Skoda Octavia review - Reliability and safety

Skoda is renowned for its reliability and the Octavia has performed consistently well in our Driver Power customer satisfaction surveys. Although the latest model is too new to have featured in our annual poll, the third-generation car still managed a 28th place finish in 2019 and 34th position in 2020 (out of 75 cars). Reliability, practicality and overall running costs were all praised by owners. Skoda itself achieved fifth-place out of 30 manufacturers, which made it the top-rated brand from within the Volkswagen Group.

Euro NCAP tested the Octavia in 2019 and awarded the family hatchback a full five stars. There were strong scores for adult and child passenger safety of 92 per cent and 88 per cent respectively.

The Octavia includes generous levels of standard safety kit, with SE First Edition cars equipped with a radar-based Front Assist system, Lane Assist, rear parking sensors and cruise control. The SE Technology versions add front parking sensors and adaptive cruise control, while top-of-the-range SE L variants come with a blind spot detection system.

Optional safety features include Park Assist, a driver fatigue sensor, a rear-view camera and the Travel Assist pack, which offers traffic sign recognition, adaptive lane assist, predictive adaptive cruise control and traffic jam assist.

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Warranty

A three-year/60,000-mile warranty is standard, although this can be extended to five years/100,000 miles. However, rivals such as Hyundai and Kia offer more extensive standard coverage.

Servicing

Service intervals for the Octavia are every 12 months or 10,000 miles, and the manufacturer offers fixed pricing for all servicing and maintenance work.