• Huge boot, impressive leg room
• Tall passengers can sit in the front or back
• Big Isofix car seats installed with ease

One thing that is common across the Skoda Octavia range, no matter how much money you spend, is the sheer amount of interior space on offer. This is particularly impressive considering it’s not a particularly big car externally.

The headline here is the boot – this measures 610 litres, and increases to 1,740 litres when the 60:40-split rear seats are folded using the remote levers in the boot. To put that in context, the Octavia’s boot is larger than some cars in the class above like the BMW 5 Series Touring and Audi A6 Avant.

Also worth a mention are the plethora of useful hooks to hang things from, plus a storage bin for smaller items. The aperture is wide, the tailgate opens high enough for a six-foot plus adult to walk under, and the loading lip is low to make installing heavy items easier.

You can get a variable-height boot floor, which can be slotted into two levels. This enables large items of different heights to be carried or smaller items to be stored out of site in the large storage cavity underneath.

Once the seats are down, the retractable parcel shelf forms a natural lip to prevent objects sliding forward against the front seats, or alternatively can be removed and stored under the boot floor.

In the rear there’s more room than in much larger cars, particularly when it comes to passenger leg space. Rear seat passengers won’t feel at all squashed, even if the front-seat occupants are exceptionally tall.

Like most Skodas you get an ice scraper attached to the back of the fuel filler cap for cold weather and a little plastic clip to hold parking tickets. Small things that make life a bit easier.

One thing our long termer Octavia did incredibly well (better than the slightly shorter Golf upon which it is based) was completely swallowing bulky Isofix car seats – even ones with a leg that sticks out into the rear footwell.

We also made very regular use of the standard fit roof rails and an optional bike carrying rack from the Skoda accessories catalogue. If these are included with a used Skoda Octavia Estate, they’re worth having.

Safety

• Five stars from Euro NCAP
• Loads of airbags and assistance tech
• No LED headlight option, though

The Octavia has been given a five-star rating from independent safety body Euro NCAP, scoring particularly well for adult occupant protection.

There are seven airbags as standard: front, side, curtain and driver’s knee, and Skoda Octavia Estate safety credentials are also boosted by a roster of high-tech assistance systems.

These include:

• Driver Fatigue Sensor
• Lane Assistant
• Front Assistant
• Automatic Post-Collision Brake system

WATCH: Skoda Octavia Euro NCAP crash test video