Car: Skoda Octavia Estate 4x4
Prices: £19,040-£21,705 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 20-21
Emissions: 141-180g/km
Performance: [2.0 TDI 140] Max Speed 127mph / 0-60mph 9.8s
Fuel Consumption: [2.0 TDI 140] (combined) 50.4mpg
Safety: Front and side airbags, ABS, ASR, MBA, MSR, ESP.
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4569/1769/1466mm
GRIP PARADE
Our Rating: 7.0 / 10
Will Skoda’s Octavia Estate benefit from greater traction? Steve Walker takes a look at the 4x4 models.
The central appeal of four-wheel-drive vehicles for many UK customers is the way they look. We tend to like the chunky styling and aggressive image but failing that, there’s also something to be said for the raised suspension and the higher driving position. Skoda’s Octavia Estate 4x4 has none of the above. In typical Skoda fashion, it downplays its capability, looking for all the world like a bog standard Octavia Estate. Those who take the plunge on this car will have to really want four driven wheels.
We don’t get a great deal of snow or ice on our roads compared to our European neighbours and opportunities for driving on dirt, grass or other low grip surfaces don’t regularly present themselves to the majority of us. Even if you do live or work at the wrong end of a rutted track, the Octavia Estate 4x4 wouldn’t be the vehicle of choice. You’d want a proper SUV or at least an estate car like Skoda’s Octavia Scout with raised suspension to lift your car’s expensive bits further out of harm’s way. The appeal of the Octavia Estate 4x4 is very much as a road car. For towing duties, the security of that extra grip and even the occasional light off-road foray or skiing trip, it will make sense but Skoda freely admits that it will sell vastly more 4x4 Octavias in Europe’s more mountainous and snowbound areas than it will in the UK.
Supplying the power for the Octavia’s 4x4 system to dole out will be one of three engines. The petrol one is an advanced 1.8-litre TSI turbocharged petrol unit with 160bhp. It can achieve a brisk 8.1s 0-62mph time and a 138mph top speed. That’s quick enough to worry a moderately pacey hot hatchback and with the extra traction of four-wheel-drive, the Octavia should prove quite adept on a twisty B-road. The common rail diesel choice is between a 105bhp 1.6 or a 2.0 TDI 140bhp unit that makes sixty in 9.8s on the way to 127mph. There’s the option of 7-speed DSG semi-automatic twin-clutch transmission.
The 4x4 system offered on the Octavia Estate is a modern Haldex system that’s also found on some Audi models. It sends the majority of the engine’s torque to the front wheels under normal conditions, redistributing it to the rear when they start to struggle for grip. The extra weight does blunt the performance of the engines with the 0-62mph times of the 4x4 models being down on the front-wheel-drive equivalents. The 1.9 TDI suffers more than the others in this regard. The 4x4 transmission is not offered with the DSG twin-clutch gearbox and while the 1.8 TSI and 2.0 TDI engines get a six-speed manual box, the 1.9 TDI makes do with five gears.
In 4x4 form, the Octavia Estate looks much like any of the front-wheel-drive models. The latest facelift, which introduced styling elements of the Superb executive saloon, has improved upon the Octavia’s rather uninspiring looks. There’s a more imposing grille, topped with a thick band of chrome and the substantial headlamps flank it to form a band across the Octavia’s nose. The bumpers and side mouldings have also been tweaked and C-shaped light clusters adorn the rear. The Octavia is still no extrovert but it’s a much more eye-catching prospect. The interior revisions have, if anything, an even greater impact. Enhancements to the switchgear, entertainment systems and trim send the cabin up in class a good few notches. The gap between this and the acclaimed interiors of Volkswagen and Audi products is not a big one.
The Octavia was always renowned for possessing one of the biggest payloads in class and the current Estate model does no harm to that reputation. There’s an available capacity of 580 litres with the rear seats in place. Fold the rear seats flat and you’ll then get a yawning 1,350 litres of room. Passenger accommodation is similarly generous – and that’s important since the prodigious luggage space of the first generation Octavia required rear seat passengers to pay in kind. The long wheelbase of the latest model
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