Skoda Octavia review (27/11/2013)

FOR a while there, Skoda had me worried. After a period of sustained excellence in producing cars which were not only well priced, excellently specified and well up to anyone’s standards in every critical area from design to build quality to performance and on to ride and handling, suddenly the veil slipped and we saw worrying signs of sloppiness.

First up we were disappointed by the Rapid which was initially endowed with the sort of ride quality we might have expected from a car made by the company before the Iron Curtain came down, although I’m assured these problems have now been addressed. Secondly, we were a little shocked by our initial experience of the new Octavia, the car upon which Skoda’s strong latter-day foundations have been built, which displayed inconsistencies on the handling front. Again, initial problems were quickly addressed.

But what was unusual, I felt, was that Skoda had taken its eye off the ball — however briefly — or been allowed to do so by its Volkswagen masters.