Skoda Octavia Select review: Reminding us why wagons make so much sense

There’s no doubt that the SUV has won favour over the traditional sedan or wagon for family motoring globally, with buyers shunning them so much that many simply are no longer offered in Australia or even made at all. 

Skoda has long been one of the best makers of wagons, with the Octavia still the company’s best-selling product globally. Locally, more attention is given to the Kodiaq SUV, but the fact remains: the Octavia is an excellent family car. Should you be considering it over an SUV?

Price and equipment

For the 2025 model year, there are three Octavia models offered in Australia: entry-level Select, mid-spec Sportline and the top-spec RS that we tested recently. All three are available in either liftback or wagon bodystyles, with the entry-level Select wagon tested here. 

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2025 Skoda Octavia pricing (drive away)

Octavia Select standard equipment

• 18-inch alloy wheels with a space saver spare
• Dusk- and rain-activated automatic LED exterior lighting
• Rain-sensing automatic wipers
• Remote keyless entry with push button start
• Heated and auto-folding mirrors with driver’s side auto-dimming
• Silver roof rails
• Rear privacy glass
• Cloth and synthetic leather upholstery
• 10-way manual front seats
• Leather steering wheel with paddle shifters
• Dual-zone automatic climate control with rear vents
• 10-inch digital driver’s display
• 13-inch touchscreen
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Satellite navigation 
• AM/FM radio
• Bluetooth calling and audio streaming
• Eight-speaker sound system
• 4x USB-C charging ports
• Wireless phone charger with ventilation
• LED ambient cabin lighting
• ‘Simply clever’ features such as a bin in the driver’s door, various nets and hooks in the boot, teeth in the front cup holders to open bottles, cargo fasteners and a windscreen washer funnel

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Octavia Select safety equipment:

• 8x airbags (including front centre and driver’s knee units)
• Autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection
• Adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality
• Traffic jam assist
• Lane keeping assistance
• Adaptive lane guidance
• Emergency assist
• Blind-spot monitoring with exit warning
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Driver attention monitoring
• Automatic low-speed front and rear braking
• Tyre pressure monitoring
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera

The Octavia range earned a five-star ANCAP safety rating with scores of 89 per cent in adult protection, 82 per cent in child protection, 68 per cent in road user protection and 81 per cent for safety assistance.

Interior, practicality and bootspace

Don’t let the $43,990 drive away price fool you: the interior of the Octavia feels like a more expensive car, even in entry-level Select form. That’s thanks to the interesting and solid materials used throughout, including the pebble-like dashboard trim, cool light grey textiles throughout to liven it up and tight-feeling switchgear. Many of the materials are soft touch as well, adding an extra feeling of quality throughout. 

Centre of the cabin is a 13-inch touchscreen that features wireless smartphone mirroring and satellite navigation, though no DAB+ reception or live services. It received a redesign with the Octavia’s mid-life facelift and it’s now easier to use, thanks to a new layout with more shortcuts for major functions. The row of shortcut buttons underneath the screen also help massively with user-friendliness, and aside from the grainy reversing camera, everything is sharp to look at.

As you’d expect for a Skoda, the Octavia Select is filled with excellent storage options for life’s trinkets, including big flock-lined door bins (with a bin in the driver’s door), a big box underneath the centre armrest, a secret tray to the right of the driver, a big tray underneath the dashboard with a ventilated wireless phone charger and cup holders with teeth so that bottles can be opened using only one hand. 

Despite not featuring the electric seat adjustment of the upper-spec RS, there is plenty of adjustment the driving position of the Octavia. Front seat comfort excellent thanks to the supportive seats, while rear visibility is excellent thanks to large mirrors and windows. 

In the rear seat of the Octavia Select, two taller adults will fit fine thanks to its ample leg- and headroom and the amenities on hand are healthy, including big flock-lined door bins, a central armrest with cupholders, a removable storage area on the central tunnel, two USB-C charging ports, map pockets and air vents. For child seats, there are three top-tether and two ISOFIX points. 

The Octavia wagon’s boot is huge, measuring 640 litres with the rear seats up and 1700L with the rear seats folded – or 380L more than a Mazda CX-5 with the seats folded. It’s very practical but not just for the amount of space as it employs a number of clever features to make life easier, including a double-sided boot mat (one side is carpet and the other is plastic), cargo securing fasteners, side and under-floor storage, a 12V socket for power, various nets and hooks and releases to fold the rear seats. 

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A space saver spare lives underneath the boot floor, while we’d like to see a dual-level boot floor for no lip between the boot and rear seats when they’re folded and an electric tailgate added to the spec sheet. But regardless of those features, it’s fantastic. 

Performance and efficiency

The Octavia Select uses the ‘110TSI’ turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that’s also featured in a number of other Volkswagen Group cars, including the current Golf and Tiguan, as well as the Octavia’s Karoq mid-size SUV sibling. In this tune, it makes 110kW of power and 250Nm of torque, and grunt is sent to the front wheels through an eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission. 

Skoda claims that the Octavia Select wagon hits 100km/h in 8.7 seconds, with claimed combined fuel consumption of 6.2L/100km and claimed CO2 emissions of 140g/km. It uses 95RON premium unleaded fuel for its 45-litre tank. In our week of testing, we achieved 7.4L/100km for fuel use in mostly urban driving. 

On the road

As we’ve seen with every other car that uses the VW Group’s ‘MQB’ platform, the Skoda Octavia Select wagon is lovely to drive with a mature and confident feeling from behind the wheel. Its suspension set up is taut but quite comfortable, and the steering is well-weighted as well. It’s a really easy car to just hop in and drive – there’s no driving modes to select from and no adjustable dampers, you just get in, select drive and go. 

Unlike the Octavia RS and its seven-speed dual-clutcher, the Select uses an eight-speed torque converter automatic that gives no low speed hesitation, unlike the DSG. Setting off from a stop, the Octavia’s auto is so seamless and that only adds to how easy it is to drive. At higher speeds, it can hunt a little bit for gears, but it’s otherwise totally fine. 

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The turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol engine is a willing performer in the Octavia, producing its peak 250Nm of torque from just 1500rpm that ensures its urban pulling power is plentiful. But even at highway speeds, the Octavia’s pulling power is effortless and it cruises at 110km/h with ease.

As we saw in the RS, the Octavia’s active safety features are impressively refined, particularly the subtle lane keeping assistance and decisive adaptive cruise control. The only slightly annoying comment to be made from behind the wheel is that the coarse chip road noise can be a bit loud, but that’s it.

Service and warranty

The Skoda range is covered by a seven-year/unlimited km warranty with minimum 12 months of roadside assistance extended by a further 12 months with each dealer service.

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The Octavia’s service intervals are once-yearly/every 15,000km, and a five-year/75,000km service pack costs $3000 ($600 per service). 

Verdict: Should I buy a Skoda Octavia Select wagon? 

It’s well known that we’re on the offensive that more families should be buying sedans and wagons and not SUVs, and the Skoda Octavia Select is a perfect example of that. Against something like the Mazda CX-5 Maxx Sport, the Octavia Select is better equipped, more fuel efficient, more natural to drive and far more practical with over 200 litres more boot space with the seats up. 

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In isolation, the Octavia also impresses with its quality interior materials, refined driving experience, punchy turbo-petrol engine and smooth eight-speed automatic transmission. Against it are that it’s missing some convenience features such as keyless entry and an electric bootlid, while it’s also not cheap to service and there’s no room for personalisation beyond colour. But these are small issues in a great overall package that’s undoubtedly worthy of consideration over an SUV.

Skoda Octavia Select wagon rivals

• Toyota Camry
• Mazda CX-5