Skoda Octavia needs no special introduction. In Slovakia, it is one of the most popular cars of the lower middle class. It is part of company fleets and also of many families. She is both loved and hated. Sympathetic, if somewhat conservative design, the last facelift did not change much, but it aroused interest and caused Octavia to be discussed. However, the important thing is that it has a new engine and it will be the subject of the test.
From the outside
With its dimensions, Octavia stands somewhere between the classes. With a length of 4670 mm, it fits the smallest middle-class vehicles, while its wheelbase and width are lower than the middle class. However, the car no longer seems "narrow and tall" like its predecessors. The front part is controversial and I personally liked the previous version with undivided lights more. The rest remained more or less the same except for the graphics of the rear lights.
Blue Denim metallic looks unusual, but suits the car. The additional 18" wheels look impressive and give the Octavia a sporty touch. From the side, the car looks elegant except for the slightly longer rear overhang. The location of the rear wiper looks a little strange, on the other hand, the soft spoiler looks nice.
Inside
The main layout of the dashboard hasn't changed much across generations. However, details were gradually improved and the overall design was adapted to contemporary taste. The interior remained conservative, which suits most customers of the brand. The dashboard and center console look serious. However, I would place the infotainment display higher, similar to the Karoq model. The materials used are of high quality and the individual parts are precisely assembled. The use of piano lacquer on the ventilation controls looks nice, but it is quite impractical in places like this.
I also liked the small steering wheel, the sides and bottom of which are trimmed with perforated leather. It has a thick rim and its lower part is sporty beveled. The buttons and rotary switches are well made with good response.
Unlike the recently tested Skoda Kodiaq, I am satisfied with the instrument panel. I also appreciate the amount of different information displayed on the TFT display between the tachometer and the speedometer. The only complaint is the less legible numbers due to the white font on a gray background.
The materials used on the central tunnel and especially on the door panels left a slightly worse impression on me. I didn't like the exclusive use of plastic with no hint of upholstery. On the contrary, I praise the practically lined storage space in their lower part. I was impressed by the optional semi-leather seats, which have a nice design and promise a decent sitting position.
Driving
Sitting behind the wheel is excellent. In the lowest position I sit relatively low, the wide adjustment range allows me to pull the steering wheel close to my body. The steering wheel not only looks nice, but also holds well. I am also satisfied with the perfect placement of the pedals and the large left leg rest.
I would divide my feeling about the seats into two parts. I appreciated the sufficiently long seat and its correctly adjusted inclination. I had a mixed impression of the backrest. Its entire lower part was pushed into the space, while the upper part seemed to recede backwards. This meant that only the lower part of my back was supported in a natural position. A colleague from the editorial office, on the contrary, was satisfied with the seats shaped in this way.
The interior space corresponds to a lower middle class car. The smaller inner width is mainly felt on the right side, where the armrest is located too close to the body. On the left side, on the other hand, there was plenty of room. Visibility from the vehicle was fine in every direction, but I would have liked slightly larger rear-view mirrors. The aforementioned armrest is sliding, height adjustable and pleasantly soft.
The ergonomics of the controls are traditionally fine. At first, I did not like the separate control lever of the adaptive cruise control on the left side under the steering wheel. It often happened to me that I got the levers wrong and activated the high beams. But it was just a matter of habit.
The 8" infotainment display (Bolero) is located lower than it should be, but I liked its quick responses to touch, the resolution of the display, the large controls and their layout, and the generally fine-tuned software. It is a cheaper version of the multimedia system. Due to the excellent Android Auto/Apple Car Play support, I did not use the built-in navigation while driving.
On the road
(In the Octavia) the company's new 1498cc petrol engine fortunately still has four cylinders and is turbocharged. The maximum output of 110 kW is reached between 5000 and 6000 rpm. and a torque of 250 Nm in a wide range between 1500-3500 rpm. It replaces the previously used one-four with similar parameters. It has the technology of switching off two cylinders, which should theoretically be reflected in fuel consumption. It is exceptionally quiet and causes almost no vibrations. Its appearance resembles other modern engines of a similar concept and volume. It picks up revs quickly and provides decent thrust in their low and especially mid range. I was satisfied with the performance of the engine, except for the noticeable delay in its reaction to stepping on the accelerator. However, I must admit that compared to the recently tested Hyundai i30, this delay was slightly shorter.
In our case, the unit was connected to a seven-speed dual-clutch DSG gearbox. This combination is criticized in many tests, but I did not notice any major problems. The gearbox shifts with feeling from low revs and tries to get to the highest gear as quickly as possible. When immediate performance is needed, it can downshift by 4 steps relatively quickly. In this case, it happened to me several times that the transmission with the car jerked with the appropriate sound. However, in the vast majority of cases, shifting to the right gear is quick and smooth. I was also surprised by the slow "falling" of the revolutions by individual stages when the pressure on the gas pedal was reduced, which I consider rather a property of the gearbox. In sport mode, the transmission maintains higher revs and does not try to quickly shift up, but on the contrary uses the torque range to a wider extent. However, when the gas pedal is released, it takes too long for the transmission to decide to downshift. I would describe the connection between the gearbox and the engine as at least satisfactory.
In heavy city traffic, I drove with a consumption of 8 to 9 liters. On a high-quality road, the car is smooth and comfortable. On a bumpy road full of minor irregularities, the situation is already a little different, and road defects are transferred to the interior. I attribute it to the 18" wheels with a small tire ratio (225/40 R18). In the same way, the vehicle's crew will feel perfectly when driving over large bumps. Apart from that, driving in the city is problem-free, the car is agile even in narrow streets thanks to the turning diameter of 10.4 m. Parking is easy thanks to the rear camera and display with top resolution. The steering is a bit overpowered for my taste, which I see as an advantage in the city.
However, in the districts, the booster setting did not suit me too well. At higher speeds, the steering remained too light, with a slight play around the center position, which required direction corrections when driving straight. The driving characteristics were helped by the light engine, and the understeer starts relatively late in the bends on a good road. The simple rear axle can only be felt on bumps, when the rear gets nervous and the ESP then intervenes too early, in my opinion. The car leans more than I would have expected when cornering. On the contrary, I have a good feeling about the engine, which has power to give in every situation (taking into account its parameters). The "two-cylinder" mode turns on quite often at steady speeds. Apart from the display of a warning on the TFT display, I did not notice any change in the behavior of the engine in this mode.
I must also appreciate the work of the driving assistants. The adaptive cruise control works precisely and sensitively, the car was able to drive autonomously in the middle of the lane even in sharp turns. When the steering wheel is released, the system alerts the driver twice with an audio signal. In a row, the third warning by sharp braking is not pleasant…
I drove relatively briskly in the districts with a consumption of 6.3 l/100 km, which I consider a decent value. When driving defensively, it is not a problem to bring this value closer to the value of five liters.
I was pleasantly surprised by the willingness of the small engine to smoothly accelerate even beyond the permitted highway limits. Overall, the journey on the highway is pleasant except for the aforementioned easy driving. When there is no wind and on high-quality asphalt, the car is quite quiet. However, the side and front winds were able to reveal the Octavia's weaknesses in the area of noise reduction. Aerodynamic noise penetrates mainly from the side windows. The rough surface of the road in turn caused increased noise penetrating from the wheels.
Even driving at higher speeds did not drive gasoline consumption too high. At a speed of 130-140 km/h, the on-board computer showed values from 6.6-7.1 liters, depending on the wind direction.
Total average consumption with a driving ratio of 40% highway, 50% district and the rest city is 6.7 l/100 km, which I consider an excellent value.
Practical side, price
On the practical side, Octavia scores points. Everything is said for the huge 590/1580 – liter luggage compartment of the liftback, which also hides the travel wheel. It is deep and has a regular shape. It offers clever folders, hooks, a 12V socket and, in addition, the possibility to fold down the rear seats, with which, however, it does not create a flat surface, but I can easily forgive it for the other positives.
Compared to previous generations, the Octavia offers enough space in the rear seats, but sitting on them is too upright. I think that Skoda could have sacrificed a bit of space in the back for the benefit of passenger comfort and moved the lower part of the bench forward and thus increased the angle between the seat and the backrest. However, some people may be satisfied with such a position and would rather appreciate more space for their legs. At my height of 185 cm, I still have about 5 cm left before my knees.
Octavia owes nothing to its reputation as an above-average practical car even in the interior. The compartments in the doors, central tunnel, under the steering wheel and the armrest are sufficiently sized. Families with children will appreciate the easy installation of child seats in the IsoFix mounts and the back of the front seats upholstered in artificial leather.
With the Style equipment, the car will satisfy even the most demanding drivers. The base price of the Octavia with this engine and automatic transmission – EUR 23,530 is more than acceptable. The problem is the amount of additional equipment that drives the price much higher. I would have liked it if some elements (minimum front LED headlights) were already included in the base. Ultimately, however, the price is adjusted to customer requirements, and looking at the rising sales of the brand's models, it is inappropriate to criticize it. Skoda simply knows what it is doing and does it well.
Verdict
The new 1.5 TSI engine certainly succeeded. It is quiet, strong enough and economical. It clearly belongs to the top of modern gasoline engines of a similar concept. Despite its shortcomings, the Octavia is a good car. Maybe it's not the widest in the class, maybe it doesn't offer the best comfort, maybe it doesn't quite have sporty ambitions. However, it has something that customers like about it and that puts it at the top of the market.
