Skoda Octavia vRS 230 Estate: PH Fleet

This month the well travelled Skoda turns its hand to a continental road trip

Now while this won't be true for everyone, I've spent more than my fair share of time planning out elaborate and ambitious road trips. This usually takes place in the pub, and typically comes to nothing when the ill conceived 'plans' are reviewed in the cold light of day. Nonetheless, the desire for a good road trip clearly runs deep in my veins, and it's only getting worse as the realities of a growing family make actually taking one ever more improbable.

Well this certainly isn't the UK

So you can imagine my delight when, as part of our discussions with Skoda about running the Octavia vRS 230, we proposed a long distance road trip as part of our ownership story. Skoda welcomed the idea with open arms and, just like that, my unlikely trip was approaching a reality. I was really excited. After all, this would be 'work', even if there would be some (lots) of fun elements that could easily be misconstrued as 'holiday' by my wife... With only six months(!) to arrange the trip, I did the only sensible thing. I went to the pub with my mate and road trip companion, Harry, and started planning.

I've mentioned it a million times before, but mountain biking is my 'thing', and is also how Harry and I know each other. In other words a trip across the continent was always going to involve bikes in some way, especially given that our Octavia is fitted with a removable tow bar and the excellent Thule VeloSpace tow ball mounted bike carrier. So after a very brief discussion, we decided that we should drive out to watch the UCI DH Mountain Biking World Championships, which for 2016 would be taking place in the Val Di Sole region of Italy. A quick glance at a map revealed that it was quite a long way, though not far from Lake Garda, which is famed not only for being beautiful, warm, and chock full of fantastic pizza restaurants, but also surrounded by amazing mountain roads and home to some excellent mountain biking. In my eyes it had a lot going for it.

Bike carrier invaluable on a trip like this

So it was that early on Wednesday September 7 Harry and I found ourselves in the fully loaded Octavia vRS heading towards Folkestone, and then on to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and eventually a campsite in the small town of Torbole, on the shore of Lake Garda. Impressively we'd managed to fit all of our luggage, camping equipment, tents and mountain biking gear into the boot. And with the bikes neatly mounted on the back of the car, the entire cabin was left for the two of us, a dubious music selection and an epic supply of confectionary. It may be a sad reflection of my inner geek, but I really enjoy packing cars and take great satisfaction in fitting everything in like a giant game of Tetris; I also hate rattles and squeaks, so fitting everything into the boot and being able to close the parcel shelf ensured that any noises were isolated and I was content.

Given how much stuff we'd packed into it, and with the bikes sitting out back no doubt creating a sizable amount of drag (but not having a terrible effect on fuel economy), the car felt brilliant as we travelled easily from country to country. The ease with which we made progress was a real reminder of how far cars have come in recent years. We reminisced about road trips from the not too distant past, when we'd lived in constant fear of breaking down or overheating and ending up stranded on a hard shoulder. Not once did either the oil or water temperature gauge flinch though, even as the mercury (and our speed) rose on our way along southern Germany's excellent autobahns. This portion of the trip also revealed just how good the driver assistance features on the Octavia are. I've made use of the adaptive cruise control system several times but on long, fast journeys it really comes into its own. One thing I hadn't used before was the lane assist. I'd previously dismissed it as a gimmick for people too lazy to concentrate, but at higher speeds on the autobahn, and at night after many hours behind the wheel, it keeps you on the straight and narrow, figuratively and literally.

Some big numbers on there!

As we neared our destination, the driver assist functions took a back seat and we enjoyed the incredible driving roads through the mountains. The car felt fantastic thanks to a recent pre-trip service (predominantly to investigate the cause of the recent flat battery) although, despite a new set of front tyres, there was more understeer than usual courtesy of all the weight loaded over the rear axle. In spite of this it was still going fast enough to elicit the occasional double-take from bikers as they struggled to drop us as quickly as they expected to.

All in all the trip was brilliant and the car never felt anything other than a dependable companion that we were always happy to get back into, regardless of how many hours we'd spent in it. It was fun when we wanted it to be, relaxing when it needed to be and even on our mammoth 917-mile non-stop drive home it remained incredibly comfortable. In total we covered over 2,000 miles in the space of a week and given the blend of comfort, performance, enjoyment and economy, it is hard to think of another car that would have been better suited to the job.

It isn't long now until the Skoda goes back. I'm really going to miss it.

FACT SHEET
Car: 2016 Skoda Octavia vRS 230 Estate
Run by: James
On fleet since: April 2016
Mileage: 13,650
List price new: £29,910 (Basic list of £27,800 plus £550 for tow bar, £765 for Adaptive Cruise Control, Crew Protection Assist for £150, Heated seats for £200, Simply Clever package for £85 and Meteor Grey paint for £360)
Last month at a glance: Road trip!

Previous reports:
Yes, really, a grey Skoda estate on the PH Fleet
Practical family estate into track car does go!
Two trips to Le Mans down, another one to go...
Octavia gets down to some hard graft
Diff explorations, DIY and a flat battery