Skoda Octavia Scout Road Test

Skoda Octavia

The test car is priced at £18,945, including £400 for the metallic paint, and the diesel engine version is £20,325 OTR, before extras, and there are quite a few available. Although the Skoda Octavia vRS and Scout have yet to 'morph' into the new body styling, the interior has been brought up to date in line with the rest of the range.

The most notable improvements are a new, 4-spoke steering wheel, a new instrument panel with white lighting, chrome-edged dual-zone air-conditioning controls, with extra trim surrounds extending to the new integrated, 6CD/RDS radio, with a 6.5-inch colour touch-screen, which is also used for the rear parking display.

Cruise control, powered and heated door mirrors, an air-conditioned glove box, with a grab-handle above it for the rough stuff; split/folding rear seats, height adjustment and lumbar support to the driver and front passenger seats are all standard along with many more creature comforts. Speaking of comfort; watch out for the adjustable steering column, which is just a little too bulky and I banged my knees on it on more than one occasion. This will probably be rectified when the new one arrives in June 2009.

So, the Skoda Octavia Scout offers a lot for the money and not just in terms of comfortable surroundings, some aspects of which have been borrowed from the Skoda Superb. I just like the idea that you get all the Volkswagen know-how at a 'blue-cross' price without losing out in any way, and these days, that can't be bad.