Comments on: 2007 Skoda Octavia RS

By: Mick

Mick — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:25:40 +0000

Took Delivery of my Race Blue RS Combi 4 weeks ago, and every moment since then I just could not wait to drive it! I had a Golf V FSI, and this thing beats it in everything from quality, space, functionality and looks surprisingly enough. I turn a lot of heads everywhere. I highly recommend it. I can now even get to 100km in second gear! Wow.

By: Giles

Giles — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:06:59 +0000

I bought a vRS Wagon in Dec 07, what a machine.. build quality and interior is better quality than the respective GTI golf. And well the Wagon carries more than anything of its size in the market place. Simply an amazing wagon. Nearly 5000klms on mine now and its shear cleverness shows though daily with its abilities. As Skoda say in their adds.. simply clever, which it is.

By: ROB

ROB — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:59:13 +0000

Have just ordered a Octavia 4×4 2.o l diesel Elegance wagon 6 sp manual,,it is the perfect car,super practical,ecomical and a great drive,it runs rings around Suburus,my god they are gas guzzlers and nothing touches ir for the price.At moment have desel golf,great little car but every where,/w\Was going to buy a new Diesel GT but the skoda is unique.
Rob

By: jared

jared — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:38:11 +0000

after centuries of being a hotbed of industrial and creative prowess, it was indeed sad when the czech republic (aka bohemia, and as a part of czechoslovakia) was pulverised by the communist fist. now, finally, they are really re-emerging.

i spent some time in hungary and czech two years ago and had a chance to admire these pretty cars and hear first hand about what a reliable and practical vehicle they are, not to mention a quite capable driver’s car if one is so inclined. they are not an audi, and don’t pretend to be so, but if an audi is not what you need or can afford, then what is wrong with one of these…

and just wait ’til you drive the octavia RS, a golf gti with a bit of performance compromised for a bit of practicality. depends what you’re after really.

it really is about time australians got over their size obsession and either stopped buying gas guzzling saloons and off-roaders (that never off-road) and demand their manufacturers produce a better choice.

By: Edward

Edward — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:58:51 +0000

I have to agree with you guys (Tomas and Jan, Wendy etc…) Skoda is one of the fastest growing car producer in the world, and that is for many reasons. Skoda really trying hard to keep their catchword “simply clever” cars, there are many clever and simple gadgets, quality is on the top level i think, especialy in octavia, and with the cheap plastics is not as bad as someone wrote above (maybe it looks a tiny bit cheaper than in the Golf, but the diference is insignificant), my parents has got octavia wagon 1.9 TDI 77kw manual and they can´t even say nothing negative.. For that price it´s really good deal.. Try to book test drive, i think you´ll be surprised…

By: Petcho

Petcho — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:21:18 +0000

u guys have no idea/ Skoda is one of the best cars in germany.and that means something.i reckon its better then bmw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
the engine is VW so its gonna be cheap to do service in au.

By: alborz

alborz — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:23:53 +0000

Thanks for your comment Tomas, having seen the Skoda Octavia and after our first steer, I can safely say, i was mistaken, it is a worthy car!

By: Tomas79

Tomas79 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:40:30 +0000

Alborz with regards to your comment, Wendy and Jan have said it well…

And strictly speaking Czech republic is not in the eastern Europe, just draw a line in the geographical center of Europe and you will see. It’s only referred to as eastern Europe cause during the Cold war it was under the Iron curtain therefore under Russia communist control…
But with regards to culture and history its considered a part of central Europe (which is the European engineering hotpot)

Also And considering Czechs had the world’s 2nd car in the world after Daimler. Also The Czech engineer Ferdinand porsche designed the famous rear engine that have been used in the Porsche’s and WV’s, as well as tatra’s.

Also the Czech have always been far more industrial nation then the primarily agricultural Australia, so they have had far more engineering experience, and many more their own unique brands(How many of it’s own unique brands has australia got)!

Only after ww2, and the communist control of czech autombile industry, everything degraded….

It’s fairly bad considering before the war, SKODA use to make expensive sport cars, and limousines, as well other machines such as tanks.. etc… and now it’s being cheaply pimped off by VW (Volks wagen = People/public wagon) which was Hitlers idea for a econo car…

By: ali

ali — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:54:17 +0000

2008 model
skoda octavia 1.6 cc
ned baric and caler

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 04:22:20 +0000

I was in Europe on holidays in 2005. We started in Greece, Italy and then went through most Western Europe. Seen many Skoda cars and drivers that said they were happy to drive them, when I asked them. For example taxi drivers in Greece and Italy drive plenty of them! My personal experience driving one in Greece was great and unlike in a Mercedes we could actually fit all our luggage in our Skoda Fabia.
In France Skoda has been used as a service vehicle in “Tour de France”.
Of cause Skoda is not your typical Aussie V6/V8 fuel guzzler, but good value for money quality car that in some aspects outperforms “flashier” competition brands.

PS:I heard Skoda Superb comes with V6 engine too.

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:42:12 +0000

I was going to add something more to admire Skoda Octavia and explain bit more about products made in the Czech Republic, but when I came down to the end, I can see that Wendy and Labhras already said everything. Thank you Wendy, thank you Labhras.

As you might not know Alborz, the Czech Republic was on the top of list of European countries together with Switzerland until 1938. Unfortunately because of 1939 ( when Nazis came) and because of subsequent changes in 1948 the whole country +industry was “pulled up”. (that time called Czechoslovakia obviously) Still the Czechs are known of being able to do more with less and they tried produce everything in their country. See the quality of life in the rest of “Soviet Union Satelites”. Since changes in 1990 the Czech Republic is slowly but surely coming back. E.g. Czech employees used to go for educational training to Germany. But now the educational trainings are held in the CR and tooling is produced in the CR ( I mean incl CAD design, not only casting and assembling).

Hope you at least like the Czech beer Alborz :-)

By: DELTA

DELTA — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:39:15 +0000

These cars are the official police cars of Croatia. They have been provven to be very reliable and easy to maintain.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 01:16:29 +0000

I really hope this car does well, I’m confident. I think the VRS on 18 inch wheels looks brilliant, especially in white.
Full credit to VW, but am I the only one here bored of the Golf? Even the Gti does nothing for me anymore because there’s just so many of them. I’ve driven my dad’s ‘06 Audi A4 2.0TFSI Quattro and the engine is brilliant (same engine as the Golf Gti).

I’m still quite young and i can’t yet afford an Audi and I really can’t see myself driving the German Toyota Corolla that is the VW Golf. But if Skoda can release a good quality, well priced car with the same great engines (VRS variant = 2.0TFSI), I think i’d be very tempted.

Andrew

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 10:13:41 +0000

In Australia, I am driving the 1.8l Audi Quatro Turbo Wagon, and I love it( room in the back seat only for 2 smal dogs, sorry to say)
We were driving the 1.9 l Skoda Octavia in Europe last year, 4 people, boot full of luggage and we were very impresed with it.
It used about 6 litres of diesel per 100 km, beat that. Huge boot, car very comfortable, we are looking forward to it’s launch in Australia.See how much it cost here. It is not as ugly as some of you suggest, but the Skoda Superb will be much better, hopefully it will come here soon.
There is probably no comparison of the Audi with the Skoda, although I am sure it is only the names and brands in peoples mind, because basically it is the same family, different kids.
The Skoda is surely not a car for a hot car head, but even if you have money, why not buy a car that is superb to drive and goes for ever on a little diesel?
You can even impress your girlfriend by being different.
By the way,Alborz said Eastern European thing is usually not the best, he must be an expert on Eastern Europe.
Europe was always western, middle and eastern and last time we looked, Czech republic was middle european and with a long, long industrial tradition on top of it. Good idea to read some books, before you judge

By: Stefan

Stefan — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 03:36:18 +0000

The Skodas will fill a yawning hole in the VW range currently available in Australia – the station wagon. At present if you want a VW wagon, your only option is the Passat with little change from $50,000; and too bad if you prefer driving a manual.

There are Golf and Jetta wagons available overseas – anyone know when we might see them here?

By: Johnc

Johnc — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 22:53:09 +0000

If you read the motoring mag’s from Europe Skoda are producing great cars but they still have the legacy of its past. I reckon the big problem here will be depreciation. Pick up a good secondhand example with few K’s at half the price and you might be on a winner. VW Australia have said they will support Skoda for the long term because of its reputation which I think they will.

By: labhras

labhras — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 09:38:51 +0000

I am from Ireland, and am now an “expat” in NSW… and I owned an Octavia 1.9 TDI back home.

The only thing I regret is that I had to sell it on, since bringing it into this country was simply too expensive. You just cannot break it… it never ever left me alone – and my working way in Ireland was 200km daily, combined with trips to Germany up to three times a year…. 5,000km each. The only time I had it in the garage was for service (which is not what I can say about my nice “Australian” tin foil).

The Skoda, and especially the Octavia is a great car, and in essence, it’s a VW Passat.
So, wait for October, I know I will… (and then I will sell my cheap, tin foil Korean box).

Oh, I drove the Diesel option. I filled her in Dublin, and 830 miles later, at the Dutch/German border, she went to the red “fill me now” light. I still took her 80 klicks into Germany… before I filled her. Try that with a Golf GTI… and petrol.
But, ok, I admit, I am biased…

enjoy,
labhras

By: Gavin

Gavin — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 04:04:05 +0000

Well it’s nice to see an alternative, and perhaps with that an alternative line of thinking, to big capacity V6/8s that can realistically do what, burn more fuel quicker to get to a pathetic speed limit. Living in Europe and driving a Skoda like the one soon to be released in Australia, and living in Australia previously and driving many ‘home grown’ plastic things, these feel a lot safer sitting at 150k’s and as far as build finish is concerned put to shame largely what is on offer. Europeans drive them so much here because they know its quality German engineering, manufactured in Czech- as in built to last yet represent great value for money. I suggest before forming opinions, drive one.

By: alborz

alborz — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 02:18:57 +0000

Thats a very good point Chris,
I do hope VW do well with Skoda,
the more brands in the Australian car market, the better it is for consumers.

However as far as the

Skoda -> VW -> Audi

thing goes, I think its dangerous to try and undermine VW as the “budget” brand for Audi buyers, as it may simply take buyers away from VW as oppose to gain new buyers?

By: Chris turfer

Chris turfer — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 02:15:14 +0000

It will be real interesting to see these cars in the flesh. I recall looking at the Jetta FSiT on the net 6 months before it was launched here and thought it was a glorified spin off of the Accord. Once i saw it in the flesh i could see nothing was further from the truth.

Also you need to keep in mind that VW (gemany that is) dont do anything in half measures, they would be mindful of a potential negative impact on the VW side here if anything was to go wrong with Skoda e.g. poor sales, poor resale etc.

They have taken the last 4 years from the Touareg launch to get a some what positive image in peoples mind, they wouldnt want to unravel that now!!

In theory its the Audi/VW comaprison. Same technology and engineering, just dont pay for the fitout. If you could afford an audi why would you buy a VW, and if you could afford a VW why would you buy a skoda?

Hopefully it opens the market up to a new audience who will one day then step the brand to VW, then Audi etc etc

I wish them luck!!