Skoda Octavia 2022 review: RS wagon long-term

Talk about a crazy press car collection.

The day I went to pick up my new Skoda Octavia RS wagon long-term loan car was also the day I became a dad.

My partner Gemma was at home organising some stuff in the nursery while I was out filming the farewell video for my last long-termer, the Hyundai Venue. Our videographer Sam and I finished the job in quick time, then he helped me move some stuff to a storage shed nearby, because he’s a great bloke.

After that, he dropped me to Volkswagen Group Australia’s head office in southwestern Sydney, about 45 minutes from my house. It was there that Gemma called me and said I’d better get home quick. 

Of course I obeyed the law on my way home, thinking “nah it can’t possibly be the baby, she’s almost a month early!” while also barely getting to grips with the settings and stuff in the Skoda. 

I pulled into the driveway, grabbed a quick photo of the car, and we hustled to pack an emergency bag (hadn’t even done that yet!) and get back into the car to drive to the hospital. Four hours later, I was a dad, Gemma was a mum, Eliska was a daughter and the Skoda Octavia RS was a true long-term ‘family car’.

The day I went to pick up my new Skoda Octavia RS wagon long-term loan car was also the day I became a dad.

The idea behind getting a Skoda Octavia RS was that it would be exactly that - a family sled for the three of us and our two dogs. I even got Skoda Australia’s team to fit a genuine cargo box on top, in order to store the smelly dog stuff (their beds and food and so on) for longer trips, with the idea being that it would no doubt double as a spot for smelly nappies if no bins were nearby on road-trips, too.

Admittedly I was probably getting ahead of myself, thinking about the movements of a family with a six-month old rather than a six-hour old, but that doesn’t mean we won’t do a long drive in the RS by the end of this loan (lockdowns in NSW permitting).

Over the next six months I plan to assess just how easy the car is to live with, having being sincerely stoked with its all-round abilities when I drove it for the launch event a few months ago.

I’ll assess whether it stacks up on value first, because for some, this is going to be “too expensive for a Skoda”, especially one that isn’t an SUV.

Is this wagon too expensive for a Skoda?

Why? Because the Octavia RS wagon is priced at $49,090 plus on-road costs. Skoda is promoting a $52,990 drive-away price for the wagon, but that’s for a white one with no options. That price has gone up since we first collected the car, though nothing has changed spec-wise for the wagon - read our 2022 Skoda Octavia pricing and specs story here.

“My” long-termer has a few boxes ticked, including the RS Premium Pack ($6500) that includes things that I’ve already fallen in love with: the adaptive chassis control adjustable suspensions teamed to the drive mode selector means it can be supple or sporty, depending on what you need.

The Octavia is known for being one of the most well-rounded cars on the market.

That pack also includes electric front seat adjustment, heated front seats and heated rear outboard seats, driver’s seat massage function (ooh, haven’t tried that yet!), a head-up display, semi-autonomous parking (haven’t tested it yet either), tri-zone climate control meaning there are rear temp settings as well as adjustable vents, and rear sunblinds, which are an excellent inclusion, even if they do seem a little thin to offer any serious sun protection.

Plus because the RS I have is the wagon, it is available with a sunroof ($1900), which I personally wouldn’t bother with.

The other item you’ll notice (especially if you look through the glass roof) is the Skoda genuine roof cargo box, which has a retail price of $1120 fitted, plus you need to get the roof racks / cross bars ($517 fitted).

Featuring a Skoda genuine roof cargo box.

We’ll see if we actually get a chance to do any road trips later in the year, because the pandemic seems to have other thoughts on mobility for people in the Greater Sydney area.

You’ll spot the familiar face of CarsGuide editor Mal Flynn in these images, as Mal lives around the corner from me and - having not had a kid before and having only a hint of an understanding as to how to correctly fit a child seat - I called on his expertise to fit the seat to the Skoda. Mal has three kids under four, so he’s at “Expert Level” for this job! This was on day two of my “ownership” of the Skoda - I made a mercy dash home from the hospital to sort it out! 

I called on Mal's expertise to fit the seat to the Skoda.

What I thought might be better is the amount of space for the front passenger. With a rearward facing baby capsule fitted, there’s not a whole lot of legroom to be had for the front occupant. The wheelbase hasn’t changed between the last generation and this one, and while the back seat space is good for adults, with a baby seat fitted it could be better for front-seaters. 

With a rearward facing baby capsule fitted, there’s not much legroom for the front occupant.

Gemma isn’t very tall (165cm / 5’4”), but still, she seems a bit cramped - the RS sports seats a bit bulky, and that might be something you want to consider. (For what it’s worth, we have the Nuna Klik Plus capsule, which may or may not be bulkier than other capsules.)

As it stands, the Octavia has been a solid family wagon so far. The boot is easily large enough for a pram, some luggage and other stuff. See the leaving hospital images and the first (maybe last, as we’re definitely on the shopping home delivery bandwagon now!) trip to the shops for an idea of the practicality it offers.

The Octavia has been a solid family wagon so far.

In the first month we did a lot of trips to and from the hospital in Randwick where our daughter had a 10-day stay, going from there to home in the Blue Mountains a few times plus also running errands to baby supplies stores for stuff we hadn’t got in time (a bub arriving three-and-a-half weeks early really makes you realise how underprepared you were!) and we even put the roof pod to use. Very handy!

In the first month we did a lot of trips to and from the hospital and running errands.

Not so handy was the fact the media unit seemed to have a real issue with the wireless Apple CarPlay connection, glitching and not working at all with my phone at times. It has also failed completely when reversing - freezing the camera on a specific frame, or simply showing a black screen - and this is a more common concern when you jump in the car and want to get going straight away. We're all in a hurry all the time, so this could get on your nerves. We'll see if it continues to be an issue in future instalments.

Our first month of trips meant we went through two tanks of premium unleaded for an at-the-pump return of 8.77L/100km - a bit over the official figure of 6.8L/100km but a very respectable return in my opinion.

Stay tuned for more family driving impressions (hopefully).

Acquired: 31 May 2021

Distance travelled this month: 1005km

Odometer: 2474km

Average fuel consumption for June: 8.77L/100km (measured at the pump)

Went for a drive the other day. That was nice.

Then I washed the Skoda. I enjoyed that, too.

That’s about where I could leave it for impressions for the month of August. The lockdown in NSW means there was no real reason to leave home unless it was for exercise or essentials. 

Washing the Skoda was one of the few things I could do while in lockdown. (image credit: Matt Campbell)

My drive up the mountains (with my LGA limits) with Eliska, our newborn, was essential. She needs to get some seat time in the car to get used to it, and I needed to go for a drive to clear my mind. Anyone in lockdown, now or in the past or in the future – heaven forbid – will understand.

But while my August experience with the car on the road was limited, I did spend a bit of time getting to know it a little better inside and out.

I did manage to go for a drive within my LGA. (image credit: Matt Campbell)

I used the wagon to get my bub her first Little Tikes car - yes, at this point she wasn't even three months old, but I found one locally that was being left out on the street for me, so I had to take it! I also did a click-and-collect at the local Bunnings and used the ski-port of the middle seat to load through some threaded rod and a new garden broom. Such thrills!

One thing I noticed when I was washing the car was that someone had shunted the front bumper, presumably while parked at the shops, and that annoyed me.

So I’ve now fitted our winning dash cam from CarsGuide’s most recent dash camera comparison test, the Nextbase 322GW, to the Skoda. Usually it’s a bit of a fiddly or messy job when it comes to wiring up a dash cam - you typically have a cable that runs from the camera down to a 12-volt outlet, which more often than not is located near the media screen on the centre console.

Annoyingly, someone hit the Skoda's front bumper. (image credit: Matt Campbell)

But, happily, the Skoda has a USB-C port hidden up near the rear-view mirror/forward camera sensor system at the top of the windscreen, meaning I just needed to connect the Nextbase camera’s USB cable (which usually runs to the 12V plug) to USB-to-USB-C adaptor, and the cable is tucked up out of the way.

It powered up when I started the car, and this Nextbase unit also has a clever system where if the G-sensor is triggered when it’s parked, it will fire into life and capture what it could see at the moment of impact. That would have been handy to have installed earlier, but so it was.

Other noteworthy considerations this month were the continued software struggles with the media screen and safety systems, which this time extended to the blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert system, as well as parking sensors all around the car, the reversing camera screen freezing and countless Apple CarPlay wireless blackouts.

If I had bought a new car that had this many technical problems, I'd be really annoyed. I probably haven't been as annoyed as I could have been during this period, being in the newborn baby bubble at home and in lockdown, but on a regular basis these important safety and media features have failed.

It got to the point where it was enough for me to get in touch with Volkswagen Group Australia, the company in charge of Skoda here, to raise the issue. They rightfully passed me on to my local dealership where I was to be treated like a regular customer, and I have to say, the level of service was very good. 

More on that in the next update.

Acquired: 31 May 2021

Distance travelled this month: 329km

Odometer: 3294km

Average fuel consumption for August: 8.37L/100km (measured at the pump)