2015 Skoda Octavia Scout 132TSI Premium review
I have always wanted to do a review on my car as I have been following online reviews for years in both written and video format. Now that I have 15 minutes free time before my day starts kicking in. I thought I'd give it a go.
- Well built quality feeling though out cabin
- Engine has enough power in any city/highway driving
- Some very unique and clever features
- Boot space is big enough for most family activities
- Rare spotting on the road
- A bit special feeling
- Cupholders too small
- No sunglasses holder
- Multimedia unit occasionally can't detect my USB
My car is a 2015 Skoda Octavia Scout 132TSI. Honestly speaking, I have not yet seen another identical Scout on the street here in Adelaide. Seriously, why don't people pay more attention to these cars? From every perspective this car is above all my expectations.
When you hear that nice 'thud' sound when shutting the door, you know you are sitting in European quality. It is one of my must-haves when buying a car.
Cabin material is very nice. Previously I have owned a a lot of Japanese cars as well as a Jeep. The Scout is well ahead in terms of materials and finish quality. Every bit you touch feels solid and well made.
One issue though – the cupholder, what a joke! They are so small, most the of the drink bottles on the market won’t even fit in them. I can only fit cans. Putting the wrong sized cupholder in is a bit unusual for a car that they put so much thought into with everything else. I mean a test of five minutes with any child will tell you that the cupholders are too small.
I have found that the rear-view camera can take some time switching on after starting the engine. I will have reversed half way down the drive way and the camera will only just be coming on. The image though is very clear and the colour is accurate and a lot better than most of the rear-view cameras on the market. It also has an issue when you are in reverse and you select radio or media and will take over the screen and you won’t be able to see the camera again.
There is another point that annoys me which is lack of a sunglasses holder. I am sure Skoda's Simply Clever design team can come up with a better design for the rear view mirror to accommodate a pair of sunglasses.
Driving is 90 per cent smooth and quiet. You can tell how much sound proofing is inside the car by comparing it to when the window is open a bit. You will notice the difference and it is huge. I often stop at the traffic light beside a bus. Closing the window brings you to a different world.
The other 10 per cent is when the car speed reaching 40-45km/h. During this range, you can feel the vibration and engine noise. You have to pay a bit of attention to notice this uncomfortableness. If you speed quickly to pass this range, you might not notice it at all.
Not sure if other owners out there are having issues with the multimedia unit. It occasionally has an issue of not connecting via my phone cord when I first start the car. I have to unplug it and plug it back in again to get system noticing my phone. I thought it was a cord problem but I have changed the cord three times and they are all having the same problem.
Engine stop/start system is quite a new thing to me. My first time experiencing this technology I was not so confident and switched off the function, but now I am used to it.
I often use the self-parking function. I found the actual parking movement is fantastic. However, when to activate the function is quite a challenging task. You see a spot there in front of you, quite often you drive over ready to let the car take over then you realise that you didn’t push the activate function.
You can try to activate it when you have driven over the space ready to do the parallel park. It is a 50/50 chance you will get the car to sense the space correctly and continue the self-parking procedure. Other times you will get the notice to go look for another park.
I generally spend 70 per cent driving in a 60 zone, 10 per cent in a 70 zone and 20 per cent in 40-50km/h zone. So, my average speed is usually 27km/h. The Scout is a full time 4X4. So, I am pretty happy with that consumption figure. I am not sure if other Scout owners have noticed this, but every so often, you will see the car clears the fuel consumption figures and calculates the consumption from new. One day I saw my combined consumption drop to 7L/100KM, I thought that was not normal. But, later on I monitored the numbers climbing up. This happened three times over the two years of ownership.
I have auto release boot on my Scout. It is a very nice feature that you can operate the boot in the car by pushing a button to open with warning alert. I often use that when I drop the kids off at school when they are walking near me, the boot will be open just in time for them to throw bags in. The kids believe that this is the magic Daddy has. But the magic is over when I have to come out of the car to push the button on the boot to close it. Can Skoda's Simply Clever team make the auto close button the same as the button in the car so Daddy can continue his magic?
There is a little clear plastic ticket clip on the driver side front windscreen. I have used that every time to slide my parking ticket in. It is great idea. It does feels a bit weak though and when I was wiping my inside window I have brushed it a few times with a bit of force and I am not sure how long this little plastic thing will last.
Last little thing that I found unique with the Scout is the wipers were designed to remove that little triangle at the middle of the bottom front screen. I think it is awesome that finally people noticed this little dirty spot which has always irritated me on my previous cars.
Finally, I am so happy with the car and indeed Skoda is an undervalued brand. I am sure I will be happy to purchase another Skoda as long as they keep their prices in the right spot like they currently have. I have no doubts on the quality as well as the service so far.