Skoda Octavia 1.6 FSI Ambiente

Obviously, this was a maxim born in an age when transport more often required four legs than four wheels for propulsion and certainly not in an age that Skoda existed.

It’s not a great leap back into the dark depths of motoring history to find examples of when a cheap price for a Skoda might have left some customers feeling cheated. There has been no chance of that in the last decade, though. Certainly not with the new Octavia. In fact, a cheap price is a short cut to feeling rather smug with this new car.

Clever use of Volkswagen Group parts, cheap and efficient labour and smart design and marketing are rapidly establishing Skoda as the carmaking equivalent of great budget brands in their respective markets like easyjet and Ikea.

The Ambiente 1.6 FSI tested here isn’t the cheapest Octavia money can buy. That’s the 1.4-litre Classic at a paltry £10,750 on-the-road and the most inexpensive 1.6-litre is also the Classic at £11,480, but the Ambiente is the third petrol version up from the bottom. At £13,540, it’s in the price range of the lesser lower-medium hatchbacks with equivalently-sized engines.

What the Octavia really has in its favour, though, is that it’s not a lower-medium car at all but is rather sized more like those a sector up. And for company car drivers for whom size is everything, this makes a pretty convincing argument.

You can prevaricate about which competing car handles better or which is prettier, but with the cold hard facts of internal space, the Skoda is a clear winner over virtually everything else in the segment.

There’s a big, wide spread of dashboard up at the front, decent legroom in the back and a large boot that’s a good 200 litres bigger than the new Focus or Astra hatchback and competes, and often beats, the best from the upper medium segment.

That’s a massive difference and, for a company car driver who has to lug a lot of equipment or samples about, it has a couple of advantages. Fitting more in is obviously a key one, but from a safety point of view, the increased likelihood that everything can be squirrelled away in the boot rather than being spread throughout the cabin could make a massive difference to the well-being of occupants in an impact.

But the Octavia has some weaknesses. The 1.6-litre engine matches those in the sector but it’s heaving a much bigger, heavier vehicle and is pretty slow.

According to the official figures, the 0-62mph time is 11.2 seconds, but it feels slower. For this price, you are buying a lot but you are not buying performance.

The interior also feels a bit cheap in places compared to the heady heights achieved by the new Ford Focus, but this has to be balanced against the fact that a six-CD autochanger, climate control and electric windows are standard and the car feels as though it has been put together with care.

Skoda Octavia 1.6 FSI Ambiente

Delivered price, standard car (P11D value): £13,357
CO2 emissions (g/km): 168
BIK % of P11D in 2004: 19%
Graduated VED rate: £135
Insurance group: 7
Combined mpg: 40.4
CAP Monitor residual value: £4,025/30%
Depreciation (14.47 pence per mile x 60,000): £8,682
Maintenance (2.25 pence per mile x 60,000): £1,350
Fuel (9.90 pence per mile x 60,000): £5,940
Wholelife cost (26.62 pence per mile x 60,000): £15,972
Typical contract hire rate: £293