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Ten Second Review

A Skoda Octavia was once the least sophisticated of all the Volkswagen Group's family hatchback products. Not any more. Almost nothing has been held back for this fourth generation version. It's still bigger and better value than most of its rivals, a Mondeo-sized medium range hatch for the price of a Focus-sized one. The difference now though, is that it's clever enough, once again, to change the way you think about Skoda.

Market and Model

For the time being, the core trim level is 'SE Technology' and pricing sits primarily in the £23,000-£25,000 bracket. Plus there are also 'SE First Edition' and 'SE L First Edition' launch variants. Whichever trim level you opt for, as usual, there's a premium of around £1,000 if you want the estate rather than the five-door hatch. As usual with a Skoda, all variants get as standard a range of practical 'Simply Clever' features. In this case, that means a helpful AdBlue nozzle for diesel variants and familiar touches like an ice scraper secreted in the fuel cap and a ticket clip on the driver's side A-pillar. If you've more to spend, a 'Sleep package' can be added that'll give you more comfortable rear seat head rests, stowed blankets and sun blinds. Other extras include massaging front seats, a head-up display and Matrix LED headlights that adapt to the road and other vehicles.

As you'd expect, camera-driven safety kit provision has taken a step forward. The brand's 'Collision Avoidance Assistance' autonomous braking system is, as expected, standard right across the range, along with lane departure warning featuring steering assistance and predictive cruise control, which works alongside an updated traffic sign recognition set-up. If you specify your car correctly, you'll find that the cruise control set-up can combine with Skoda's 'Lane Keep Assist' and 'Traffic Jam Assist' systems to provide for a degree of semi-autonomous driving.

Cost of Ownership

You'll be wanting the WLTP emissions figures that'll determine this car's tax status. For the manual 1.5 TSI petrol, it's 127g/km (or 130g/km for the Estate). For the 2.0 TDI 115PS diesel manual, it's 113g/km (or 118g/km for the Estate). For the 2.0 TDI 150PS auto, it's 120g/km (or 123g/km for the Estate).

The e-TECH system that features on Octavia 1.0 and 1.5 TSI petrol models fitted with DSG auto transmission is of course the same one we're increasingly seeing on various VW Group models. To recap, it pairs a 12-volt belt-driven starter motor with a small 48-volt lithium ion-battery, which stores energy that's recuperated under braking. The setup assists the petrol engine with a small electric boost, while also enabling this Skoda to coast with the engine completely disengaged at speed on the highway, improving efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions. Don't get your hopes up too high though, as to the effect all of this will have on your running costs. Experience with equivalent Audis has shown us that it doesn't make an enormous amount of difference.

If a difference is what you want, then what you need is the Octavia iV (apparently the letters referenvce 'innovative car'), which is the brand's first plug-in model in this segment. Here, a 1.4 TSI petrol engine combines with an e-motor fed by a 13kWh lithium-ion battery pack and, when the cells are fully charged, will enable an Octavia iV to travel for a WLTP-rated all-electric driving range of 34 miles.

Summary

The Octavia name - based on the latin for 'eight' - is an almost inseparable part of Skoda's history, dating all the way back to 1959 when it arrived to designate the eighth design produced by the Czech brand following World War II. In modern era guise, Octavias have sold prolifically, enough, if placed end-to-end, to fill all three lanes of the complete M25. But those sales of course date back to a time when this was a slightly smaller and much less sophisticated car. How will modern era buyers cope with a version of this Skoda that's quite a lot more expensive and sophisticated. It'll be interesting to see.

What's clear is that like its Korean competitors, Skoda sees a future in which it no longer competes as a 'value brand'. That market will be left to the Chinese. Instead, the Czech maker wants a higher quality image developed alongside higher quality products - cars like this one. They want the purchase of something like an Octavia to be viewed not as a cheaper choice but instead as rather a clever one. That time may already have arrived.

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