Skoda Octavia II 2004 test drive - 2008 -

Baikal-Amur highway

More than 4000 km from Irkutsk to Vladivostok drove to Skoda-Octavia Scout Anatoly Fomin. Photo by the author.
 
The road from Chita to Khabarovsk only build. In the bypass areas of the road clearance, there is barely enough.
 
Skoda Octavia Scout
Skoda-Octavia has been produced since 1996. With the second generation of the car in 2004, the previous one was renamed Octavia Tour. The modification of Skoda-Octavia Scout with all-wheel drive, increased road clearance and changed appearance is represented in 2007. The body is a five -door hatchback or station wagon.
 
Engines: gasoline 1.42.0 liters (80200 hp) and turbodiesel 1.92.0 l (105170 hp).
 
Gearboxes: mechanical 5- and 6-speed, 6-speed DSG machine guns (only for turbodiesel 140 hp) and automatic 6-speed hydromechanical (1.6 and 2.0 l). Full -wheel drive modifications only with mechanical gearboxes.
Configurations: individual.
Price: $ 20 49036 490.
Test car: octavia scout, gasoline engine 2.0 liters (150 hp), a mechanical 6-speed gearbox, all-wheel drive, $ 35,900.
 

The route from Moscow to Vladivostok has already been studied. However, to say that someone knows this way like his five fingers, at least frivolously. The most unpredictable section from Chita to Khabarovsk. Then it was blurred, they fell asleep there, here is a detour, there is a broken asphalt. Where the bridge is not finished, where are explosive work ... continuous improvisation.
 


My country is wide

We are not enough roads, but they are long. Ten brand new scouts started on the zero kilometer at the red square of the capital, in order to finish in Vladivostok after 18 days and more than 10 thousand kilometers. A trip that takes eight hours by plane or six days by train turns into an adventure by car.
 

Skoda-Octavia Scout requires 98th gasoline. If necessary, AI-95 can be content. And even AI-92, although it is digesting it with difficulty. Scout performance means 40 mm in comparison with the front -wheel drive machine and 16 mm compared to all -wheel drive road clearance, bumpers with unpainted inserts and panels for aluminum, pads on wheel arches and thresholds. Scout pendants, unlike just all -wheel drive octavia, greater energy and ... comfort. My acquaintance with Scout began with Irkutsk: further to the east, the most interesting section of the road for both the car and for me.
 

Czech scout

Settling behind the wheel of Skoda-Octavia Scout, and especially leaving it, you are most likely to be with the right knee on the steering column. However, this is the lack of all cars on the fifth -generation golf platform. But, sitting down, it is difficult to make claims to the workplace. Adjustment limits will satisfy anyone. The scout has an original four -spoke steering wheel and a slightly modified design of the dashboard. From additional equipment in a test car, xenon headlights with washer, an improved audio system with a chainer, leather upholstery of seats with Alcantara inserts and heated four seats. Combined upholstery is an undoubted plus: slippery sidewalls do not interfere with sitting down, but ... the middle retains from displacement on the turns and oblique ones who has not grown up to the seat in width. Speaking in a car at 16 hours a day, you become especially demanding on comfort.
 

Through dust and bumps

Only having gained speed on the highway, you begin to understand how the scout suspensions differ from ordinary octavia. Small chips and cracks on the asphalt are practically not heard. This is also the contribution of the tires Matador-MR43 with dimensions of 205/55R16. They were installed instead of the standard 225/50R17. The road clearance has decreased slightly, but due to the larger side of the sidewall they are not so sensitive to the flaws of the road. From the idea of \u200b\u200braising tire pressure in order to prevent damage to the wheels, we refused, so we did not have to go comfortably. But ... I had to donate several wheels that descended due to damage to the disk. On the gravel roads of Transbaikalia, there are many not only pits, but also stones. Another problem: due to a narrower rim into the emergency wheels (behind the casing of the brake mechanism), small pebbles fell and stuck for a long time, delighting with an unpleasant sound.
 

The main opponent of the column on gravel roads was not dirt, but dust, reducing visibility to several tens of meters. The only rain in the full sense clarified the situation, but for just a few hours. As a result, a cavalcade of ten cars stretched 45 km. The heat and dust demanded a fair voltage from the climatic installation. She coped with automatic temperature control, however, not too good. Despite the lighting sensor on the front panel, in sunny weather, especially from behind, hot, and after sunset it is cool. The adjustments had to be made manually. If the crew members have different temperature preferences, it will not be easy to achieve consensus.
 

On the asphalt, the energy intensity of scout suspensions is quite sufficient. Large waves do not count, they are able to break through anything. But on Grauder’s comb, the shock absorbers clearly overheated, and Skoda began to swing from the most ordinary irregularities. However, after 1015 minutes driving at a smaller speed or on a more flat area, the car recovered.
 

A two -liter engine with direct injection of gasoline burden, but with great reluctance responds to sharp movements of the gas pedal, especially at low speeds. Partly lethargy is caused by AI-95 gasoline instead of AI-98, which has not yet been taken to Transbaikalia. Once I had to refuel even the 92nd, and from a dubious source. Of the ten cars, the Check Engine light lighted only one.
 

Such properties of the motor determine delays in reduced gears; Sometimes you even confuse the fourth with the sixth or third with the fifth. This does not bring discomfort by the noise of the motor barely heard even after 4000 rpm. By the way, in a six -speed gearbox of scout there is no increased. The only minus is high consumption of gasoline. Only a very calm driver will be able to meet the official numbers, moreover, understanding that much more factors are affected by fuel consumption than the selected gear and depth of pressing the right pedal. On average, the Scout consumes 8.5 liters of AI-95 per 100 km. On a good road at moderate speed, the consumption was reduced to 6.7 l/100 km. On a broken grader, interspersed with asphalt, if you try to keep the average at least at the level of 60 km/h, the consumption is more than 9 l/100 km.
 

Four-wheel drive? He, of course, is needed on a slippery road. True, there were few such sites. In the summer, on the Amur highway, a couple of drive wheels can be safely exchanged for a couple of centimeters of the road clearance and tougher shock absorbers. Full -wheel drive promises an advantage on a dirty, snow -capped or sandy road. If necessary, the electronically controlled huldex coupling connecting the rear wheels works quickly and impeccably. Most of the time, the car is almost front -wheel drive, which saves fuel. The capabilities of the transmission, alas, are limited clutch. Even the touching of a loaded station wagon on a not too steep gravel lift made me pretty much fall the disk lining. However, this is the trouble of many SUVs. It is difficult to convert the power of the motor on wheels without reduced transmission.
 

From the point of view of Vladivostok

For motorists of the Far East, the dignity of Skoda, to put it mildly, is not obvious. They have a great choice of models without scout, with a slightly unusual location of the steering wheel, but the fact that Skoda has defeated the transrexian route indicates the seriousness of the company's intentions. All cars passed the road without breakdowns. Bent wheels, torn plastic and chips on the glass does not count. After all, not all drivers had sufficient experience of driving on such roads. Direct injection engines digested domestic fuel without consequences.
 

Let me remind you: Skoda-Octavia Scout is not an alternate. It is unreasonable to demand serious achievements from her. But of all the Skoda, it is closer to the requirements of our road conditions. It is curious, will Skoda ever win the hearts of the Far Eastern motorists? Let not in the coming years ...
 

Skoda Octavia Scout Comfortable car for uncomfortable roads. But for the tracks of the Far East, his abilities are still not enough.
 

+ Spacious salon, large trunk, comfortable seats, low noise, good smoothness, high stability, increased road clearance.
- High demands on fuel, uncomfortable buttons on the steering wheel, a tendency to overheating of shock absorbers on a bad road, insufficient protection of units from below, uncomfortable traction control.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: The magazine "Driving"