Skoda Roomster
On sale 24th September 2006

I often wonder if products are ever really tested by the people who are going to use them, before they are launched onto the market. For instance, my washing up bowl has what must be design features in the top, but which are totally useless and attract dirt easily. Whoever designed it needs to try cleaning it!! There is one product however where the designers really do seem to have sought public opinion before putting it on sale. In fact, when the Skoda Roomster concept went on show three years ago, Skoda was quite prepared to ditch the idea of this very radical MPV, if public opinion suggested it would not be accepted. Its popularity has stunned its designers resulting in the Skoda Roomster hitting dealer forecourts on 23rd September.

It is a very unique people carrier and has been designed with what Skoda refers to as two rooms, a driving room and a living room. The driving room has just what the driver wants – a car like feel and a cockpit appearance. If you are a passenger you want the ‘living room’ to be light and airy with space and flexible seating. In fact the seats are raised cinema style by 40ml to give rear passengers a better view through the windscreen. The side window sills are also lower which makes the passenger feel less enclosed which is also helped by the huge panoramic roof on the top of the range models. Skoda has really thought about what people do in a car and provided for those needs.

The Roomster is the fourth model in Skoda’s line up and will attract a whole new audience of people who have probably never considered buying a Skoda before. The Roomster does exactly what it says; it will provide a car with lots of room for families that need it.

Beginning with the exterior, the Roomster is Skoda’s new face. The Fabia, Octavia and Superb are fairly conservative cars but the Roomster breaks away from the traditional brand looks with a more protruding, but softer front, which all future new models will adopt. The rear has new C shape lights. They are narrow and so don’t cut into the boot space. The tailgate is tall enough for a 6 foot man to stand under it with ease and there is a low sill for easy loading. The boot contains useful shopping bag hooks, a large bottle holder and nets to hold items.

The other main benefit of the Roomster is the very flexible seating. There are twenty different combinations and the interior can change from five seats down to two giving lots of room for people or for luggage, depending on need. Seats can be folded or slid forward, backwards and sideways or can be taken out completely. The outer seats weigh 18kg, so are reasonably light to pick up and carry.

There is an impressive amount of standard equipment, even in the entry level model which costs from £9920 otr. A pollen filter, CD and MP3 player fitting, four speakers and the Varioflex seating are standard. The top of the range includes cruise control and the panoramic sunroof as well as rear parking sensors.

Realising that safety will be an important need for a family car, safety systems are impressive and include ABS, twin front and side airbags, curtain airbags and side airbags.

There are six engines available at launch, three petrol and three diesel. From January 2007, the entry level 1.2 litre petrol engine will be available. I road tested the torquey 1.4 litre petrol engine and the rather noisy 1.9 diesel. The most powerful petrol engine is the 1.6 petrol and there are two 1.4 litre diesel options. All engines meet EU4 exhaust emission standards and are linked to a 5 speed manual gearbox. A 6 speed automatic transmission will be available in the New Year.

Because Skoda has really put some thought into how families use their cars, the Roomster will be a popular people carrier. Skoda expects to sell 800 in the remainder of 2006 with 30% being bought by the fleet market. In a full year the Czech company expects to sell 6000 and 70% of those buyers will be from other brands because Skoda has really thought about how people use their cars and satisfied those needs.

By Sue Cooke