Skoda Octavia

[mave]

Having had a Seat Leon hire car last week.....
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/other...seat-leon.html
...it was interesting to get a Skoda Octavia this week. Similar, yet different!

Compared to the Leon, it had an older 1.9 engine; less poky, but also less peaky!

Impressions;
Interior a strange mix of high quality fittings (where they were shared with the Leon) and fairly rubbish fittings (where they weren't).
Much better visibility than the Leon, and fairly easy to park.
Seats still uncomfortable, maybe not quite as bad.
Speedo much better layout, I could actually see what speed I was doing around town! Indicators obsured by the steering wheel, especially the left one because the wheel is slightly offset.
Stereo rubbish!
Got 55mpg which I was well impressed with as I was hooning it quite a lot.
The suspension was a little softer than the Leon, and the initial turn in felt slightly slower, but it actually made it much more reassuring and stable to drive on poor roads because it was easier to drive smoothly.

Conclusion? Maybe I'm turning into an old man, I preferred the Skoda. It felt like the Leon was trying too hard to be something it's not; aggressive steering, braking and power delivery, but not particularly satisfying because when you drive it hard it ultimately doesn't grip, brake, or go as well as you intially thought.

The Skoda seemed more honest in that it didn't make so many promises, but when you push it harder it keeps delivering more. And how surprised was I to do 600 miles and pay £60 in fuel!

[Picard]

Where did you hire from out of interest? I need a car for a weekend away.

[Trailbraker]

Quite a contrast to thr RX7 then Mave.
Do you still have it btw?

[mave]

Originally Posted by Picard

Where did you hire from out of interest? I need a car for a weekend away.

It's work hire from Europcar for business trips. Get quite a range of stuff; mainly middle of the road stuff, but I've had Alfas and Mercs in the past

[mave]

Originally Posted by Trailbraker

Quite a contrast to thr RX7 then Mave.
Do you still have it btw?

Which, the Skoda or the RX-7
I've still got the RX-7, it's an ongoing labour of love.
Interestingly (well, interestingly to me, but then I'm a boring b*gger) the Skoda felt more like the RX-7 than the Seat that I had a week earlier; it's all about honesty.

Too many modern cars pretend to be sporty, quick, responsive, and then when you push harder there's nothing to back it up; a bit like a page 3 girl at a dinner party, and you end up wondering what the fuss is all about.

I get frustrated by the RX-7 because it's not perfect; the backrest is too short, the rev counter is temperamental, the cabin is hot in the summer, it tramlines under braking, the intercooler heat soaks around town, and the headlights are useless. But..... I can forgive it because underneath those niggles I know it is a naturally brilliant, honest car, and I can change the drivers seat, resolder the rev counter capacitors, get the air con regassed, put new dampers on and tweak the geometry, put in a bigger intercooler and heat shield it properly, fit HID lamps...... like I say, a labour of love

[Trailbraker]

They are a crackingly good car alright, always liked them

(..The RX7 that is )

[mave]

What I'm really pleased about is that my wife is coming round to my way of thinking as well.... it used to be that nice looking new cars were great, anything old was to be sniffed at. We had a Citroen C4 a year or so ago, and she said "I preferred the steering on the Peugeot (205)" That's my girl