Happy birthday Skoda Octavia

Skoda celebrates 20 years of the no nonsense Octavia - we'll raise our brew to that!

If you're one of those insecure brand snob types - especially one hiding behind a VW or Audi badge - best turn the other way now. Because, yes, we're going to help Skoda celebrate 20 years of its Octavia, the Czech brand's quietly rebellious 'answer to everything' car we can't help having a bit of a soft spot for.

The self congratulatory press-release (we'll give them that) Skoda has issued today reveals it has sold 5m Octavias over three generations, development for the first seemingly starting just a year after VW acquired the brand in 1991. Production then started April 3 1996. The pattern of building unpretentious, no-nonsense cars on VW group platforms and benefitting from the shared development in powertrain tech that comes from being part of a bigger entity has worked well for Skoda too. Sure, the badge doesn't have the prestige and those who haven't left the Jasper Carrott era of TV comedy may still snigger at the image. But from minicabbers on up there are many fans, the ability to drive a car with the same engine, gearbox and infotainment gadgets as much posher brands from within the group at a fraction of the price never losing its appeal.

With the vRS range PHers have long had something to get excited about too, the combination of cheap entry cost, easy tuneability and huge luggage capacity endearing the Octavia to many. Scouts meanwhile make for useful all-weather rural runabouts popular with the outdoors set and the steady improvements in quality, technology and all-round refinement mean you no longer need make excuses for driving a Skoda. Little touches like the ice scraper hidden under the fuel filler flap underline Skoda's fit for purpose image, a 'does what it says on the tin' honesty very much in keeping with the PH mindset. With the new vRS230 there's now a properly spicy one in the range too, combining Golf GTI tech and pace with wardrobe swallowing space.

Which is one of the reasons we're taking delivery of our own for the PH fleet later this week. More on that in due course. For now happy birthday Octavia!

From Shed money to brand new vRS models browse all the Octavias in the PH Classifieds here!