Skoda Octavia 2.0 Elegance Review

Overall Rating

Excellently specified in safety terms (i.e. ABS, ESP,
electronic differential, automatically via Haldex clutch actuated
rear drive, 4 airbags)
The height of the car is not so excessive comparable to classical off-roaders which positively shows itself off in an excellent highway
performance.
The rear space is not so huge as for the non 4x4 Estate
version but still is very well above average.
The design has come off very well compared to its rivals.
Switching on of the rear drive is virtually unnoticeable and is done in cooperation with ESP (a stabilisation system preventing the car from spinning,making the car's behaviour neutral in sharp corners).
The fuel consumption is as it is claimed provided the driver takes care (i.e. uses the boardcomputer to optimise car's performance)
The 2.0l engine has very pleasing and sporty performance.The fact that uses only 2 vents per cylinder might not a disadvantage as it gives the engine a higher torque at lower revolutions compared to the 4 vents (which delivers higher power at higher revolutions).
It can rides building roofs and still on the highway it behaves like a good stable front wheel drive.

As it is usual for cars built on Golf base, the back seat room is not comfortable for adults (Honda CR-V is comfortable in this respect).
Several first starts and parkings when heavy snow is on road is accompanied with very unpleasant smell. The cause is with all the evidence the main clutch which heated itself and something on its cover gets burned (this is my personal research). There is nothing wrong with the car itself (still it is shame that it does this bloody smelly mess)

I'm very satisfied with the look and driving capabilities of the Skoda Octavia MPI 4x4 Elegance estate offroader.
My expectations have even been exceeded when I found out that the car is not so thirsty as others claimed.
I can fully recommend the 4x4 Haldex system Skoda implemented in this Octavia-it is amazingly helpful if snow sets in. I can only recommend the xenon lights which fall into the extras as well as the ESP and side airbags. I tried the ESP system on an abandoned parking lot with icy and snow patches and it makes a big difference thus your life safer. It is a must to have the base metal shielded agains road dirt and stones (also an extra). In a nut shell, it is a very nice toy.

Members' Comments onIvan.'s Review

• James Brown on 10th Aug 2003

  We now have the Skoda Octavia 1.8 20v Turbo 4x4 Elegance Estate. We have tested it in all weather conditions, on and off road and it has far exceeded our expectations. With this engine rather than the 2.0MPI it has the power of a very high performance car - 0-60 in under 9 seconds. Once again the switching between 2x4 to 4x4 is unoticable so this proves itself a very good Skoda addition. The car is now underbody sealed as standard. Overall a great car to drive, look at & very very practical and powerful in all situations.