2009 SKODA OCTAVIA - 61 PICTURES

Updating the Skoda Octavia (a car you have heard of... maybe?) is an important project for Volkswagen, now the third biggest auto conglomerate in the world. When you hear "Skoda Octavia", you must think Volkswagen Golf. Except now when you think Volkswagen Golf, you don't. You actually think Volkswagen Rabbit.

Here at GoodCarBadCar.net, we call that car the Gabbit. Perhaps you see no similarities between the Gabbit and Skoda Octavia. Volkswagen and Skoda don't want you to. Following the Skoda label at GoodCarBadCar reveals some lovely unique designs, but the Octavia flavour remains more traditional; not that the Gabbit is the most exciting vehicular design to ever pass before your eyes.

Indeed, for 2009 the updated Octavia with "bolder headlamps", a more "robust radiator grille", and a one-piece bumper doesn't make this vital Skoda even as exciting to look at as the European Ford Focus and certainly doesn't strike buyers as hip in the way Renault's Megane manages. Turbocharged 1.4L and 1.8L four-cylinders will be available with a seven-speed direct-shift gearbox. Yes, underneath this car is impressive.... especially at Skoda prices.

And that's why Skoda sells a lot of Octavias. They're not just "good for the price" because, as a Gabbit, the architecture and technology is already good. No, the Octavia is good at a higher price, but downright desirable at prices that undercut its VW siblings and many other competitors.

SKODA YETI - AND MUCH MORE FROM THE CZECH AUTOMAKER

To describe the Volkswagen Passat CC as striking would be completely accurate. In the eyes of The Good Car Guy, it's an offense against past handsome Volkswagens, though the starting point (regular Passat) wasn't exactly a lean, mean, fighting machine. Considering the typical price of a Volkswagen in North America as at or near the top of their segment or nudging up against the next class, it appears as though VW has slightly lost the plot on our continent.

Across the globe, Volkswagen has long been perceived as a mainstream brand where top notch cars with supreme engineering were had for prices the people can afford. When VW's quality struggles and prices increase, it's tough to make that case.

That's what makes Skoda so interesting. Firstly, Czech-based Skoda is owned by Volkswagen. (It seems that Volkswagen will soon be owned by Porsche.) Along with Spain-based Seat, Skoda attacks the price bracket underneath Volkswagen. While we North Americans see desirable cars that can't justify their price - with a few exceptions like the GTI, a Good 12 winner - Europeans now see desirable Skodas that can't be made fun of and appear to be worth more than their MSRP.

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Take the Yeti, a small crossover set for production next year. A little bit of Golf/Rabbit and a little bit of Polo combines with the same styling themes that set the Roomster apart. The Octavia, a Ford Focus competitor, will be facelifted soon. Every automaker needs a mini-MPV in Europe, so Skoda will borrow new Volkswagen Touran bits for that cause in 2010. Of course, the oh-so-dull Touran will be converted into something hip and inexpensive. Also in 2010, Skoda will release a wagon version of the Superb. The Superb is already a practical car with its two-element trunk - is it a hatchback or a sedan?

Skoda's Yaris-sized Fabia is a hit in vRS formula. Up until now, the Fabia vRS has been powered by diesel, but 2010 should see the advent of a gasoline-fuelled Fabia vRS. Finally, in 2011, Skoda will receive a version of the much-loved up! from Volkswagen. Already cool, the up! concept will likely be dramatically transformed on the exterior while maintaining unique engineering. Of course, it'll cost less at the Skoda dealer.

3 MORE SMALL CARS FROM FRANKFURT

Frankfurt's Auto Show heralded a return to small-car expansion in autodom over the last week or more. GoodCarBadCar covered the introductions of the Ford Verve, Mitsubishi Concept cX, Volkswagen up!, Toyota iQ, and Subaru Justy.

In case you were craving some more small, here's a few more samples. A few weeks ago GCBC went Across the Pond to overview Skoda. If you hadn't met the Fabia before then, you made acquaintance with an orange version after reading about 70% of the article. Skoda manages to impress a fair number of buyers these days, but the Czech automaker (a VW subsidiary) knows just as well as Mercedes, BMW, and Audi that marketing to the little crosssections; the niches, is an easy way to make a bit of extra $.

The Fabia then, stretched in its wagon format to be called the Combi, was introduced as the Skoda Fabia Combi Scout. Skoda's has already slathered the Roomster and Octavia with Scoutness, so why not the Fabia? (I can think of a few reasons, none of which Skoda execs want to hear.) Lower-body cladding is a great way for buyers to feel remorse two years on when they realize they paid extra for a trimline that was genuinely just that.... a few lines of trim. Admittedly, the Fabia Combi Scout does have a smidgen of cool.

Daihatsu is a citizen of Toyota's empire, as you can see in the story about the Subaru Justy, oddly enough. The Copen was introduced a number of years ago as a very cheap and economical alternative to the Audi TT, but as an alumimum hard-top convertible. I don't actually know anybody who would consider an Audi TT and switch to the Daihatsu Copen.... but, the Copen was surely TT-inspired. At present, the UK edition of the Copen features an 86-bhp, 1.3L four-cylinder. That enables the Copen to proceed to 60mph in less than ten seconds and achieve 47.1mpg on the combined cycle in Europe.

Frankfurt didn't see the debut of a new Copen. Or did it? Daihatsu's OFC-1 is surely Copen-like, with a small turbocharged engine and a top that drops in 10 seconds. Copen-like it is, but perhaps better-than-Copen styling and a more-modern-than-Copen structure. Daihatsu's other small car concept was the striking Heart and Smile Mover. Uh-huh. Heart and Smile Mover. Oh so Japanese, the HSC has a 660cc engine which provides very little in terms of horsepower but plenty of ssssmiles per gallon. We're not quite sure why Daihatsu thinks that HSC is a proper abbreviation for Heart and Smile Mover, but I am sure that these cars qualify for tax breaks, cheaper insurance, and parking proof exemptions because of their kei car status. Small engine + small car = yellow-plate status.

TOP 5 PAGES FOR SUMMER AUTOMOTIVE READING @ GOODCARBADCAR.NET

The automotive marketplace isn't a popularity contest. Oops, actually.... it is. 

Within the hallowed halls of GoodCarBadCar Towers - halls that don't actually exist, mind you - labels compete for readership. Not surprisingly, looking back to the first day of summer up until this moment, labels that appear inside readers' Firefox, Explorer, Safari, or Chrome browser most frequently relate directly to that which is good and bad. Below you'll see the most popular. Click their titles to go to the page. 

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#1 - THE GOOD 12: Released just before Christmas in 2007, The Good 12 is The Good Car Guy's list of the twelve cars real people should be driving in the real world for 2008. 

#2 - THE BAD 8: Released just after Christmas in 2007, The Bad 8 is The Good Car Guy's list of the eight cars people shouldn't be driving in 2008; and that goes for fake people and fake worlds, too.

#3 - XC70: In August, Volvo of Canada generously loaned The Good Car Guy a Volvo XC70 T6. He drove it much and wrote about it even more.

#4 - 0-60: Each month The Good Car Guy tracks the acceleration test results and laptimes from two major American outlets (Car & Driver and Motor Trend) as well as British mag evo. Those results are printed in 0-60.

#5 - DRIVEN: Every single test car that passes through GoodCarBadCar is reviewed in Driven, such as the Volvo XC70 already mentioned.

#6 - RECALL: Attempts to stay on top of recalls drives The Good Car Guy nuts. The job is never complete and different statistics appear all over the web. NHTSA recalls affecting personal vehicles of the recent past are in this section.

#7 - SKODA: What's more interesting, that Skoda beat out all other automakers for GCBC popularity this summer or that it ironically placed one spot ahead of the iconic Chevrolet Camaro? The Czech manufacturer, a Volkswagen underling, makes some nice cars, many of which frequent these pages.

#8 - CAMARO: Typically, The Good Car Guy cedes individual model names to the manufacter. Sometimes, labels form for cars like the XC70 or new Camaro. Hot car.

#9 - RACING: Though this space is usually filled with Formula 1-related stuff, other racing talk seeps in sometimes. This is where online viewers from all over the world come to find out where they can view F1 races online. Last Sunday, they viewed the Belgian Grand Prix live at GoodCarBadCar.net.

#10 - TOP 5: Obviously, the Top 5 label holds lists of Top 5s. It could be the best vehicles for prominent Olympic athletes or the most-leased vehicles or the makers of the most dependable powertrains. 

And who is this Good Car Guy? Find out here or by clicking on the link on the right-hand column.

ACROSS THE POND - SKODA

Europe has in its repertoire a whole host of weaponry that the new world of North America will never lay claim to. Tourists flock to Europe's historic cities. Sports fans are catered to by massive crowds at football games. Scientists walk on land which featured a huge population many hundreds of years prior to the Viking discovery of North America. Politicos can cross border after border of nations with drastically different governmental organization and theory - all within a day.

For the auto enthusiast, Europe lays claim to a multiplicity of automobile manufacturers that have either never officially campaigned on our side of the Atlantic, or haven't done so in years. We suggest it was their failing reliability or implicit desire to be unique in a more conservative marketplace that forced their departure.

Whatever it was; our collective wish is often different now. Rather then, "Go home", we shout, "Come on over". In most cases, it doesn't appear to be working.

Skoda, a Czech make which has been under Volkswagen's hold since 1991, sells four cars in English-speaking Europe. (GCBC's unilingual status precludes us from discerning the activities of this week's feature companies in countries such as Andorra and Bosnia.) Ironically, Skoda's origins date to 1894 when its founder, Vaclav Klement, sought out the parts to repair his German-made bicycle. The Germans responded to his Czech-written letter with a German-written letter saying this: "If you would like an answer to your inquiry, you should try writing in a language we can understand."

From this, Klement began to repair and then build bicycles; then motorcycles, and then cars. Skoda now competes in the World Rally Championship and builds cars in a fair number of countries including Bosnia & Herzegovina and India. Skoda built over 550,000 vehicles in 2006.


Skoda names its stretched, subtly rebodied, previous-generation Volkswagen Passat the Superb. The backseat is absolutely capacious and luxurious features abound. The car is better looking than the last Passat ever was, thanks mostly to more appropriate proportions. The uppermost trim level is named Laurin & Klement, in honour of the founders of the company that eventually became Skoda. Equipping the Superb with VW's older 2.8L VR6 and an uplevel trim would give you a similarly priced car to Volkswagen's own GTI.

The Octavia would appear very much as a Golf/Rabbit were it not for the body on top of all the hardware. Underneath this Skoda lies the architecture of the current Golf, and on top lies similarly conservative sheetmetal. Similarly conservative, but not similar. Skoda's have not been known for stepping up to the plate with home-run styling, and it is only in this concern that the Octavia falters. The Octavia vRS is a seriously competitive performance edition, featuring much of VW's GTI performance paraphernalia in wagon or 5-door hatch formats. You'll pay substantially more for a true GTI, however. Up to £2000 more.

Fabia is the name of Skoda's sub-Octavia lineup. The newest Fabia has crossed over from the field of boring styling to hip and funky. Painted orange with a white roof..... mmmm, it looks good. Skoda starts the bidding for the Fabia about £3000 lower than for the Octavia, which rings in around £11,000. The Fabia is very much a Volkswagen Polo which itself is sized very close to the second generation Golf. A variety of diesel and gas engines are available on the new Fabia, with a likely hi-po diesel in the upcoming vRS. Horsepower sits between 60 and 105 for now.


Skoda's coolest car may well be the Roomster. One of Europe's fastest growing segments is the small people-carrier. Where we are offered the Mazda5 and Kia Rondo, Europe prefers to skip over big MPV's like the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna and buy Mazda5-like vehicles. The Roomster is a small-on-the-outside big-on-the-inside vehicle, capable of holding a normal sized family and their luggage. Many vehicles of this type have been odd ducks and shamed members of the family - cars like the Citroen Berlingo and Renault Kangoo. Skoda sees the Roomster as a competitor to the Honda FR-V and Renault Scenic. Traditional Skoda pricing positions the Roomster as a high-value item. Plenty of space in a package that fits between the Fabia and Octavia. Like the Octavia, the Roomster supplies a 'Scout' version - very much in the mold of the Volvo Cross Country or Subaru Outback line of thinking.



The Roomster is a striking vehicle in a category full of frumpy but fun-to-drive people haulers. Skoda's Fabia finally offers stand-out looks in one of the most active sectors in all of Europe. The Octavia is a traditionally sized family car. Too traditional? Or just a wickedly sweet Q-ship? The Superb can't compete forever on last decade's technology. But it does show Skoda's honesty as a producer of cars for the people. Take it or leave it - Skoda keeps you comfortable and safe and proves you to be a contemplative car buyer.

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GoodCarBadCar Auto Olympics pickup where they left off real soon. One semifinal and the two medal matches remain. The next 'Across the Pond' will feature Renault.

SKODA COMES TO NORTH AMERICA

To make this story as multicultural as possible, let's start from the beginning. The Good Car Girl's cousin and his wife are cruising around the west coast of Mexico. (Do you smell jealousy?) Along with another couple of our friends, these folks needed a little security and animal care. No problem.

Mind, this security and pet care takes place in a city that's relatively inundated with advertising for a car no resident can buy. In fact, not only can no citizen of Halifax, Nova Scotia purchase a new Skoda, but Volkswagen's Czech underling can't be had by anybody in all of Canada. Or the United States. 

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See, Skoda is the premiere sponsor for IIHF events. The International Ice Hockey Federation is holding the men's world championship in Canada for the first time ever. Skoda and the IIHF are basically two peas in a pod, and despite curious onlookers figuring that it would be prudent for the parent company to take over the bottom right slot of billboards; the local TV commercial ticket sales advertising; and the presence of automobiles at the event which begins in early May, Skoda is running with it. 

The Halifax Regional Municipality is home to a couple hundred days of fog each year, one of the continent's most impressive fortresses (Citadel Hill); the current face of the National Hockey League (Sidney Crosby), Oscar-nominated actress Ellen Page; Grammy-winning musician Sarah McLachlan; and an incredibly successful IIHF world junior tournament and women's world championship in former years, appears to also be the new home of a Skoda Octavia wagon. 

This shouldn't be too surprising to marketing experts but still managed to catch me off guard as we drove to the suburbs of the city to care for three cats, all of whom cause terrible allergies in The Good Car Guy. A post like this may stun the European readers, but the silver be-decaled Octavia in these pictures is a first for Haligonians. In fact, it'd be a first for most North Americans. 

For Skoda background, follow this link to a thorough Across The Pond article from GoodCarBadCar. The Octavia is a Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit-based vehicle that sells to an ever-growing portion of the marketplace which doesn't care what the Skoda badge used to indicate about your taste or income.

Apart from the manufacturer's photo, the others (along with the video seen below) are live-on-Halifax-roads pics taken from a cell-phone camera captured at dusk on a cloudy Sunday evening. 

Consider them spy photos, representative of a 'scoop' that GoodCarBadCar first landed about a future for Skoda in North America. Whisper it.

SKODA SALES CLIMBING

Volkswagen-owned and Czech Republic-based, Skoda has passed the first test of its reborn life (credibility) and is on its way to becoming a power player among Europe's mainstream car brands. Funky designs like the Roomster and innovative solutions such as the trunk/hatch of the new Superb are part of what makes Skoda more than just a cheap Volkswagen alternative.

Skoda sales were 19.4% higher last month than in February of 2007. Combined January and February sales were 17.8% higher than during the first two months of last year; at 105,179. Thank its home market, Germany, and the ever-emerging consumership of Russia. Czechs bought 4,780 Skodas in February; Germany registered over 8,000; and Russians registered just over 3,000. 

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Skoda's 58,838 monthly sales just a few months earlier in October were considered a massive jump. It was indeed a 15% increase over the same period of the previous year. Skoda was smart to delve into the Chinese market and sold 27,000 cars there last year in a 12 month period in which they sold 630,000 cars worldwide. With months like February under their belt, expect the head honchos to be very pleased when those six figures are easily eclipsed.

In the Czech Republic, Ford and Volkswagen compete for second place while Skoda takes one third of the market share.