Skoda Octavia Estate Review & Prices

The Skoda Octavia Estate may be based on the same mechanical underpinnings as the Volkswagen Golf, but it’s far larger - it’s a proper family-sized car, with a mammoth boot and the practical gadgets and features to match it.

The Octavia isn’t an exciting car, nor is it much fun to drive. Instead, it’s one of those cars that slots into everyday life totally effortlessly. It’s the Goldilocks porridge of family cars: it’s not too sporty, or too utilitarian, it’s just right. It’s one of the best estate cars you can buy.

This generation of Octavia was launched in 2020, and updated at the end of 2024. Changes are subtle, but you can spot new cars by their sharper headlights with a double-tiered LED daytime running light signature. There are also new rear lights, while the interior has a newer infotainment screen and is made of more sustainable materials.

Otherwise, the Skoda Octavia Estate looks smart and inoffensive. The front gets Skoda’s signature ‘moustache’ grille, which neatly conceals the essential radars and sensors for safety equipment in its centre. A styling crease runs down the sides, while the wide taillights have a C-shaped motif in them, with the Skoda name written out on the tailgate. If you want your Octavia to look more dramatic, you can get it in Sportline specification, which gives you lowered suspension and a more aggressive body kit.

The Octavia has always been about practicality, first and foremost, and so this estate model is notably larger inside than almost any car in its price range. The rear seats are capacious and the boot is a mammoth 640 litres in capacity - enough for even the most outward-bound family holiday. Some alternatives have slightly more capacity, but at the expense of rear seat space.

The rest of the interior is pretty simple to operate. You don’t get many physical controls - it’s a shame Skoda couldn’t incorporate the multifunction dials you get in a Superb or Kodiaq to the dashboard - but the main 13.0-inch infotainment screen is big, clear and fairly easy to use, with customisable shortcut bars top and bottom to ensure you’re never too many button presses away from the function you want.

And because it’s a Skoda, it’s loaded with ‘Simply Clever’ features. You get umbrellas in the front doors, just like a Rolls-Royce, and neat extra pockets in the rear seatbacks just for your passenger’s smartphones. There’s a USB-C port above the rear-view mirror to plug in a dashcam, and neat boot organisers that Velcro to the carpet to stop items rolling around.

There are four engines available in the Octavia Estate - two petrol, and two diesel. The lower-powered versions of each come with manual gearboxes, and the higher-powered ones get automatics - these are the best for everyday use, as they’re just as efficient as the cheaper engines but don’t feel so gutless.

There’s also the hot hatch-alike Skoda Octavia vRS Estate, which we’ve reviewed separately.

To drive, the Octavia estate is vanilla ice-cream - it gets the job done without tingling your tastebuds. It’s a very relaxed car to cover long distances in, and despite its size it feels easy to drive around town - but you won’t go seeking out the best back roads to enjoy it in the corners.

Still, if practicality and value are at the top of your shopping list then this should definitely be on it. Check out our best Skoda Octavia Estate deals, or find a great Skoda Octavia Estate leasing deal. You can search for used Skoda Octavia Estates for sale, or browse other used Skodas for sale. And remember that Carwow can even help you to sell your old car when the time comes.

The Octavia range kicks off from just under £29,000 - a little cheaper than a VW Golf Estate or Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, and several thousand pounds less than the posh Peugeot 308 SW or hybrid-only Toyota Corolla Touring Sports. The closely-related SEAT Leon Estate does undercut the Octavia, though, by virtue of offering a more sparsely-equipped entry-level model.

All versions of the Octavia Estate get a huge 13.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, plus some rather fancy comfort features including heated seats and a wireless phone charger. Stepping up from SE Technology to the mid-spec SE L brings adaptive cruise control, keyless entry, an electric tailgate and posher upholstery, while the range-topping Sportline gets a more dramatic bodykit, lowered, stiffer suspension, and drive mode selection. 

The Skoda Octavia is like a pair of slippers – comfortable but not very dynamic

In town

The Skoda Octavia is an easy big car to drive around town. It has light steering and a gearbox that’s smooth once you get up to speed. The brakes are powerful but not grabby and the suspension is soft and comfortable, although it can get a little bit bouncy over potholes and cobbles. Even the Skoda’s manoeuvrability impresses – it has a tighter turning circle than a Ford Focus Estate.

Parking? That’s so easy it's boring. The Octavia doesn’t suffer from big blind spots, you get a decent-sized back window, the rear pillars aren’t too thick and the Octavia has rear parking sensors fitted as standard, which are joined by front sensors on SE L models. A reversing camera is also optional. Any complaints at all? Well, the gearbox can be a teeny bit jerky at lower speeds.

On the motorway

If you’ll be doing lots of motorway miles then it's worth considering the 150hp diesel which has lots of shove when accelerating from 50-70mph and is very quiet once you settle into a cruise.

Generally speaking, all Octavias are relaxing cars to travel in. The Skoda doesn’t suffer from too much wind or road noise and all of the engines are quiet once you’re cruising.

Having said that, the Octavia isn’t quite as quiet as the Volkswagen Golf Estate that sits above it in the VW Group pecking order. The Volkswagen scores another hit because it comes as standard with adaptive cruise control, while the Skoda has to make do with basic cruise control.

On a twisty road

The Skoda Octavia delivers a vanilla driving experience in bends. There’s a little bit of lean, but it grips the road well and while the steering doesn’t give you any feedback, it’s direct and makes it easy to position the Octavia on the road. Enjoyable? No, but neither is it unpleasant. If you want a fun-to-drive family estate car, the Ford Focus Estate might be more your thing.

The Skoda Octavia has lots of adjustment in its driver’s seat and steering so you can yank the seat up if you’re small or stick it down low if you’re tall – even bigger drivers will have plenty of headroom. The front passenger seat also has height adjustment, plus both front seats also get lumbar support.

In terms of interior storage, the Octavia has a decent-sized glove box, a small storage cubby under the front centre armrest and a couple of cup holders that can grip your drink so you can unscrew the lid one-handed. You also get a tray for your phone that’ll swallow big-screen models and has two USB-C plugs for charging, and whopping great storage bins in every door, and there’s also a smaller storage space under the steering wheel. A clip-on waste bin is one of Skoda's really neat options.

Even the back seat gets two cup holders moulded into the rear-centre armrest, a couple of USB-C plugs and pockets in the backs of the front seats for maps and a smartphone.

Space in the back seats

The space in the back of the Skoda Octavia makes you wonder if you need the larger Superb because you get plenty of knee room and there’s loads of room to put your feet under the front seat. You also get good headroom, even in cars with the panoramic sunroof.

Travelling three up? Then it’s not too bad. Okay, so there’s a hump in the floor but otherwise, the wide cabin does a good job of accommodating three pairs of hips.

How about with a baby? Well, the roomy cabin makes it easy to fit a child seat and you get ISOFIX points on the front passenger seat and the outer rear seats.

Boot space

There’s even more good news when you open the Octavia’s 640-litre boot – more than you get in the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus. The opening’s nice and wide and with the optional variable boot floor, there’s no lip to lift your luggage over. Other options include a hands-free boot lid that opens when you jiggle your foot under the Skoda’s rear bumper.

Any other handy features? Quite a few. You get sturdy shopping hooks, tie-down hooks for your luggage, a couple of smaller storage areas on either side and a ski hatch. The load cover is also well designed – it opens in two stages and can be stored under the boot floor.

Folding down the back seats is easy, you just yank a couple of levers and let gravity do its things, the seats fold into the floor and you're left with a massive 1,700-litre capacity. Once again, it’s worth considering the optional variable boot floor which gives you a nice, flat load bay.

Solidly built and quite stylish, but not very luxurious

The Octavia Estate’s interior shows Skoda’s place in the Volkswagen Group hierarchy - while it’s similar to the Volkswagen Golf, the materials used aren’t quite as plush or as luxurious.

However, it’s all very hardwearing and feels beautifully screwed-together with no creaks or rattles - and since the 2024 facelift, the presence of standard-fit heated seats, wireless phone charger and that massive 13.0-inch touchscreen means it feels pretty upmarket even if some of the plastics are a bit hard and scratchy.

The touchscreen is shared across the latest Skoda models, and it works pretty well. You do have to control nearly all the car’s features through it - physical controls are limited to some shortcut buttons below the screen, which are of limited use as they’re all the same shape and not really differentiated from each other so you still have to look when you operate them.

Changing things such as the climate controls is a little complicated at times, but there are customisable shortcut bars top and bottom giving you easy access to your choice of functions. And if you’re using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto - both of which work wirelessly - then there’s a permanent shortcut to get you back to that display from any screen, which is really useful.

All models also get a digital instrument display, which is very legible and easily customisable. You can have a pair of dials, or a full-screen map, or a minimalist display with little else but your speed ideal for distraction-free driving at night.

There are four engine choices in the Octavia - two petrol, and two diesel. The entry-level choice is a 1.5-litre petrol or a 2.0-litre diesel, both with 116hp. The petrol is best avoided - it feels gutless and needs working really hard to keep up with traffic, which means the claimed fuel economy of 52mpg will be a pipe dream.

But the diesel has enough low-down grunt that if you’re not in a hurry, it’s quite relaxed - and provides fantastic fuel economy of well over 60mpg on a run. It is manual-only, though - the petrol is available with an automatic.

The most sensible engine choices are the higher-powered, 150hp versions of the same petrol and diesel engine. The 150hp petrol is available with manual or auto gearboxes, and feels ideally suited for the Octavia’s size and weight - and it’s relaxed enough that you’ll get good fuel economy, with 50mpg possible on a long motorway journey and 40mpg if you’re just pootling around.

You can add 10mpg onto those figures if you opt for the 150hp diesel, which is auto-only and feels muscular and punchy to drive. It’s the nicest engine of the lot, though it is the most expensive.

Skoda hasn’t re-introduced the iV plug-in hybrid to the Octavia range yet, which means there’s no company car-friendly option at the time of writing. CO2 emissions are moderate which means a reasonable first-year tax bill, and you’d have to be really going some before even the range-topping Sportline model hits the £40,000 threshold for the expensive car VED supplement.

The Skoda Octavia scored five stars for safety when it was crash tested by Euro NCAP in 2019 courtesy of its multiple airbags and automatic emergency braking that can detect pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles. SE L models can have Travel Assist fitted as an option that allows the Octavia to drive itself on the motorway and in queuing traffic, so long as you keep your hands on the steering wheel of course.

The Skoda Octavia – and Skoda in general – tends to score well in owner satisfaction surveys so you can expect it to be reliable, although it has been subject to recalls covering things like the engine cover coming loose to the E-Call safety system not working or the paint job missing primer. All can be fixed free of charge at a dealer. The Octavia comes with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty that can be extended up to five years or 100,000 miles.