Skoda Octavia I test drive - 2010 -

Non -poor relative

The new Octavia car is very practical and comfortable. And in terms of pleasure from driving, it is not inferior to its German relatives.




A pleasant coincidence
I somehow did not expect this from her. I mean this ability to pass turns. Just a couple of weeks ago, on this very road, I admired the controllability of Audi-A3. And now suddenly again felt the joy of communicating with the driver.
 

Squeezing a leather steering wheel, I aim at the next turn, I push the second, turn the steering wheel to the right and begin to slowly press the floor gas pedal.
 

How wonderful Octavia does it! It doesn’t fall to the side, just a song does not break into the skid. The steering wheel is poured with a pleasant weight. This is what a truly clear, transparent steering control is: I seem to feel the wheels with my own palms.
 

What kind of miracles, why did Skoda learned to ride like Audi? But miracles, as you know, are only in fairy tales. In our case, everything is simple: these cars are close relatives. The new octavia and audi-A3 are built on one platform, have the same wheelbase, almost identical schemes of the front and rear suspensions. And also both cars have steering with an electromechanical amplifier. Agree, it would be strange if, with such a close relationship, they would noticeably differ from each other in terms of controllability.
 



Follow your appearance
Everyone knows from the status of Skoda to compete with Audi. But this does not mean at all that the new Octavia next to the same A3 should look like a poor relative who came from the county town for a couple of days to the capital. At first glance, there are few changes in the appearance of Octavia. Her features were somewhat sharpened, sloping and roundness gave way to flat faces converging at pronounced corners. Stylish mirrors with built -in repeaters of the turns of the turns of Czech clearly borrowed from her eminent relatives.
 

All this, together with the headlights, crawled on the wings, narrowed to the front of the hood with the inscribed trapezoid of the radiator grille and the quadrangles of the fog lights, creates a more strict and modern look. I would even say some important.
 

A considerable price speaks of importance and increased requests. A modest amount of $ 19 011 can be called a stretch. And this is for a car, in which, in addition to the driver's pillow and ABS, nothing will be absolutely.
    
For every taste

Like senior German comrades, Skoda has three configurations. In the basic (from $ 19 011) you can choose a 102-horsepower gasoline engine or 105-horsepower diesel, a mechanical or automatic box. The most expensive in this configuration will be a machine with a turbodiesel and an automatic machine costs $ 25,933.

About $ 750 is more expensive for the performance of an ambient. It is richer on a route computer, electric windows, in parts folding the rear seat, a second lamp in the cabin, an external thermometer, electric drive and heating of mirrors, black protective moldings and aluminum inserts in the cabin. In this configuration, you can already get a car with a 140-strong 2-liter turbodiesel and a 6-speed manual box for $ 26 107.
 

The most expensive Octavia is the execution of Eleans. For $ 2150, the car will be equipped with a pillow for a passenger, central armrests, separate climate control, an electric rear view mirror, fog lights, front seats with lumbar adjustments, a central lock with DU and carbon inserts.




Work on mistakes
It would be naive to assume that someone will once buy a car in such a configuration, especially for that kind of money. However, the Czechs do not hide that they intend to dilute their two models on the market. Octavia of the first generation, which they plan to save on the conveyor until 2008, is assigned the role of the budget option. And the new car is designed for more wealthy buyers. That is why we chose a car in the most luxurious configuration of Eleans.
 

You probably thought that I immediately reached for the handle of the driver's door in order to quickly sit behind the wheel? Not at all, I started with the back row of seats. Indeed, in the former Octavia, with all of it, not very small sizes, only adolescents could get comfortable. Or, excuse me, the poorest relatives.

But not for the sake of statistics, the new octavia was made 65 mm longer. Outside, this, of course, does not catch his eye, but, barely opening the back door, you understand what all these millimeters have gone. Now, certainly there is no need to talk about the lack of space for passengers, three men will be sustained on the back sofa of a normal addition of an increase of a meter of eighty. Moreover, with their tops and knees, they will not polish the ceiling or back of the front seats. And the two there are completely free.
 

But in the driver's place I liked even more. The interior pleasantly surprised by German thoroughness and solidity. Somehow even unexpectedly meet such a luxury in a popular class car. The quality of materials cannot be held. Soft to the touch, a non -temporary plastic of the front panel, the inserts under the carbonate is no worse than in the audi. The seat is tough, with a lumbar subpoen, however, for my complexion is somewhat narrow, equipped with a complete set of settings, and it was not difficult for me to find a convenient position. The steering wheel can be adjusted both in height and in the corner of inclination, which is also very convenient. There is a separate climate control, and as many as two ... refrigerators. One of them is a couple of tin cans with soda hides in the central armrest, the second was arranged in a glove box. And also, for all convenience for the sake, the salon is simply replete with many cup holders and pockets. By the way, the BMW golf class has not a single cup holder in the salon. But this is me, by the way ...

 
   
New Oktavia without Okhoschnik does not do

The road computer is very convenient, but is available only in the assemblies of the ambient and eleganes

Ordinary boxing is easy to turn into a refrigerator: just open a special damper


However, in fairness, it is worth admitting that this Octavia is not enough. For example, a normal dashboard. The disks of the speedometer and a tachometer with a small circular digitization, suspiciously reminiscent of the timer of the washing machine of the factory Vladimir Ilyich, will please only the large original. Yes, and the miss came out with the audio system. In the most, as we have already said, a luxurious Eleance configuration for $ 23,500 instead of it is a small rectangular container. The case, of course, is fixable, for a separate $ 488 radio can be ordered. We are not poor relatives ...

 
  
The main plus of the Octavia Salon II spacious rear row

And without that, the big trunk became even more spacious
 
Front seats with a full set of adjustments the property of the most expensive octavia

With such wide wings, you need to be extremely neat so as not to scratch them with an exposure to the hood




In the snow flying from the sky
A lively wipers easily straighten out with tumbled flakes of snow. Let them work for themselves, this bad weather does not bother me at all, because Octavia has a wonderful ESP dynamic stabilization system. And it helps it very well does not need to dose the force on the gas pedal with pharmaceutical accuracy. When the wheels begin to slip, the anti -circus system enters into action, if one wheel falls on the rolled snowball and tries to rotate frantically, the front differential blocking is turned on, just a sight for sore eyes. Thanks to such assistants, I succeeded in relatively frisky starts and overtaking so dangerous in such weather by waging the stern of classic Lada. So the future owners of Octavia strongly recommend not saving $ 576 and equip your ESP car will not regret it. It was also possible to brake quite tolerance without drift or demolition. The brake pedal is very informative, and if, nevertheless, the wheel lock has come, ABS helps.
 

In general, it is nice to manage Octavia, it is very reliable and predictable. The suspension itself is gallantry: in calm modes it smoothes most of the defects and irregularities of the asphalt. Yes, and with active driving it does not throw a knee.
 

The engine appeared as correct. Unless somewhat sluggish on the bottoms, but in the medium -speed zone, all of its 102 horses are noticeably reviving and confidently driving a car weighing 1255 kg. And if you do not allow the tachometer arrow to fall below 3000 rpm, it will not be boring at all, just have time to wield a lever of a mechanical gearbox. By the way, the switching mechanism pleased with its clarity. Of course, there will be those who will not inspire acceleration to 100 km/h for 12.3 s. But for such haste in the reserve of Octavia, a 140-horsepower turbodiesel. With it, the car exchanges a hundred in 9.6 seconds.
 



Features of national love
We leave the numbers with suffering a thirst for speed, and we ourselves turn to the chairs. More precisely, suitcases, bauls, boxes and other prosaic things that many of us tend to load our car. For such octavia, the car is indispensable. Indeed, for most of our compatriots, it is extremely important that they go not on anything, but on the sedan. But when it is necessary to transport anything bulky, you have to pay for this love with the driver of the hired gazelle. The owners of this Skoda simply will not have such problems. In the profile of the Octavia body, a spilled classic sedan-nonsense, but in fact it is a hatchback with the fifth door and all the advantages that are possible. You will be able to find such a huge trunk for a modest car size in the compactwan. It simply affects 560 liters with its volume of 560 liters, and if you fold the rear seat, all 1350 are obtained. Imagine how many New Year's gifts you can push here. What are gifts, you can put a Christmas tree.
 

In a word, Skoda seemed to me an exceptionally right car. And it looks attractive, and the salon is modern and comfortable, and the car rides with dignity. Octavia became almost a German. But will she be able to convince buyers that almost German money needs to pay for it? Big question.

 
PER

Good handling, spacious interior, large and comfortable trunk, high quality finishes
VS

High price
 
Skoda Octavia 1.6

general information
 
Body (number of places/doors)
Hatchback Sedan (5/5)
 
Equipped mass, kg
1255
 
Length x width x height, mm
4572x1769x1462
 
Base, mm
2578
 
Acceleration time 0100 km/h, with
12.3
 
Speed, km/h
190
 
Fuel consumption, l/100 km highway/city
5.7/9.8
 

Engine


 
Location
Front transversely
 
Design
gasoline, in-line, 4-cylinder
 
Working volume, SMZ
1595
 
Power, L.S. at rpm
102/5600
 
Torque, kgsm at rpm
15,1/3800
 

Chassis


 
Drive unit
On the front wheels
 
Transmission
Mechanical 5-speed
 
Suspension
Independent, with stabilizers of anti -resistance stability
 
front
Mollycent
 
behind
on double transverse levers
 
Steering
rack type with amplifier
 
Brakes
disk, in front ventilated
 
Tires
195/65 R15
 
Andrey Koltun, photo of Maxim Goncharov

 
 

A source: Magazine buy a car [23/2004]