Skoda’s disarming space ace
Quirky and practically brilliant, Skoda is a family favourite, says DAVEMOORE.
Created by Skoda by cleverly combining its Fabia front platform with the rear one from the Golf/Octavia, the Roomster is probably the best offering from any maker in the popular European hatchvan segment.
It does this by being the only model that was designed from the ground up to BE one, all the others being hatches with tall, glazed, load/seating boxes on the back.
Using established VW Golf V running gear, the Roomster won a ‘‘Best Family Car’’ gong from the New Zealand AA’s Motoring Excellence Awards, though even those who championed it were reticent about its styling, with one saying he felt like Postman Pat when he drove it.
For the New Zealand market, the Roomster has a full-length glass roof with sliding shade, rear parking radar, air conditioning, a tyre-pressure warning system in the dash, sports wheels and tyres, front, side and curtain airbags, ESP, ABS, traction control and a 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating.
TheVWGolf’s 77kW 1.6-litre petrol engine with six-speed automatic is the staple powertrain choice, with a manual 76kW 1.9-litre turbocharged diesel also available.
I have to admit that when I drove this car at its launch in New Zealand, I fell in love with it. With its low-loading area and myriad of seating/luggage permutations, it solved problems that I never knew I had, and as a dog-car it’s simply without peer.
The Roomster has two full-size seats in the back, with a slimmer seat in the middle. All three rear positions can be reclined, folded or removed altogether to turn the Roomster from a roomy, comfortable family car into a massive van.
When the smaller middle rear seat is removed, the two outer chairs can be slid slightly closer, leaving extra shoulder-room for two over-sized occupants. The boot is well shaped and tall and has a low floor and matching load lip, which makes it a cinch even for small dog access. The load compartment has its own vents and good stowage cubbies at the side and under the floor.
For all its practicality and quirkiness, the car is a very decent drive, with excellent handling and ride quality. Despite being taller than a C-segment hatch or wagon, it has good bodycontrol when cornering.
Light, accurate steering and a compact turning circle make it a good city commuter and on the open road it’s relaxed thanks to its sensibly geared six-speed automatic transmission. It absorbs bumps easily, while noise vibration and harshness suppression seem as good as the Skoda Octavia andVWGolf with which it shares much of its mechanicals.
Strengths
Loaded with standard equipment for New Zealand, the Roomster is a typical Skoda with excellent build quality and reliability. The car’s high point is its seating, which even when left alone provides more rear leg and headroom than anything else in the segment. Safety spec is above average and the car’s six-speed auto a real smoothie.
Servicing is no problem as the power units are well known and anyVWspecialist will recognise most of the Skoda’s mechanical bits.
The car also handles and rides pretty well, considering its relatively low-profile wheels and tyres.
Weak points
The car is quite a quirky looker and its styling counts against it for further resale, despite the clever space utilisation it allows.
Many people still don’t like Skodas despite their acknowledged reliability and design excellence.
The car is susceptible to wayward wheel alignment, so keep a look at tyre-wear patterns. Also the standard 205/55 16 wheel size requires an expensive tyre type.
Some door rattles occur and the car’s full-length glass roof has been known to leak. But don’t worry about noisy airconditioning, they nearly all do that.
Which one should I get?
If you don’t mind manuals, the 1.9-litre TDi is a great drive, and as with the 1.6-litre petrol unit, it is staple fare inVWGolfs of the same era. The 77kW petrol unit is the only engine with automatic, but it’s a smooth-shifting sixspeeder that works very well with the power unit. Later 1.4 TSi units with DSG transmissions were not as good to drive, according to some business users I’ve spoken to, with more abrupt power delivery and transmission takeup.
The New Zealand market models were all very high specification with loads of safety gear. Two trim styles were available, one with black alacantara and twill trim and another with light blue-grey seating. Go for the former if you have the choice as it’s easier to clean and keep that way.
What to pay
There aren’t many about, but we found four. There was a 2008 1.6-litre automatic with 45,000km for $14,000 and another in similar spec and year on 62,000km for $11,990. A diesel 1.9-litre manual was up there with a $15,000 sticker from 2009 and, most intriguing of all, another 1.9-litre model this time with left front damage on $2500 in Hamilton with just over 90,000km clocked for $2500. You’d have to tow it, but this would surely reward a couple of grands worth of work.
You’ll have to live with
Skoda jokes, and suggestions that you should have got an SUV, to which you should merely nod sagely, knowing you have got it just right. When you do take advantage of the seating and luggage combinations possible, the heavy seats are quite hard to lift and move around.
Running costs
While the 76kW 1.9-litre manual turbodiesel is a fuel-sipper at a combined 5.1 litres/100km, the 77kW 1.6-litre automatic petrol car will cover the same distance on about 6.9 litres. Servicing costs are not as low as some Japanese cars, but are still fairly reasonable and insurance is also pleasingly easy on the pocket. The cars’ cambelt change points are at 100,000km and they are relatively simple exercises.
But wait
A Golf wagon might do the trick, but even that doesn’t have the amazing facilities of the Skoda, and for the price you simply won’t get the same levels of equipment. Toyota’s Yaris Verso and Fun Cargo are possible candidates, as well as the Nissan Cube and Honda SMX.
Oh, by the way, I bought a Roomster – and it’s as good as we and the dog thought it would be.