Category: Compact MPV 
Price Range: £10,750 to £14,850
Loads of room, extraordinary design, very versatile seating, well made, quiet, comfortable and surprisingly, fun to drive. Good crash test results - and good value too.
You can't fully hide boot contents, gloveboxes are small, no FSI engines and that's about it.
Here's a car of the future, very useful, highly individual-looking and great to live with. It's rational with a wacky twist, and sets Skoda up as its own creative force.
Five stars? Yes, there are lots of hard plastics in the cabin, with the welcome exception of the padded facia top, but the quality, fit and finish are excellent. The fabrics feel durable and expensive, too, be they for seats, door-trim panels or headlining. There's proper paint and glossy lacquer around the rear hatch aperture and under the bonnet, and when driving there are no buzzes, rattles, squeaks or clonks. This is a very solidly-made car, and its panel gaps and paint finish show care and precision in its manufacture.
The mechanical components are familiar from other Skodas, and the company has performed well in reliability and customer satisfaction surveys. The three-cylinder petrol engine is made in Skoda's main Mlada Boleslav factory, incidentally, but the Roomster itself is built at Kvasiny alongside the Skoda Superb.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Skoda Roomster
wrote on 28 08 2007
wrote on 24 05 2007