The unshakeable Skoda Octavia 1.0 can do anything and everything

Sometimes in this line of work, we get to properly push the limits of the cars we test - in the name of science, of course. And sometimes, like we did recently with the 1-litre Skoda Octavia, we find out that those limits are much higher than we expected.

A few weeks ago, our team was tasked with a film shoot in Malaysia, and Skoda Singapore was kind enough to loan us the Skoda Octavia 1.0 Style as a support vehicle for this road trip. We quickly realised that this sensible sedan was also an incredibly capable support vehicle and road trip warrior. 

Our shoot involved us filming a Porsche Cayenne both on- and off-road near Desaru in western Johor. To get there, we first had to do some highway driving, which in Malaysia can sometimes be a little daunting for the less powerful vehicles among us. Although we've reviewed this car before (you can read it here), this was my first time getting some seat time behind the wheel of the Octavia.

With a 1-litre three-cylinder engine making just 109hp, we didn't expect the Octavia to be able to keep up at all with the Cayenne, which has triple the horsepower. So we were mentally prepared to sit in the left lane for the hour-long drive. 

However, the Octavia turned out to be quite the cruiser. You do need a lengthy run-up and some forward thinking to get up to speed, but once it's there, it's perfectly happy to keep sitting at speeds way above the speed limit, regardless of whether that's a Singaporean or Malaysian speed limit. 

You also get a fair bit of road and wind noise entering the cabin, but this is a budget-friendly econo-mobile and I don't expect much for a vehicle at the Octavia's price point. That's why the Octavia impresses as much as it does, because it's consistently punching above its weight in everything it does.

Even when we had to venture off the asphalt and onto the ruts and dips of Malaysian plantation roads, everywhere the all-wheel-drive Cayenne SUV went, our front-wheel-drive Octavia camera car could follow too. This plucky little sedan never cried foul at anything we put it through, determinedly plodding along throughout our long day of shooting. 

However, calling it little would be quite a disservice to the Octavia. For a 1-litre car, the Octavia liftback has incredible amounts of space for both passengers and cargo. 

Our 1.9-metre cameraman was comfortably able to sit in and shoot out of the Octavia's rear seats without any issues, while the boot swallowed up all of our camera gear, tables, chairs and other supplies without the need for any Tetris-ing and with room to spare.

After two days and 500 kilometres of hard driving, the Octavia still showed a highly impressive fuel consumption average of 12.3 km per litre. We returned the Octavia with over a quarter of a tank left and an estimated range of 220 km still to go. The unshakeable Skoda Octavia 1.0 can do anything and everything, indeed.

Though the Octavia's engine may be small, its personality and capability are anything but. Big thanks to Skoda Singapore for lending us the Octavia, we're still picking our jaws up off the floor.

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This article was first published in Motorist.