2009 Skoda Octavia RS First Drive Review

ALLOWING MOTORING SCRIBES to mercilessly flog your new model for more than three hours at a track is a display of serious confidence in your product.

To launch the new look Octavia RS, Skoda Australia assembled the motoring press at Top Gear Australia’s test track at Camden Airport and [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

THE NEW OCTAVIA RS is a fine machine. A dozen laps of the Top Gear Australia test track at yesterday’s launch left us in no doubt that even the ham-fisted will find it an entertaining and well-connected drive.

It also makes the perfect base for a project vehicle, in this case Skoda Australia’s Octavia RS-P (‘P’ [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

INTRODUCING THE SAME styling updates brought to the rest of the Octavia range earlier this year, Skoda has today launched the new-look Octavia RS.

A largely aesthetic update, the new model is powered by the same turbocharged 2.0 litre TSI petrol and 2.0 litre TDI diesel engines of the pre-facelift model.

The updated Octavia RS, available in [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

Talk to an Englishman about Skoda, and he will most likely roll his eyes and laugh as he remembers uninspiring, unremarkable cars produced by communists for their comrades and exported to, among other places, the UK (more recently) and Australia (back in the 1980’s).

But that was a long time ago and times have changed.

Now sitting [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

It is no secret that Volkswagen doesn’t see a future that features automatic transmissions. The old slush box is a little low tech, a little ‘old hat’ and a lot like yesterday’s news over Wolfsburg way.

As a result, we can expect to see a lot more of the fabulous VW DSG range of transmissions in [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

Škoda Australia has revealed its new Octavia model range.

When viewed from the front, the key enhancements to the new Octavia include newly-shaped, bolder headlamps, a more robust radiator grille and a one-piece bumper. The rear of the vehicle features new tail lamp covers and a dynamic bumper with integrated ‘cat eyes’.

Inside the Octavia, the steering [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

Australians are embracing diesels and why wouldn’t they? Efficient and powerful, they make a compelling case for the new car buyer’s hard earned dollars. Škoda Australia has now added a new variant to its Octavia model line up – the high performance Octavia RS TDI, with a new 125kW 2.0-litre turbocharged common rail diesel engine.

The [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

Skoda has added a new turbo-diesel engine and DSG gearbox to its performance-oriented Octavia RS range, giving the Golf-based family car a substantial boost in torque, mechanical efficiency and fuel economy.

Power for the 2.0-litre TDI inline-four is 125kW, while peak torque of 350Nm is available from just 1800rpm. The twin-clutch DSG transmission is, like the [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

Skoda is certainly on the move in this country, and the VW-owned brand is keeping a good thing going with the Australian introduction of the Octavia Scout 4X4.

The Scout is Skoda’s first entry into the Australian compact SUV segment and, according to the PR blurb, is “designed for drivers who demand equal measures of practicality [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

Škoda’s Octavia reached a milestone today, when the two-millionth version of the popular model rolled off the production line in Vrchlabí (no we can’t pronounce it either). The two-millionth Octavia was a Silver Octavia Scout 2.0 TDI.

Škoda Auto has been producing the modern Octavia since 1996 (the very first generation Octavia was produced in the [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

Skoda have chosen to release the first image of their coming 2009 Superb sedan in a brief Australian press release. Due to be unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show there is actually little officially known about the second generation Superb.

Skoda Australia suggest that their new flagship sedan will offer a generously-sized interior with a [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More

Wrapping up our coverage of the Sydney Motor Show is a picture gallery of the cars and brands we haven’t covered individually - we’ve covered the major highlights (in our opinion at least). There was a pink Micra on the Nissan stand but…well…one has to draw the line somewhere. There was plenty of bling, lots [...]

• 
• Comment
• Read More