Road Test: Fiat Punto 1.3 MultiJet

Price as tested: €15,495

+ Styling, improved quality, excellent engine, value, comfort, space
– Still too much cheap cabin plastic, not much else
= Unfairly ignored compact hatch, deserves more attention

I bet you've forgotten about the Fiat Punto. It wouldn't be hard to be fair. Since its 2000 heyday when it was one of the best selling cars in Ireland's all-time bumper year for car sales, the Punto has steadily slid down the car sales cliff, in spite of a gorgeous 2005 re-issue with Maserati-like styling by Giugiaro. In a class populated by the likes of the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, Peugeot 208, Kia Rio and so many talented others, it's just too easy for the Punto's light to stay well and truly beneath a handy bushel.

And I'll also bet you have some pretty lazy pre-conceptions about Fiat cars in general. If you're of a certain age, rust and electrical maladies will still be top of your list when it comes to Fiat, in spite of two decades where Italian build quality has done nothing but improve.

Of course, Fiat itself has seemed to occasionally ignore the Punto. While the glamorous 500 and the practical Panda have since come along to take centre stage, the current Punto is merely a facelifted version of the car that was launched in 2005.

So, I wasn't expecting all that much when I grabbed the keys to the test car. Yet another facelift of the Punto has come along, reversing some of the rather poor styling decisions made when it became the Punto Evo in 2009, but I too had fallen prey to assuming I knew the Punto's place in the universe.

I'm therefore pleased to report that I was wrong. The updates to the latest generation have gone a long way to strengthening the Punto's hand and it's actually a much sharper competitor to the likes of the Fiesta and Polo than you would have thought. Certainly, it looks arguably better than either, and the cabin now benefits from much higher quality surfaces than before, albeit you don't have to look too hard to find hard, scratchy plastics.

There's good space in there too, and the seats are comfy while out back, the boot is big and well shaped.

The actual production version of the updated 1.3-litre MultiJet Diesel engine will have 85bhp in the Puntos you'll find in dealerships, but our test car actually had the old 75bhp version fitted. No matter, even with the rise of the clever little two-cylinder TwinAir petrol, the diesel is the Punto to have, even if it is a pricey option. Quite apart from exceptionally good economy and emissions figures (90g/km of Co2 and potentially as good as 80mpg if you're in-cred-ibly delicate with the throttle) there is the matter that its 200Nm of torque means it is a relaxed and capable long-haul car, something you could never have said of the old 1.2-litre petrol. Mind you, an extra cog in the slightly slack-shifting five-speed gearbox would help in this regard.

Also a touch slack is the steering, which feels entirely artificial and fake, which is a shame as through the clouds of over-assistance you can feel a really quite talented chassis at work. It's not quite as sharp or rewarding as a Fiesta, but it's more fun by far than most others in the class to throw around, and in spite of ever-increasing girth the Punto still feels properly small and enjoyably agile. It also rides better than it did in 2005 when I first drove it. It still jiggles a little over small, sharp surfaces, but bigger bumps are smoothed over with a deft Italianate roll of the shoulders.

Add to that a reasonably affordable list price of €15,495 which includes pretty decent equipment as standard, and the Punto's package is starting to come together really rather well. And then there's the intangible loveliness that comes with merely driving an Italian car. A little touch of flair, a merest hint of style all makes the experience that bit more enjoyable. It's not something that will appeal to all, perhaps indeed only to a select few, but it's the difference between shopping on Grafton Street or in the Grand Piazza in Milan. You just, or at least I just, feel as if you're cutting a bit more of a rakish figure climbing out of your Punto at the kerb side.

No, the Punto's not perfect, and yes, thanks to that broad public perception you will pay a harsh price come resale time, but I left it back feeling quite surprisingly sad to see it go. Character is a rare thing in an increasingly homogenised car market, and the Punto has that in buckets. To find that it also has a remarkable amount of substance to back that up was simply a welcome surprise.


Fiat Punto 1.3 JTD 85bhp
Price as tested: €15,495
Price range: €13,495 to €15,495
Capacity: 1,248cc
Power: 85bhp
Torque: 200Nm
Top speed: 170kmh
0-100kmh: 12.7sec
Economy: 3.5l-100km (80mpg)
CO2 emissions: 90g/km
Road Tax Band: A2. €180
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 4-star child, 3-star pedestrian

Road Test: Volkswagen Up 1.0 75bhp High Up 3dr

Price as tested: €13,265

+ Styling, front seat comfort and space, equipment, economy
– Ride a touch firm, awkward rear seat entry, tiny boot
= Up, up and hooray


Sometimes the old schedule just works out nicely, and this week, instead of my usual book-a-convertible-for-the-dead-of-November I actually managed to book both the new Fiat Panda and the new Volkswagen Up to test drive within a few days of each other. So, while this is not strictly a twin-test, it will be almost impossible to review the Up without reference to the Panda, so close are they as rivals.

The first and most significant thing to note about the Up is its almost staggeringly low price. Here is a car with a pukka Volkswagen badge (a large and prominent one too) on its nose that you can get on your driveway for under €11k. €10,995 is the starting price, for the most basic Take Up model, which will be pretty basic, but even going for the specced-up High Up as tested here, you’re still going to be spending significantly less than €14k.

And there is a lot of spec. As standard, a High Up comes with 15” alloys, air conditioning, heated seats, ESP, City Emergency (which, Volvo-like, slams on the anchors if it detects an incoming collision at low speeds), leather steering wheel and gearshifter, front fogs and an ‘easy entry’ function for flipping the driver’s seat forward.

Our test car, in addition to all that, had the optional Maps & More sat-nav and infotainment system, controlled by a neat little removable touch screen, which only added a very reasonable €370 to the price tag.

So, from within, the Up really doesn’t feel like a diminutive city car at all, at least not in this specification. The broad fascia, with its big sweep of body colour, the surprisingly low-set , comfy seats and the panoramic view out of the windscreen all combine to make it feel bigger and more grown up than you might have expected.

From the outside, it looks tiny though; almost as broad as it is long and styled in a very easy-on-the-eye Mies-Van-Der-Rohe style; all rigorous subjugation of form to function’s control.
However, there are some issues, statically speaking. Space in the back seats is reasonable. If you’ve got small kids, they’ll fit fine but the front seat occupants may have to budge up a bit to allow space for bulky child car seats. Getting in the back is a bit of a faff, though. As mentioned, our car came with the (optional) Easy Entry system that’s supposed to return the seat back to its original position once you’ve flipped it forward to let someone in or out of the back. But it doesn’t work, or at least, not very well and the position and motion of the lever that flips the seat means it’s impossible to do one-handed. OK, such problems will be irrelevant once the five-door Up arrives in the summer, but it’s a pain for now. While we’re at it, the boot is just too small. Officially, it’s 251-litres, which is quite decent but it’s very narrow and certainly won’t take a kid’s buggy. The boot in the Panda is much better shaped and more useful.

On the road, though, the Up begins to claw back serious ground. With a wheel at each corner, you would expect the handling to be go-kart-like, in the vein of the original Mini. The fact that this is not the case (at least not yet) is a mild disappointment, but the Up’s refinement, comfort and generally very useful performance more than compensate.

The dinky little 999cc three-cylinder engine thrums with typical off-beat three-pot gurgles when you rev it, but once up to a cruising speed it’s actually very quiet. Around town, the gearing is ideally set so that when pootling along at 50kmh, you’re actually up into fifth gear, saving a dramatic amount of fuel. Although the lack of stop-start is a bit of a surprise, the Up doesn’t actually seem to need it. We managed a very impressive 5.4-litres per 100km average (that’s better than 50mpg, and looks good against VW’s official claimed figure of 4.7l/100km, 60mpg) and squeezed more than 500km out of it before the refueling light came on. That easily beats our 7.4l/100km average in the 1.2 Panda.

With such town-friendly gearing, you’d expect the Up to be a desperate chore on the motorway, but it’s not. That broad track makes it feel very stable and surefooted, it doesn’t get bounced around by side-draughts much and there’s just enough torque in the engine to keep it on the boil when mixing with other fast moving traffic. The low-set seats (unfashionable for a space-efficient city car) make a long journey much more comfy than in high-set rivals like the Panda, too.

Dynamically, it’s well sorted but a bit vanilla. It goes, stops and steers just as it should, with lovely steering weight and feel, but not much enthusiasm for being hustled. The more hyperactive Panda is more fun to drive, but oddly, it also rides better than the Up. Maybe it’s the short dimensions but the Up felt a bit too firmly sprung for our tastes, certainly for a car that’s destined to mostly be soaking up cracked and broken city streets and speed ramps.

In the end, the Up is exactly what you think it is; a Volkswagen that;s been shrunk down to city car size. It has similar quality, refinement and comfort to its bigger brothers (although it won’t take much looking around the cabin to spot where VW’s been cutting the cost corners), is remarkably frugal (another Volkswagen trait) and looks utterly brilliant, especially in the bright red of our test car. The fiddly seat mechanism will be nulled by the arrival of the five door, but the boot does remain awkwardly small.

Overall, we just (juuuuust) prefer the new Fiat Panda, thanks to its more practical boot and sharper chassis, but the Up’s combination of VW-badge desirability, remarkable economy and tempting price means it’s hard to see them doing anything other than flying out of showrooms.


See the Up’s City Emergency Braking in Action:
















Facts & Figures

Volkswagen High Up 1.0 75bhp
Price as tested: €13,265
Range price: €10,995 to €13,265
Capacity: 999cc
Power: 75bhp
Torque: 95Nm
Top speed: 171kmh
0-100kmh: 13.2sec
Economy: 4.7-100km (60.1mpg)
CO2 emissions: 108g/km
Tax Band: A. €160 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-stars; 89% adult, 80% child, 46% pedestrian, 86% safety assist

Road Test: Fiat 500L 1.3 MultiJet PopStar

Price as tested: €22,000 (approx)

+ Masses of cabin space, cute styling, good quality, well priced
– Only ordinary to drive
= Could be the best all-round Fiat yet


There is one caveat that needs to be observed for all that follows. Italian car launches are notoriously difficult things to actually assess a car on. Our time with the new 500L was relatively brief, and most of the mileage was in the tight, urban confines of downtown Turin. And we got lost, which never helps. So, now that you’re aware of all that, we can begin...

Fiat is in bad need of a big hit. Hmmm. I seem to have written those words before, five years ago, just before the Italians launched the little 500, the sales of which pulled the company back from the financial abyss.

Now though, while the abyss is not so deep as it was in 2006 and Fiat is not teetering on the edge of it (thanks to its finances being well and truly pumped up by a resurgent Chrysler), sales are falling in its European heartlands and with investment being reduced and factories being shut down, Turin needs a new sprinkling of the 500's magic.

And this, the 500L, is the car Fiat hopes will revive its European fortunes. Although it carries the 500 name, it's actually only distantly mechanically related to the chic city car. It's a 4.15-metre long MPV, styled to looks closer to an SUV and with a simply massive cabin for stuffing your family into. When they say the L stands for Large, they really weren't kidding. the 500L towers over a tiny 500 hatch, and there's sufficient cabin space for a six-footer to have genuine lounging space in the back seats. Honestly, space in the back makes a mockery of almost every rival I can think of. A Focus, Golf or Astra feels ridiculously tight in comparison and even such other high-roofed competition as the Citroen C3 Picasso and Opel Meriva don’t have the legroom to compete.

The fact that the cabin also looks and feels of very high quality indicates that Fiat is still pushing well along the road to eradicating its old reputation for fragility, however difficult it may be to unstick that impression from Irish minds. All the surfaces inside have a pleasingly hefty, yet silky, feel and as long as you specify some of the brighter colour options, it feels like a warm, welcoming place to be. The steering wheel, slightly squared off as it is in the new Panda, feels especially good and the complex, three-movement exterior door handles do a great job of making the car feel techie and interesting just by yanking the door open.

While Irish specs have yet to be decided (and a circa €22,000 price for the 1.3 MultiJet diesel model has still to be agreed) there will be an awful lot of high-end optional extra available, including a city safety self braking setup, a 1.5-metre long glass roof and a stereo designed by hip-hop legend Dr. Dre (ask your kids...) and even an in-car Lavazza espresso maker that slots into one of the cupholders. Yes, really. You have to tick the options box for this, really, you do. We all thought it was a late April fool when we saw the press release...

Standard features include a 5" touch-screen infotainment system with Bluetooth connection for your phone and music player and an EcoDrive Live function that monitors your driving, admonishes you for being too profligate and which Fiat claims (somewhat implausibly) can save you up to 1,200-litres of fuel over the life of the car.

The rear seats fold and tumble with just a quick flick of a button and the 400-litre boot has an adjustable floor that allows you to segregate the shopping from the peat briquettes, or perhaps the laundry from the wet dog.

Our test car has the 85bhp 1.3 MultiJet diesel which boasts a 110g/km Co2 figure and better than 62mpg on average. But with only 200Nm of torque to haul around 1,300kg of 500 (and that's an empty kerb weight) it struggles to do anything to excite. It's a decent, engine, with good refinement but little verve and a rubbery five-speed manual gearbox doesn't help either. A 0-100kmh time of 14.9secs shows you how hard it’s having to work, but in fairness, it only rarely feels all that slow.

When the 500L arrives in Irish dealers at the end of the year, a 105bhp 1.6-litre diesel should be available and that will doubtless prove a better match. Petrol-heads, if any remain in Ireland, might be enticed by the 105bhp two-cylinder 112g/km TwinAir engine. We may not get the choice though, as Fiat Ireland is keen to keep the range as streamlined and simple as possible, so it might be that the only 500L we will get in Ireland will be this 1.3 Pop Star spec.

To drive, the 500L feels fine, but it lacks the quiet stolidness of a Skoda Yeti or the pin-sharp steering of a Mini Countryman. It's competent, capable and has nicely weighted steering and a good, if occasionally bobbly, ride quality but there are few causes for complaint here. Like the engine, it's safe but not really engaging.

Style-wise, it tries to take 500 design cues and inflate them to a much bigger size which, as Porsche found trying to translate a 911 coupe into a Cayenne SUV, isn't entirely successful. It looks good in certain colours, odd in others (beige is an especially bad choice) but certainly distinctive and different.

But it's that cavernous cabin that really sells the 500L. Families will love it for its sheer space, its brightness and its adaptability. Fold the front seat flat and you can fill the 500L with IKEA flat packs and still have space left for a driver and rear seat passenger while kids will have no trouble at all in filling the 22 interior pockets and cubbies. The fact that it seems on this encounter to be robustly built will mollify the worries of their parents.

Its sales prospects in Ireland depend entirely on whether enough Irish buyers are willing to look past their old prejudices about the brand. Nissan proved with the Qashqai that this was a serious possibility, and who a few years ago took either Hyundai or Kia seriously? Those willing to suspend disbelief long enough to try a 500L will find it an engaging proposal.



Fiat 500L 1.3 MultiJet Pop Star
Price as tested: €22,000 (approx)
Price range: TBA
Capacity: 1,248cc
Power: 85bhp
Torque: 200Nm
Top speed: n/a
0-100kmh: 14.9sec
Economy: 4.2l-100km (67.2mpg)
CO2 emissions: 110g/km
Road Tax Band: A €160
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested

Road Test: Mazda 3 1.6 Diesel Sport SE

Price as tested: €23,645

+ Handsome, quality, handling, space
– Still too noisy, poor economy
= Decent family hatch that will likely outlive you. And your grandkids.


Spotting the changes on the new Mazda 3 takes the anorak-y knowledge of a true car nut, and possibly a magnifying glass or two. Let me give you the briefest of run-throughs to save you the bother, and then we can get on with what the car is actually like.

So, the new 3 gets new bumpers and grille, new wheels and an updated cabin that’s supposed to be better in terms of both quality and noise suppression. The bigger changes have gone on underneath, where the suspension and steering have been tweaked to improve both ride and handling, and steering feel. A car company actually listing improved steering feel as an update feature? Sounds like my kind of thing...

And while you would be hard pressed to tell a 2012 3 from a 2011 3 on the outside, there’s no denying that it’s a good looking car. That gaping grille and those staring lights make it look more agressive than the family hatch norm and even in the plain metallic grey of our test car, it looked distinctive and handsome.

A shame then that the update to the cabin doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference. Yes, it’s all very well built and will doubtless be in perfect working order when you pass it on to your kids, or even their kids, but the changes have been too subtle and the 3 still feels behind the curve compared to the VW Golf when it comes to touchy-feely surfaces. There is compensation in the form of lots and lots of cabin space and a bucket of equipment on our reasonably priced Sport SE version that included auto aircon, Bluetooth phone and audio streaming, heated seats, trip computer, cruise control and very comfy sports seats. Essential items like a spot-on driving position and clear, simple ergonomics are also high points.

Under that striking bonnet is the familiar 1.6-litre 115bhp turbo diesel that Mazda shares with Ford, Peugeot, Citroen and Volvo. It’s not an exceptional unit, by any means, but it has refinement and a solid 270Nm of torque which can kick you neatly from 0-100kmh in a reasonably brisk 11.0secs. With the slick, MX-5-like six speed gearshift on the stir, the 3 feels nicely quick, if hardly a hot hatch. There is a question mark over fuel economy though. Mazda claims combined consumption of 4.3-litres per 100km, which would be good enough to give the mighty Golf Bluemotion a headache. But the best I could get out of it was an average of 6.5-l/100km. Now, our test car was brand new and barely run-in, which could account for some of the discrepancy, but clearly, Mazda has come catching up to do in the economy stakes. At least the 115g/km Co2 emissions figure means you’ll only have to shell out €160 a year in road tax.

But if the economy isn’t what you expect, then the ride and handling certainly are. Mazda is pretty much unique in being able to combine that traditional Japanese fluid and light feel to its controls with a sensation of still being connected to the road surface by something more than just luck. The steering, despite feeling light and almost delicate, does feed back to you, tells you whats going on underneath and generally feels lovely. The suspension is supple and flexible at pretty much all times and only seems to thump or crash when presented with an especially vicious speed ramp. It is, in other words, a delight to drive. It is not, sadly, up to the mark in terms of refinement. Whatever Mazda has tried to do to improve noise suppression, it hasn’t worked and a Focus or Golf remain much quieter companions on long runs.

The 3 does have one final trump card to play, though. In the 2011 survey of vehicle reliability by the influential JD Power group, three brands came out on top. Acura, which is of course Honda’s expensive luxury car unit. Lexus, which is of course Toyota’s expensive luxury car unit. And Mazda, which makes this affordable, useable €23k hatchback. In an Ireland where spending money mending or fixing your car simply isn’t an option for many hard-pressed motorists, it’s that kind of reliability and longevity that could make the difference come purchase time.


Facts & Figures

Mazda 3 1.6 Diesel Sport SE
Price: €23,645
Range price: €19,795 to €23,895
Capacity: 1,560cc
Power: 115bhp
Torque: 270Nm
Top speed: 188kmh
0-100kmh: 11.0sec
Economy: 4.3-100km (64mpg)
CO2 emissions: 115g/km
Tax Band: A. €160 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star: 86% adult, 84% child, 51% pedestrian, 71% safety assist

Road Test: Honda Civic 2.2 iDTEC ES

Price as tested: €25,820

+ Looks, quality, space, clever rear seats, engine, economy
– Over-light steering, a touch pricey
= Deserves a sharper chassis, but quality and engine win you over

To say that the 2006 Honda Civic was a bolt from the blue would be an understatement roughly along the lines of “Liverpool in the eighties were a bit win-y” or “NASA’s Saturn V rocket; that’s a bit quick, innit?”

We had become used to Honda producing beautifully engineered, but relatively conservative cars. Outré styling and dramatic flourishes were not the Honda way. But then the Civic arrived and buried all of that, forever it seems. Space-age styling, dramatic proportions and an interior that, you’ll forgive the David Hasselhoff quote, looked like Darth Vader’s bathroom meant that the Civic left behind its plain-wrapper past and became the most distinctive family hatchback around.

Of course, that was all surface treatment. Under the skin, the Civic was actually a bit of a backward step, ditching the old model’s sophisticated wishbone suspension for simpler, cheaper struts and a torsion bars. It meant for cracking interior space but also for a driving experience that felt cruder and less well settled as the years went on and the competition hotted up. It also had a diesel engine that could only manage Band C emissions and the styling had started to arguably age quite badly.

So, quite a list of issues for the all-new Civic to work on, except it’s not actually all-new, merely instead a thorough re-working of the old one. The suspension is still struts and torsion bars, the flip-up “Magic” (and they really are) rear seats remain and the split level dashboard owes as much to the Blackpool illuminations as it does to fighter aircraft displays.

The first and foremost thing you notice about the new Civic though is its styling. Nothing new there, of course, but by sticking to the same rough template as before, yet honing the details, Honda has made the Civic look fresh and exciting again. With the split rear screen, ultra-sharp looking tail lights and finely cut lines and arches, we reckon it’s even better looking than before. There is a slightly droopy piece of plastic in the grille/bumper at the front, but you will be thankful of that when it comes time for parking knocks.

Inside, the style is again similar to what went before, but with better detailing. Certainly, the quality of the materials used has stepped up a notch, and the displays are clearer and simpler. There is one oddity though; the multi-function trip display (which incorporates a colour reversing camera on our ES spec model) allows you to do something as arcane as correct the outside temperature display (presumably after having consulted Met Eireann) yet it can’t display fuel range and average consumption on the some display, requiring you to click through about three sub-menus just to toggle between the two.

Mind you, you won’t actually need to be paying all that much attention to those two readouts as the updated 150bhp 2.2-litre iDTEC diesel engine has really, seriously raised its game. It’s a little bit noisier than the very best in the class (step forward the VW Golf’s 140bhp 2.0 TDI) but how does a claimed (and very realistic) 4.2-litres per 100km average economy figure and a Band A-friendly 110g/km Co2 figure sound? Better than the engine itself? Oh yes.

But this is not some poverty special with gutless mid-range and astronomical unit gearing. Work the lovely, snicky six-speed manual gearshift (a seven-speed DSG-style box is coming eventually) and the 2.2 displays a wonderfully muscular side to its character, flinging the surprisingly hefty 1,367kg Civic along. It is, in short, an absolute belter of an engine.

Sad to say though that the chassis doesn’t quite match it. The Civic feels, and is, very sure footed and rides with a firmly-damped assurance that feels more Germanic than Japanese. Relatively small wheels and high profile tyres on our test car doubtless helped with that. But the steering is a let down, lacking any of the meat and feedback that comes as standard with any Golf or Focus, and feeling disconcertingly Atari-like. Get used to it, learn to trust it and the Civic will go where you want it, hold a tenacious cornering line and never displays a bad handling habit, aside from a tendency to allow the unloaded inside wheel to spin exiting a tight junction. But it refuses to engage the driver.

That’s not helped by a driving position that feels too high-set, with the chunky wheel sitting in your lap, and seats that are just a touch too narrow across the seatback, even if they’re mostly comfortable.

Still, there are things that the Civic does very well. Like almost any Honda, it’s exceptionally well made and transmits that through to you by way of silky smooth surfaces in the cabin. Even the harder plastics on the dash, of which there are a few, feel better than most car makers’s high-grade stuff.

Then there’e the refinement. Aside from an occasional engine gurgle or clatter, there is very little noise allowed into the cabin. Tyre roar and wind noise are very well suppressed.

And then there’s the space. It does feel a little tighter than the old Civic, but there’s still good space to be had in the back, the ‘Magic’ seats allow you more versatility with how you carry your cargo and the boot is big (477-litres), square and deep.

So, where does the Civic fit within the fiercely competitive family hatchback world? Well, it’s not as engaging to drive as either a Focus or a Golf, but it sits well ahead of the likes of the Peugeot 308, Citroen C4, Toyota Auris or Renault Megane when it comes to the quality of its build and the quality of its engine. Of course, it damn well should do, as the cheapest diesel model, at €22,445 is a good €2k more than even the most expensive diesel competitor. Our ES test car clocks in at €25,820. That will improve a touch when Honda’s new 1.6 diesel arrives in 2013, but Honda always prices its products at a distinctly premium level.

Is it worth it? On balance, yes, but only if you’re happy to pay the premium demanded. We love the styling, the quality, the engine and the refinement, but truly keen drivers will be better served elsewhere, and more cheaply to boot.

Facts & Figures

Honda Civic 2.2 iDTEC ES
Price: €25,820
Range price: €21,395 to €28,825
Capacity: 2,199cc
Power: 150bhp
Torque: 350Nm
Top speed: 217kmh
0-100kmh: 8.5sec
Economy: 4.2l-100km (64mpg)
CO2 emissions: 110g/km
Tax Band: A. €160 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested

Road Test: Skoda Octavia Scout vs Skoda Yeti 4x4

Prices as tested: €30,045 (Yeti) €32,350 (Octavia)

+ Both are pleasant to drive, well made, useful and rugged
– Octavia’s ageing cabin, Yeti’s small boot
= Either represent all the 4x4 you’ll ever need



It’s become a terrible cliche to remark on just how far the Korean brands, Hyundai and Kia, have come in terms of public perception since their launches in the eighties. But neither have come half as far as Skoda in that same period. Where the Koreans had to overcome a lack of people knowing who the hell they were, Skoda had to overcome genuine derision and ridicule. To go from being the butt of every comedian’s jokes (“How do you get a Lada to do 100mph? Push it off a cliff. How do you get a Skoda to do 100mph? Tie it to the Lada...) to not merely respected to actively desired (there are now waiting lists for Yetis and Superbs) is an even more astonishing journey.

And, along the way, the model range has grown to the point where Skoda now effectively competes with itself in some areas, most notably the confluence between the Yeti 4x4 and the Octavia Scout. Both use the same basic engine, transmission and Haldex-style four-wheel-drive system, and both are very similar in price terms, bar an option or two. But which one of these rough-road Skoda’s should you go for?

The first thing to consider is why are you buying a 4x4? If you need to tackle serious off-road muck, rocks and gradients, then you don’t really want either. Get a Land Rover Defender. If you live in town, then you also require neither. Go for the eminently sensible front-drive versions of either instead. If, however, you live a bit out in the sticks, need to traverse the occasional ploughed field or rough farm track, deal with the kind of appalling road surfaces and inauspicious grip levels that rural Irish roads still throw up, then either is ideal. In fact, driven with a touch of aplomb, both will tackle vastly tougher terrain than you might think possible, but really these are not serious 4x4s, more conventional family cars with a touch of MacGyver-style ruggedness.

Of the two, it’s the Yeti that makes the bigger initial impression. Its newer, funkier shape makes the Octavia, puffed up as it is with matte, bash-proof plastic bumpers and wheelarch extensions, look a touch old. That’s fair enough really, and hardly surprising as the Octavia is quite old now and due for replacement soon. Still, the lower, longer Octavia still looks classy and the Scout styling addenda help it stand out from the crowd.

Underneath, both use pretty much the same engine (the venerable VW Group 2.0 TDI) and the same Haldex 4x4 equipment, but the Scout gives away a full 30bhp to the Yeti, using the 140bhp engine compared to the Yeti’s 170bhp. The surprise is that on the road, there’s actually very little difference between the two, because with 320Nm (Octavia) and 350NM (Yeti) of torque, the overall performance is surprisingly similar. The Yeti sprints from 0-100kmh in a brisk 8.4secs, the Octavia in a slightly more tardy 10.1secs, and those figures are reflected on the road. The Octavia takes a little, but noticeable, longer to wind itself up, but it’s not so far behind the Yeti in day-to-day performance. Both have identical Co2 emissions (155g/km) which means both will cost you the same €330 a year in road tax, while fuel consumption works out at a claimed 5.9-litres per 100km for both cars; an entirely achievable and believable figure, if you drive with reasonable care.

Both are very similar to drive too. You can feel the effect of the Octavia’s higher ride height in relation to the standard Combi estate in the form of extra roll in cornering, but other than that its deportment is just fine. The Yeti corners a touch flatter, in spite of being taller still, but both share the same crisp, friction free steering and, sadly, a ride quality that is just a touch too firm, the Octavia shading the Yeti slightly for bump absorbtion.

With two such evenly matched cars, you might be wondering where a genuine difference can be found, but there is one and it’s found on the inside. The Octavia’s cabin, although handsome and well made, has to give way to the Yeti which is quite simply the equal of any Audi you might care to mention when it comes to cabin quality and layout. The Yeti is simply a lovely place to sit, with its tall, SUV-ish seating position and terrific all-round visibility. The Octavia feels a touch dowdy inside in comparison and doesn’t have the clever flip, fold and remove rear seats of the Yeti. What it does have is a good deal more space. Legroom in the back is clearly superior while the boot (at a whopping 605-litres) makes a mockery of the Yeti’s (405-litres) which is hamstrung by the need to raise its floor up to accommodate the rear diff (front-drive Yetis have a much more practical boot).

However, it’s the Yeti that strikes the killer blow with its price, undercutting the Octavia Scout in Ambition trim by around €2,000. Yes, the Octavia is much more practical in real terms, especially for families (that fabulous boot is just fire-and-forget when it comes to big buggies and bags) the Yet’s combination of funky styling, fab cabin and trimmer price tag gives it the win.

Facts & Figures

Skoda Yeti 4x4 Ambition                        Skoda Octavia Scout
Price as tested: €30,045                          Price as tested: €32,350
Range price: €22,705 to €33,945           Range price: €18,995 to €35,135
Capacity: 1,968cc                                     Capacity: 1,968cc
Power: 170bhp                                          Power: 140bhp
Torque: 350Nm                                         Torque: 320Nm
Top speed: 201kmh                                   Top speed: 199kmh
0-100kmh: 8.4sec                                      0-100kmh: 10.1sec
Economy: 5.9-100km (47.8mpg)              Economy: 5.9-100km (47.8mpg)
CO2 emissions: 155g/km                          CO2 emissions: 155g/km
Tax Band: C. €330 road tax                     Tax Band: C. €330 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-stars                        Euro NCAP rating: 4-star adult,
92% adult, 78% child,                               4-star child, 2-star pedestrian
46% pedestrian,
78% safety assist