Skoda Octavia test drive since 2008 -

Skoda Octavia Tour, Skoda Octavia A5 and Skoda Octavia Facelft

The nightmare of the brave soldier Schweik: three Czechs, Skoda Octavia Tour, Skoda Octavia A5 and Skoda Octavia Facelft under the German command moved to Russia.
True, sales of the average Octavia are about to stop. We gathered them together to find out which Skoda deserved retired, and who is destined to work further.
Skoda Octavia Facelft (the updated version has no additional prefix in the name, but in our test it is more convenient to distinguish in this) thoroughly. The main adjustments affected the front part of the car: a new form of headlights with a name on the side, a more impressive radiator grille and a whole bumper instead of a composite on the previous version.
In the back of the car, the rear lights and the shape of the bumper have changed, into which the retroreflectors built. Moldings fit into the updated design in the color of the body, and alloy wheels of new design settled in the arches. Thanks to Feyslift, the new Octavia developed, but did not violate the family style of Skoda. The previous model looked pale against the background of the new Superb and Fabia.
And over the Octavia Tour time, it seems, is not powerful. The model has become a classic during his lifetime, for 13 years already successfully offering customers the same thing. To date, the tour of the generation of the 96th sample with slightly different bumpers, optics and salon. The details changed: the foundation remained unchanged.
In the salon of the new Octavia Facelift, changes have occurred, especially notable to owners of just octavia, the conveyor days of which are already numbered. For example, a four -spoke steering wheel received a new design that looks more interesting against a background from a modified dashboard. However, the steering wheel with three knitting needles from the previous version is much more convenient in hand and even brings an element of sports.
The seats were left without changes: unless the materials of the interior decoration changed. But the scales in Feyslift are highlighted by white, and the indicators of the on -board computer are displayed on a black rather than on a green display. Stylish and read better. Sensors of the fuel level and engine temperature are inscribed in circles of a tachometer and speedometer.
Skoda brand dependent. The company's development is always conducted with an eye on the older brother, Volkswagen, and the Octavia models especially in technical terms of another confirmation.
The oldest in the three, OSTAVIA TOUR, is built on the basis of the VW Golf IV platform with a macherson -like suspension in the back and a half -dependent rear. And the car was definitely lucky with the donor. On the road, Tour behaves confidently: up to 150 km/h holds the road perfectly, and only at higher speeds begins to walk a little in the strip. The steering is exactly the Golfovskoye one of the best in the class.
Dynamic restructures are given to the senior Skoda easily and naturally, the rolls in corners are insignificant, and the dumb nose of the car is happy to follow a sharp and fairly informative wheel, demonstrating a purely German breed. But the rigidity of the suspension also got OSTAVIA TOUR from Golf IV. It is good in proportion to the quality of the asphalt. There is a great shakes in broken areas, but there is no swing on the even coating, the body floats over the road easily and confidently.
OSTAVIA and OSTAVIA Facelift are also built on the Golf model platform, only the next fifth in a row, generation. This means that a multi -link suspension is responsible for the complicated kinematics of the rear wheels, and units with advanced direct injection technology FSI appeared in the line of the car engines.
This transformed Skoda exactly so much as to justify the increased price all the more so since the first generation of the car continues to be produced in parallel with the new one. On the go where the additional money went, it is felt almost immediately: the soundproofing of the engine and wheel arches improved, the suspension has become more comfortable. On the lying policeman passengers now does not throw to the ceiling, and small potholes shock absorbers swallow better.
The transmission also became better: the mechanics acquired a slightly shorter curtains, and its switching itself became clearer. In addition, OSTAVIA Facelft is available with a seven -speed DSG robot with double clutch: it can be ordered for versions with gasoline engines 1.4 and 1.8 TSI while earlier cars were equipped only by a conventional hydrotransformer automatic box.
At high speed, Octavia behaves more confidently Tour sister. This is especially noticeable in corners, the maximum speed of maneuver became higher due to the rear multi -link. But in order to achieve this speed, you will have to tolerate, because the most popular motors, 1.4 and 1.6, are not at all drivers.
They have a certain spinelessness: a monotonous, slightly tedious set of speed and rigid dependence on the selected gear. Enough for the city, for a dynamic driving is unlikely. True, there is one reservation: a new car is available with a 1.4 FSI engine with a capacity of 122 liters. With. While earlier the smallest unit developed only 75 liters. With. However, you can always choose at all indifferent to speed motors with a capacity of 150 and 160 liters. With. For Tour and Facelift, respectively.
Surprisingly: the long -liver Octavia Tour has been in the market since 1996! And in 2009, the leadership of the Czech daughter of Volkswagen, getting rid of one of the three models that at the same time finding themselves on the conveyor, does not collide into the abyss, but the fifth model, which only in 2004 first got on the wheels. Skoda cannot refuse Tour services. Because cheap.
It is not easy for the Czech company to come to terms with the fact that the main influx of customers is attracted by not constantly modernized design, growing levels of comfort and equipment, but a combination of price-quality. And while Octavia Tour is alive, you will have to leave the stage fifth, sixth, seventh Octavia and so on
 
 
 
 
 

Author: Alexander Korobchenko and Alexander Mikhailov
Photo: Roman Ostanin
 

Source: Wheel magazine [February 2009]