We predicted the SKODA Octavia Style was going to be the one to win our hearts at NZ Company Vehicle magazine, and we weren’t wrong.

Yes, the Octavia RS is definitely the hotter of the two SKODA wagons for 2021, but we felt that the Style comes with substance, delivering the better-rounded package – at least as far as fleet vehicles are concerned.
At one time a fleet vehicle squaring off against a hot performance one would imply the fleet vehicle comes up short in the sophistication stakes, but this is not the case with the Octavia wagon.
Granted, the RS has some sexy kit and some serous grunt to differentiate it from the Style, but as with many performance vehicles, to get the best out of it, you really should play hard with it whereas the Octavia Style delivers its best all the time, the whole time without effort.
That is, it delivers a smooth and comfortable ride, while providing heaps of carrying space, plenty of creature comforts, excellent fuel efficiency and of course, high levels of occupant safety.
Well, that pretty much sums it up, but doesn’t really deliver a great level of information for a CFO/CEO to work with when it comes to making an informed buying decision.
Current flavour of the quarter in terms of registrations anyway, is the small SUV, but putting a collection of small SUVs together as a fleet proposition is, well, just not overly clever when there are some damn fine wagons (of which the SKODA Octavia is a strong contender) out there.
Wagons like the SKODA are cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, more economical, and better to drive. Quite often, they carry more too and let’s not get started on the practicality considerations overall.
The new exterior design of the recently introduced Octavia wagon is 22mm longer and 15mm wider than the previous model, which has seen the cargo area increase by 30 litres to a 640-litre carrying space.
This is, incidentally, best in class for luggage room – SKODA’s nearest rivals are in the 506 to 530 litre range and both are dimensionally longer than the Octavia.
Posted fuel rates see the SKODA Octavia undercut its rival substantially as well. The Style’s 110kW engine hits it stated 5.7 litre per 100km with ease – and was frequently under this during our week-long time with SKODA’s 4th generation Octavia, and not because we were Nana-driving either.
In fact, the Style’s acceleration – while not as eye popping as the RS – is more surprising than one might expect. In fact, the whole sense of speed with the Style is surprising – it’s constant and smoothly delivered, perfectly in keeping with the overall package of the Style.
And speaking of packages, SKODA’s design teams have been looking at other Euro brands and dissected the cabins of the premium marques – including their kissing cousins from SEAT and Volkswagen – and decided what works and what doesn’t.
Then they put it all together in the Style to deliver a premium, minimalist interior without the annoying bits to deliver a big cabin in a medium-sized space where everything comes together in terms of touch, practicality, functionality and visual appreciation.
To coin a SKODA phrase, it’s Simply Clever without being Too Clever. The SKODA Style is also equipped with Laura functionality. Laura is the AI audio co-pilot and works well enough, but she isn’t as finely tuned as she could be.
It’s not a ‘back-to-the-drawing-book’ situation, but now that SKODA has what I consider to be one of – if not the best of interiors – leave that part of the puzzle alone and go give Laura a tweak or two.
But I don’t want this to end on a sour note, so I’ll tell you what happened when I regretfully handed back the keys to the nice people at SKODA:
“I don’t really want to give this one back,” I said. “And I told you that this was the model to put me in first.
“This is what a company vehicle should be when it comes to a mid-sized wagon because it delivers (no pun intended) more than you expect. I can honestly say that with the Octavia being a mainstream fleet offering, SKODA does it with Style.”