[rahul1407]

Originally Posted by SR-71

As someone who test drove both quiet recently, I can give you the short answer. The Octavia is the more fun to drive of the two. This doesn't mean the compass is slouch by any margin. Its quiet good. Its just that the Octavia is a bit more fun. But again, I am biased towards Sedans. I am comparing the Compass top spec 4x4 diesel AT against the petrol Octavia L&K.

I can understand your situation as I was in a similar boat as you were with the change being Petrol AT for compass when compared with Octavia. Trust me, if the requirement is not claim those unchartered territories, then you would be happy with Octavia. The upshift is refinement and feel of luxury is more pronounced and it will leave you amazed with every ride, that you might find more reasons to drive this car.

Also I am not sure if you were able to get the taste of power in Sports mode, If not then you definitely try once by causally flooring the throttle the fun would increase by a few notches.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by timuseravan

I am in total confusion at the moment.
Planning on back to back drives of both before taking the call.

What I did not like in Compass is, it feels slow after driving Octavia. Infact in my extensive drive of Compass manual on highways I felt the outright acceleration and in gear acceleration for Compass could have been better.
But it’s still my favourite SUV in diesel.

[kedar_GT]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

What I did not like in Compass is, it feels slow after driving Octavia. Infact in my extensive drive of Compass manual on highways I felt the outright acceleration and in gear acceleration for Compass could have been better.
But it’s still my favourite SUV in diesel.

Yup - that's the Achilles heel of the Compass and more so the 1.4L petrol AT. My close friend owns that older gen in the Limited trim and he has no problems cruising at triple digits on the highways with his steed. The only letdown is the in-gear acceleration and he overcomes it by being extra firm on the throttle (no such problems with the 2.0 Octavia in sports mode). In-city, where there is a need to point-and-shoot at those empty spaces in traffic, the gearbox catches you napping and if you still want to stick to it, the fuel economy goes for a further toss.
So if those 2 requirements and not high on the priority list (along with the reduced boot space), the Compass is a good contender.

[timuseravan]

Thank you everyone for your inputs. I did a second back to back test ride and while the Octavia is a very fine car, the Compass appealed to me a bit more

[Jo2]

If it is not too much trouble, could the folks that recently purchased the Octavia mention the other cars they were considering and why they finally settled on this one. I would buy this car in a heartbeat but there are two really critical shortcomings:

- My confusion at the time of purchase was between the Octy and Jeep Compass automatic. I am glad I eventually went with the Octavia as after the initial test drive of Jeep compass, with extensive testing I realized how sluggish the gearbox is for a 30Lac+ car.

1. Low ground clearance:
Drives with Octavia so far- 3 adults, have never scraped the bottom anywhere within the city. Ground clearance was one of my biggest worries too, but Skoda genuinely has done something here that makes the really low clearance actually work well. It is not a go anywhere car for sure, one has to be careful but not something unmanageable unless going off-road often.

2. Beige seats: The beige seats do require maintenance. Especially the suede inlays in the seat and the dashboard. It is what it is and one need to be careful. I would have preferred the black interiors if that was an option. But hey, the beige does ooze class and is better than the grey-ish shade in the compass unless one's considering the model S in compass which is over priced in my opinion.

The Compass anniversary edition with black interiors is a compelling proposition if one wishes to go the SUV route. But the model was only released in limited numbers and if you still manage to find one, consider yourself lucky!

Question for the owners of Octavia, the infotainment system shows an option to enable gesture control to control the infotainment system, but I have never managed to get it to work in spite of looking ridiculous with my hand gestures on multiple occasions. Anybody here who has successfully enabled gesture control and any tips on how to activate the same?

[timuseravan]

Originally Posted by Jo2

- My confusion at the time of purchase was between the Octy and Jeep Compass automatic. I am glad I eventually went with the Octavia as after the initial test drive of Jeep compass, with extensive testing I realized how sluggish the gearbox is for a 30Lac+ car.

I have noticed that for a lot of people (including me) it comes down to Compass vs Octavia. My personal opinion but if you need an automatic, just go for Octavia. The automatic, especially Petrol variant, is really unjustifiable in ₹30 lakh car.

[attrip2008]

Hello BHPians,

My father needs a new car and prefers a sedan. Octavia is coming out to be a top choice. However, one sore point for him is the lack of physical controls. And that most functions are operated through the touchscreen unit. Both of us are wondering

- is it really a constant problem to control functions through the touchscreen down the ownership journey? Does the power of habit ease some burden of operating touch menu?

- is the touchscreen smooth to operate and does it remain so over time? I read that it throws some quirks and resets on its own at times but I am trying to understand if it slick to operate or not.

Would really appreciate inputs from owners and experts here. Thanks!

[kedar_GT]

I happened to test drive the Octavia couple of weeks back (just couldn't get down to penning down my observations)

So here goes:
I drove the L&K for around 15-20km around Electronic City. Took it places where I may need to take it on a regular basis (eg. my kids badminton coaching center where there are no roads (its a kuccha strip masquerading as a road and whose look and feel changes on a weekly basis based on the local's fancies and the rain gods) - felt very good on this stretch - comparable with how the compass drove on this exact same stretch.
Key takeaway - yes you can take it places albeit with a bit of care. Actually, my skepticism of scraping it was more rather than the car not being able to take it. I actually took a bad patch, stopped the car, and peered below to see what part could touch. Looked pretty reasonable to me.

I then took it roads where I had driven the Safari and the Fortuner, the week prior to that. (I drove on these roads as well asked the sales rep to drive with me sitting behind in the rear seat)
Here is a bit about how I felt about these two:
The Safari (AT) experience was low-rent; the car had smudges on the interiors and in general, was not clean. I politely told the sales rep that if they expect fence seaters to buy this car over the XUV7OO, they need to present this in a decent manner. Coming to the drive, it was OK. The NVH was not to my liking (more vocal) - but maybe can be attributed to the mileage on the test car. Overall, I did not come impressed. The super loud, tinny voice announcing the drive modes, was a downer. Just takes away from any semblance of a premium experience. Coming to the drive itself, it felt fine and the power was adequate. (Pls note - this experience is on bad broken road/s and some good tarmac. So I cannot comment on the high/er speed handling)

Coming over the Fortuner (4x2 AT) (this was a back-to-back drive after the Safari), there was an immediate change in the experience; the cabin 'felt' a lot more premium and quiet. The road presence was awesome, the NVH was pretty good. But - one could make out that Toyota has tried to up the premium game by draping the interior with soft-touch material (vs having this from grounds up). Also - the ride was bumpy on perfectly flat roads. I suppose this is a characteristic of the body-on-frame construction. I did not like the way the vehicle pushed forward while changing over from Neutral to Drive. It was like a dog straining over a leash (speaks volumes about the 200 horses and 500Nm of torque under the hood) Overall, I would say, this is a good vehicle for a lot of folks who want specifically want & can afford this Toyota.

Back to the Octavia.
I was mighty impressed by the fact that the Octavia drove the best on that pretext of a road. Yup, it was even better than the Fortuner (these roads needed speeds of < 40kmph). I then took over from the SA and drove it on some slightly faster section (Jigani main road) - The power was fine in regular mode and very nice in the sports mode. One thing which intrigued me was the fact that the Octy just thudded through potholes - it was almost like it doesn't drop the wheel into the hole and just thuds through it without wallowing over. (other owners, please pitch in over here with your thoughts). I think this is part of the premium German ride (?). So summing up the ride part, there was absolutely no issues over humps and when it came to potholes, the car held its horizontal line (if you know what I mean ..). Overall, I came pretty impressed. I would have liked to see some more jazz in the cabin - it does feel a bit minimalistic. This probably has to do with the fact that a lot of stuff is controlled by the touch screen which means fewer buttons. Coming to the feature set (yea - I have reconciled to the missing ventilated seats and the all-important sunroof; the 360deg sensors make up for the absence of the 360deg camera to a certain extent), Skoda should have provided ADAS (which is provided in the Euro markets) and navigation in the instrument cluster (any idea if this is a software hack/fix for this) even though it does not support Google maps. I mean it does look like a bit of waste to provide a fully digital cluster and provide only 2 (or is it 3) display modes to play around with.

All in all, this is one fine sedan and the cheapest way to get hold of that 2L TSI motor.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by kedar_GT

All in all, this is one fine sedan and the cheapest way to get hold of that 2L TSI motor.

Last part is important and that's for me is definitely one of the USP for Octavia. Engine matters the most, most other things you can fix

[solaris007]

Originally Posted by kedar_GT

Took it places where I may need to take it on a regular basis (eg. my kids badminton coaching center where there are no roads (its a kuccha strip masquerading as a road and whose look and feel changes on a weekly basis based on the local's fancies and the rain gods) - felt very good on this stretch - comparable with how the compass drove on this exact same stretch.

Were you test driving the Compass too? If so, could you please let us know which variant it was and which car you preferred after the test drive?

Although different cars, the Compass and Octavia have always been compared largely because they play in the same price bracket and have both recently been updated. Of course, mechanically they are completely different beasts but each have drawbacks that are covered by the other car.

[kedar_GT]

Originally Posted by solaris007

Were you test driving the Compass too? If so, could you please let us know which variant it was and which car you preferred after the test drive?

Although different cars, the Compass and Octavia have always been compared largely because they play in the same price bracket and have both recently been updated. Of course, mechanically they are completely different beasts but each have drawbacks that are covered by the other car.

I drove the 1.4L Compass Ltd (gen1), friend's car - but not on the exact same route where I did the 'stress' test. On the 200mts of common bad road, IMO the Octavia and Compass felt the same (it's been a while for the Compass drive - so I may not recollect exactly). It is just that if there are large craters you would be a bit skeptical of carrying the same momentum as the Compass due to fear of scraping the front overhang. You can drive the Compass on these sort of roads with gay abandon.
For me, personally, the lack of boot space in the Compass is a deal-breaker and I also don't like the dead pedal instrusion. I like the cabin ambience of the Compass though during day time. Rear seat of the Octy is more comfy and snug. So yeah, each one has its plus points. How I wish the Octavia had a sun or moon roof (sigh!)

I have decided to wait for the Tuscon to make a call.

[FamilyTraveller]

Originally Posted by kedar_GT

I Coming to the feature set (yea - I have reconciled to the missing ventilated seats and the all-important sunroof

All in all, this is one fine sedan and the cheapest way to get hold of that 2L TSI motor.

I don’t know how many people enjoy/use the sunroof beyond the initial ownership days. Octavia is too good a car to ignore because of lack of sunroof. You are getting an engine of A4, as good build quality and equally good features.

When it comes to driving pleasure then nothing beats a sedan.

[CEF_Beasts]

Originally Posted by kedar_GT

Coming over the Fortuner (4x2 AT) (this was a back-to-back drive after the Safari), there was an immediate change in the experience; the cabin 'felt' a lot more premium and quiet. The road presence was awesome, the NVH was pretty good. But - one could make out that Toyota has tried to up the premium game by draping the interior with soft-touch material (vs having this from grounds up). Also - the ride was bumpy on perfectly flat roads. I suppose this is a characteristic of the body-on-frame construction. I did not like the way the vehicle pushed forward while changing over from Neutral to Drive. It was like a dog straining over a leash (speaks volumes about the 200 horses and 500Nm of torque under the hood) Overall, I would say, this is a good vehicle for a lot of folks who want specifically want & can afford this Toyota.

Did you test-drive the Crysta as well? Fortuner makes sense only if 4x4 is something that one cannot miss, the 4x2 makes very little sense when the Innova Crysta is right up there and cheaper as well. The rear seat, comfort and ride quality is leagues ahead of the Fortuner. Would suggest to drive it as well, unless you’re against the taxi-image synonymous with it. Although that lurching forward tendency is present in the Innova as well!

[solaris007]

Originally Posted by FamilyTraveller

I don’t know how many people enjoy/use the sunroof beyond the initial ownership days. Octavia is too good a car to ignore because of lack of sunroof. You are getting an engine of A4, as good build quality and equally good features.

I had the same line on thought for a long while. However, one member mentioned how their kid kept staring up at the panoramic sunroof throughout the test drive for another vehicle.

Since then it got me thinking and every test drive I have made it a point to sit at the rear seat and sunroofs (specifically the panoramic variety) make a huge difference. Not only do they keep the little ones entertained but they let in a lot of light, which probably reduce car sickness.

This threw the Octavia completely out of my shortlist - did not want to sacrifice my kid's comfort for my pure driving pleasure (which let's be honest lasts just 2-3 seconds in our traffic). Sunroof aside - this is an amazing car and one of the very few attainable "wow" cars plying our roads.

[CircleOfLife]

Originally Posted by solaris007

I had the same line on thought for a long while. However, one member mentioned how their kid kept staring up at the panoramic sunroof throughout the test drive for another vehicle.

Since then it got me thinking and every test drive I have made it a point to sit at the rear seat and sunroofs (specifically the panoramic variety) make a huge difference. Not only do they keep the little ones entertained but they let in a lot of light, which probably reduce car sickness.

This threw the Octavia completely out of my shortlist - did not want to sacrifice my kid's comfort for my pure driving pleasure (which let's be honest lasts just 2-3 seconds in our traffic). Sunroof aside - this is an amazing car and one of the very few attainable "wow" cars plying our roads.

Totally respecting your opinion and agreeing to the fact that sunroof has certain USP with kids & better half too. If i was residing in a place with a cooler climate i would have definitely up the budget and go for it due to practicality of usage. In circle of friends at hyderabad who own multiple vehicles across the the range from premium to budget cars observed that beyond 6 months on a average, majority of folks don't use sunroof. In the south where summer last for good 5 months & beyond, it won't be practical.

During all test drives including some premium ones i had a my kid (7-8) yrs accompany me to get his perspective. Initial few test drives he was very happy with sunroof as it could be kept open due to winter season, but once it started to getting hotter in days on remaining drives he wasn't too bothered with it. On one of the test drives when i asked how is the sunroof? Pat was the reply sunroof is good to have and he likes it but i won't be looking out at sky entire day dad. Next question, can the center console play youtube videos, spotify or there are any games available for his entertainment.