Car: Skoda Octavia 1.4 16v S
Prices: £11,580 – on the road
Insurance Group: 4
Emissions: 166g/km
Performance: Max Speed 106mph / 0-60mph 15.3s
Fuel Consumption: (average) 40.4mpg
Safety: ABS, brake assist, twin front and side airbags
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4572/1769/1462mm
SKODA POP
Our Rating: 6.3 / 10
Lurking at the bottom of Skoda’s Octavia range is an unlikely contender. Andy Enright tries the surprisingly appealing Octavia 1.4 model
When attending a manufacturer press launch, there’s often a certain order to things. Car journalists are, by and large, like naughty schoolchildren and must be strictly managed in order to prevent them wandering off, touching things they shouldn’t and getting intoxicated. The fretful car manufacturers like to ease them into their product range gently. Drive the top of the range sports model and after that the less powerful models will inevitably seem disappointing, so it tends to work in reverse. I got into the Skoda Octavia 1.4 expecting it to be about as much fun as a thumb in the eye.
After all, 80bhp didn’t seem a whole lot of motive power with which to propel all this new Czech build quality up the road. If getting snaked at the lights makes your blood boil, you should choose a zippier motor from the Octavia line up but the 1.4-litre 16v powerplant offers excellent fuel economy and is a more satisfying engine to drive than the rather unfulfilling 1.9TDI diesel. This all aluminium 16-valve engine will get the Octavia to 60mph in just over 15 seconds and on to a top speed of 106mph. It goes about its business in a generally refined manner and, when driven sedately, will return a combined fuel figure of 40.4mpg.
It’s a genuinely relaxed engine that suits the Octavia very well. Far from being the sort of reluctant lump that you feel inclined to thrash until the valves bounce, you instead get in tune with the Octavia 1.4 and life seems to take on a more unhurried pace. Everybody else suddenly appears tense, nervous and stressed. There are no flashy transmissions offered, just a simple, light action five-speed manual shift.
It’s hard to get overly bamboozled by the sales proposition either. Just one trim level and body style is offered, the five-door S, priced at around £11,500. There’s no SE, Elegance or any other trim options or an estate bodyshell available. So what does your money get you? Quite a lot as it happens. Skoda have long campaigned on the basis of offering a good deal of car for your money and the latest Octavia is no exception. A good deal bigger than most of its direct rivals it offers a decent complement of safety kit. ISOFIX child seat fixings, twin front and side airbags, anti-lock brakes, a front passenger seat airbag deactivation switch and five three-point seat belts are all fitted as standard. Electric front windows, electrically operated/heated door mirrors and a CD stereo won’t remind passengers they’re in the entry level car.
Launched in 1998, the original Octavia sold more than a million units. If you parked every Skoda Octavia ever built end to end they’d form a queue that ran from the Mladá Boleslav plant in the Czech Republic all the way to London. That’s a lot of Skodas, a whole heap of satisfied customers and a big burden of expectation placed upon the broad shoulders of the latest car. Fortunately it’s well up to the task.
Rather unsurprisingly given its Volkswagen Group parentage, the Octavia runs on the latest Golf chassis but opts 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 makes a lot of sense. The conservative styling and the high quality but low key interior will also appeal to those who no longer feel the need to be the centre of attention.
The rear overhang has been 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 big
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