The 2025 Skoda Octavia has been revealed, with the Czech-built liftback and wagon benefitting from similar upgrades to its Volkswagen Golf cousin.
The fourth-generation Skoda Octavia was launched in 2020, and this facelift and equipment upgrade is expected to take it through to 2028 when its Volkswagen Golf twin under-the-skin goes electric.
Production of the updated Octavia is due to start in the third or fourth quarter of 2024 (July to December), with Australian deliveries slated for early 2025.
Visual tweaks across the board include new-look LED headlights – with the portion closest to the grille now extended downwards – which incorporate an inverted daytime running light signature.
Up-spec variants get updated Matrix LED headlights as standard, now with 50 per cent more segments and a Crystallinium light element, providing a slight blue tinge. These lights are optional for lower grades.
The side and lower portions of the front bumper are now more angular, with the honeycomb-pattern radiator cover extending further towards the wheel arches.
All grades are also fitted with new wheel designs, ranging from 17 to 19 inches, depending on spec.
In Europe, the range continues to largely reflect Australia’s lineup of the Octavia Style, Sportline and RS (badged overseas as the vRS) grades, providing luxurious, sporty and performance appearances, respectively.
Inside, base Skoda Octavia variants gain new olive-tanned synthetic leather seats, a two-spoke steering wheel, more powerful USB-C outlets (now 45 watts), and an optional 13-inch infotainment screen – up from the existing 10-inch display, and now incorporating ChatGPT.
A touch-capacitive slider for volume control remains under the touchscreen.
Features such as a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, shift-by-wire gear selector, dual-zone climate control and LED ambient lighting carry over.
The Octavia’s safety systems have also been bolstered to include a new intelligent park assist and remote park assist system, in addition to an attention and drowsiness assist system – relying on steering inputs and other data to determine whether drivers are attentive behind the wheel.
The entry-level 110TSI turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine is unchanged, continuing to produce 110kW of power and 250Nm of torque and driving the front wheels. It’s expected to retain an eight-speed torque-converter automatic transmission in Australian-market models.
As with the upcoming Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk8.5, the facelifted Skoda Octavia RS now produces 195kW of power and 370Nm of torque (a 15kW improvement) from its turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, driving the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.
The Skoda Octavia RS’s long-serving ‘EA888’ engine now adopts Volkswagen’s ‘Budack’ combustion cycle for more efficiency, while the addition of a sports exhaust and revised software aid its improved outputs.
It’s expected that Australia will continue to miss out on additional drivetrains available in Europe, such as a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol all-wheel drive, and a pair of front-wheel drive 1.5-litre turbo-petrol and 2.0-litre turbo-diesel options.
The current Skoda Octavia is priced from $42,490 drive-away in Style and Sportline liftback guise, and $56,990 drive-away for the flagship RS. Wagon variants incur a $1500 premium.
Local pricing and specifications of the updated model will be released closer to its launch in early 2025.
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