Skoda presents a new station wagon

However, over time, curiosity still prevailed, and people returned to take a closer look at the car. Upon learning the price of the new Czech estate, one first freezes in bewilderment or skeptically exhales through the teeth, making something like “fff-f”. But after a while, curiosity awakens, and one can't wait to find out: what is Skoda asking such money for?

That's where we should start. Finding something valuable on the outside is not easy. The protective elements don't catch the eye, and the dark plastic along the lower part of the body rather cheapens the look. An uninformed person looking at such a car might think its owner is not very wealthy. Like, poor fellow, couldn't scrape together enough for a decent German car. He has to, so to speak, settle for a budget option. Not respectable. Unless it's for disguise. Say, an official drives a “modest” Czech car — and no one would guess how large his “unearned” savings are.


THE TOUCH PLEASES
Looking inside the cabin, you begin to see the light. The interior trim is indeed done to the highest standard. The dashboard visor is as soft as a pastry. Stylish aluminum inserts adorn the dashboard and door cards. Everything pleases the eye and feels pleasant to the touch.


An inspection of the underbody provides further confirmation. At the rear, there is an independent suspension — four clever links per wheel — which is hardly a sign of economy. In the rear axle works a Haldex coupling made in Sweden, adding another stroke to the justification of the price. All that remains is to lift the hood, find a two-liter engine from the Volkswagen AG concern — and all questions disappear by themselves.

And what else can you get for comparable money? There's the Audi Allroad and Volvo XC70, but they are noticeably more expensive and stand a step higher in class than the Octavia. The Subaru Outback occupies the same niche, but the base version will cost 3 thousand dollars more. True, it has symmetrical all-wheel drive and a boxer engine, but maintenance is significantly more expensive than for the Skoda.


NEED TO CHECK
The inexpensive, as we've already found out, Czech car is built on the component base of the VW Golf V and is currently supplied to the Russian market only with a 2.0-liter petrol engine and a manual gearbox. Practice from past years shows that diesel versions account for only 1% of the total sales of the Czech brand in Russia. When Timur Aliev from the Russian office of Skoda tells European colleagues about this, they are stunned. Outside our western border, the consumer is not so wealthy as to afford petrol, and 60–80% of Skoda buyers (depending on the specific EU country) choose diesel fuel.


ELASTIC AND CONFIDENT
On the highway, I was immediately swept by a wave of positive emotions from how the Skoda Octavia Scout holds the road — stably, firmly, precisely. The handling is remarkably adequate, with no body roll during lane changes. When overtaking a truck, you spend much less nerves than behind the wheel of some crossover. They really didn't skimp on the chassis here.

The combination of the gearbox and engine deserves special praise. They seem made for each other. In second gear, you can accelerate to 80 km/h at 6000 rpm, in third — to 120, and in fourth, it's comfortable to drive in the range from 40 to 140 km/h. In free-flowing traffic, you can forget about shifting altogether. The elasticity and stability of the Octavia Scout will delight even the most demanding driver.



WOULD LIKE AN AUTOMATIC...
The dirt road spreads under the wheels of this passable estate no worse than asphalt. The 185 mm ground clearance and the suspension are enough for the “Czech” to drive fast on a country road, but only if it's not too broken. The car doesn't like artificial bumps like speed bumps and potholes with sheer edges. The suspension hits the bump stop where, by the standards of an SUV driver, it shouldn't be heard yet.

Okay, let's move on. But not into a muddy rut, where smaller overhangs and more ground clearance are needed, but into a sand quarry — a kind of imitation of a beach. Briskly rolling down into a hollow, the Octavia Scout stopped, and when trying to get back up the slope, it almost immediately burned the clutch. Smoke poured out so quickly that I even checked whether I had forgotten to release the handbrake. The slope wasn't that steep, and the sand wasn't that loose to get stuck so hopelessly. I try to accelerate more smoothly — and immediately stall, not enough traction at low revs... I had to roll back and attack the incline with a run-up. Most likely, an automatic transmission would have saved the situation, but the Scout isn't equipped with one. A diesel would have come in handy too...

The all-wheel-drive transmission of the Skoda does not give the driver the ability to lock the Haldex coupling forcibly. The wheels constantly break into wheelspin. Electronic assistants try to intervene, but they do it too slowly and reluctantly, as they said in the old days — on a voluntary basis. We have to admit: loose soils with elevation changes are not the element of the Octavia Scout. But on a country road, it feels great, and driving on the highway is a pleasure. In winter, the owner of such a car will feel like a king compared to drivers of ordinary cars. In short, even though the Octavia Scout is not suitable for real off-road, it is ideal for Russian realities.