Skoda Octavia RS 2021 Long-Term Review

UPDATED 30/08/2021: COVID lockdowns over the past couple of months have threatened to relegate carsales’ long-term Skoda Octavia RS to the garage rather than carving up the mountain roads the Czech sports sedan loves so much.

But with a (short-lived) reprieve during August in regional Victoria, where the mid-size liftback is currently based, it was time to shake off the coronavirus blues with a run from Meeniyan to Wilsons Prom – the southernmost tip of mainland Australia.

It was also time to throw the key to someone new to Skoda – “That’s a Polish brand, isn’t it?” – someone who for the past four years or so has had one of the last examples of the Australian-built Toyota Camry as her daily driver.

It was an instructive Saturday arvo drive. In the Czech brand’s Skoda Octavia RS, Melody was immediately impressed with the hugging and heated sports seats, (optional) massaging function, low-set driving position, and the colour digital displays.

For someone who’d only ever driven with T-bars, gated shifts, column shifters or a manual, the first-time experience with a finger-touch transmission shifter proved so simple and intuitive it was not even remarked upon. At first.

Thirty-plus years’ driving experience meant pushing a button for Park was impossible to get used to, and for the entire day the seven-speed DSG auto was pushed to reverse when parking up.

Paddle shifters? Never touched. Head-up display? Not seen, until pointed out. And with dark sunglasses on, not seen well at any time. Sport mode? Now, there’s a thing…

For your archetypal A-to-B driver, Melody was taken by the synthesised engine noise at start-up in Normal mode, and the louder guttural tones in Sport. To her surprise, she loved it.

Coupled with the big, bolstered driver’s seat and the flat-bottomed steering wheel, the unexpected notes added to what was an immediate sense of the car’s sportiness.

From Meeniyan to Fish Creek, and then on to Yanakie, the fast, open, undulating, lumpy back-country roads are punctuated by short, winding sections, and it was here the Skoda Octavia RS turned on its charm for the newcomer.

The bark, the bite upon heavy acceleration, the firm ride, the confident handling – all brought out something resembling an inner girl racer Melody never knew she had. For, say, half an hour…

By the time we were past the gatehouse at the entrance to The Prom, hitting the awesome but albeit speed-restricted road to Tidal River, Melody was growing tired of the synth and, perhaps, the outright sportiness of the Skoda Octavia RS.

With little reprieve in Normal (the default setting at start-up, which clearly needs dialling back), Comfort and Eco modes were sought via the touch-screen, and welcomed.

A decent interval with the Octavia at rest at the base of Mt Bishop meant the return trip was a repeat affair. Sport mode, engine growl, knowing smile, heavy right foot.

It was dusk, and at The Prom that means wombats, wallabies and other native wildlife all grazing on the grassy road verge at regular intervals. Yes, Melody can truly vouch for the effectiveness of the Skoda RS turbo’s brakes from 80km/h. Ditto the automatic headlights.

During the 150km round trip on 98 RON premium fuel from Jimmy Nick’s servo at Meeniyan (the car needs 95-plus), the Octavia RS consumed just 6.7L/100km.

That’s just under than the official combined-cycle figure, no doubt due to the open-country miles and only short bursts of Melody Martin doing her best impersonation of race car driver Molly Taylor.

- TERRY MARTIN

ORIGINAL REVIEW PUBLISHED 13/07/2021: While the 2021 Skoda Octavia range starts from $30,390 plus on-road costs for a 1.4-litre 110TSI Ambition model at entry level, the Skoda Octavia RS costs $47,790 for the sedan on test, or $49,090 for the RS wagon (both plus ORCs).

All models come as standard with a flat-bottom steering wheel, transmission shift paddles, privacy glass, LED headlights, ambient lighting, power windows and power mirrors. Added features for the mid-range Octavia 110TSI Style comprise fold-in and heating functions for the external mirrors, along with full matrix headlights.

The Octavia RS rides on 19-inch alloy wheels – in lieu of 18-inch alloys – and ride height is lowered by 15mm.

Items that are specific to the RS models include red disc brake callipers, leather and fabric upholstery combination, sports front seats, carbon-fibre dash trim and Alcantara door card upholstery. Exterior details are finished in black.

All models are equipped as standard with a Virtual Cockpit, eight-speaker audio, 10-inch infotainment touch-screen, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Satellite navigation is standard for the Style and RS models, and the RS model is unique in offering digital radio.

The test vehicle also came with a $6500 premium pack, which includes three-zone climate control, a 12-speaker Canton audio system, drive mode selection, mechanical sun blinds for the rear seat passengers, memory/auto-dimming for the external mirrors, adaptive chassis control, electric adjustment with memory function for both front seats, plus some other gadgets.

Skoda offers a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty with one year of roadside assistance. The service intervals are 12 months or 15,000km, and Skoda dealers will sell you capped-price servicing for $800 (three years/45,000km) or $1400 (five years/75,000km).

ANCAP has rated the 2021 Skoda Octavia five stars for crash safety, based on the 2019 testing protocol and using data from Euro NCAP.

The Octavia scored 92 per cent for adult safety, 87 per cent for child safety, 73 per cent for vulnerable road users and 79 per cent for safety assist.

Right across the range, the Skoda Octavia is equipped as standard with forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking (AEB). The system is sensitive to pedestrians and cyclists too, according to the manufacturer.

Other safety features consist of lane assist, driver emergency braking lights, static cornering lights, tyre pressure monitoring, fatigue monitoring, reversing camera, front/rear parking sensors and multi-collision braking.

The Octavia RS has 10 airbags rather than the eight of the entry-level Octavia, the extra two being side-impact airbags for rear seat occupants.

And the Octavia RS on test has reverse AEB – which certainly works. It slammed on the anchors for an overhanging branch in the driveway, much to my wife’s shock.

Powered by the same engine under the bonnet of the Volkswagen Golf GTI, the 2021 Skoda Octavia RS is four tenths of a second slower to 100km/h (6.7 versus 6.3 seconds for the VW), but is also slightly more economical – 6.8 to 7.0L/100km.

So you’re getting Golf GTI mechanicals in a roomier, more practical package.

Along with the power delivery of the turbocharged engine, drive mode selection brings you by default a sporty engine note in Normal mode, and switching to Sport mode cranks up the noise even more.

If you prefer to do without the synthesised chugging, selecting Eco or Comfort modes will silence it. And Individual mode will do the same trick, if you customise that mode without the woofy sports exhaust setting.

I have to admit, I do like the note, although it does sound contrived in Normal mode on light throttle settings. It’s better when the engine is opened up at higher revs in Sport mode.

Even in Normal mode, the synthesised sound fades out at cruising speeds – at 1500rpm for 100km/h – and the engine is very quiet. What’s more, for all its performance potential the Octavia RS is impressively economical, returning a figure of 8.4L/100km on a test drive.

It’s also an engine that delivers flexible performance – with torque right across the rev range for effortless commuting around town and face-tautening acceleration right up to the redline.

In between those two extremes, the powerplant delivers prodigious torque for maintaining speed on hills with the cruise control set – without the transmission kicking down.

Speaking of which, the seven-speed DSG transmission bolted to the engine and driving the front wheels is plainly a dual-clutch unit in the way it operates, but with none of the fits and starts for which older DSGs were known.

It offers slick and quick changes and keeps the turbocharged engine on the boil all the time, and that’s the give-away that there’s no torque converter or belts and pulleys in play here.

There are cars that will get you from A to B efficiently and safely, but there’s a school of thought that proper cars will do so and put a smile on your face too.

That type of car is communicative but comfortable, it takes the hard yakka out of extracting performance, it’s better than just dynamically competent, and hopefully it looks the part as well.

The 2021 Skoda Octavia RS is all that.

It is quiet and refined for open-road touring, but it can muster surprising reserves of grip and agility.

The Octavia’s steering response is quite measured, with the right level of assistance and feedback. Exiting bends there’s excellent traction and handling available, without any apparent torque steer and despite the power to spin wheels in a straight line.

Very close to neutral, even with the power applied, the Octavia corners in a flat stance that feels secure at all times.

The Bridgestone Potenza 225/40R19 tyres only begin to squeal right at the very edge of the car’s roadholding limit, which is practically exceptional by the standards of a front-wheel drive mid-size passenger car – and in the same ballpark as hot hatches that are a size smaller.

I found the car’s ride quality to be acceptably good in Normal and Comfort modes, and only feeling a little jiggly on country roads when the suspension was set to Sport mode.

The tyres are a little rowdy at open-road speeds and on coarse-chip bitumen at lower speeds. But those two considerations aside, the Octavia successfully works both sides of the street – comfort and dynamic properties together in the one package.

On the comfort side, it starts with an attractive interior that’s nicely finished, and features fixtures like alloy sports pedals and use of materials to achieve a pleasing look – a mix of brightwork, piano black gloss, carbon-fibre and Alcantara.

Very snug, comfortable seats underpin the driving position and the multifunction steering wheel is of the right diameter and providing plenty of adjustment for rake and reach.

The controls are generally easy to fathom, although the toggle for the gear selector is unusual – but it takes little time to become accustomed to it. Nor, for that matter, is the starter button on the steering column difficult to use, once the driver is familiar with its location.

There were some obvious visual niceties, such as the matrix headlights with active shadowing, a feature highly appreciated once night fell. Then there were the choreographed visual displays when locking down (LED tail-lights fade out in sequence) or opening up (Skoda splash screen across entire instrument cluster). The latter was brought to you by the Octavia’s Virtual Cockpit and its selectable display modes.

In the centre fascia, there’s a large, user-friendly infotainment screen with permanently displayed climate control switchgear at its base. Hard demist buttons in the centre fascia are set below the screen, separate from the other climate functions.

The multifunction steering wheel lacks the cluttered switchgear of some cars, and the stubby four-way toggle for the cruise control is relatively easy to use.

We like the removable rubbish bin in the door pocket, the umbrella in the door card and the inductive charging plate for smartphones, plus the removable smartphone holder that plugs into one of the cup holders.

Other packaging accoutrements include the sun blinds for the windows of the rear doors, the very comfortable rear seats that fold down in a 60/40 split, although they don’t form a continuous flat floor and nor do they fold entirely flat.

But there’s generous headroom and reasonable legroom, adjustable vents and a third zone for the climate control, plus seat heating for the two outboard seats.

There are also separate map reading lights for the outboard seats and an additional sun blind that reduces direct light through the tailgate window and draws up from the parcel shelf to hook into the roof.

The practical boot is not only large, it features useful bins either side behind the wheel-arches and a 12-volt power outlet, plus a bag hook on the right-hand side, a luggage net and finger pulls to lower the rear seat on each side.

There’s also a configurable cargo blind in addition to the removable parcel shelf. And motion gesture actually works for the power tailgate! Not only to raise it but also to lower it.

A colleague who drove the test vehicle the week before me fell in love with the 2021 Skoda Octavia RS straight away.

It took me a while longer to form an opinion, picking up the car just before Victoria’s fourth pandemic lockdown. But there was never much doubt that the Octavia RS would impress, based on plenty of experience with the nameplate – and over more than a decade.

Nevertheless, the Octavia RS is not perfect. A constantly squeaking rattle from the glove box lid quickly became tiresome, there’s a space-saver spare under the boot floor – although it’s to be expected in a modern car of this size and distinction – and the five USB ports in the car are all of the USB-C type, which is not ‘universal’, contrary to what the ‘U’ in ‘USB’ would suggest.

These are minor niggles, however. The Octavia promises a lot, and delivers, whether it’s driving enjoyment, safety, comfort or practicality.

There’s something in this car to suit both sides of the brain.

How much does the 2021 Skoda Octavia RS sedan cost?
Price: $47,790 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 180kW/370Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 6.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 155g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2019)

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