Skoda Octavia Combi RS review: Join the winning Combi nation
Skoda’s Octavia Combi RS is the car that does it all. It’ll even massage your back as you tackle some B-roads
ONE night when I was out with friends, my wife called in a tizzy to say the washing machine had exploded and that I should high-tail it home to help clean up the mess.
When I arrived to find her up to her toes in rusty water, it was clear I needed a new one (a washing machine, not a wife). And that is how I know you can get a hefty washer/dryer into the boot of the Skoda Octavia Combi RS.
While the wife makes eyes at the new washing machine, I have plenty of love for the Octavia. I’ve always admired Skoda’s family liftback, and I can see why it has a habit of being the brand’s worldwide bestseller. It’s spacious, well-equipped, practical, nicely put together, and decently engaging to drive.
But admiration tips over into affection with the Combi RS, which, to me, is the Octavia in its ultimate form.
The “Combi” part of its name is a reference to how it’s a machine with more than 1 use (not unlike a washer/dryer). In this case, thanks to its station-wagon shape, it’s part family car, part pack mule.
Station wagons typically don’t sell well in Singapore (perhaps they remind the elderly of the kind of vehicle they have to lie down in the back of one day), but the Octavia Combi is an example of how they’re a brilliant kind of car. It can swallow a whopping 640 litres of cargo to begin with, but can take in 1,060 litres more if you fold the rear seats down.
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Your pals will inevitably recruit you for trips to Ikea, but Skoda sells accessories to make the Octavia pooch-friendly, in case you want the space to transport furry friends in addition to flat-packed furniture.
That sort of practicality has turned Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) into the best-selling kind of car in Singapore, but the Octavia Combi RS has all the space and usefulness of one without the roly-poly handling.
That brings me to the “RS” tag on the Octavia, which is all about Skoda’s sporty side. It explains the black body trim, the racy red brake calipers and the lovely, supportive bucket seats in front, as well as the suede-like upholstery and red stitching in the cabin.
It all looks lovely, but more important is the fact that the Octavia RS borrows the turbo engine from Volkswagen’s Golf GTI, so it has 245 horsepower and an eagerness to use it all.
Granted, the Octavia is bigger and heavier than a Golf, so it doesn’t have the same get-up-and-go as a GTI, but it’s still a quick car.
Electronic sound generators add a throbby soundtrack to the proceedings, so it’s always worthwhile giving the accelerator a heavy jab, and while the Octavia doesn’t feel glued to the road, it’s still sharper to drive than an SUV.
Overall, it’s the kind of car that has you thinking about hitting some B-roads on the other side of the Causeway, which would also give you the chance to make proper use of the front seats’ massage function.
It is, in short, a car that does it all, which is the least you could expect from something that costs S$238,400.
Mind you, for that amount of money some buyers want their car to come with a bit of prestige, perhaps in the form of a German badge.
That might doom the Octavia Combi RS to small sales numbers here, but the kind of people who fancy a car like this are more likely to concern themselves with driving something that pleases them instead of other people.
The Combi nation might be small, but it’s one worth belonging to.
Skoda Octavia Combi RS
Engine 1,984 cc in-line 4, turbocharged
Power 245 hp at 5,250 rpm
Torque 370 Nm from 1,600 rpm to 4,200 rpm
Gearbox 7-speed dual-clutch
0-100 km/h 6.7 seconds
Top speed 250 km/h
Fuel efficiency 6.6 L/100 km
Agent Skoda Singapore
Price S$238,400 with Certificate of Entitlement
Available Now
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