Independent Reviews of ŠKODA New and Used Cars

The Octavia name - based on the latin for 'eight' - is an almost inseparable part of ŠKODA's history, dating all the way back to 1959 when it arrived to designate the eighth design produced by the Czech brand following World War II. In modern era guise, Octavias have sold prolifically, enough, if placed end-to-end, to fill three lanes of the complete M25. Many of those sales of course, date back to a time when this was a slightly smaller and certainly much less sophisticated car. But in 2017, buyers were offered this very different kind of Octavia - one able to deliver an almost Golf-like air of quality. The technology on offer certainly matches that of a Golf though, perhaps inevitably, from new an awful lot of it was either optional or only found right near the top of the range. Ultimately, this is one of those instances where much changed, but much also remained the same. Many will continue to choose an Octavia for exactly the same reasons that people have always bought into this model line: solid build, sensible pricing and, most significant of all, more interior space than any other Focus or Golf-segment rival can offer. To that practical perspective, this improved third generation design added a welcome bit of polish. By 2017, it was no longer the cheapest choice you could make in this class but arguably, it remained one of the very cleverest. The same holds true for the used car buyer.

ŠKODA embarks on an electric future with this clever Enyak iV. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Some citycars sell on cute and cuddly virtues. This isn't one of them - and it's at its best in this later facelifted 2017-2020-era guise. Here instead, the urban runabout grew up, become mature, got itself properly sorted. If that puts off the twentysomethings who'd prefer something more fashionable, then so be it. There are plenty of others in search of an urban runabout with big car virtues and small car pricing, spacious, efficient and beautifully built. True, there are feistier small runabouts from the 2017-2020 era that you could consider in this segment: maybe more charismatic ones too. But none that better deliver on the promise of two words that sum this Citigo up. Simply clever.

The ŠKODA Superb goes electrified in iV plug-in guise. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

The fourth generation ŠKODA Octavia vRS follows a well-established routine. Why mess with a winning formula? Jonathan Crouch takes a look.