get better fuel consumption and have a stronger reputation for reliability.
Comfort class
Having said that, the Corolla won’t feel as classy inside – and nor will it ride as well. I tested the Octavia on potholed and patchy country roads in the Czech Republic, as well as the smooth motorway back to Vienna airport, but it didn’t really matter where I went because the Octavia felt pillowy soft in every situation it encountered.
Indeed, the biggest surprise was that the nominally “sportier” Sportline version felt marginally more compliant. Ordinarily you’d expect its larger wheels and stiffer, lower suspension to ruin the ride quality, but in this case they seem to lend a sense of tighter body control and cancel out the slight waft you get off the tops of bumps in the ordinary SE L, without having any noticeable impact on the Octavia’s ability to damp out imperfections.
Yet even in the SE L, this softness doesn’t compromise the Octavia’s ability to negotiate corners. Turning in, the nose follows your instructions faithfully, the body leans only a fairly modest amount and the car tracks crisply the line you’ve chosen. There’s not a great deal of feedback, and you won’t find the Octavia that exciting, but its tidy handling is at least satisfying – and it’ll keep you safe in an emergency manoeuvre.
The Telegraph verdict
The tweaks may not be major, then, but they probably didn’t need to be. The Octavia is still a tremendous all-rounder and undoubtedly sets the class standard for both comfort and space.
It’s true that the relative weakness of the non-hybrid 1.5 is disappointing. What’s more, choosing the mild hybrid to get around this problem pushes up the price, making rivals look better value and cheaper to run. And Skoda still hasn’t quite ironed out all of the problems with the touchscreen set-up.
But none of these is a deal-breaker. Stump up for the mild hybrid and you’ll have one of the easiest-to-drive, most relaxing, practical and useful family cars there is. And when the boot is full of luggage and the kids are asking if you’re nearly there yet, you might think that extra cost was worthwhile.
The facts
On test: Skoda Octavia 1.5 TSI e-TEC 150 SE L DSG
Body style: five-door hatchback (also available as a five-door estate)
On sale: now
How much? ￡33,290 on the road (range from ￡26,775)
How fast? 142mph, 0-62mph in 8.5sec
How economical? 57.3mpg (WLTP Combined)
Engine & gearbox: 1,498cc four-cylinder petrol engine, seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, front-wheel drive
Electric powertrain: 48V electric starter/generator motor with 0.5kWh battery
Electric range: 0 miles
Maximum power/torque: 148bhp/184lb ft
CO2 emissions: 112g/km (WLTP Combined)
VED: ￡210 first year, then ￡180
Warranty: 3 years / 60,000 miles
Spare wheel as standard: no (optional extra)
The rivals
Toyota Corolla 1.8 Hybrid Design
138bhp, 61.4mpg, ￡32,140 on the road
Enter the Corolla from the Octavia and you’ll likely notice that, while well screwed together, it feels just a little more plasticky. The switchgear clicks less sweetly, there’s more of a sheen to the dashboard, and so on. But what the Corolla gives away in plushness it wins back in dependability. This is probably Toyota’s best family car ever; in this form, it is – just – a better all-rounder than the Skoda.
Volkswagen Golf 1.5 eTSI 150 Style
148bhp, 53.0mpg, ￡31,425 on the road
Volkswagen is supposedly a more premium brand than Skoda, so it’s a surprise that this Golf, the Octavia’s sister car, undercuts it by almost ￡2,000 – and it shows just how expensive the Octavia has become. Saying that, the Golf feels more utilitarian inside and isn’t quite as supple; you’ll have to live with more infuriating touch-sensitive tech, too.
Vauxhall Astra 1.2 Hybrid 136 GS e-DCT6
134bhp, 58.9mpg, ￡32,330 on the road
The latest Astra is easy to like, with sharp styling inside and out and a smart, usable interior. However, the back seats are rather cramped, especially compared with the Octavia’s. The Astra doesn’t look tremendous value, either, unless you can haggle a good deal. On the plus side, though, this new hybrid powertrain offers pretty impressive fuel economy.
