Some years ago, after the end of the Cold War and (previous) Russian domination of Eastern Europe, the great but much devalued Skoda motor works – and the brand – was acquired by the Volkswagen group. Volkswagen set about rebuilding the marque with new, higher-quality models, and naturally drew on lots of VW technology. At that time, from the late 1990s onwards, they were marketed on the basis that they were “really a Volkswagen”, and their owners liked the fact that they were driving a value-for-money car that was “a Polo/Golf/Passat underneath”. That sort of thing.
Well, decades on, what we have is a Volkswagen that is not only a Skoda underneath – the Czech arm has recovered some of its traditional design and engineering expertise – it is built at the VW Group works in next-door Slovakia, alongside its sibling, the Skoda Superb estate. It is thus class-leading in its luggage space, either in mild petrol hybrid form (690 litres) or, as here, as a plug-in hybrid, where the much bigger battery pack also has to be accommodated (510 litres) – highly competitive with the remaining estate car contenders, such as the Volvo V60 or BMW 3-Series Touring.
