Bargain rocket ready for take-off
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Škoda's Octavia RS wagon is a well-kept secret. So the fact that it's among the best value cars of any type to be had in the market that's fairly glutted by choice is know to but a few. The top model Octavia mid-size car is not so much a slightly cheaper alternative to Volkswagen's Jetta, with which it shares drivetrains and underpinnings, but bargain audi A4.
Yet closing in on six months since the venerable VW-owned Czech marque was reintroduced through limited outlets, the merit of the two model line-up are whispered between the knowing and the wise.
If motor hacks aren't necessarily among the latter, we generally know a good thing when we see it. While in the case of the Roomster – an unorthodox sort of hatchback/people-mover crossover – it's a case of looking hard, the diesel version was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2007.
As for Octavia, its more a question of looking for the wood among the trees, so varied is the line-up. Try 16 of them, with a choice of five engines (two diesel), three transmissions, three trim and spec levels and two shapes (wagon and sedan/hatch) piced from $29,990 to $39,490 plus options.
And, when manual-matic DSG transmissions become available for the petrol cars later this year, that list will top 20. Essentially there's an Octavia to suit most purposes, for the doughty and dutiful entry-level 1.9-litre turbodiesel to the sportiest wagon for anything like the money.
The latter is the one designated RS. Our other favourite Octavia runs the newish 118kw/250Nm 1.8litre direct injection turbo petrol engine.
In wagon or hatchback format (the so-called sedan's rear lid hinges at the roof), it deserves consideration with everything from the same engined Audi A3 to the new Mazda6.
Bit its hard to go past the RS that uses the engine and the manual transmission from the Golf GTI, especially when it exserts the lure of the electric blue wagon we borrowed earlier this month.
While Škoda plans a threefold expansion of its dealer network in 2008, a more immediate solution to the prevailing anonymity would be to drive them around a bit. We hadn't so much as reached the exist of Škoda's Botany bunker before the first passers-by asked what it was.
Later, parked hard by our Holst st offices, the hourly duck downstairs to foil the City of Sydney's rapacious parking pods led to more questions from a procession of colleagues.
To and froing among Parramatta Rd and the Far From Great Western Highway was almost to constitute a public menace, so obviously were the eyes of other motorists straying in the Škodas direction.
The unkind might suggest that this was down to mystification rather than fixation, but the RS wagon – slightly lowered, with its silver roof rails, discrete sportif touches and enigmatic badging – is discretely attractive.
Inside, the cost-saving measures as compared to the Jetta are evident to the extent that there are no metal accents around the controls or damping in the grab handles. So what?
Škoda holds Top Gear magazine's manufacturer of the year award and in European reliability surveys the Czechs are usually bettered only by the likes of Lexus. Volkswagen would like to rate so well.
The RS ambience is bolstered by the seats in two-tone cloth/leather. The front pews are excellent – both comfortable and supportive – and the driver's seats is highly adjustable, as is the steering wheel.
Whereas a Gold's instruments are lit in blue, the Octavia's illuminate in the same green as its arrow badge.
A sportswagon though it is, its also a highly practical device, with 560 litres space in the back, and 1400 with the rear seats folded flat.
The best part of the RS, though, is in what it shares with the GTI. Apart from the active/passive safety package that guarantees a five-star crash safety rating, there's the suburb 2.0-litre direct injection turbo four and that sweet shifting manual transmission.
Though at 1400kg unladen its 60kg heavier than the VW and a good deal bigger, the RS loses surprisingly little to the extraordinarily accomplished GTI. The same driver would be hard put driving the Octavia through the same twisting roads quite so sharply as the Golf, but the Škoda is the more predictable and forgiving device, even if the feel through the steering wheel is not so true.
There's slightly more compliance to the Škoda's ride, but also a surely about the tautened suspension that's enjoyable even before the grip of the standard 18-inch rubber is tested.
At freeway speeds there's some booming in the elongated glasshouse and the road rumble is not so effectively suppressed as it is by VW.
The upside is the tasty note of that turbo-charged engine is more audible.
If the RS is in essence a gussied up front-wheel-drive family lugger, there's nothing half-baked about it execution. Less tangibly, there's also the perception of driving something that only those who know will recognise as a clever choice.
Much the same sense, in fact, as was conveyed by the GTI before it become almost ubiquitous. But don't tell anymore. It's a secret.
The bottom line
The best value, most fun wagon for anything like the dough.
snapshot
Prices: $37,690(hatch). $39,490 (wagon)
Engine: 2L/4- cylinder turbo-charged petrol; 147kW/280Nm
Economy: 8L/100km
Transmission: 6-speed manual, FWD
The rivals
Honda Accord Euro
Price: $35,990
Engine: 2.L/4-cylinder petrol; 140kW/223Nm
Economy: 9L/100km
Transmission: 5-speed auto: FWD
Mazda6 Classic Hatch
Price: $36,970
Engine: 2.5L/4-cylinder petrol; 125kW/226Nm
Economy: 8.4L/100km
Transmission: 5-speed automatic
Volkswagen Jetta TFSI
Price: $39,990
Engine: 2L/4-cylinder turbo-charged petrol; 147kW/280Nm
Economy: 8L/100km
Transmission: 6-speed DSG