What a Car - UK - (2020-04)

whatcar.com April 2020 85

Skoda Scala 1.0 TSI 115 SE

Mileage 6820 Listprice

£18,930 Target Price £16,525

Price as tested £21,085

Test economy 54.3mpg

MY CIRCLE OF friends includes an

accountant, a vehicle dynamics

engineer, a sound engineer and

a motoring journalist. I’m hoping

that doesn’t make me the dumb

one. But whose opinion would

you most value regarding the ride

qualityofa car?

Really?Wow.Okay,ne,I’lltell

youwhatBenthinksaboutmy

SkodaScala.WhenI wenttopick

himupfromthestationrecently,

it tookonlya fewminutesforhim

tostartcomplimentinghisCzech

counterparts’work.“Therideis

smoothasbutterandbumpsare

hardlynoticeable,”hesaid.“It’s

handsdownthecomestand

mostrelaxinglow-costcarI’ve

beenin.”I’dbetternottellyouwho

heworksfor,then.

Forwhatit’sworth,I agreewith

Ben.Rideandrenementare

probablytheareasthathavesold

memostontheScala;it strikesa

remarkablynebalancebetween

supplenessandcontrol.

What’smore,thecalibration

of the manual gearbox is so

well judged that driving without

lurching is a subconscious task –

the polar opposite of its more

expensive Citroën C4 Cactus

rival, which I ran last year. The

clutch pedal feels natural and

linear, with a clearly de ned

biting point; without this, you often

have to resort to over-revving the

engine for fear of stalling, despite

it being rather uncouth and not

conducivetogoodfueleconomy.

Bestofall,though,is howquiet

eachjourneyis. “Tyrenoiseis

almostnon-existent,”Bensaid.

Indeed,theScalagenerated

a relativelyimpressivereading

of69.0dBat70mphin a recent

test.Mypreviouscar,a Dacia

Duster,reallyusedtodomyhead

in duringmytwo-hourmorning

commute;it recordeda reading

of69.8dB.Thesedifferencesseem

small,butgiventhatdecibelsare

a logarithmicratherthanlinear

scale,a differenceofjust6dBcan

meanit’stwiceasloud.

Toputit in simplerterms,Ben

hastoshoutfromtherearseat

ofhisdad’s 2007 SkodaOctavia

tobeheardonthemotorway.

Progresshasclearlybeenmade.

OUR CARS

Hyundai Ioniq Electric

PremiumSE

Well, as we know from our

Real Range testing, the car will

continue to restrict power in order

to eke out as much range as

possible. At 3%, an alarm sounds

to the driver, and if you make it to

1% charge remaining, you’ll be

limited to around 10mph as you

crawl to the nearest plug socket.

Worth knowing, sure, but perhaps

not worth exploring.

So, how did I come to  nd

myself so low on charge? Well, the

cold weather was at least partly to

blame; while I would regularly see

an indicated range of 175 miles

on a full charge earlier in the year,

I now rarely see more than 168

miles. Small change, you might

think, but if your journey becomes

seven miles longer for whatever

reason – a missed motorway

junction, in my case – it makes

the difference between arriving

feeling relaxed or having a serious

case of the jitters.

In other news, my Ioniq has

developed a glitch: moving

the gear selector to reverse

and then back to

drive unexpectedly

changes the radio

station. I’m not sure

why this happens,

but it’s jarring to be

halfway through

Andrew Lloyd

Webber’s  nest on

Encore Radio, only

to be suddenly

interrupted by

BBC Radio 4’s

World at One.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN an electric

car comes close to running out

of battery charge? Well, after

a particularly mileage-heavy

weekend recently, I found out.

First off, when I hit 20 miles of

range remaining, the low battery

warning light came up on the

dashboard, with a corresponding

warning message on the

infotainment screen. And then,

as I neared my destination and

its blessed charging point, the

range indicator went from

13 miles to being replaced by

three dashes. Very helpful...

Another warning light came

on at this point, with another

message telling me that power

was now reduced. With 6% of

battery charge left, I did reach my

nearest charging point, but if I’d

kept going without recharging,

what would have happened?

Mileage 2703 Listprice

£34,950 Target Price £33,492

Price as tested £35,605

Test range 168 miles

‘At 1% charge remaining, the car’s

speed will be limited to 10mph’

The sight of a charging point is sometimes a godsend

Consensus is that the Scala is outstanding in terms of ride comfort and quietness

Kris Culmer

[email protected]

Darren Moss

[email protected]