Neil Ward looks at the Skoda Octavia Greenline, a clever car that will change your driving habits to save you money.

It is an indisputable fact that fuel prices are going to increase. Successive governments have used the tax on fuel, which now constitutes nearly 80 per cent of the overall cost, as a quick and easy way to generate revenue in order to avoid having to be creative and possibly unpopular tax policies, God forbid!

There is another school of thought that promotes removing cars completely from our roads and switching to other forms of transport such as the bicycle and public transport, (great if you live in London).

Now I grant you that my overall level of fitness would improve dramatically if I used a bicycle to get around, however, it is not practical for long distances unless you are the talented Lance Armstrong.

As for public transport, where I live you are more likely to spot a mythical unicorn than see a local bus on a regular basis.

In the face of this paralysis by central government to help ease transport costs and the green lobby’s unrealistic wish to get us all travelling by bicycle or public transport what can one do?

Fuel efficiency

As much as I like driving sports cars and other vehicles that are not particularly fuel-efficient, in reality this is a small
part of my overall driving.

Fuel efficiency, therefore, seems to be the way to go, oh and by the way, I don’t want a small town car.

Not a tall order then? Well actually, no it isn’t, as the people at Skoda think they have come up with the answer; their Greenline range.

I had on the test the excellent Octavia, the VRS version is in my humble opinion one of the best sports cars in its category, however, enough of that.

What is the difference between this and the others in the range?

Well first off there is a stop start function fitted. If you have never used one of these before it takes a little time to get used to the sensation of the engine stopping when you are stationary and then starting up when you put the clutch pedal down.

However, it is an excellent system and compared to others that I have tried did not have any quirks and I quickly became so used to it that I did not notice it working.

The Greenline also has an energy recovery system. Now if you are an F1 fan you may be thinking this is the KERS system and a boost button is fitted to the steering wheel.

Sadly no, but the system in the Skoda is none the less impressive as it provides a more efficient way of generating electricity and reduces load on the engine which saves on CO2 emissions by 2-4 g/km.

Driving habits

Another device fitted is the gear recommendation system, which advises you to change up or down to achieve optimum speed with reduced fuel consumption.

Normally I class these things on the, ‘which idiot thought this was a good idea pile’, however, in fairness to Skoda I did persevere with the system and it was surprising how much torque the engine delivered.

Genuinely my driving habits did change and the feature did not distract me from the road. Another clever way that the Greenline achieves fuel efficiency is by making small aerodynamic changes, smaller lighter alloy wheels with low rolling resistance tyres and slightly lowered suspension, which does not compromise ride quality.

So what does this all add up to? How about nearly 75mpg!

I can confirm that even with lead foot Ward driving this was my fuel consumption.

Added to this the usual comfort and road holding one expects of a Skoda has not been compromised.

As with all things in life, nothing is for free and the Skoda is no exception as it does cost more than other cars in the range.

That said with the fuel consumption I am sure that the pay back period for this extra cost will be short.

My only other irritation is the lack of bluetooth as it is an optional extra. If you only knew the amount of time I wasted trying to get it to work because the button was fitted!

Prices start at £14,865 for the ‘non’ green Octavias and £17,705. Don’t let that price difference put you off – with
fuel prices as they are you will soon make up that difference and be greener.

In conclusion being green and environmentally conscious does not mean that you have to drive a tiny little town car or compromise on other luxuries such as size or drive quality; Skoda have a real winner on their hands.