• Summary
• What's Good
• What's Bad
• On the Road
• In The Cabin
• Prices and Specs
• Owners' Reviews

Latest Update 15-5-2012: Failure of both catalytic converters on lightly used 31k mile 2008 Octavia 1.6FSI. Quoted £1,138 by Skoda dealer; £646.80 by independent.

2-4-2012: Comment on twin wet clutch DSG by taxi driver JN under 'What to Watch Out For'

Introduction:

Forget the badge on the bonnet, the Skoda Octavia is an accomplished mid-size hatchback and quite good value for money. Although on price it competes with hatches like the Ford Focus, the Skoda Octavia is similar in size to larger cars like the Volkswagen Passat and has a cavernous boot that can carry more than the latest Ford Mondeo. There's plenty of space in the cabin too, which has a solid feel to it.

Volkswagen owns Skoda and though this is a mixed blessing, Octavias appear to be generally better built than Golfs. The Octavia has decent road manners, good standard equipment. Even the basic models get climate control and electric windows while the top of the range models are lavishly kitted out and still reasonably priced.

The Skoda Octavia was facelifted in early 2009 and given a more upmarket look with new headlights the most noticeable change. The interior was revamped with a much more sophisticated feel but the big changes came under the bonnet. The noisy 2.0 TDI PD engine was replaced by a smoother TDI CR engine (the CR stands for common rail) while a great little chain cam 1.4 TSI with water cooled turbo was also introduced.

These combine to make the Octavia an even better value proposition, but if you're looking to really keep running costs down, then the Greenline model is the one to go for. Thanks to an efficient 1.6 TDI it can average 64.2mpg while CO2 emissions of just 114g/km mean it's cheap to tax too.