After three years, Skoda India has brought back the Octavia brand with a fabulous new car. KUSHAN MITRA tells us more about the Elegance
Back in 2001, the Skoda Octavia was the first large luxury sedan to be launched in India. This was a time before Audi and BMW stormed the market, the only possible competitor to the Octavia was the Opel Astra. The Octavia was bigger and better in almost every respect than almost any other car available in India back in 2001 and despite few Indians knowing about Czech manufacturer Skoda, the Octavia became very popular, helped in no small part by the Octavia being the first Volkswagen Group car to be sold in India.
Skoda launched the successor to the first-generation Octavia in 2008 with the laura. The laura which was the actual Octavia in most other markets was named such in India as Skoda continued to sell the first-generation Octavia until 2011. The name has come back now, with a brilliant new Octavia, the third generation of the car and the second one in India to bear the name.
Brands matter, Honda has realised this with the City. The Octavia is a car that was fairly well-loved and despite many of the earliest Octavia’s now being over a decade old, you still see them in considerable numbers on the road, such was the car’s build quality. But the new Octavia enters a completely different market, a much more competitive market, one where it has to hold its own to its cousin, the Volkswagen Jetta.
First up, the looks. The Octavia is the first Skoda to inherit the Volkswagen group’s fairly linear design philosophy. This is not a bad looking car, but there is a danger that all Skodas, Volkwagens and Audis are beginning to look awfully similar, at least from the front. It is not just the front, the entire car has hints of Volkswagen to it. Skoda has kept the liftback rear tailgate configuration. This fact gives the Octavia unbelievable trunk space, and given that the new car is slightly bigger in every respect, space is not a problem.
The version we tested was the top-of-the-line Elegance Diesel with an Automatic transmission. This had all the toys from daytime running lED lights and bi-xenon headlights, a panoramic sunroof and a touch-screen media interface. In that respect, the Octavia, at least in its highest specification level is kitted out very well, as well as cars much more expensive than it such as the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series.
But how is the Octavia to driveIJ With the six-speed DSG double-clutch automatic gearbox, the gear changes are smooth, although one wishes that Skoda had fitted the seven-speed gearbox instead as they have on the petrol variant with the automatic transmission. Despite the extremely smooth shifts, there are times that one feels that you are on a gear lower than what you should be on.
The engine is the 143 horsepower variant of the two-litre diesel engine that does service across several Volkswagen group cars — the Skoda laura and Yeti, Volkswagen Jetta and Passat, and Audi’s A4, A6, Q3, Q5 all use this engine, so as such it holds no surprises. It has enough power when you need it, and while not the most exciting engine, it is more than capable of doing the job. So, on the performance front, the Octavia more than holds up to most challengers.
The same applies to the interiors. The first Octavia had very functional interiors, possibly even ‘dark’. The new car is bright and a nice place to be, with comfortable seats, lots of storage and switching to lighter colours. Rear-seat legroom is excellent, and with the car most likely to be driven by a chauffeur, not a bad place to be.
Now come the toys, the Skoda Octavia’s higher-specification levels come with a touchscreen in-car entertainment and management system. First things first, this is not at the same level as the Audi MMI or BMW iDrive systems, you can only make small adjustments to the lighting and not the driving dynamics of the car. After having experienced the types of systems on high-end cars, this feels like an entry-level Android smartphone versus an iPhone 5S. But that said, it is a lot better than on competing vehicles and does give the Octavia a leg-up. Audio quality is not poor, but there is a reason Audi is higher on the Volkswagen group pecking order.
The single biggest problem with the Skoda Octavia has nothing to do with the car but with the very simple fact that its cousin, the Volkswagen Jetta, specification for specification, is virtually similar to the Octavia. And here is the critical part, the Jetta is Rs 80,000 cheaper on average at the showroom level than the Octavia. In Europe, Volkswagen is above Skoda in the pecking order, but Skoda does have a stronger brand in India, but this pricing is still bizarre.
The Octavia Elegance TDI Automatic is expensive at Rs 19.5 lakh; it is a very good car though. Yet, possibly one would spend a little bit more and go in for the attractive deals that yet another group company — the Audi A4 — has to offer.