Jeep Renegade VS Skoda Octavia
Jeep Renegade
Likes
- Tonka tough
- Lots of standard inclusions
- Looks the part
Dislikes
- Iffy entertainment software
- Naff interior
- Vague steering
Skoda Octavia
Likes
- Neatly packaged with good features
- Attractive kerb-side presence
- Clever storage spaces
Dislikes
- On the smaller side for a 'mid-size' wagon
- No option packs
- Rear row tight for three adults
Summary
Jeep Renegade
Jeep's Renegade might be late to the mini-SUV party but it comes with a pretty impressive back catalogue to suggest that this is a SUV that can cash the cheques its name can write.
The top of the range Trailhawk can write even bigger cheques than the lower models, bringing with it a range of off-road tech toys to let you really get down and dirty.
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 2.4L |
| Fuel Type | Premium Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 7.5L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Skoda Octavia
The Skoda Octavia Wagon has had a minor facelift in terms of its design and technology. We're family-testing the 110TSI Select, which is the base model and replaces the previous Style variant.
But in a world dominated by SUVs, is there room for the humble station wagon anymore? Let's find out.
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| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 1.4L |
| Fuel Type | — |
| Fuel Efficiency | 6.2L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Verdict
Jeep Renegade6.4/10
Rugged, dependable and good off-road are the most obvious qualities of the Trailhawk. It stands out from the rest of the mini-SUVs by being able to do the S and the U with plenty of vigour.
It's just a shame that its on-road manners can't match that of its big brother, the Cherokee. Unless you're planning on proper off-roading, the Trailhawk might not be quite what you're looking for.
How do you think the Renegade Trailhawk matches up to its small SUV rivals? Tell us in the comments below.
Click here to see more 2016 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk pricing and spec info.
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Skoda Octavia8.3/10
Wagons are my favourite style of family car and the Skoda Octavia Select offers great value-for-money. It’s on the smaller side for passenger hauling but is still a comfortable ride and has great ongoing costs. This is one to consider if you don’t want a massive SUV but still need some space.
Design
Jeep Renegade7/10
In what is absolutely not a coincidence, the Renegade immediately conjures up the Wrangler. Upright grille from the Willys Jeep (references abound here), round headlights, squared off wheel arches to mimic the Wrangler's guards, short overhangs and big rear view mirrors.
The 17-inch wheels look completely lost in the wheelarches which are even more cavernous owing to the Trailhawk's 50mm of extra ride height. The wheels are also a bit cheap looking but will probably survive the belting the car is intended to take.
Less rugged is the interior, despite a fairly self-conscious effort to make it look and feel chunky. The front seats are flat and unsupportive with the rears just as lacklustre making sure everyone is sliding around together. Luckily, front passengers get a dash-mounted grab handle.
It seems quite well put together, however, but with carpets and easily-marked plastics, you'll hope your passengers don't bring the mud in with them too often. And the "Since 1941" stamped into the steering wheel can go.
The dashboard is reasonably clear and has plenty of information to share via the screen between the dials but whoever thought marking the redline with a water splash graphic in bright orange should probably rethink their design decisions.
Storage is limited to two cupholders up front, door pockets in each door and nets on the front seat backs.
Skoda Octavia
The Octavia wagon is sporty-looking with its compact dimensions and sharp pleating, particularly across the rear. The tail-lights have been restyled, as have the 18-inch alloy wheels.
The facelift also sees new dusk-sensing LED headlights replace the previous matrix LEDs, which admittedly is a bit of a downgrade as you miss out on the anti-dazzling feature matrix LEDs have but the dusk-sensing function is handy if you're a 'set and forget' type of headlight user.
The interior is downright nice and not even for a 'base model'. The dashboard gains some fabric and soft-touch grey accent panelling which creates interesting focal points and feel nice underhand.
The mix of black synthetic leather and mottled grey fabric upholstery creates a warm and friendly cabin space, however, fabric always makes my eye tick with my eight-year old around!
Practicality
Skoda Octavia
The Octavia wagon utilises the space available in its mid-sized body well but there's no hiding that it's on the smaller side for a family hauler.
Front passengers enjoy the most head- and legroom, and even with a co-pilot, you're not fighting for elbow room, either. The rear seat offers plenty of space behind my driving position but I'm 168cm tall and it might not be as comfortable if you're hitting 180cm or more.
The width of the rear seat makes it feel snug when the armrest is down and the door closed. However, it's the fixed storage cubby that sits on top of the transmission tunnel which spells trouble for any adult middle-seater.
The cubby houses two USB-C ports and collapsible drink bottle holders, making it a firm utility and storage space. So, it's best to think of the rear row as a two-seater.
All seats (except the middle) offer decent comfort with thick spongy padding, wide seat backs and long under-thigh support. The front seats have manual lumbar support adjustment which alleviates fatigue on longer journeys.
Storage is great throughout the car and both rows get two cup holders and two drink bottle holders, as well as storage bins in each door.
The glove box is large enough to hold a manual and some other bits and pieces but the middle console is on the small side. The large phone cubby that houses the wireless charging pad and two USB-C ports draws your attention away from this, though.
There is a drawer on the drivers side, as well as an umbrella holder in the driver's door and a brush (not sure what for) in the passenger door. A sunglasses holder rounds out the storage in the front.
The boot offers great capacity with its 640L (up from 600L for the sedan version) and the multiple luggage tie-down points and nets, as well as the ski-thru port open up your storage choices.
You miss out on a powered tailgate in the base model but the lid isn't hard to operate and you get a handy toggle to pull it down.
The upgraded tech is easy to use and looks great - always a good combo. There's not much in the way of customisation for the new multimedia touchscreen but the screen is responsive and the menus are easy to access.
There are also physical buttons which act as menu shortcuts and they're very helpful while on the go.
The satellite navigation and wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto are simple to connect and the CarPlay maintained a steady connection for me.
Price and features
Jeep Renegade6/10
The Renegade range starts at $28,000 for the 1.6-litre Renegade Sport manual front-wheel drive, climbing between $2000 and $3000 through the Sport Auto, Longitude Auto, Limited Auto with a final jump of $4000 to the 2.4-litre auto-only Trailhawk.
Standard is a nine-speaker stereo with Bluetooth and USB, 17-inch alloys, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera, rear parking sensors, keyless entry and start, cruise control, electric front seats with heating, satellite navigation, automatic bi-xenon headlights, auto wipers, leather trim, roof rails, front and middle bash plates, full size spare, heated leather steering wheel, privacy glass, trailer sway control and tyre pressure monitoring.Â
The lairy Omaha orange is $500, part of an eleven colour palette with only two no-cost paint options (black and white).
You can add lane departure warning, auto-parking and a black painted roof for $500 each, a removable and retractable roof called My Sky Roof for $2200 or a more conventional electric sunroof for $1900.
The Beats-branded nine-speaker stereo is run via Fiat-Chryser's UConnect system, accessible through the 6.5-inch touchscreen. While it improves with every attempt, it's still quite clunky and when the sat-nav is added, becomes a bit of a mess.
Thankfully, not every function has been crammed into the touchscreen interface, so you'll spend more time with your hands on the wheel rather than working out which bit of the screen has the climate control.
Skoda Octavia
There are three variants for the new Octavia wagon and the line-up begins with our test model, the Select grade, which is priced from $41,090 plus on-road costs. That said, Skoda is offering a national drive-away price of $43,990 at the time of writing. The Select is the first facelifted model to hit our market, with the rest following early next year.Â
Sadly, there aren’t all that many wagons left to compare the Octavia to and the nearest rival is the Mazda6 Sport wagon which is a smidge more affordable at $37,590 MSRP.
After that you have to jump up a few price brackets for a similarly sized wagon, like the Volvo V60 Ultra which sits at $74,990 MSRP.
The Skoda's facelift brings with it a host of new features that either used to be a part of an option pack or was only available on the top model.
The cabin now gets wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless phone charger with ventilation function and design tweaks to the dashboard, including an upgraded 13-inch multimedia screen (up from the previous 10-inch screen).
The safety sheet gets a look in, too, with the addition of rear collision warning, lane centering aid, emergency assist and adaptive cruise control with a stop and go function.Â
Otherwise the standard kit includes keyless start but annoyingly, not keyless entry (via a proximity key), satellite navigation, a 10-inch digital instrument cluster with upgraded software and dual-zone climate control. There are a total of five USB-C ports, including one mounted near the rearview mirror, rain-sensing wipers and dusk-sensing LED headlights.
For a base model, the Select offers great value for money.
Under the bonnet
Jeep Renegade6/10
The Trailhawk is powered by Fiat's 2.4-litre four naturally-aspirated four-cylinder producing 129 kW and 230 Nm. Jeep reckons you'll get 7.5L/100km on the combined cycle. Our mostly city driving with a longish motorway run produced an 11.0L/100km average over a week.
The transmission is a nine-speed ZF automatic driving all four wheels.
The Trailhawk also has Jeep's five mode Selec-Terrain system which should cover pretty much every eventuality – Auto, Sport, Mud, Sand and, just for the Trailhawk, Rock. The Trailhawk is rated to tow 400kg unbraked and 907kg braked.
Skoda Octavia
Nothing has changed for the new Select base variant's engine and it's still a front-wheel drive with a smooth eight-speed automatic transmission.
The 1.4L four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine produces up to 110kW of power and 250Nm of torque, which easily moves the mid-sized wagon around and the Select can do a 0-100km/h sprint in 8.6-seconds.
It's not crazy powerful but it has it where it counts.
Efficiency
Skoda Octavia
The beauty of a mid-sized wagon with the Select's engine is that you get a low official combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle fuel figure of 5.8L/100km! And after mostly urban driving my real-world average came in at 6.5L/100km, which is a great result.
Based on the combined fuel consumption cycle and the 45L fuel tank, you should see a theoretical driving range of up to 775km and just under 700km based on our test result. Which isn't too shabby for those families who want to do the annual road trip.
The Octavia only likes to drink the good stuff though and will accept a min 95 RON premium unleaded petrol.
Driving
Jeep Renegade6/10
The Trailhawk name suggest that things are going to get muddy – compared to the rest of the range, the range-topper rides 50mm higher and has exposed, easy-to-reach tow hooks in the fairly unlikely event you get stuck. It also has a 20:1 low-range crawl ratio and Active Drive 4x4 which means it can switch between front and all-wheel drive. It'll also wade through almost half a metre of water. It's a genuine mud-plugging proposition and will take on some much bigger machinery out in the bush.
On the road, where we spent all our time in the Renegade, it's not what you'd call particularly inspiring. There's a number of sources of noise that contribute to a less than quiet cabin and having to constantly correct your course at freeway speeds adds to the tiring nature of the Renegade.
It's much better at lower speeds, pottering around but then again, its nine-speed transmission needs a lot more work on the shift mapping because it seems to forget which gear it needs to be in when you sink the right foot. If you don't need the Trailhawk's extra off-road goodies, consider the 1.4 litre Limited or Longitude.
Skoda Octavia
The Select wagon is responsive enough with its power delivery but you get the occasional lag when accelerating from rest.
Other than that, it’s very easy to keep your speed consistent on hills and you still feel like you have some power in reserve when you have to put your foot down.
The steering is soft but accurate and feels more relaxed at lower speeds because of it. So not what you'd call sports-nimble but it has friendly handling for newbies and seasoned drivers.
Suspension is on the firmer side and you notice the worst of the bumps in the road but it’s a pretty comfortable ride overall. The road noise creeps in, even at lower speeds, and that may annoy some but it wasn’t a bother for us.
The visibility is excellent because of the wide windows and narrow pillars. Despite sitting low, you don’t feel like you’re a bug when you’re next to a big SUV at the lights.
The Octavia is an easy wagon to park with front and rear parking sensors, and a clear reversing camera that features dynamic guidelines.
Safety
Jeep Renegade7/10
Seven airbags (including driver's knee bag), traction and stability controls, roll mitigation, blind spot monitoring, ABS and brake assist.
The Renegade does not yet have an ANCAP star rating although it scored five EuroNCAP stars in 2014.
Skoda Octavia
The Octavia has an maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing done in 2019 and features eight airbags which is great for a family wagon and includes the newer front centre airbag.
The facelift sees some new safety features including rear collision warning, lane centering aid, emergency assist and adaptive cruise control with stop and go function.Â
Other standard safety items include blind-spot monitoring, driver monitoring and alert, safe exit warning, LED DRLs, forward collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure/keeping aids, seatbelt warning and a reversing camera.
None of the safety features are intrusive for daily driving, which I always like and you can easily fit a couple of big child seats in the rear with the two ISOFIX child seat points and three top tether anchor points.
The Octavia has AEB with pedestrian, cyclist and car detection and is operational from 5.0 to 80km/h (up to 250km/h for car).
Ownership
Skoda Octavia
The Skoda Octavia is now offered with a seven-year/unlimited km warranty which is competitive for the class and you can pre-purchase a seven-year servicing pack for a flat $3650.
Servicing intervals are reasonable at every 12-months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first and you get roadside assistance renewed if you service on schedule at an authorised dealer.