Make room for a Skoda! (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Make room for a Skoda!

12:50pm Wednesday 6th January 2010

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Buying a Skoda isn’t always easy. For many, the brand name still carries negative connotations, despite the fact that the company has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade or so.

My mate Roger bought one a couple of years ago. He told me of his decision in a pub and, I’m not joking, he whispered it, lest anyone should hear.

I’m not sure what sort of a reaction he expected from anyone overhearing him. Laugh, perhaps? Well, he had the last laugh. Three years of trouble-free motoring, and he’s on his second Skoda now.

Skoda has transformed its image. It used to be a value-for-money option which had little else in its favour.

It suffered from a largely undeserved image for poor quality, but it has been turned around big style by its owners, Volkswagen.

The range has expanded. There are now five models, including the upmarket Superb and the crossover model Yeti. But it’s the Roomster which marked a change in direction.

This is the company’s first mini people-carrier, or MPV (multi-purpose vehicle). The Roomster is the realisation of a very simple idea: people want a car that drives like a car, but carries like an MPV.

Other manufactures have had a go, but not in the same way. At the front of the Roomster is the ‘Driving Room’, and at the back is the ‘Living Room’.

It’s an excellent all-rounder. Reasonably smart, competitively-priced and good to drive.

There are sleeker and sexier mini people-carriers, yet few are as well-appointed or as affordable.

Climb into the driver’s seat and there is much to like. You get a better view out than in most ordinary hatchbacks, thanks to the position of the windscreen, and there’s plenty of light entering the cabin.

The dashboard is textbook Skoda, with a clear, uncluttered design and sturdy materials. The driving position is also car-like, but it feels more special than that, especially if you look over your shoulder.

In the back is where the clever stuff happens. The rear doors are far taller than those at the front – unusual, certainly, but effective when it comes to getting in and out.

The rear seats are higher than those in the front, so once installed, the view out is excellent, which might help keep little ones quiet for longer.

Those rear seats can perform a number of tricks, too. The middle seat can be folded forward to create a table, drinks holder or just somewhere to hide things, and be removed altogether. The outer two can slide sideways to fill this space, as well as move forwards by 15cm and recline and be taken out, which gives the Roomster anything from 450 litres to a massive 1,780 litres of storage space.

There’s plenty of storage elsewhere, too, plus clever touches like a parcel shelf that stows on two levels.

It can also hold its own on the road. It certainly doesn’t feel like a large, floppy MPV on the move; instead it responds more like a decent hatchback. With the pokiest 1.9-litre TDI unit up front, the Roomster can haul plenty of cargo and make good progress too. Refinement is easily on a par with the competition, and it is secure and stable through the bends.

Skoda can point to recent success based on producing cars that are practical, useful, well-built and excellent value, but the introduction of the Roomster shows that there’s more to come.

It packs a lot of space and smart thinking into a small package, and going on the number of awards collected by Skoda recently, it should be a great car to own.

No wonder my mate Roger’s a Skoda fan.

Skoda Roomster S 1.9 TDI PRICE: £14,850. The range starts at £10,750.

ENGINE: A 1.4 litre turbodiesel unit generating 70bhp.

PERFORMANCE: Top speed 113mph and 0 to 60mph in 11.5 seconds.

COSTS: Urban (town) 42.2mpg; extra-urban (country) 61.4mpg; combined 53.3mpg.

INSURANCE: Group 5E.

EMISSIONS: 139g/km.

WARRANTY: Three years/60,000 miles.

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